Hiro Tien

Co-Founder and GP
2018
We’re a community of investors and operators who aren’t afraid to take the riskiest leaps with founders who are just getting started. Currently investing in student and alumni founders from Harvard, Stanford, and UPenn. Our founders have raised funding from Accel, A16z, Bessemer, CRV, Khosla, Lightspeed, NEA, NFX, Sequoia, among others. Select investments (pre-seed/seed): • Unicorns and half-unicorns: Jeeves, Dandy, TRM Labs, Hightouch, Vise • $100M to $400M+: Blissway, Luxury Presence, Legacy, Peachy, Seso

2021 - 2023

Vice President
2021 - 2023
Smartly.io is one of the world’s largest SaaS digital advertising platforms, managing nearly $5B in ad spend with 700+ brands worldwide. Our leading end-to-end technology and outstanding customer service help brands such as Walmart, FanDuel, L’Oreal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Nestle, and Disney/ESPN to better reach audiences, engage creatives and learn what performs best—consistently driving scale for brand and performance across the largest media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Pinterest, TikTok, and Google. Viralspace.ai was acquired by Smartly.io in May 2021: https://medium.com/p/e62df5a1eef7/ • Corporate Development (M&A) (Nov 2022-Apr 2023) - Appointed Global VP for all things M&A, reported to President - Drove overall integration of Viralspace.ai into Smartly.io • Viralspace.ai (May 2021-Oct 2022) - Post-acquisition, owned P&L for newly established business unit, reported to Co-Founder & CEO - Led Smartly.io’s first foray into creative intelligence, brought Viralspace.ai offering to Uber, Discovery, DoorDash and others - 6 months post-acquisition, 4x-ed revenue of the standalone business unit and 3x-ed team size; integrated the company thereafter

2018 - 2021

Co-Founder and CEO
2018 - 2021
Creative intelligence SaaS platform that helps digital marketers make data-driven decisions about their ad creative. • Raised ~$2m venture capital from Quest, Switch, Plug & Play, Lightspeed, Village Global (backed by Zuck, Gates and Bezos) and Sr. execs from YouTube, Facebook, Nike and WPP • Executed go-to-market, brought on clients such as Philips, TechStyle (Fabletics), Minted and others • Attracted subsequent mango seed funding commitments from VCs and ultimately led the company to a multi 8-figure exit to Smartly.io

2018 - 2018

MBA Intern - Venture Capital
2018 - 2018
Gradient Ventures - Google's new artificial intelligence focused venture capital fund • Managed deal sourcing, performed due diligence, and conducted competitive landscape research; resulted in >$3M in investments by partners • Evaluated AI startups across different verticals: energy, aerospace, finance, communication, design, security and blockchain • Deep dive research areas: 1) AI in Content Design and 2) AI in Social Media

2018 - 2018

Associate
2018 - 2018
• Go-to-market strategy consulting for scaling of Box coaching corps from 7k to 700k clients

2018 - 2018

Research project - PT (through InSITE Fellowship)
2018 - 2018
$900 million seed-stage venture capital firm that invested in Eventbrite, Fitbit, Postmates, SendGrid, Bitly, and Wildfire • Assisted Founder and Managing Partner, Jeff Clavier, in identifying the VC firm’s first potential blockchain investment

2011 - 2017

Founder and CEO
2011 - 2017
An internet company that runs one of Brunei's largest e-commerce sites, www.socialdeal.com.bn • Founded Brunei’s first daily-deals website; Raised several rounds of six-figure investments and grew company from 2 to 15 employees at its peak with operations in Brunei, India, and Malaysia • Partnered with 450+ businesses to create deals that have attracted >20% of Brunei’s population to follow our social network channels; Delivered over US$3 million in revenue to merchants • Captured 100% of Brunei’s daily-deals market even after well-funded international competitors started to move in; Sustained market leadership by leading team to win 6 national ICT awards, gain media attention, and secure governmental support; Competitors withdrew from market

2015 - 2017

Founder and CEO
2015 - 2017
Sherlock-themed escape game establishment offering real-life mystery crime games • Founded Brunei’s first detective-themed escape game company; Led team of 5 in the production of original storylines, puzzles and soundtracks for all our games • Grew the company into the most reviewed (500+ reviews with avg. rating of 4.8/5.0), most followed (9000+ followers on Instagram) and largest (with total of 6 games) in Brunei • Orchestrated the first large-scale escape game event in Brunei and drew over 700+ participants; The result is a new revenue stream from organizing outdoor games for corporations and government departments • Some clients include: Ministry of Finance, Brunei Economic Development Board, Brunei Shell Petroleum, Brunei Shell Marketing, Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei and etc.

Founder and Investor