Venture with Grace

As the founder of Eeagli, James combines his passion for data visualization and investment writing to create compelling and engaging content for the financial industry. With over 15 years of experience in investment management, equities, and fixed income, James's mission is to transform complex data and insights into memorable stories that connect companies with their audience and communicate their brand story.

James Joaquin is an early-stage investor in world positive startups building breakthrough technologies that move humanity forward. He is passionate about the responsible use of AI to solve the unsolvable across trillion-dollar industries. As a co-founder of Obvious, he has led investments for the firm that span advanced materials (Diamond Foundry), plant-based protein (Beyond Meat), and labor marketplaces (Incredible Health).

Entrepreneur and personal branding expert, Casey Adams, kicked off his career at 17 with his acclaimed podcast, "The Casey Adams Show," now among the top 100 business podcasts worldwide. His dialogues with prominent figures like Larry King, Rick Ross, and Maye Musk, have enriched his listeners' perspectives. As Co-Founder of MediaKits, a game-changing SaaS platform for creator analytics, Casey was integral to its success, leading to its acquisition by Viral Nation in 2022. Casey continues to innovate in the tech sphere, building new companies and leveraging his expertise to make strategic investments, shaping the future of the industry.

Zach DeWitt is a partner at Wing, bringing firsthand founder experience to the startups and founders he works with—most of which are product-led growth (PLG) SaaS, AI-powered applications, and Web3.

With over 18 years of experience in the cybersecurity field, Nir Polak is a venture partner at SignalFire, a data-driven venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. Nir is also an investor and board member at Dig Security, a cloud-based security platform that automates threat detection and response. Additionally, Nir is the co-founder and chairman of the board at Exabeam, a leading provider of user and entity behavior analytics solutions. Nir has multiple skills in start-up environment, strategic partnerships, and start-ups, and Nir has a passion for building innovative and scalable products that solve complex security challenges. Nir is driven by the mission of empowering security teams with the best tools and insights to protect their organizations and customers. Nir brings diverse perspectives and experiences to the cybersecurity industry, and Nir values collaboration, creativity, and customer satisfaction.

Chris Harper is a VC at Torch Capital. Before Torch, Chris was an early-stage investor at Red Sea Ventures, a New York-based fund focused on consumer and consumerized B2B businesses. While at Columbia Business School, Chris was president of the VC Fellows program. As a fellow, he spent a year with General Catalyst developing a thesis on consumer services for the new millennial family. Chris was also a member of the New York investment team for Rough Draft Ventures, investing in pre-seed and seed companies founded by students. Earlier in his career, Chris ran edtech investing programs for the Department of Education at Luminary Labs for three years and worked in the Goldman Sachs trading division for two years. Chris graduated from Yale with a BA in History, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Han Shen is the Founding Partner of iFly. VC. Han’s career in venture capital started in 2009 and has spanned at VantagePoint and Formation 8, where he was the first hire on the investment team. He led and/or contributed to the investment in Motive Drilling (acquired by Helmerich & Payne), Lucid (acquired by Acuity), Comfy (acquired by Siemens), Oculus (acquired by Facebook), Taxon (acquired by DuPont), and AlertMe (acquired by British Gas). Earlier in his career, Han worked for Rohm and Haas Company, the largest US specialty chemical company, where he was credited as key inventor of four US patents.

Amy Nauiokas is a transformational CEO, founder, governor and advocate who has spent three decades running and building purpose-led organizations at the intersection of access, equity, and innovation. She has dedicated her career to seeing around corners and leading teams to uncover what could be rather than accepting the status quo.

When it comes to the business of women, Ali knows a golden opportunity when she sees it. As one of the very first employees at Refinery29 — a company that now has over 450 employees globally — Ali was tasked with building an ad and brand partnerships business from the ground up. She answered this challenge by assembling a world-class team that integrated custom collaboration with brands across every core business pillar— from editorial and design, to product and consumer marketing. Under her leadership, the sales team generated tens of millions of dollars in just four years, slotting Refinery29 a spot on Inc500 for three consecutive years.

Charlotte Ross is a Partner of Inspired Capital. Prior to Inspired Capital, Charlotte was an Associate at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). At NEA, she led investments in The Wing, Mejuri, CoEdition and Choosy. Charlotte served on the Boards of those companies in addition to the Boards of Duolingo, Framebridge and Landit. Charlotte also spent three months working at Tamara Mellon, an NEA portfolio company, prior to their launch. Charlotte began her career as an Investment Banking analyst in the Technology, Media and Telecom group at Goldman Sachs, where she worked on a variety of M&A and capital markets transactions for software and consumer internet companies. Charlotte has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital and earned a B.A. in Economics from Yale University.