Welcome Alex Kurland, Menlo’s Newest Partner

Today is a big day for Menlo as we welcome Alex Kurland to the team! Adding a partner to a close-knit partnership is a big deal in many ways, but this is particularly special, as we are adding someone we’ve known and admired for over 15 years.

Jordan Ormont and I both worked with Alex at our previous firm, Kleiner Perkins, where he joined from Summit Partners on the Digital Growth Fund working for Mary Meeker. His training and pedigree were obvious, but what immediately stood out about Alex was his hustle, grind, and ability to connect with people and create deep relationships. He was a force of nature, but what became even more obvious over time was the substance and judgment underneath, which led to a number of great investments. 

Alex was a fast riser at KP and was quickly poached by Meritech as a full partner before the age of 30. He earned that through his investments in Looker, Datadog, and UIPath. Early in his Meritech career, when everyone was pursuing Carta’s Series C, Alex was able to convince CEO Henry Ward to allow him to lead an interim round before a big growth round. I was on the board, and it was a fresh reminder of Alex’s talent, hustle, and creativity to find a way to work with a great entrepreneur. 

Over the years, as Alex was thriving, we would often check in, and I was always astounded by how he seemed to know of every high-profile financing going on in the market. His coverage was amazing, and it would be difficult to name an outlier company where he hadn’t met the entrepreneur. This led to investments in Owner, Kalshi, and Clay while at Meritech. 

What’s particularly gratifying about adding Alex to our team is we always had him in mind. From time to time, as we considered adding to our growth team, we would discuss an archetype, and Alex became that archetype. Numerous times we said, “We need a Kurland.” And today, we have not a, but the Alex Kurland!

Many of you already know Alex: He’s a well-known growth investor with a track record and set of relationships with co-investors and leading entrepreneurs that would be difficult to replicate.

Alex joins as a Partner on our Inflection team, where he’ll help drive our continued push into the best growth-stage AI companies.

He has several qualities that stand out that will serve him well in his work at Menlo and in his partnerships with growth-stage founders:

Alex has an unmatched eye for category-defining companies. Over more than a decade as an investor, he’s built an enviable track record on the back of high conviction and tenacity, including Clay, Datadog, DoorDash, Kalshi, Looker, OpenEvidence, Slack, Snowflake, and UiPath. He’s demonstrated a repeatable ability to spot the founders and markets that become generational.

Alex recruits for talent gravity, not just traction. He’s long argued that the best companies win by becoming magnets for the people who can build the future, not just by posting good numbers. It’s a lens that matters more every year, as more companies get funded and the winners differentiate themselves less on metrics and more on great teams who out-innovate those around them.

Above all, Alex is founder-first. Ask anyone who’s worked with him and you’ll hear the same thing: He shows up for founders through the hard stretches of scaling a company, not just the headline moments. 

Where Will Alex Invest?

Alex will help steer our Inflection strategy at exactly the right moment. In June, we announced $3 billion in new capital to back promising AI companies at every stage—from inception through growth—and Alex’s arrival significantly strengthens our ability to partner with the very best founders as they scale.

He’ll bring deep experience identifying emerging category leaders and partnering with them through the stages where risk-reward is most compelling. The growth market has changed substantially in the AI era: Companies are scaling revenue faster than ever, it’s taking longer for unit economics to settle out, and outcomes are setting record highs. Alex’s comfort operating across various entry points and check sizes, from early growth through late-stage, makes him a timely addition as we back AI winners across their full lifecycle.

Welcome to Menlo, Alex, and to an incredible moment in the market to help the next generation of founders build outlier AI companies. We’ve been waiting for a long time for this opportunity and couldn’t be more excited to have you on our team!