Brian Murray
Partner & COO
Craft Ventures
Brian Murray is Partner & COO at Craft Ventures, where he invests and oversees firm operations after earlier leadership roles at B2B SaaS startups including Yammer and Zenefits.
Bio
Professional summary
Lainy Painter Singh joined Craft Ventures in 2018 and is a Partner on the investment team. Her official profile says her investment focus is platforms for complex vertical markets such as real estate, healthcare, education, construction, and fintech. Before Craft, she worked at Battery Ventures and Gainsight, where she helped lead business operations at a B2B customer success startup. Public profiles also describe her as investing primarily in SaaS and marketplaces and serving as a board member or observer for companies including Trusted Health, Explo, Fellow, and Northspyre.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
seedSeries ASeries B
Sector
SaaSmarketplacesreal estate technologyhealthcare technologyeducation technologyconstruction technologyfintech
Thesis
platforms for complex vertical marketsvertical SaaSmarketplacessoftware with a distribution hook
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
Trusted HealthExploFellowNorthspyreEnteraWag!BounceX
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
A founder should lead with a complex vertical market where software can become a platform, not just a point solution. The best outreach should show domain-specific workflow depth, a strong distribution wedge, and why the market has been resistant to change.
Personalization hooks
- 1Reference her stated focus on complex vertical markets.
- 2Connect the company to one of her named verticals: real estate, healthcare, education, construction, or fintech.
- 3Mention a distribution hook if pitching SaaS, because public profiles say she looks for software companies with distribution advantages.
- 4Reference her operating experience at Gainsight if relevant to customer success, GTM, or B2B operations.
Other partners at Craft Ventures
12 more profiles
Bryan Rosenblatt
Venture Partner
Craft Ventures
Craft Venture Partner and founder-focused generalist with Reddit, Twitter, and Riverside Ventures roots.
DS
David O. Sacks
Partner
Craft Ventures
Craft co-founder, former PayPal COO, Yammer founder, and B2B software investor.
David Sacks
Co-founder and Partner
Craft Ventures
David Sacks is co-founder and Partner at Craft Ventures, a longtime founder-investor known for PayPal, Yammer, and a focus on product-led and bottom-up SaaS companies.
JJ
Josiah Joner
Analyst
Craft Ventures
Craft investment analyst based in San Francisco.
Kevin Gabura
Principal
Craft Ventures
Craft Principal investing across cybersecurity, infrastructure, and application software.
Mark Woolway
President
Craft Ventures
Mark Woolway is President of Craft Ventures and a partner on the investment team. He leads Craft’s operations, finance, legal, fundraising, and LP relations, with prior executive experience at Zenefits, Intercom, Yammer, Clarium Capital, and PayPal.
Michael Robinson
Partner, Head of Investment Team
Craft Ventures
Michael Robinson is Partner and Head of the Investment Team at Craft Ventures, focused on horizontal and vertical B2B SaaS, infrastructure, cybersecurity, dev tools, and vertical SaaS.
Mike Marg
Partner
Craft Ventures
Mike Marg is a Partner at Craft Ventures based in San Francisco, focused on Generative AI, APIs, and Enterprise SaaS, with prior GTM leadership roles at Dropbox, Slack, and Clearbit.
Sean Whitney
Principal
Craft Ventures
Craft Principal investing in AI, creative tools, developer tools, APIs, and bottom-up SaaS.
Taylor Durand
Investor
Craft Ventures
Craft Investor focused on frontier tech, infrastructure, physical AI, vertical SaaS, and defense.
Zao Chen
Principal
Craft Ventures
Craft Principal investing in data infrastructure, AI infrastructure, and developer tools.