Go Slow to Grow Fast

With AI reshaping how software gets built, this session at Mercury Fund Day at The Ion digs into what actually separates a durable product from a disposable feature. Heath Butler moderates a conversation with Mustafa Ali (Twilio), Zafir Khan (Meta), and Salim Gheewalla (utilITise), and they unpack how foundational models are changing the economics of building, why domain expertise and trust remain the real moat, and how pricing, hiring, and product craft are evolving alongside the tools. The conversation moves from AI guardrails and vertical AI defensibility to rethinking legacy processes altogether, offering a grounded look at what it actually takes to build and scale a product in the age of AI.

🎧 Episode Highlights

[08:02]: What foundational models change—and what they don't

[17:28]: The difference between an AI feature and a real product

[27:48]: The key component in AI-fuelled developments

[36:54]: Why passing token billing to customers can be a mistake

🔑 Key Takeaways:

● Foundational models are becoming increasingly commoditized, so durable differentiation comes from domain expertise, context, workflows, and the guardrails that make AI useful and trustworthy.

● Adding AI to a product does not automatically create a product. Teams still need to understand the customer problem, the surrounding workflow, and the trust, security, and compliance requirements that come with solving it.

● AI is changing product development by making prototyping and iteration dramatically faster and by allowing more people across an organization to turn ideas into working experiences.

● As the cost of building falls, human judgment becomes more important. Taste, curiosity, customer understanding, and the ability to distinguish useful work from AI-generated noise remain essential.

● Trust, not just capability, wins the customer. A feature built quickly with AI can win a demo, but closing (and keeping) an enterprise customer still requires the documentation, accountability, and track record that only a true domain expert can stand behind.

👤 Guest Spotlight:

Heath Butler

Heath Butler is a Partner at Mercury Fund, where he invests in Work-Tech, Fin-Tech, and Sports-Tech B2B software, and he hosts Mercury's own podcast, Go Slow to Grow Fast. Before joining Mercury, he founded Gestalt Theory Venture Partners, a venture studio and investment platform for early-stage companies, and held corporate development and fintech division leadership roles at Insperity. He also co-founded Urban Capital Network, an angel investment group focused on expanding access to capital for underrepresented founders.

Mustafa Ali

Mustafa Ali is Senior Director of Growth at Twilio, the cloud communications company that helps businesses build text, voice, video, and email experiences, including AI-powered solutions. He holds a background from the MIT Sloan School of Management and previously worked at McKinsey & Company, in addition to time at Antler, Castor Ventures, and Digital Lumens. He is also active in Houston's entrepreneurship community as a member of OPEN Houston.

Zafir Khan

Zafir Khan is Head of Consumer Product at WhatsApp and Director of Product Management at Meta, a role he has held since 2016. Before WhatsApp, he was a software engineer at Google, where he worked on the Google Camera app for Nexus and Pixel devices, and earlier held product marketing and account management roles there. He holds a degree from Rice University, and his tech career traces back to a Venture Fellow stint at Mercury Fund in 2010.

Salim Gheewalla

Salim Gheewalla is the Founder and CEO of utilITise, an agentic AI company pioneering what he calls the Self-Healing IT category, detecting, troubleshooting, and resolving IT issues automatically, often before anyone notices. He spent more than 15 years leading IT and cybersecurity divisions worth over $200 million, including as VP of Marketing and Alliances at Calian IT & Cyber Solutions, and holds an Executive MBA from Texas A&M's Mays Business School. He is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and Forbes Communications Council, a patent-pending inventor, President of OPEN Houston, and co-host of The MadMen Pod.

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As AI becomes a bigger part of everyday life, we take a look at how it can be applied in commerce, where software agents can search, decide, and complete transactions on a user’s behalf. Moderated by Blair Garrou, this session at Mercury Fund Day at The Ion breaks down the shift from real-time, user-driven checkouts to systems based on ongoing permissions and delegation. The panel features Matt Bouchner (Satsuma.ai), Coert Voorhees (LISNR), and Aileen Allen (Mercury Fund), who discuss how new payment rails and machine-readable systems are making this possible and where the biggest opportunities will be as this new model of commerce takes shape.

