Building @exceptionalvc. Ex: @SoftBank | Ex: @Okta | Supporter of @UMichFootball @UMICH
San Francisco, CA
Joined March 2010
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Marell Evans retweeted
@masason shares his philosophy for dreaming big on our latest episode of Inside Blackstone.
Kinda of Agree ….
I used to be embarrassed by my upbringing. What happened to my father and stepfather, being raised by a single mother, and the circumstances I came from. Eventually, I realized those experiences were an advantage, not something to be embarrassed by.
Today, I walk into rooms without changing my vernacular, my style, or my story. I have no interest in editing my identity to make other people comfortable.
But I also think we’ve overcorrected in how we romanticize adversity.
There’s nothing inherently less impressive about someone raised by two extraordinary parents, surrounded by opportunity, who never had to experience trauma.
America has an obsession with the rags-to-riches narrative, as though suffering is a prerequisite for exceptionalism. ( @exceptionalvc )
It isn’t.
There are many archetypes of exceptional people. Some are forged through adversity. Others are cultivated through stability, love, and opportunity.
Trauma isn’t a credential. Privilege isn’t a disqualifier.
What matters is what you do with the hand you were dealt.
Ask my mom …. @valbozs2
Pedigree is overrated. Grit isn't.
Bloomberg on who he'd hire: "the person whose father never was there, whose mother was in a drug treatment program. And he had to go and work three shifts at McDonald's to take care of his siblings."
"No matter how bad things are — looks on the bright side, takes the bull by the horns, puts in the sweat capital. That's where the results are."
Marell Evans retweeted
Very important piece by @ianlivingstone the Founder of @KeycardAI 📝
We've spent a lot of time at @KeycardAI thinking about how authentication and authorization need to evolve as agents take on more work.
API keys and OAuth scopes were never designed to account for tasks, delegation between agents, or agents acting on their own.
I wrote about how we're approaching this and what we think needs to change.
keycard.ai/blog/defining-aut…
Stay Tune:
@ericw 👀
Marell Evans retweeted
I recently spoke with @ErleNorton at @WSJ to talk about leadership and staying challenge-driven.
When you lead a company from day one to $3B+ in revenue, every milestone presents a totally different challenge. Early on, it was simply proving we could build something people wanted. Today, leading an entire company through the agentic AI platform shift requires a whole different muscle: conditioning the organization to embrace change.
As leaders, especially during tech shifts, it’s tempting to look for an expert playbook. But the reality is that no one has all the answers. You have to trust your instincts, get out of the building to listen to customers, and give your teams a reason to care about where you’re going.
She’s the best ❤️💪🏾
@MariaDerchi
Thank you @FrancisSuarez for showing @ndahlberg the love and support she deserves! ❤️ Her passion for Miami Tech is unmatched and we feel so lucky to have her leading the @refreshmiami News team!
Also huge shoutout to @rileywk who is core to our work and wrote this incredible interview with @davidblumberg.
Honored to work alongside you both in making sure the Miami Tech story continues to be told!
Cool!
This is a very cool shift and something I’d love to see happen more often.
When early employees step up, take extreme ownership, and materially change the trajectory of a company, the cap table should be able to evolve with their impact.
Equity shouldn’t only reflect when you joined. It should also reflect the value you create.
Exceptional ownership deserves exceptional upside!
Some news I’ve been excited to share: @gonzalosm7 is officially a co-founder of @gumloop
Gonzalo joined us two years ago as employee #5, back when Gumloop was a simple workflow platform. He was a key part of re-founding the company as the agent-building platform our customers know and love today.
Since then, we’ve 9x’d headcount and built a product that has automated over 1.3 billion tasks with Gonzalo leading our product and design teams the entire way.
More than that, he’s become the third voice in the room when the hard decisions get made. The title is just catching up to the role he’s been playing.
@rbehal1729 and I couldn’t be more excited to make it official. Congrats, Gonzalo!
Brillant Idea! @samdblond
2 weeks from today is the greatest Sales Leader event of all time. The best VPs of Sales and CROs in the world all at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in SF competing for $100,000 in the no buy in Monaco Invitational poker tournament.
