Allison Pickens
About Allison Pickens
Allison Pickens started her career as a strategy consultant at BCG, then worked as an investor at Bain Capital. She earned an MBA at Stanford and a BA at Yale. She later joined Gainsight and served as its COO from 2014 to 2020.
At Gainsight she scaled the customer success software company from about $1M in ARR to more than $80M. Another speaker bio says she took it to 650 employees, ahead of a $1B+ sale to Vista in 2020. She also wrote The Customer Success Economy (Wiley, 2020).
She left Gainsight in early 2020 to work with founders and launched a venture fund. She is an independent board director and sits on the board of Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT). Her newsletter bio also lists a board seat at dbt Labs. She was an Executive in Residence at Bessemer Venture Partners. Earlier, she co-founded SparkTrades (2012 to 2013), per her NFX Signal profile.
Pickens ran a rolling fund, The New Normal Fund, for four years. She now invests through Allison Pickens Ventures as a solo general partner. Her website says she invested alongside a network of operators and CEOs, and a third-party profile mentions 20+ CEO and operator LPs.
Crunchbase lists 23 investments, 0 exits and 0 companies founded. NFX Signal lists 58 investments on record, so counts differ by source. Her site says her portfolio includes about 30% of the early and mid-stage companies on the 2024 Enterprise Tech 30 list.
Pickens describes her role as a COO thought partner to founders. She helps on go-to-market, category creation and scaling the business. Founder testimonials on her site describe proactive advice and introductions.
Crunchbase counts 16 AI investments since 2023. Its activity timeline shows an April 2023 round for EvenUp, a May 2023 round for Tennr with Foundation Capital, a July 2023 round for Cello, an October 2023 round for Norm AI with The New Normal Fund, and a March 2024 round for Unstructured Technologies.
Other AI names on Crunchbase are Gamma, Naive, XBuild, Solea, Augmend, DeepL and Strise. Her own site also names Modal, dbt Labs, Hightouch and Scribe among her investments. Exact dates for some of these are not clear in the sources I found.
Her website says she invests about $400K to $1M in seed-stage AI applications and data infrastructure. She occasionally writes $250K to $500K checks in Series A rounds through an opportunity fund. Investor directories list Pre-seed, Seed, Series A and Series B as stages. Her own site describes the seed and Series A pattern.
She focuses on B2B companies. Directory profiles list sectors including AI, SaaS, fintech, healthcare, marketing and defense. She is based in San Francisco. I found no public geographic restriction.
Crunchbase shows 0 lead investments, and one founder testimonial on her site describes a round led by First Round.
- EvenUp: AI for personal injury law; Crunchbase shows a round in April 2023.
- Gamma: AI presentation and content tool; named on her website and in Crunchbase.
- Norm AI: AI for regulatory compliance; Crunchbase shows a round in October 2023.
- Tennr: AI for healthcare document workflows; Crunchbase shows a round in May 2023.
- Unstructured Technologies: data preparation for AI models; Crunchbase shows a round in March 2024.
- DeepL: AI translation; listed on Crunchbase and her website.
- Cello: Crunchbase shows a round in July 2023.
- Strise, Naive, XBuild, Solea, Augmend: listed in her Crunchbase AI portfolio.
- Modal, Hightouch, Scribe: named on her website as investments.
- dbt Labs: data transformation company; she is a board director and an investor.
- allisonpickens.com
- allisonpickens.substack.com/about
- x.com/PickensAllison
- signal.nfx.com/investors/allison-pickens
- crunchbase.com/person/allison-pickens/person_overview_investor/timelin
- cfe.dev/speakers/allison-pickens
- orangedox.com/investors/california-healthtech-investors
- amazon.com/stores/author/B084RNCCCL/about
AI portfolio
Investing activity
Allison Pickens has made 23 investments according to Crunchbase. 16 of those investments since 2023 were in AI companies, including EvenUp, Gamma, Norm AI, Tennr and Naive.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Allison Pickens
What check size does Allison Pickens write?
Her website says about $400K to $1M at seed, and occasionally $250K to $500K at Series A through an opportunity fund.
What stage does Allison Pickens invest in?
Mainly seed, with some Series A. She invests in B2B AI applications and data infrastructure.
Which AI startups has Allison Pickens backed?
Her site and Crunchbase list Gamma, EvenUp, Norm Ai, Tennr, Modal, DeepL, Unstructured Technologies, Cello and Strise, among others.
Who is Allison Pickens?
She is a solo GP investor and former COO of Gainsight. She sits on the Commvault board and works as an independent board director.
How does Allison Pickens help founders after investing?
She describes herself as a COO thought partner on go-to-market, category creation and scaling. Her site's testimonials mention advice and introductions.
What is The New Normal Fund?
It was her rolling fund, which she ran for four years. She now invests through Allison Pickens Ventures.
Is Allison Pickens an angel investor?
Yes. Allison Pickens invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 23 investments.
What AI companies has Allison Pickens invested in?
Allison Pickens's AI investments include EvenUp, Gamma, Norm AI, Tennr, Naive, XBuild, Solea and Cello.
Where is Allison Pickens based?
Allison Pickens is based in United States.
How can founders reach Allison Pickens?
Founders on Lounge can see Allison Pickens's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Allison Pickens to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.