Team

Hadley is a co-founder and General Partner at Eniac Ventures. He focuses on AI-native companies, including the agent layer, tooling, data infrastructure, and foundation-level technologies. He also leads the firm’s strategic direction.

Before becoming a VC himself, Hadley built two successful, VC-backed startups. He joined Vlingo in 2007, working with talented AI founders out of MIT to manage aspects of the business across product, strategy, and marketing, until the company was sold to Nuance for $225M. He then became Chief Business Officer at Thumb, a real-time recommendation app that reached user engagement levels second only to Facebook and was ultimately acquired by YPulse.

He began his career as a developer and engineering team lead at Pegasystems, later taking on roles as a product manager at Microsoft and strategist at Samsung (where he realized that big company life isn’t for him).

Hadley grew up in downtown Boston, where he started his first company Beantown Odd Jobs at the age of 13 (ask him about the marketing campaign that involved fake parking tickets!). He now lives in New York City with his wife and sons, and outside the office, he enjoys yoga, meditation, mixing music, and beating Nihal in tennis.

Hadley is passionate about improving the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a passion stemming from his close relationship with his brother Traves. He is a Board Director for Cardinal Cushing Centers, which serves adults and children with intellectual disabilities across 4 campuses.

He’s still paying off student loans for his MBA from Wharton and bachelors in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Text Link

Nihal Mehta

Co-founder & General Partner

Nihal Mehta

.png)

Nihal Mehta

Role

Co-founder & General Partner

Visit

Notable investments

Alloy

Brightwheel

Definitive Intelligence - Acquired by Groq - Acquired by Nvidia

Dubsmash - Acquired by Reddit

Ghost

Ginger - Acquired by Headspace

Hyper - Acquired by Motorola

mParticle - Acquired by Rokt

Rippit

Vistar Media - Acquired by T-Mobile

Vungle - Acquired by Blackstone

Recent Investments

Notable writing

At Eniac, we call Nihal the human Rolodex—he’s built thousands of connections with the world’s top companies and brands, often the hard way. Since 1999, he founded five startups: Philly2nite → UrbanGroove → Chapter 7 bankruptcy; ipsh! → acquired by Omnicom (NYSE: OMC); buzzd → LocalResponse → acquired by BlueCava. The scars are real, and so are the stories.

Nihal started investing early, spotting breakout companies like AdMob (acquired by Google), Alloy, Brightwheel, Tala, and Uber. He and his wife are now active angel investors and LPs backing nearly 100 underrepresented founders and fund managers.

He’s also deeply committed to giving back. Nihal co-founded Project Ahimsa, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to disadvantaged youth in India—where his parents immigrated from in the early ’70s. He also helped launch Help Main Street to support restaurants during the pandemic, and The 100k Pledge, a platform tracking economic empowerment in Black communities.

You’ll often find Nihal running along the Hudson River with founders and the Pitch & Run crew, or spending time with his wife Reshma—founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First—and their two boys, Shaan and Sai. Their bernedoodle Steve (RIP Stan) is always close by.

Nihal’s also the engine behind Eniac’s social events and the host of the Human Unicorn Pod, now streaming on Spotify and YouTube.

He holds a BA in Philosophy and a BSE in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

‍

Text Link

Tim Young

Co-founder & General Partner

Tim Young

Role

Co-founder & General Partner

Notable investments

Parallel - Acquired by iCapital

Phil

Propelo - Acquired by Harness

Raken - Acquired by Sverica

Shaper - Acquired by Festool

Trim - Acquired by OneMain Financial

Workflow - Acquired by Apple

Recent Investments

Notable writing

4 Reasons Why Veterans Make Ideal Founders

Previous Next

Notable writing

Tim Young is a Founding General Partner at Eniac Ventures, with two entrepreneurial exits and more than 25 years of experience investing in over 100 early-stage startups.

Tim invests across defense and intelligence technology, healthcare, security, and legal tech. Drawing on his background in the Intelligence Community, he works closely with founders building for national security and complex regulated markets.

