When you find your people, you know.

Paul Palmieri is Managing Partner and co-founder of Grit Capital Partners, and has a focus on investments using applied AI to transform commerce, media, and martech. Paul is a zero-to-public unicorn-founder/CEO and serial entrepreneur turned 10-year student of venture investing.

Prior to founding Grit Capital Partners, he leaned into venture in roles at New Enterprise Associates and BlueRun Ventures before assembling the partnership and patiently delivering two top-decile pilot funds and over $1B in exit EV. He co-founded Millennial Media (IPO) in the mobile transition, and Incremental, an AI company in this cycle. Earlier in his career, he led mobile data for Verizon Wireless from $30M-$4B, and led teams and an industry to define the app economy, and bring advertising technology to life. He is widely recognized for this leadership. He has led the firm’s investments in more than a dozen companies. Paul currently serves on the boards of portfolio companies Niche and Incremental.

Paul is former Global Chairman of the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) and served on the board of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau). He has been a national judge for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year program, and is a winner of the award in the technology category. Paul is a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University and splits time between New York City and Maryland.

Michael Flannery is a General Partner at Grit Capital Partners and co-founder of the firm. He is deeply passionate about the entrepreneur’s journey—getting in early and working alongside founders to build industry-leading businesses. At Grit Capital Partners, his investments focus on commerce, media, and martech. Michael also curates the firm’s seed to series A acceleration curriculum.

Prior to co-founding Grit Capital Partners, Michael was the founder of Redwood Partners, a premier global technology executive search firm specializing in Board, C-suite, and executive talent. In the early 2000s, Michael also co-founded Redwood International (now Drake Star Partners), a leading investment bank and Redwood Technology Ventures to incubate and invest in cutting-edge technology startups which became the basis of his entrepreneur and executive networks.
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Michael is an active board member and strategic advisor to founders and entrepreneurs, working with companies from startup through IPOs and successful exits. Over his career, he has played a pivotal role in scaling and exiting high-growth ventures. He has led the firm’s seed investments in over a dozen companies. Michael serves on the boards of Chptr and iFundWomen.
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Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cazenovia College, where he also served as a Trustee. Committed to fostering diverse leadership in entrepreneurship, he is an active mentor to women and minority founders, helping them navigate the challenges of scaling and securing capital.

Jennifer Byrne is a General Partner at Grit Capital Partners, investing in companies in media and fintech. Jennifer has been an executive, venture investor, board advisor, and ecosystem builder in the media, telecom, and financial services sectors for the past 20 years.

Jenn co-founded Quesnay, a strategy and innovation advisory firm that delivered custom global startup accelerators with Fortune 50 companies in financial services, technology, and media. Jenn also launched the world’s first accelerator to source and support women-led fintech companies while facilitating mutually beneficial startup-corporate-investor relationships. Over 500 women-led startups have applied and been evaluated by 500+ industry leaders and investors, raising over $2B.

Before founding Quesnay, Jenn served as VP, Business Development at American Express launching a digital payment service with global partners. At Verizon, Jenn was Executive Director, Business Development & Partnerships where she was responsible for a $1B+ mobile applications & services P&L. She spearheaded Verizon’s innovation division, led 4G services launch, identified investment opportunities, and established industry-first mobile partnerships with Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Jenn is a thought leader in fintech, and was named to the “Innovate Finance Powerlist” in 2020, 2019, and 2018 (as well as ”Standout 35″), 2020 “NYC Inspiring FinTech Females,” and 2021 “Female Founders Alliance Champions.” She has been featured on the cover of AM Best, as well as in American Banker, Nasdaq TradeTalks, FNO InsurTech podcast, InsurTech Connect, among others.

Jenn is based in Santa Monica and New York and serves as Co-founder of The Female Investors Club, the Duke University SoCal Career Chairwoman, and mentor at TechStars. Jenn is a graduate of Duke University and speaks Spanish, Italian, and French.

Matthew is a General Partner at Grit Capital Partners, investing in early-stage companies across martech and fintech. Previously, he founded, led, and sold three companies: digital financial planning company BodesWell (acquired by American Express in 2022), pioneering sales enablement company Yesware (Vendasta, 2022), and an early bet on the disruptive power of mobile games WGR Media (CNET Networks, 2004). Matthew has served in executive roles at Floodgate Entertainment, CNET, Vivox, and American Express. He earned his B.A. from Naropa University and his M.B.A. magna cum laude from The Olin School for Business at Babson College. He is a longtime practitioner and teacher of meditation, translating the power of mindfulness into modern daily life. He writes about startups, meditation, financial planning, and cooking at bellowsand.co.

As Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Grit Capital Partners, Topher oversees operations for the firm including portfolio management, financial planning, compliance, investor relations, and capital formation. With a passion for aligning Limited Partners with the right opportunities, Topher takes a hands-on approach to building lasting investor relationships and enhancing capital formation efforts. He is also a trusted member of Grit’s Investment Committee.

Topher brings more than 20 years of experience in investment management to his role at Grit Capital Partners and a proven track record of helping emerging managers raise capital and scale their businesses. Previously, Topher held leadership roles at ABR Capital Partners, Sands Capital Management, Facet Wealth, and Brown Advisory. His many achievements include spearheading corporate development initiatives, investor relations, institutional sales, and developing a go-to-market strategy to drive growth.

Throughout his career, Topher has successfully developed and executed capital formation initiatives, including the launch of many new funds, and the expansion of global wealth management platforms. His expertise in fundraising, business development, and operational strategy has been instrumental in driving long-term value creation and sustainable growth.

Beyond capital formation, Topher thrives building high-performing teams and cultivating a strong organizational culture. With a strategic and institutional-quality mindset, he has been a driving force behind transformative growth, ensuring long-term success for investors, managers and organizations. A graduate of Washington College, Topher remains actively involved in industry and philanthropic initiatives, having served on multiple boards and committees dedicated to education, healthcare, and environmental causes.

Jonathan is a seasoned investor with over 20 years of experience in venture capital and entrepreneurship. He currently serves as Investment Committee Chair and Senior Advisor to Grit Capital Partners and is General Partner at BlueRun Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, based in Menlo Park with over $1B in assets under management. The firm has led investments in Coupa Software (NASD: COUP), Kabbage (American Express), Enpocket (Nokia), PayPal, Waze, Jackpocket, Freedom Pay, Paystand, FreeAgent, and numerous other early-stage companies. Jonathan is also General Partner at Transform Capital, a late-stage venture firm donating portions of its carried interest to charities.

Jonathan also has 15 years of marketing and finance experience in the telecommunications industry. He was Vice President of Marketing for Qwest Communications and has held other senior-level positions at Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions and MCI Communications. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to found Simply Savings, Inc., an early internet shopping service, before transitioning into the world of venture capital.

Jonathan holds a B.S. in Finance from Virginia Tech and an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. He is actively involved in the entrepreneurial community, serving on boards and advisory positions at institutions like the Batten Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia’s Darden School and the Apex Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Virginia Tech. Jonathan is passionate about giving back, directing half of his firm’s profits to philanthropic causes.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Jonathan is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys exploring the National Parks and embracing the beauty of nature. He and his wife reside in San Francisco and Healdsburg, California, finding inspiration in both the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley and the tranquility of the surrounding natural landscapes.

Grant is an Associate at Grit Capital Partners, where he focuses on supporting the Investment Team in identifying, evaluating, and supporting investment opportunities. Prior to joining Grit, Grant was a Venture Capital and Growth Equity Analyst at StepStone Group (fka Greenspring Associates). While at StepStone, he gained exposure to direct, fund, and secondary investments across varied stages and sectors. Notably, Grant worked closely on StepStone’s early-stage direct and emerging manager fund strategies.

Grant earned his B.S. in Finance and Business Analytics from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He is based in New York City.

Liz is the firm’s get-it-done heartbeat. She works on the firm’s administrative, marketing, and operations initiatives. Prior to joining the team, Liz served as Director of Marketing and Executive Assistant to the CEO at LINQ Services, a comprehensive, bespoke enterprise managed mobility service provider. Liz graduated from Salisbury University with a B.S. in Marketing and lives in Maryland.

Kelly is a driven finance operator with 20 years of experience building financial processes for companies from startup to IPO. Most recently, Kelly ran Sales Finance at Tastemade. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Millennial Media working in various finance, Chief of Staff, and sales operations roles, ultimately transitioning to AOL through acquisition. At Millennial, Kelly was heavily involved in IPO preparation and various M&A deals. Her areas of expertise include forecast and budget management, strategic sales planning, sales tool development, sales compensation, and process development and improvement.

Jesse is an entrepreneur and product leader with focused technical experience in ecommerce, analytics, and advertising technology. He has spent more than 15 years enabling digital business. He serves as CTO-in-Residence at Grit Capital Partners and leads the product team at Incremental. Having led development of SDKs and APIs for Millennial Media, AOL, Flurry and Verizon, tens of thousands of developers and platforms have used his products to manage their advertising and analytics solutions.