Investors with hands-on product and engineering experience
Explore founders, engineers and product leaders who built software before moving into investing. These profiles explain the systems, products and organisations behind the job titles.
Which investors have built software products or led engineering teams?
Cal Henderson co-founded Slack and led its technology organisation. Joff Redfern led Atlassian’s product portfolio; Deedy Das built Glean Assistant. Mark Scianna deployed Palantir products with customers, and Jamesin Seidel built large-scale anti-spam systems at Twitter.
Compare the work behind the names
| Person & current role | Documented experience | Why a founder might compare it |
|---|---|---|
| Cal HendersonAngel investor | Co-founded Slack and led engineering, research and design. | Technical leadership and scaling a software organisation.Profile & public sources ↗ |
| Joff RedfernMenlo Ventures Partner | Led Jira, Confluence and Trello as Atlassian CPO. | Product portfolio and organisational leadership.Profile & public sources ↗ |
| Deedy DasMenlo Ventures Partner | Founding-team Glean engineer; creator and product lead of Glean Assistant. | Enterprise search and AI product development.Profile & public sources ↗ |
| Mark SciannaForward Deployed VC General Partner | Built and deployed Palantir Forward with military users. | Customer-facing engineering and demanding implementations.Profile & public sources ↗ |
| Jamesin SeidelChapter One General Partner | Built Twitter anti-spam models and Chapter One’s data systems. | High-volume production systems and data infrastructure.Profile & public sources ↗ |
| Siddharth RamakrishnanScale Venture Partners Partner | Led Attentive AI products and earlier product and engineering teams. | AI evaluation, targeting and engineering execution.Profile & public sources ↗ |
| Mia LewinTheFounderVC Founding Partner | Founded StyleGenome; later led Wayfair personalisation. | AI commerce products and the founder-to-acquirer transition.Profile & public sources ↗ |
How to use this comparison
Separate product portfolio leadership from hands-on engineering and customer deployment. Match the operating stage and problem to your own needs rather than assuming that experience at a recognisable company covers every function.
This is a curated comparison of public career histories. It is not a complete investor list, a ranking, or confirmation that anyone accepts pitches or provides advice. Venture investing, growth finance, research and venture-firm operating roles are identified separately.
Use each profile’s source links to check the underlying biography. Read how we curate this directory.
Experience summaries are sourced through the linked profiles; founder relevance is Win from Europe’s editorial interpretation.