🎧 Episode Highlights

[08:17]: Building the infrastructure layer powering agentic commerce across retailers

[15:53]: From “bot equals bad” to “bot equals customer” in retail adoption

[23:38]: The gap between payment protocols and real merchant adoption

[28:20]: Why retailers are still in experimentation, not full-scale deployment

[47:01]: The tipping point: when consumers get used to buying through agents

Key Takeaways:

● Agentic commerce is shifting transactions from user-driven sessions to delegated, always-on workflows. Instead of actively browsing and checking out, users will set preferences and let software agents discover, compare, and act on their behalf.

● The biggest bottleneck isn’t the idea, it’s the infrastructure. Reliable product data, merchant readiness, payment rails, and trust layers all need to align before agentic commerce can move from experimentation to real adoption.

● Control and trust will define winners in this new model. Retailers and brands want visibility into how their products are presented and sold, while both merchants and consumers need confidence that agents are acting accurately, securely, and in their best interest.

Guest Spotlight:

Blair Garrou

Blair Garrou is the Managing Partner at Mercury Fund, where he has built his career around backing and advising tech entrepreneurs and scaling disruptive startups beyond Silicon Valley.

Matt Bouchner

Matt Bouchner is the founder and CEO of Satsuma.ai, where he helps retailers and brands make their products discoverable and purchasable across emerging AI-driven channels. He started the company while in college, originally building a consumer app that scaled to over a million users before pivoting to infrastructure powering agentic commerce.

Coert Voorhees

Coert Voorhees, VP Commercial at LISNR, leads go-to-market efforts for a platform that enables secure, proximity-based data exchange through sound. He joined LISNR following its acquisition of Arden, the web3 loyalty startup he co-founded. Coert’s work centers on how information moves between people and how technology can make those interactions more seamless and impactful.

Aileen Allen

Aileen Allen is a Partner at Mercury Fund, where she focuses on agentic commerce and the future of buying behavior. With over 15 years of experience in B2B software across marketing, growth, and go-to-market strategy, she works closely with founders to scale revenue and bring new products to market.

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● https://www.linkedin.com/in/bgarrou

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattsuma

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/coert-voorhees

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/aileen-allen

This episode brings together a panel of AI-native founders building at the front lines of enterprise innovation: Aneka Sokhal (Moshi), Hunter Honnessy (Unlimited AI), and John Kalfayan (Collide). Moderated by Alex Gras of Mercury Fund, the conversation explores the rise of the “forward deployed engineer” model—embedding technical, domain experts directly with customers to accelerate product development and build trust. The panel shares how AI tools and agentic workflows are compressing timelines from months to days, reshaping how startups approach product, engineering, and customer collaboration. They also address the challenge of scale: how to turn fast-moving pilots into repeatable systems rather than a services-heavy business. It’s a practical, candid discussion on what it takes to build and scale AI-native companies today.

🎧 Episode Highlights

● [13:45]: Early mistakes deploying FDEs and why subject matter expertise matters

● [21:18]: Speed vs. quality: how AI tools shrink timelines from months to days

● [29:55]: Trust as the real currency for enterprise clients

● [36:21]: Scaling by turning pilots into repeatable templates and systems

● [55:32]: Why today’s AI is just the starting point for what’s ahead

🔑 Key Takeaways:

● AI has dramatically compressed product development timelines, but speed alone is not the advantage. The real edge comes from embedding technical, domain-savvy operators directly with customers to translate real problems into working solutions quickly and build trust.

● The forward deployed engineer model blends product, engineering, and customer collaboration into one role. Domain expertise matters as much as coding ability, and AI tools now enable smaller teams to ship production-ready solutions that once required large teams.

● Scaling AI companies requires turning fast-moving pilots into repeatable systems. The winners will be those who productize what they learn, build templates and guardrails, and create processes that allow agentic workflows to compound over time rather than becoming a services-heavy business.

👤 Guest Spotlight:

Alex Gras

Alex Gras is a Senior Associate at Mercury Fund, focused on investing in and supporting AI-native startups. He also serves as a Board Member for Collide, Volt, and MealMe, Inc., working closely with founders on product strategy, growth, and organizational design.

