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The Future of AI, Venture Capital & Platforms
We are thrilled to host Proven Summit 2025 in San Francisco, an exclusive gathering for venture capital decision-makers, platform leaders, and ecosystem builders. This year, we’re diving deep into the intersection of AI and venture capital, exploring how emerging technologies are transforming the way platforms scale, invest, and support founders. Expect cutting-edge discussions on AI-driven investment strategies, the evolution of VC platforms, and the future of venture ecosystems.
Join us and be part of the conversation that defines what’s next.
Speakers
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Jeremiah Owyang
General Partner, Blitzscaling Ventures
Jeremiah is a venture capitalist at Blitzscaling VC, specializing in early-stage investments across the AI landscape with a focus on startups positioned for rapid growth and market transformation. He backs bold technical founders building foundational AI infrastructure and agent-based applications.
Anduena Zhubi
Director of Business
Anduena joined Crosslink in October 2022 as Director of Business Development. Her priority is to accelerate top-line growth for the firm's burgeoning portfolio of technology companies. Prior to Crosslink, Anduena managed global business development and partnerships at Microsoft & M12—Microsoft's Venture Fund.
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Jim Wilson
Partner, Costanoa Ventures
Jim is a Partner at Costanoa Ventures, where he works closely with early-stage founders to develop sales strategies and build high-performing go-to-market teams. He specializes in founder-led sales, enterprise sales, and crafting scalable routes to market that accelerate early traction and long-term growth.
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Joel Denis
Founder and Partner, Foundry Law
Joel is the Founder and Partner of Foundry Law, where he provides legal counsel to startups, investors, and emerging companies across all stages of growth. Joel partners closely with founders to navigate complex legal landscapes and build resilient, scalable businesses.
Rob Ferguson
Head of AI, Microsoft for Startups
Rob Ferguson is the Head of AI at Microsoft for Startups, where he leads initiatives to help emerging companies integrate and scale artificial intelligence solutions. With over two decades of experience in AI and machine learning, Rob has held pivotal roles in both startups and major tech firms.
Meredith Parsons
VC Operating Partner, Offline Ventures
Meredith supports founders by fostering radical collaboration, championing founder well-being, and driving operational excellence across the portfolio. She brings a diverse background spanning education, nonprofit leadership, and venture capital.
Jiong Liu
VP, Product Marketing, Wiz
Jiong is Vice President of Product Marketing at Wiz, the fast-growing cloud security leader. She drives go-to-market strategy, positioning, and messaging across Wiz’s platform, helping enterprises understand and adopt modern approaches to securing cloud infrastructure.
Yaad Oren
Global Head of SAP Research & Innovation, SAP
Yaad leads dual organizations at SAP as Managing Director of SAP Labs U.S. and Global Head of Research & Innovation, driving the exploration of emerging technologies and development of early-stage products. They cultivate innovation ecosystems and foster cross-functional collaboration to accelerate productization and deliver customer value.
Clarissa Kim
Content Manager, Slauson & Co.
Clarissa is a Content Coordinator at Slauson & Co. with a background in product development and marketing. Before joining Slauson & Co., she interned with PledgeLA, Grid110, and several startups, gaining experience in programming, community management, and product management. She also founder her own Music Tech Startup in her junior year.
Attendees
Edith Yeung
General Partner, Race Capital
Edith Yeung is a General Partner at Race Capital - an early-stage Silicon Valley venture capital fund investing in all things infrastructure. Edith is the seed investor in Solana (has been dubbed one of the best venture investments of all time.)
Michael King
Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
Michael King is a partner on the Go-To-Market Network team, advising on go-to-market strategy across the portfolio. Before joining Andreessen Horowitz, Michael built and ran full-stack marketing teams for companies like VMware, IBM, and Neopoint.
Anna Kessler
Head of BD/Partnerships, LSVP
Anna is the Head of BD and partnerships where she drives strategic collaborations and expands the firm’s network. She helps portfolio companies access key industry connections, resources, and growth.
Aki Ohashi
VP, Evolution VC
Aki leverages cross-functional leadership, business development and innovation as VP in Evolution VC. a VC that works between Japan and the US, and a Seed Member at Infinity Point CDFI, a community development financial institution that helps legacy businesses convert to worker-owned enterprises.
