Startup Salon

Curious about startups? Interested in how founders channel their creativity, talents, and grit to tackle problems that matter? Join us for an evening of candid conversation with successful venture capital investor Miles Bird and venture-backed CEO Sunil Rajaraman! Hear their stories, ask your questions, and connect with inspiring change-makers from the the Claremont Colleges!

Miles Bird — Claremont McKenna College ’13

Miles Bird CMC’13 is the Founder and Managing Partner of StoryHouse Ventures, a VC that backs the brightest entrepreneurs from the Claremont Colleges ecosystem tackling big problems with revolutionary solutions. Before StoryHouse, Miles spent a decade as an investor at Silicon Valley venture capital firms and was the first hire at startup accelerator K50. He led early investments in companies like fintech unicorn Alloy, HR automation leader CodeSignal, and Gabi (acquired by Experian). Miles’ entrepreneurial journey started as a student at the Claremont Colleges. He took a leave between his sophomore and junior years to found Khan Investment Management, an investment and advisory group focused on Mongolia-related equities. Upon returning, he founded the Randall Lewis Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Claremont McKenna College.

Sunil Rajaraman — 

Sunil Rajaraman is the Founder of Hamlet, a company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to make public information easier to understand. Hamlet’s starting point is extracting key data from City Council and Planning Commission meetings to make it easier to understand how cities make decisions on real estate development. Prior to Hamlet, Sunil co-founded Scripted.com, a marketplace for businesses to hire freelance writers. Scripted was acquired in 2017, and raised $20M from Crosslink Capital, Redpoint Ventures and others. Sunil was on the Founding Team of Radiance Labs, which sold to Bloomreach in 2023 – Radiance Labs was backed by NEA and Foundation Capital. Sunil owned and operated The Bold Italic, a local San Francisco publication, which he sold to Medium in 2019. He has held executive roles, including CMO of Metromile, and VP of Marketing at GoodRx. Sunil’s writing has appeared in Forbes, Fortune, The Information Techcrunch and others. He once ran one of the top 200 podcasts in the US. Sunil resides in Orinda, CA where he serves on a public commission.

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