He began coding at age ten, when his mother taught him Fortran, and later studied engineering before becoming a patent attorney and technology entrepreneur. Prior to co-founding Eniac in 2009, Tim founded Bridge, an enterprise software company in Beijing that he led to an eight-figure exit. Earlier, he led product at Quoteship, a B2B logistics marketplace that exited to Logistics.com (NASD: ICGE). He has also held roles at ExxonMobil, BAE Systems, and Morrison & Foerster advising startups on intellectual property strategy.

Beyond venture capital, Tim serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law and previously worked as a public defender in Anchorage, Alaska. He holds a BSE in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the State Bar of California and a registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office attorney.

Inside the firm, partners call him “the closer” for his ability to secure strong partners and lead successful financings for portfolio companies.

When not working, Tim can be found exploring the mountains and oceans — he is an avid surfer and sailor.

‍

Text Link

Kristin McDonald

Partner

Kristin McDonald

Role

Partner

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Kristin is a partner at Eniac Ventures where she invests in B2B technology with a focus on vertical AI. She is particularly excited about founders working to transform antiquated or inefficient systems, including within healthcare, supply chain, and industrials.

Before joining Eniac she worked as a long/short equity analyst at Point72, investing in a broad range of public companies across both consumer and TMT.

Kristin graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College, where she studied Environmental Studies and Chinese. Outside of work she loves to travel and is an avid surfer and sailor.

Text Link

Mike Witkowski

CFO

Mike Witkowski

Role

CFO

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Mike is a Chief Financial Officer with over 25 years of experience in financial services, including 18 years of experience in venture capital. He has a deep understanding of the industry and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company's finance, compliance, back office, legal, and operations functions. His expertise is instrumental in building solid foundations for Eniac's continuous growth. Mike began his career in Poland in commercial banking. After moving to the United States in 2000, he transitioned to financial services, focusing on hedge fund operations and then venture capital, where he has spent the majority of his career. Mike derives the greatest satisfaction from sharing his knowledge and brainstorming ideas, and especially from mentoring younger colleagues and helping them reach their full potential.

Mike holds a Master's degree in Accounting and Management from the University of Economics in Krakow, as well as an Executive MBA from the University of Bristol and École des Ponts.

When not working, Mike enjoys traveling and watching Formula One races. He has been a fan of the sport for many years and has traveled to numerous races around the world. He also enjoys weekend road trips, although he prefers to take things at a more leisurely pace than the high-speed races he enjoys watching. Mike places a high value on spending time with his family and friends, and he loves to share his heritage by cooking and trying recipes from his native Poland.

‍

Text Link

Michael Zhao

Principal

Michael Zhao

Role

Principal

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

NEYON

Previous Next

Notable writing

Michael is a principal at Eniac Ventures, where he invests in founders at pre-seed and seed with a focus on AI infrastructure.

Before joining Eniac, Michael was the co-founder and CTO of Vimcal. He led engineering and product across both its consumer and enterprise businesses, which grew to serve numerous Fortune 500 customers. He knows firsthand the challenges of building product, infrastructure, and go-to-market from 0 to 1.

Alongside building Vimcal, Michael became an active angel investor, as giving product advice to new founders turned into deeper relationships and eventually first checks. Many of those checks went in before there was a deck, a name, or a business plan.

Earlier in his career, Michael was a product manager at Microsoft and Kabam, working across enterprise productivity software and mobile gaming. At Kabam, product decisions were guided by cohort analysis, LTV models, and churn predictions, years before those practices were adopted by most companies. That data-driven instinct still shapes how he approaches product decisions today.

Michael graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he double-majored in Computer Science and Environmental Economics.

Outside of work, Michael is an avid runner, surfer, and bridge player. He still enjoys hacking on side projects and contributing to open source.

‍

Text Link

Shyan Koul

Investor

Shyan Koul

Role

Investor

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Shyan Koul is an investor at Eniac Ventures, where he works with seed and pre-seed founders building AI-native companies across data, devtool, infra, and app-layer businesses.

Shyan’s interest in technology and storytelling traces back to his upbringing. Raised outside Boston by parents who immigrated from Kashmir, Shyan gravitated toward music and later toward statistics, drawn to how stories could be uncovered through both creative and analytical lenses - and how interpretation requires nuance as much as technique.