The expense for the event itself is significantly higher than the cash prize - the best venue in San Francisco, a food and beverage program The White House would envy, celebrity guests, entertainment, and so much more.
Attendance reserved for Monaco customers and prospects.
Marell Evans retweeted
We've spent a lot of time at @KeycardAI thinking about how authentication and authorization need to evolve as agents take on more work.
API keys and OAuth scopes were never designed to account for tasks, delegation between agents, or agents acting on their own.
I wrote about how we're approaching this and what we think needs to change.
keycard.ai/blog/defining-aut…
Thanks man!
8 months of sciatica is rough, I'd definitely get in with a physical therapist who does spine work. Ask for someone who knows the McKenzie method. They figure out which movements take the pressure off the nerve and it helps a lot of people.
At home, nerve glides and a figure-four stretch for the piriformis can ease that pulling feeling down the leg. Switching between heat and ice on your lower back helps with flare-ups too.
Honestly the one supplement I'd look into first is PEA (palmitoylethanolamide). It's something your body already makes to calm inflammation, but when a nerve's been irritated for months your body can't keep up. It calms things down around the nerve so it stops firing pain down your leg. Get the micronized kind since it absorbs way better. A lot of people do 600mg twice a day for a few weeks and then drop to once a day. It takes 3 or 4 weeks to really kick in, so stick with it.
Alpha-lipoic acid and a B-complex with B12 are good for nerve health too, and omega-3s and turmeric (with black pepper) help with the inflammation.
Last thing, a CBD rub right on the lower back and hip can make a big difference. It calms the inflammation right where it hurts and pairs really well with the PEA.
Hope you're back to 100% soon 💪🏽
How AI for the enterprise is evolving, from owning a task to owning an outcome:
1. Assistant: handles one task in seconds, like sending a follow-up email. Companies pay for it out of their software budget.
2. Agent: handles one interaction in minutes, like a customer's refund call. It takes on work people used to do, so it gets paid for out of the labor budget.
3. Long-running agent: works toward a goal for weeks or months, like getting an injured client the biggest settlement possible. Because it owns the result, the company selling it can price on the outcome it delivers.
Full piece from a16z's @dhaber on long-running agents in high-value customer journeys: a16z.news/p/winning-the-rela…
Marell Evans retweeted
This was one of the best conversations in a long time
@Marell is a no BS investor who is also thoughtful caring and a constant learner
He is the future of VC
Ciao!
It’s rare to interview a founder who helped define one software category and is now building the infrastructure for the next. I had the opportunity to sit down with @medinism this past week.
With Outreach, Manny transformed how companies scale sales.
Now, he’s helping build the economic layer for AI agents, how they’re priced, billed, measured, and monetized. As software moves from assisting humans to doing the work itself, those financial rails become increasingly important.
@paid_ai is helping define the economics of autonomous productivity.
@exceptionalvc
Ciao!
It’s rare to interview a founder who helped define one software category and is now building the infrastructure for the next. I had the opportunity to sit down with @medinism this past week.
With Outreach, Manny transformed how companies scale sales.
Now, he’s helping build the economic layer for AI agents, how they’re priced, billed, measured, and monetized. As software moves from assisting humans to doing the work itself, those financial rails become increasingly important.
@paid_ai is helping define the economics of autonomous productivity.
@exceptionalvc
Marell Evans retweeted
When you consider Muse Spark was April, Muse Spark 1.1 was July, 1.2 was August, 1.3 was September... it leaves you full of Wonder.
get the full experience: curl -fsSL dev.meta.ai/install.sh | bash
Marell Evans retweeted
Last week in Turin, @medinism, founder of @exceptionalvc portfolio company @paid_ai and @Marell got together on stage to talk SaaSpocalypse!
Scary word? Big potential! In conversation, they broke down what's changing across the ecosystem and why, covering the future of software pricing, the merits of outcome-based pricing, and the characteristics of founders and employees who will be most effective come tailwinds or headwinds with agentic-enabled workforces.
Felt like a magical and thrilling glimpse into the future!
Thank you to Wave by Vento team for the hospitality, support, and beautiful execution of a stellar event! 💫