Aneka Sokhal

Aneka Sokhal is the Founder of Moshi, where she is building a statistically trained agentic workforce for financial investors and traders. She brings experience from NASA computer vision research, generative 3D innovation at Rice University, and quantitative finance at JP Morgan.

Hunter Honnessy

Hunter Honnessy is the CTO and Co-Founder of Unlimited.ai, building AI-native tools to bring transparency and insight to alternative asset portfolios. His background spans risk management, quantitative investing, and data-driven systems design.

John Kalfayan

John Kalfayan is a Forward Deployed Engineer at collide., working with energy companies to implement enterprise RAG platforms and AI-driven workflows. His background includes IIoT, edge computing, and oil and gas data systems.

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● https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandergras/

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/anekha/

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-honnessy/

● https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkalfayan/

Live from Software Day at The Ion, this episode brings together founders, engineers, and investors for a dynamic conversation on how modern engineering is evolving in the era of AI.

Mercury Fund Co-Founder Dan Watkins moderates a panel featuring Matt Cohen of Zen Cohen and Colin Hendricks of Omniscience. Together, they explore how AI is reshaping engineering paradigms, team structures, and traditional talent strategies as it becomes an essential tool for building and scaling software companies.

This conversation goes beyond tools and automation — it highlights the enduring importance of mentorship, community, and human-centered product thinking in building durable companies.

🎧 Episode Highlights

• 06:19 – Introduction to the panel and modern engineering in an AI-driven world

🔑 Key Takeaways

• AI is transforming how software is built, but strong engineering fundamentals remain critical. Clean code, rigorous testing, and thoughtful data design are even more important in an AI-enabled workflow. AI should be treated as a collaborator — not a shortcut.

• AI expands who can build software and changes how teams are structured. Founders, product leaders, and designers can move faster, but scaling still requires experience, judgment, and knowing when to bring in deep technical expertise.

• Companies that thrive in today’s AI-driven landscape are those that prioritize human perspective. Mentorship, community, and human-centered product thinking remain essential to building durable products and teams.

👤 Guest Spotlight

Dan Watkins

Dan works closely with founders to build and scale technology companies, focusing on engineering strategy, product-market fit, and long-term value creation. He also co-founded Quicksilver Labs, a venture studio designed to accelerate company formation and product development. His expertise includes connecting founders with capital, mentorship, and the infrastructure needed to grow durable, venture-backed businesses.

Matt Cohen

Matt works with CEOs and leadership teams to design and scale modern software organizations. With over three decades of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and engineer, he focuses on AI, data, and machine learning. His portfolio includes work with Toyota and Indeed, guiding AI adoption, product architecture, and engineering strategy.

Colin Hendricks

Colin leads the development of AI-powered software for clinical trials. He has worked across fintech, IoT, cybersecurity, and data-driven platforms, building scalable systems for companies such as Liongard, Enbase, and Triple Point Technology. He is known for translating complex, ambiguous needs into revenue-generating software products across big data, time series analytics, data science, and AI.

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Heath Butler goes live from Software Day at The Ion with newly appointed managing director John Reale to talk about Houston’s growing innovation ecosystem. They spotlight the push to make The Ion a founder-centric platform, one that gives startups real value through capital, talent, and resources. During the live Q&A, founders in the audience share what they need most, including stronger hiring pipelines, easier access to capital, and better support systems. The conversation makes one thing clear: building a thriving Houston innovation hub will take collective momentum and alignment across the community.

🎧

●       [01:44]: Introduction to Today Is Day One and guest John Reale

●       [08:49]: The innovation cycle: How John Reale envisions The Ion helping build Houston as an innovation hub in the next ten years

●       [19:28]: Live Q&A: How The Ion can help founders access resources including access to talent, funding, and support

●       [29:42]: Founder Advantage Program: A platform designed to remove friction, compress time, and compound outcomes at its core

●       [33:25]: Building success together at The Ion

🔑 Key Takeaways:

●       The Ion is more than just a building, it’s a founder-centric platform that delivers real advantages whether it’s access to talent, knowledge, customers, and capital. It should function like a product that removes friction, compresses time, and compounds founder outcomes from “Day One.”

●       Houston has a unique, shared opportunity to redesign its innovation economy and become a vibrant ecosystem. The city is positioned to build a new category of innovation district, one designed around coordinated incentives, collaborative infrastructure, and modern venture acceleration.

