Abstract

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I’m excited to share that Ease Health is coming out of stealth with a $41M Series A led by @a16z, alongside @AbstractVC, Sunflower, F3, and @BoxGroup, to build the AI-native operating system for behavioral health. Behavioral health runs on some of the most fragmented infrastructure in healthcare. Providers are forced to stitch together EHRs, billing systems, CRMs, schedulers, documentation tools, and compliance workflows just to operate. We started Ease because this is not a tooling problem. It is an architecture problem. So we rebuilt the system from the ground up. Ease is a single platform where AI is not a bolt-on. It is foundational. -Documentation is handled by an ambient AI scribe. -An AI voice agent can manage intake and scheduling. -Our CRM auto-enriches leads and logs activity automatically. -Front desks can instantly match patients to the right provider. -Charts are audited continuously. -Utilization review and prior authorizations can run autonomously. When data is entered once, it flows everywhere it needs to go across clinical records, billing workflows, and reporting. One through-line of truth across the entire organization. Since launching, we have grown quickly and now support hundreds of behavioral health providers across inpatient, outpatient (IOP, PHP, MAT), and residential. The behavioral health crisis is not a demand problem. Providers are buried in manual documentation, claim denials, compliance friction, and disconnected systems. We are building the system designed to remove that burden. We are grateful to Andreessen Horowitz for leading this round, and thankful for the support of all of our investors and partners who believe in rebuilding healthcare infrastructure the right way. Your conviction and partnership mean a great deal to our team.

Today we announced our $150M Series B led by @IndexVentures with major participation from @Redpoint and returning investors including @ThriveCapital, @Felicis, and @AbstractVC. Across aerospace, energy, and manufacturing, engineering teams are pushing what’s possible. The software behind many of these systems hasn’t kept up. Revel gives engineering teams the infrastructure to test and control complex hardware systems with speed and confidence. In just over a year, we’ve built a world-class team, converted every pilot into a customer, and are now expanding the platform across new industries. If you believe great hardware deserves great software, we’re hiring across the board.

I’m always amazed how few investors can explain the specific thing they can do better than others. When I first asked Ramtin (@ramtinnaimi) this question, he gave one of the most specific answers I’ve heard (about how he helps founders end up owning more of their company, along with his specific method for doing so). He details that and a ton more in refreshingly honest fashion. He seems willing to answer any question about himself, and we explore his entire rags to riches to rags to riches story. The stuff on the intense parallels between art and investing is a first, too: how to work the playing field and win. A unique convo with an investor who has never done an interview like this before. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:25 The Art of Collecting 4:36 Parallels Between Art and Venture Capital 6:59 Challenges and Strategies in Art Collecting 18:19 The Role of Status and Reputation in Art 20:10 The Business of Art Galleries & Auction Houses 26:43 Building a Successful Venture Capital Firm 41:29 Leading Seed Financings 44:27 The Power of AngelList 46:40 Scaling and Building a Team 49:33 Identifying Exceptional Founders 52:32 The Importance of Dilution Sensitivity 54:18 Efficient Investment Processes 1:05:51 Winning Competitive Deals 1:15:29 The Value of Strong Board Members 1:21:37 The Importance of Personal Branding in VC 1:24:28 The Health of the AI Investment Ecosystem 1:28:11 Early Life and Entrepreneurial Beginnings 1:35:12 Starting a Hedge Fund and Lessons Learned 1:44:59 Building Abstract and Family Life 1:54:06 Insights on LPs and Venture Capital Trends 2:02:18 The Kindest Thing

Ramtin Naimi started a successful hedge fund at 19, went bankrupt at 24, and then built a $1.8 billion venture firm backed by investing icons like Stanley Druckenmiller, @pmarca, and @BillAckman. Michael Ovitz calls Naimi his “non-biological son.” Founders say he’s “the most important person you’ll meet.” Silicon Valley has begun to whisper about him as the man with “the hot hand.” For the first time ever, we’re excited to share the remarkable story of a 34-year-old whose CV reads like no other investor’s in Silicon Valley. @ramtinnaimi does not have a college degree, his Iranian immigrant parents had little money, he founded a failed startup that led to bankruptcy, and the only normal job he’s ever had was working weekends at West Elm, the furniture store. What Naimi does possess, however, is supernatural hustle, pattern recognition, and a chip on his shoulder more valuable than any credential. He made $500,000 as an 18-year-old trading options through the global financial crisis, his first-ever venture investment is now valued at $11 billion, and two years after going bankrupt, a list of finance titans bought 20% of his nascent early-stage venture firm, Abstract, for $10 million. Today, Abstract manages $1.8 billion and has a simple value proposition: It is the best firm in the world at getting founders from seed to Series A. Stories from @gsivulka, @shreyamurthy, and @krea_ai’s Victor Perez all testify to Naimi’s special talent at orchestrating fundraising rounds, luring legendary investors out of their offices to meet his founders at unusual times. Even his peers talk about it in tones of admiration. Andreessen Horowitz GP @illscience said, “Ramtin’s got a knack for being around all the most important deals. Whenever he says something is important, we take it incredibly seriously.” For the full, improbable story of Ramtin Naimi’s journey from insolvency to influence, read @domcooke's profile, linked below. It is complete with detail on how he became best friends with Michael Ovitz and @kevinhartz, how he lives in his dream home that he first saw at 18, but, most of all, how he built what @DavidSacks called, “an elite early-stage firm.”