He studied Statistics and Information Systems at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also dual-degreed in International Studies. During college, Shyan became interested in the practical application of data science and machine learning to legacy industries, particularly agriculture. He worked with agtech startups on equipment financing, supply chain optimization, and farmer communications, and spent summers investing in technology companies at Raga Ventures and G Squared.

After graduating, Shyan joined Tiverton, a fast-growing agriculture-focused private equity firm in Raleigh, investing across the capital stack and working closely with mature businesses adopting data-driven practices. While the experience provided a view into scaling data systems in production environments, Shyan found his greatest energy in working with early-stage founders navigating ambiguity and building something new.

He joined Eniac in late 2024 and is inspired daily by the firm’s team, portfolio, and the founders he partners with.

Shyan is based in New York City and frequently spends time in San Francisco. Outside of work, he writes and performs music, enjoys hiking trips with friends, and takes solo trips to explore new cities. In 2023, his family returned to Kashmir for the first time since their exile, an emotionally complex but deeply meaningful experience.

https://www.shyan.world/

‍

Text Link

Dorian Rutherford

Head of Platform

Dorian Rutherford

Role

Head of Platform

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Dorian is the Head of Platform, bringing a go-to-market operator background and a builder mindset shaped by years of working directly with founders. He has spent his career helping early-stage companies scale across product, revenue, and customer experience.

Before Eniac, Dorian ran Portfolio Operations at Foundation Capital, where he partnered closely with founders on GTM strategy, customer introductions, and community building. He designed and led platform programs that connected founders with senior operators and turned early traction into durable growth.

Earlier in his career, Dorian held GTM roles at Kustomer, Meta, and Merge, focusing on practical execution and repeatable systems that help teams move faster and stay close to customers.

Dorian earned a BS in Molecular Biology from Boston University, where he developed a rigorous and analytical approach to problem-solving that still informs his work with founders today. He now lives in New York City, but takes every chance he can to escape into the outdoors, most likely on a river with a fly rod in hand.

‍

Text Link

Dan Donovan

Business Operations Manager

Dan Donovan

Role

Business Operations Manager

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Dan is Eniac’s Business Operations Manager and head traffic cop. He keeps all of our General Partners, investors, and analysts pointed in the right direction and where they need to be throughout the day. His responsibilities include calendar management for the team, maintaining our website, as well as correspondence with founders, LPs, and all of Eniac’s family of friends.

In his free time you will find Dan golfing, woodworking, and trying to be the best dad he can be to his two kids.

Dan went to the University of Rhode Island and holds a Bachelor’s in Landscape Architecture as well as a Master’s Degree in Teaching and Learning with Technology from Ashford University. He has worked in civil and environmental engineering, land development, as well as personal finance. Dan has been a military spouse for 16 years, married to a career officer in the US Navy. He has worked remotely for Eniac for several years while stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and now at Quantico, Virginia.

Text Link

Kat Choe

Office Manager

Kat Choe

Role

Office Manager

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Kathleen manages Eniac HQ office in New York City. Born and raised in New York, she brings her experience as both a production and studio manager to Eniac, having worked extensively in film, television, and theater as well as fine and installation art.

Kat holds a BFA in Film Production from New York University as well as a MFA in Acting from the New School for Drama. She was a consulting producer on AT&T’S/Tribeca Film Festival’s 2022 Untold Stories Winner Land of Gold, which is currently streaming on Max. In addition to her work in the theater, she has recurred on television in Law and Order: SVU and Maniac.

When not at work, Kat enjoys reading, writing, hiking, knitting, studying Korean and French, ice skating, movies, seeing art, hanging out with her friends and family, trying many delicious foods, and travel.

Text Link

Steve

Chef Vibes Officer

Steve

Role

Chef Vibes Officer

Visit

Notable investments

Recent Investments

Notable writing

Steve is Eniac's Chief Vibes Officer. She is a scruffy, camera-hogging Bernadoodle who joined the team in 2024 and immediately made herself indispensable. Don't let the name or that "I definitely didn't just knock something over" face fool you: Steve is 100% a lady. She runs the office with unmatched confidence and zero regard for personal space. Her responsibilities include supervising snacks, providing on-demand emotional support, and reminding everyone that the best ideas happen during a good belly rub. She has never sourced a deal, reviewed a term sheet, or closed a deal...she prefers closing her eyes mid-meeting.