●       Building the ecosystem requires active participation and collective effort from all fronts. The live Q&A illustrates how founders need real-time, hands-on support, and the community must show up for them. The Ion’s success depends on founders, investors, corporates, and partners engaging, giving back, and co-creating the

👤 Guest Spotlight:

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Stay Connected:

●      https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-jr-reale-75a46810/

●      https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathbutler/

Heath Butler goes live from Software Day at The Ion with newly appointed managing director John Reale to talk about Houston’s growing innovation ecosystem. They spotlight the push to make The Ion a founder-centric platform, one that gives startups real value through capital, talent, and resources. During the live Q&A, founders in the audience share what they need most, including stronger hiring pipelines, easier access to capital, and better support systems. The conversation makes one thing clear: building a thriving Houston innovation hub will take collective momentum and alignment across the community.

🎧

●       [01:44]: Introduction to Today Is Day One and guest John Reale

●       [08:49]: The innovation cycle: How John Reale envisions The Ion helping build Houston as an innovation hub in the next ten years

●       [19:28]: Live Q&A: How The Ion can help founders access resources including access to talent, funding, and support

●       [29:42]: Founder Advantage Program: A platform designed to remove friction, compress time, and compound outcomes at its core

●       [33:25]: Building success together at The Ion

🔑 Key Takeaways:

●       The Ion is more than just a building, it’s a founder-centric platform that delivers real advantages whether it’s access to talent, knowledge, customers, and capital. It should function like a product that removes friction, compresses time, and compounds founder outcomes from “Day One.”

●       Houston has a unique, shared opportunity to redesign its innovation economy and become a vibrant ecosystem. The city is positioned to build a new category of innovation district, one designed around coordinated incentives, collaborative infrastructure, and modern venture acceleration.

●       Building the ecosystem requires active participation and collective effort from all fronts. The live Q&A illustrates how founders need real-time, hands-on support, and the community must show up for them. The Ion’s success depends on founders, investors, corporates, and partners engaging, giving back, and co-creating the ecosystem together.

👤 Guest Spotlight:

For More Information:

Produced by Speakerbox Media.

For more episodes, visit Mercuryfund.com/content/

Stay Connected:

●      https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-jr-reale-75a46810/

●      https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathbutler/

Capitalizing on emerging market trends is an essential component of startup success. In today's session, Remington Tonar, co-founder of Cart.com, and Josh Teekell, founder and CEO of SmartAC.com, tackle their combined experiences in fast-growing startups to bring new insights to founders and aspiring business leaders. Together, they share how to recognize opportunities early, adapt to shifts in customer behavior and align your company for growth when the market changes. This episode was recorded at Software Day at the Ion.

Key Insights & Timestamps:

Key Takeaways: 

Early Days vs Future Success: For Cart and SmartAC, responding to market needs was extremely important for early success, but maintaining and scaling required mobility and adapting. Listening to customers, thinking about multiple perspectives, and knowing when to change focus is essential in responding to trends without risking investor dollars.  

Market Signal vs Trend Noise: Josh Teekell isn’t afraid to get stubborn when it comes to finding your right market fit. “I think the mindset of the entrepreneur and their resolve to make it happen is the most important thing.” Josh advocates for entrepreneurs having resolve in their ideas and to stay in alignment with their vision. 

Vision vs Strategy: Remington believes that entrepreneurs have to maintain a distinction between vision and strategy to stay true to themselves. “The vision tells us the end, and you just may need to find a different [strategy to get there.” Remington thinks that building a brand and fitting your market takes time, especially when you’re educating your market. 

Guest Spotlight: 
Remington Tonar 
Remington Tonar is the Co-Founder of Cart.com. He has a background in innovation and growth consulting for both Fortune 500s and early stage venture capital. 

Josh Teekell 
Josh Teekell is the Founder and CEO of SmartAC.com. He is also the Founder and Owner of Allied Outdoor Solutions and the Founder of Mistbox.    

Heath Butler 
Heath Butler is a VC at Mercury, an early-stage venture capital firm. Heath is a venture investor, professional board director, startup advisor, author and speaker.  

