Securing victory at Startup Battlefield 200 requires far more than delivering a polished pitch, because the competition is built around identifying genuinely durable businesses. This focus makes the selection of venture capital judges critically important to the evaluation process. Rather than being swayed by clever presentations or slick product demonstrations, these investors look for dedicated founders tackling substantive problems with viable commercial models. Their probing questions are intended to uncover core fundamentals that rehearsed responses cannot convey, including an entrepreneur's conviction, operational clarity, and the capacity to build a category-defining enterprise. Over a span of more than 15 years, this pitch battle has served as a launchpad for companies that reshaped entire industries, and a fresh group of innovators now steps forward to compete before an accomplished panel of newly unveiled judges.
Aditi Maliwal, General Partner at Upfront Ventures
Working as a general partner at Upfront Ventures, Aditi Maliwal deploys capital at the pre-seed and seed stages. Her investment focus spans enterprise SaaS, financial technology, artificial intelligence applications, and developer platforms. Her backing extends to firms such as Clair, Writer, Arcade, and General Translation. Prior to her current position, Maliwal built operational and financial experience at Google and Deutsche Bank, and she previously led the Series A financing round for Chime during her tenure with a prior investment firm. She also stands as the inaugural San Francisco-based partner for Upfront Ventures.
Michael Palank, General Partner at MaC Ventures
Representing MaC Ventures as a general partner, Michael Palank focuses on seed-stage investments across both consumer and enterprise landscapes. The firm, which is majority Black-owned, applies a culturally driven thesis to identify opportunities in AI, fintech, healthcare, media, entertainment, as well as aerospace and defense. Before shifting his career toward venture investing, Palank worked in the entertainment sector managing Hollywood talent at William Morris and serving at Overbrook Entertainment, the production enterprise established by Will Smith.
Nell Daly, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Revenge Capital
Leading Revenge Capital as co-founder and managing partner, Nell Daly oversees an evergreen, sector-agnostic fund dedicated to underrepresented business creators. Her organization directs capital toward female, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and neurodiverse entrepreneurs operating across the United States and the United Kingdom. Prior to establishing the investment firm, Daly worked as a licensed psychotherapist, a professional background that directly informs her founder-centered approach to evaluating and supporting founding teams.
Grace Ge, Partner at Amplify Partners
At Amplify Partners, partner Grace Ge specializes in data infrastructure, artificial intelligence, modern SaaS solutions, and developer tooling. She places significant emphasis on backing technical architectures situated between foundational AI models and front-end enterprise software. Her direct portfolio includes startups such as Pinecone, Eppo, Vivun, Orb, and Avoca, sitting alongside Amplify's wider investments in notable names like Datadog, Fastly, Temporal, dbt, and Modal. Her work in early-stage tech investing previously earned her recognition on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Venture Capital.
Crystal Huang, General Partner at GV
Crystal Huang serves as a general partner at GV, where her primary investment priorities include enterprise SaaS, AI infrastructure, and financial technology. She maintains a sharp focus on business models driven by product-led and developer-first commercial strategies. Her investment roster includes Typeface, Pecan AI, Sardine, Cacheflow, PostHog, Roboflow, and Sift. Prior to joining GV, Huang honed her investment capabilities at NEA and GGV Capital, following an earlier tenure advising on technology mergers and acquisitions at Blackstone.