Sabeeha Islam
VP - Portfolio, Munich RE Ventures
Sabeeha supports the growth of startups at the edge of innovation in decarbonization and transportations. She specializes in the development of bespoke risk transfer solutions on new technologies that enable offtake and improve project bankability.
Taylor Parker
Director, LSVP
Taylor is a Director at LSVP providing access, resources, and insights to global enterprise leaders and senior government stakeholders exploring top emerging technology solutions.
Oscar Wong
Head of Strategy, Gold House Ventures
Oscar leads the development and execution of strategic initiatives, driving innovation and growth in the venture capital and startup ecosystem and works closely with industry leaders to gain new opportunities for Gold House.
Stephanie Volk
Head of Platform, Ironspring VC
Stephanie is a community builder and leads strategic initiatives to enhance the ecosystem for their portfolio companies. Ironspring is a sector-focused, early-stage VC firm, catalyzing change across the industrial supply chain.
Alison Berman
Sr. Manager, Valo Ventures
Alison manages research, insights, and communications at Valo Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm that invests in solutions addressing climate change, circular economy, and empowered people.
Cliff Worley
Head of Portfolio, Kapor Capital
Kapor Capital is a VC firm dedicated to investing in and fostering the growth of diverse, innovative startups. Cliff plays a pivotal role in shaping and implementing strategic initiatives to drive the growth and success of our diverse portfolio of companies with a keen focus on marketing strategies.
Halyna Vasylevska
Sector Lead, Munich RE Ventures
Halyna leads Portfolio Development for Cybersecurity & Privacy and Life & Health verticals for the venture capital arm of the world's biggest reinsurance company with $1.2bln under management.
Scott Brown
Partner, Cervin Ventures
Scott leads the Platform initiatives and team empowering their early-stage, B2B technology startups to find product market fit and scale revenue efficiently.
Matthew Wright
Venture Advisor Partner, Shucker VC
Matthew is a Venture Advisor Partner at Shucker VC, where he supports portfolio companies with go-to-market strategies, business development, and scaling initiatives. Matthew helps early-stage startups navigate challenges and accelerate growth through strategic guidance and operational expertise.
Shannon Mooney
Portfolio and Operations Manager, Susa Ventures
Shannon is a Portfolio Services lead at Susa Ventures, where she supports founders with strategic resources, operational guidance, and community connections. Shannon plays a key role in helping early-stage companies scale effectively and build strong foundations for growth.
Laura Buckingham-Thomas
Director, Norwest Venture Partners
Laura is a Director at Norwest Venture Partners, where she focuses on investing in early to growth-stage companies across consumer and technology sectors. With deep experience in brand strategy, operational scaling, and venture investing, Laura supports portfolio companies with strategic guidance to drive long-term growth and value creation.
Ted Wint
Head of Platform, Gold House Ventures
Ted is the Head of Platform at Gold House Ventures, where he leads founder support, ecosystem partnerships, and community-building initiatives. With a background in venture operations and startup acceleration, Ted has been instrumental in developing programs and networks that empower diverse founders to scale and succeed.
Esther Kim
Manager of Executive Talent and Community, Notable Capital
Esther Kim is the Manager of Executive Talent and Community at Notable Capital, where she leads executive recruiting and talent network initiatives to support the firm’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining Notable, Esther built and led executive sourcing and talent intelligence functions at DoorDash
Takiyah Hartwell
Talent Manager, Westbound Equity Partners
Takiyah Hartwell is the Talent Manager at Westbound Equity Partners, where she leads the Westbound Talent Network, advising portfolio companies on recruitment strategies and connecting exceptional candidates to impactful opportunities.
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Chelsea Dvorak
Head of Operations, Matter Venture Partners
Chelsea Dvorak is Head of Operations at Matter Venture Partners, where she oversees the firm’s operational strategy and execution. She supports the fund’s infrastructure, team operations, and portfolio enablement initiatives.
Angela Azem
VP of Operations, Acrew Capital
Angela Azem is the Vice President of Operations at Acrew Capital, where she also serves as Chief of Staff to the investment team. In this dual role, she collaborates closely with investors to provide operational support to both current and prospective entrepreneurs.
Kari McLeod
Partnerships Director, SVB
Kari joined Silicon Valley Bank as Director of Partnerships to lead and scale strategic relationships across the venture ecosystem. Her focus is on empowering VC firms, accelerators, and other ecosystem partners to better support high-growth startups.