Resources Mentioned: 
Mercury |mercuryfund.com, Cart.com, SmartAC.com  

For More Information: 

Produced by Speakerbox Media. For more episodes, visit Mercuryfund.com/content. 

Stay Connected: 

Remington Tonar on LinkedIn 

Josh Teekell on LinkedIn 

Heath Butler on LinkedIn 

A good Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy can make or break your early-stage company, but how do you know which strategy will yield the greatest results? Aileen Allen, Venture Partner at Mercury, meets with 3 experts— Lisa Roberts, CMO of Otto, Mike Miles, VP of RevOps at Cognite, and Sean Rohde, VP of Sales and Marketing at Kahuna— to break down GTM best practices, from hiring to design to pricing. This episode was recorded at Software Day at the Ion. 

Key Insights & Timestamps: 

Key Takeaways: 

Guest Spotlight: 

Aileen Allen 

Aileen Allen is a Venture Partner at Mercury, investing in ambitious early-stage B2B SaaS/AI founders, and was formerly a B2B SaaS GTM Exec.

Lisa Roberts

Lisa Roberts is the Chief Marketing Officer at Otto, a client communication solution for Veterinary Medicine. She is also the Chief Product Officer at Mercury.

Mike Miles

Mike Miles is the VP of Revenue Operations at Cognite, a global industrial Saas leader. Mike has worked at Fortune 500s and startups, leading RevOps and Enablement teams that drive sustainable growth.

Sean Rohde

Sean Rohde is the VP of Sales and Marketing at Kahuna, a workforce management software. Prior to Kahuna, Sean held sales leadership roles at HashiCorp and Alert Logic.

Resources Mentioned: 

Mercury |mercuryfund.com, Otto | otto.vet, Cognite | cognite.com, Kahuna | kahunaworkforce.com 

For More Information: 

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GenAI has the power and promise to transform enterprise operations, but a critical question remains: should F500 companies buy GenAI-based solutions from venture-backed companies, or should they build these next-gen platforms in-house? Heath Butler, Partner at Mercury, is joined by a panel of enterprise experts and venture-backed AI innovators for a dynamic conversation on AI adoption in the enterprise. Panel members include Benjamin Kent, CEO of Ambyint, James Gardner, Principal at KPMG, Jon Sobel, Co-Founder and CEO of Sight Machine, and David Burnley, VP of Product Innovation at Insperity. This episode was originally hosted as a panel at CXO Summit 2025.

Key Insights & Timestamps:

Key Takeaways:

Guest Spotlight:

Benjamin Kemp: CEO, Ambyint

James Gardner: Principal, KPMG

Jon Sobel: Co-Founder & CEO, Sight Machine

David Burnley: Vice President of Product Innovation, Insperity

Heath Butler: Partner, Mercury

Resources Mentioned:

Mercury | mercuryfund.com, Ambyint | ambyint.com, KPMG | kpmg.com, Sight Machine | sightmachine.com, Insperity | insperity.com

For More Information:

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What does it really take to scale product and operations in an AI first world? In this episode, three operators and investors at the forefront of this transformation share their insight and expertise: Adrian Fortino at Mercury Fund, Dan Watkins of Mercury Fund and Pelagos Forma, and Roberto Montezuma of Fractal River. Together, they’ll unpack the operational shifts needed to succeed in a world where AI isn't the add on— it's at the center of your strategy. This episode was recorded live at the CXO Summit.

Key Insights & Timestamps:

Key Takeaways:

Guest Spotlight:

Roberto Moctezuma

Roberto is an entrepreneur, board member, advisor and angel investor with over 20 years of senior executive experience in the high-tech industry. Roberto is the CEO of Fractal River, a consulting firm that helps growth startups create the strategic and operational infrastructure they need to scale faster.

Dan Watkins

Dan is a Venture Partner and Co-Founder of Mercury Fund, CEO of Pelagos Pharma, and Director and Co-Founder at OmniScience.

Adrian Fortino

Adrian is an early stage investor focusing on entrepreneurs and technology innovation originating in the U.S. Midcontinent. He is a General Partner at Mercury Fund.

Resources Mentioned:

Mercury | mercuryfund.com, Fractal River | fractalriver.com

For More Information:

Produced by Speakerbox Media. For more episodes, visit Mercuryfund.com/content/.

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