21+ Companies
THE ADF PORTFOLIO
Backing exceptional international founders at inception — often in their first round, before top-tier firms join.
In the News
ADF STORIES
Deasy Labs Acquired by Collibra
ADF portfolio company joins Collibra to extend governance into unstructured data.
Insight leads Stuut's $52M Series B
Tier-one funds Insight and a16z back Stuut to scale its AI order-to-cash platform with support from Microsoft's venture fund.
Consensus Raises $30M Series B
AI research engine scales on the back of explosive user and revenue growth.
CrewAI Announces Series B
Announced alongside Crew Studio, which lets business teams launch and observe agents.
Insight leads CrewAI's Series A
The leading AI agent framework secures major backing to scale globally.
USV leads Consensus' Series A
Fresh capital to take cited, peer-reviewed answers to a much wider audience of researchers.
a16z leads Stuut's $29M Series A
New funding to scale the team and bring automated receivables into the heart of finance teams.
The ADF Method
A NETWORK THAT COMPOUNDS
Every founder we back strengthens the network for every other founder. This isn't passive support — it's a deliberate system that turns connections into revenue, capital, talent, and momentum.
✦ = Current ADF portfolio founder
ADF's methodology activates targeted introductions to US enterprise buyers, strategic partners, and revenue catalysts — precision matchmaking, not networking.
One intro alone led to a multi-million-dollar deal. ADF is an incredibly high-value-add VC!
Zain Jaffer
Blazel, Vungle ($780M Exit)
Every time I speak with ADF, I have 5 meaningful intros the next morning. 10/10.
Rox Codes
Flightcast with Stephen Bartlett, Past Exit
An early believer before Andreessen led our seed — dozens of intros to potential customers and partners followed.
Ali Moiz
Stonks, Streamlabs ($200M in Exits)
An intro to a unicorn founder led to my very first paying client!
Imran Syed
Hatchproof, Instapage ($80M Exit)
Opened instant access to unicorn CEOs and CFOs, one of which has now moved past our pipeline.
Arpit Goel
Root, Gamma (Exit to NASDAQ: PANW)
One intro alone led to a multi-million-dollar deal. ADF is an incredibly high-value-add VC!
Zain Jaffer
Blazel, Vungle ($780M Exit)
An early believer before Andreessen led our seed — dozens of intros to potential customers and partners followed.
Ali Moiz
Stonks, Streamlabs ($200M in Exits)
An intro to a unicorn founder led to my very first paying client!
Imran Syed
Hatchproof, Instapage ($80M Exit)
Opened instant access to unicorn CEOs and CFOs, one of which has now moved past our pipeline.
Arpit Goel
Root, Gamma (Exit to NASDAQ: PANW)
Every time I speak with ADF, I have 5 meaningful intros the next morning. 10/10.
Rox Codes
Flightcast with Stephen Bartlett, Past Exit
The Podcast
DREAMCAST.
Shane in conversation with the unicorn founders behind Udemy, AppDirect, and ZenBusiness — the failures, hard lessons, and vulnerable moments behind massive success. War stories, not victory laps.
JC Glancy
Candosa & ZenBusiness (Unicorn)
Daniel Saks
Landbase & AppDirect (Unicorn)
Daniel Kivatinos
JustPaid & DrChrono | $200M Exit
Gagan Biyani
Maven & Udemy (Unicorn)
Ali Moiz
Stonks & Streamlabs | $200M in Exits
Beyond the conversation
Relationships formed through Dreamcast have led to a first paying client, a multi-million dollar deal, and a board role. Shane also invested in a couple of guests after their appearances.
Sourcing & Community
THE UNIVERSITY Edge
International founders pre-vetted by the world's most demanding institutions. Standing relationships across the top US university ecosystems surface unicorn-breed talent months before a deck exists.
More than a pipeline — a community. Alumni networks, founder dinners, and standing peer circles turn a one-time check into a lifelong relationship between dreamers, mentors, and capital.
Jensen Huang
NVIDIA — Stanford (Taiwan → US)
Patrick Collison
Stripe — MIT (Ireland → US)
Vinod Khosla
Sun Microsystems — Carnegie Mellon (India → US)
Andy Grove
Intel — UC Berkeley (Hungary → US)
Reid Hoffman
LinkedIn — Oxford (Rhodes Scholar)
Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg — Johns Hopkins
The international founder who arrived for a US university — finishing or not — has authored some of the largest outcomes in American tech history.
Standing relationships
Leadership
Former Techstars All-Star Mentor (top 5%) · Alumni Ventures Senior Fellow · Brown University Student Venture Fund Advisory Board · Host of Dreamcast
A Brown University alumnus based between the US and Europe, Shane knows what it's like to build a life as an American abroad, which shapes the fund's focus on immigrant founders building in the US.
Backed at inception
- CrewAI (alongside Boldstart; Insight led the Series A)
- Consensus (alongside Draper; USV led the Series A)
- Stuut (alongside Khosla; a16z led the Series A)
Earlier angel investments
- Hydra Host: entered at a $27M valuation, now ~$800M with NVIDIA participating
- Replit: $5M to nearly $500M ARR
- Customer.io: $20M to past $100M ARR
His network of operators, VCs and enterprise buyers delivers deals, hires and follow-on capital to portfolio founders. He also advises a unicorn founder's next company.
The American Dream Fund aims to back international founders at inception, write larger checks and lead rounds selectively, and keep connecting them to US customers, capital and the relationships that compound.
Through relationships built on Dreamcast:
One intro — first paying client.
One intro — multi-million dollar deal.
One intro — secured board member role.
Through a separate investor introduction:
One intro — VC-led seed round.
Our Founders Are
BACKED BY THE Best
Rounds backed alongside the most respected funds in venture — from first round to IPO.