Jimmy Harkin
PE & VC GTM Lead, Wiz
Jim is GTM Lead at Wiz, responsible for building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, identifying new business opportunities, and strategically positioning Wiz to meet the needs of Private Equity and Venture Capital clients and their portfolios.
Martin Roeck
Director of Operations, Working Capital Fund
Martin joined WCF with over a decade of experience in corporate innovation, data-driven management, and social impact partnerships. Prior to WCF, he worked at the World Bank Group in various roles, including the Climate Change Department, the Office of the CEO and the Donor and Partner Relations team.
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Anna Nitschke
COO/CFO, Activate Capital
Anna is the COO & CFO at Activate, where she leads day-to-day and strategic operations across finance, legal, compliance, investor relations, and general administration. Prior to Activate, Anna was CFO at Pear VC, where she managed all financial functions of the firm and its funds
Milica Iličić
Director of Communications, Moonshot Capital
Milica began at Moonshots Capital as a contract researcher and now serves as Director of Communications, leading strategic communications, brand management, events, and public relations while continuing to apply deep research and writing expertise.
Samira Agarwal
Venture Partner, YouWeb
Samira leads portfolio operations at YouWeb and drives GTM strategy and growth across companies in generative AI, climate tech, and edTech, helping founders scale through targeted execution and strategic support.
Craig Dalton
VP, Portfolio, Collaborative Fund
Craig is responsible for developing resources and relationships to benefit our portfolio founders. In addition to building resources, He directly advises founders as well as representing the fund as a board member.
Krista Peters
Leading Operations, Premji Invest
investing across Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise SaaS, Fintech, and Healthcare. The proceeds and profits generated from our investing activities are in support of the Azim Premji Foundation with the mission to create a just and equitable society.
Soo Song
Head of Marketing, WestBridge Capital
Soo currently serves as Head of Marketing at WestBridge Capital, where she spearheads WestBridge's external brand, events and communications strategy, in addition to elevating our entrepreneurs across US and India.
Eva Maria Olbers
Head of Value Creation, Premji Invest
Eva leads Value Creation at Premji Invest, investing across Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise SaaS, Fintech, and Healthcare. Prior to joining PI, Eva was an Operating Partner at Point72 Ventures.
Amanda Irizarry
Chief of Staff, Westbound Equity Partners
Amanda is Chief of Staff at Westbound. Prior to joining the Westbound team, she managed a $300M+ portfolio of grants at Google.org to support innovators tackling humanity’s biggest challenges.
Cici Ceralde
Director of Venture Insights, McKesson Ventures
Cici brings a decade of consulting experience to her role in Venture Insights. Prior to joining McKesson Ventures, she worked at Slalom Consulting, focused on technology transformations and digital product strategies for healthcare and life sciences companies.
Emmanuelle Uy
Finance and Portfolio Operations Analyst, Activate Capital
Emman leads data operations at Activate Capital, overseeing end-to-end systems that support portfolio and fund management—from deal execution and portfolio data collection to investor reporting and analytics.
Kelly O'Rourke
Director of Operations, Good Friends Venture Capital
Kelly leads operations at Good Friends Venture Capital, driving firm-wide execution across portfolio support, internal systems, and strategic initiatives, and works closely with partners to scale operational efficiency and strengthen founder relationships.
Shir Taushtein
Director, Investor Relations & Communications, Arkin Capital
Shir partners with leadership at Arkin Capital to shape firm-wide strategy, leading communications and business development initiatives, and oversees brand positioning, investor relations, and engagement systems to strengthen Arkin’s presence in the venture ecosystem
Alvin Kim
Director of Marketing, TriplePoint Capital
Alvin leads marketing strategy and execution at TriplePoint Capital, supporting growth in the venture-backed ecosystem across sectors like AI, SaaS, security, and digital health, and works closely with founders and investors to amplify TriplePoint’s value and market presence.
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Vanessa Camozzi
Director of Talent, Next47 Ventures
Vanessa supports early-stage B2B enterprise investments at Next47, where she works closely with portfolio companies to build recruiting infrastructure and people strategies. She helps drive executive hiring efforts and expands the firm’s network.
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Brian Quinn
Partner, PruVen Capital
Brian leads platform engagement and drives value creation between the firm’s limited partners and portfolio companies. Prior to joining PruVen, he served as Chief Distribution Officer at Sayata, an InsurTech platform simplifying the placement of SMB commercial risks.
