Brian Shin
About Brian Shin
Brian Shin is based in San Francisco, California. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Joinable Labs and Managing Partner of VitalStage Ventures. He previously worked at Smartsheet as Senior Director, Product Management, and Leader of AI Strategy and Product. His X profile describes him as the former AI lead at an $8.5bn software company.
He has founded companies since the mid-2000s. Crunchbase lists him as founder and CEO of Visible Measures, a venture-backed video analytics company acquired in 2017. It also lists him as founder and chairman of Mustbin, a venture-backed mobile security company that was also acquired in 2017. In 2019 he co-founded Searchable.ai, an AI answer-engine startup. In his own writing he says the team co-authored two patents in natural language question answering. Crunchbase's older profile says he was a co-founder or early team member of 8 startups, 7 of which exited.
Before founding Searchable.ai he worked in investing. He was a partner at In-Q-Tel and later a Managing Director at Providence Strategic Growth, the growth equity affiliate of Providence Equity Partners. NFX lists a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Tufts University. It also lists a Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, marked as on leave.
Crunchbase counts 15 investments and 14 portfolio companies for Brian, with 0 lead investments and 4 exits, 1 of them by IPO. PitchBook records a different total of 25 investments. His X bio says he is an investor in 100+ startups, and Crunchbase's older profile cites 12 years as an angel investor or early shareholder in over 40 startups. Counts differ by source because each tracks different records.
Companies named in Crunchbase profile text as early investments include HubSpot, Drift, Vesper, Misfit, Kayak, Sirtris Pharma, Frequency Therapeutics and Atrium. Crunchbase lists Lookery, HubSpot and Bedrock Data among his most notable exits. He holds board and advisor roles that Crunchbase counts at 11, including Arevo, DivvyCloud and Pagecloud. He also took a full-time investing role after his two startups were acquired in 2017, according to his Medium post.
He now invests through VitalStage Ventures. A third-party profile (Superscout) says the firm was founded in 2024 and has offices in San Francisco and Reno, Nevada.
Recent AI-related rounds in Crunchbase show Brian investing in Octolane AI (a seed round) and DeepNight, which raised in February 2025 with Brian among 5 other investors. PitchBook lists Octolane AI, Patented.ai and Wonderment among his investments, with the latest on 7 March 2024 in Octolane AI. NFX lists Groq, Autopoiesis Sciences and Hexo Labs among his investments.
He is also an AI founder. Joinable Labs launched in August 2025 with a $2M seed round and a first product called RAG in a BOX, which helps teams turn proprietary documents and data into private AI systems. Joinable has since announced Propagator, which it calls a trusted knowledge foundry for enterprise AI agents. Brian wrote that he and three Web 3 entrepreneurs first set out to find AI startups to invest in and then decided to build Joinable themselves.
Crunchbase describes VitalStage Ventures as an AI-native venture firm specializing in seed-stage investments across AI infrastructure and applications. Its listed interests include responsible AI, enterprise AI, AI-driven automation, computational imaging, voice AI, CRM platforms, code quality tools and HR technology. It also lists AI and life sciences, including biotech research insights, clinical research optimization and AI-driven drug discovery. The profile says the firm has backed over 50 technology companies.
NFX Signal lists his investing areas as AI and data services at seed and Series A, in the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston / New England.
Check size is not stated by Brian himself. NFX shows an investment range of $500K to $2.0M with a $1M sweet spot, which appears to reflect his VitalStage role. EasyVC, which lists him in Boston, describes angel checks of $25-50k in early-stage companies. Founders should confirm current terms with him directly.
- Octolane AI: seed-stage company in business and productivity software, listed in Crunchbase and PitchBook records.
- DeepNight: raised a round in February 2025 with Brian as an investor, per Crunchbase.
- Groq: listed as an investment on NFX Signal.
- Autopoiesis Sciences: listed as an investment on NFX Signal.
- Hexo Labs: listed as an investment on NFX Signal.
- Patented.ai and Wonderment: listed among his investments on PitchBook.
- HubSpot, Kayak, Drift: earlier angel investments with exits, according to Crunchbase and Superscout.
- Joinable Labs: AI company he co-founded and leads, which announced a $2M seed round in August 2025.
- crunchbase.com/person/brian-shin
- crunchbase.com/organization/vitalstage-ventures
- crunchbase.com/organization/joinable-labs/profiles_and_contacts
- signal.nfx.com/investors/brian-shin
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/106579-63
- easyvc.ai/investor/brian-shin
- superscout.co/investor/vitalstage-ventures
- x.com/brianshin?lang=en
Investing activity
Brian Shin has made 15 investments according to Crunchbase across 14 portfolio companies, and has seen 4 exits, 1 of them by IPO and founded 3 companies.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Brian Shin
Who is Brian Shin?
Brian Shin is an entrepreneur and investor based in San Francisco. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Joinable Labs and Managing Partner of VitalStage Ventures. He previously led AI strategy and product at Smartsheet.
What stage does Brian Shin invest in?
Crunchbase describes VitalStage Ventures as focused on seed-stage AI investments. NFX Signal lists seed and Series A for AI and data services.
What is Brian Shin's check size?
He has not published one himself. NFX Signal shows a $500K to $2.0M range with a $1M sweet spot, while EasyVC lists $25-50k angel checks. Ask him directly which applies.
What sectors does Brian Shin back?
Crunchbase lists AI infrastructure and applications, enterprise AI, automation, voice AI, CRM, code quality tools, HR technology and AI in life sciences for VitalStage Ventures.
Has Brian Shin founded companies himself?
Yes. He founded Visible Measures and Mustbin, both acquired in 2017, and co-founded Searchable.ai in 2019. He now co-founds and leads Joinable Labs.
Where can founders contact Brian Shin?
His X account is @brianshin, which links to vitalstage.com. NFX Signal offers an intro request, and warm introductions are the usual route.
Is Brian Shin an angel investor?
Yes. Brian Shin invests personally as an angel and is CEO & Co-Founder at Joinable Labs. Crunchbase counts 15 investments and 4 exits.
Where is Brian Shin based?
Brian Shin is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
How can founders reach Brian Shin?
Founders on Lounge can see Brian Shin'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 Brian Shin to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.