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Jeffrey Fleming
Senior Operations Associate, Blue Bear Capital
Jeffrey supports fund operations, portfolio engagement, and platform strategy for early-stage investments in digital technologies transforming energy and infrastructure at Blue Bear Capital.
Kareem Fahmy
Ecosystem Partnerships, TDK Ventures
Kareem builds and develops trusted Global 2000 and relevant partnerships to benefit start-up portfolio companies; driving alignment and strong relationships with C-suite executives to assist with value creation and business growth.
Ciara Mullarkey
Market Analyst, IDA Ireland
Ciara is supporting high-growth tech companies with European expansion. She provides access to a talent pool, drawn from existing industrial and educational base and beyond.
Sean Park
Managing Director, Citizens Private Bank
Sean Park is a managing director in Citizens Private Bank’s Venture and Innovation Group. Sean provides advice and guidance to venture capital firms utilizing his over twenty years of experience in the venture capital industry. Prior to Citizens Private Bank, Sean held a similar role at First Republic Bank where he helped build the bank’s value-add platform for emerging venture firms.
Leyla Katukhina
Senior VP, Global Gateway, SVB
Leyla is responsible for expanding the global presence, managing relationships with key partners and clients for SVB, a renowned financial institution specializing in providing banking and financial services to startups, VCs, and Tech Companies.
Safa Aliabadi
Man. Director, Citizens Private Bank
Safa Aliabadi has joined Citizens Private Bank as Managing Director. Citizens Private Bank provides holistic, high-touch client service to high-net-worth individuals, families, and businesses. Safa leads the tech practice for her team, focusing on startups.
Joanna Zanghi
Startup Banking Associate, SVB
Joanna is responsible for helping to identify potential investment opportunities and building with them, as well as potential partners to enable global expansion for Silicon Valley Bank.
Lisa Haffey
Head of VC, Global PE, SAP Concur
Lisa helps portfolio companies gain control over employee spend and manage cash flow more effectively. Their team helps increase operational efficiency by reducing administrative work.
Alan Mcglinchey
Senior Manager, Intercom
Alan partners with Venture Capital firms, Angel Investors, Accelerators, and Incubators to bring Intercom's startup program to their portfolio companies and community.
Summit Agenda
Join us for a day of insights, connections, and innovation
Morning
9:30 - 10am
Welcome Breakfast & Check-In
Sponsor: SAP Labs | Lobby / Flex Hall
10:00 - 10:20am
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Philip McNamara (Proven) | Flex Hall
SAP Welcome
Jeanine LeFlore (SAP) | Flex Hall
Wiz Welcome
Jiong Liu (Wiz) | Flex Hall
10:30-11am
Guest Speaker: Jeremiah Owyang (Blitscaling VC)
ROI VC Ecosystem
11am - 11:10am
BREAK
11:10am - 11:40am
Guest Speaker: Clarissa Kim (Slauson and Co)
The AI Content Toolkit: Practical Workflows to Elevate Content Quality | Flex Hall
11:40am- 11:45am
BREAK
11:45am - 12:15pm
Guest Speaker: Yaad Oren (SAP)
Emerging technology,
hyperpersonalization, what we should be
investing in | Flex Hall
hyperpersonalization, what we should be
investing in | Flex Hall
Midday
12:15pm - 1:15pm
LUNCH
Sponsor: SAP Labs | DTR
1:30pm - 2:00pm
Guest Speaker: Rob Ferguson (Microsoft)
AI for VC | Flex Hall
2:00pm - 2:30 pm
Break Out Session 1
Anduena Zhubi (Crosslink Capital), Jim Wilson (Costanoa Ventures) | Flex Hall
2:00pm - 2:30 pm
Break Out Session 2
Joel Denis (Foundry Law) | Flex Hall
2:30 pm - 2:45 pm
BREAK
2:45 - 3:30 pm
Fireside Chat - Panel
Wayne Brown (SAP), Meredith Parsons (Offline Ventures) | Flex Hall
Afternoon/Evening
3:30 - 4:15pm
Host speaker: Philip McNamara (Proven)
Top AI tools in 2025 and how platform teams can help promote portfolio companies using Proven.
4:30 - 5:30pm
Happy Hour
Networking | DTR
6:30-8pm
Sponsors & Speakers Dinner by SVB
Invite - only
Sponsors
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