Leura is a former founder and experienced investor who previously bootstrapped two startups as the founding CEO. Her last startup, Laurel & Wolf, raised $30M from CRV, Benchmark, and other top investors, then scaled to serve tens of thousands of customers across the US.  

From 2015 to date, Leura has invested in dozens of early-stage companies and advises founding teams on product, operations, customer growth, design, hiring, and product-market fit. Her current investing focus includes future of work, future of commerce, hardware/robotics, and AI. She is passionate about diversity in venture and works to fund and support diverse founders from non-traditional markets. 

Leura serves on the Dress for Success Atlanta board and was named a Forbes 30 under 30 and Goldman Sachs’ “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.”

Driven by a deep interest in emerging technology, Blaine has always had an affinity for venture capital. Prior to Outlander, he worked for various funding entities, ranging from angel syndicates to multi-billion dollar growth equity firms and multinational banks. In each role, Blaine’s hands-on approach to scaling portfolio companies and aligning venture growth with the strategies of their investors and consumers developed his knack for creating and executing strategic and operational plans.

Blaine holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University—where he concentrated in Strategy, Finance, and Entrepreneurship—and an undergraduate degree from Lehigh University. While at Vanderbilt, Blaine consulted for multiple funds in the Nashville market and ran Vanderbilt’s “Launching the Venture” program, mentoring numerous start-ups through their initial launch and subsequent rounds of financing.

With an innate curiosity and drive to always be on the pulse of what is next in innovation, Bailie is focused on founders and teams at the earliest stages. Before joining Outlander, she worked directly with 20+ tier 1 venture capital and growth equity firms across the nation to conduct their commercial diligence across global markets within Europe, Asia, LATAM, and the United States. Bailie has previously worked on the business development and strategic growth side of several startups, where she is most motivated when operating closely with magnetic entrepreneurs who are relentless in their pursuit.

Bailie holds her undergraduate degree and her Master of Science in Cybersecurity from Brown University, focusing on information, network, and cloud security. During her time as an undergraduate at Brown, she was Student Government Vice President as well as competed on the Women’s Volleyball team as an NCAA Division 1 athlete.

AJ’s career started with the Office of Naval Research building infrared sensors and winning awards from the American Society of Optics. But the startup bug bit in 2013 (while finishing his Masters at NYU) when he joined the Winklevoss-backed crypto exchange, BitInstant. Since then, AJ has been a 2X founder, 5X CTO/Head of Product, and investor. 

AJ has collaborated with partners like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, SpaceX, Spin Magazine, and more. He joined the Outlander team fractionally in April 2024 and came on full-time in July! AJ’s marketing efforts have already helped drive deal-flow increases and his implementation of more operational AI & automation processes have enabled our investment team to hear from even more inspiring founders on a monthly basis. He is excited to work with this amazing team to build upon their top-decile track record as they find and support incredible founders.

Fun fact: AJ has had a separate artistic career as a charting multi-instrumentalist musician & songwriter, penning songs that have made it onto Billboard & global music charts and been featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Good Morning America, and more.

Lilly’s career began in the startup sphere, specifically as a valuation analyst at a tech-backed real estate valuation firm. After, she transitioned to work in Investor Relations at a $10bn+ hedge fund. Through leading multiple fundraising and due diligence efforts in the hedge fund space, Lilly has a robust network and deep understanding of marketing and IR. Due to a strong passion for innovation and venture capital, she joined Outlander to lead Investor Relations and thoughtfully build and disseminate the story of early stage startups.

Lilly holds her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, majoring in Communication with a triple minor in Information Sciences, English, and Law & Society. During her time as an undergraduate at Cornell, she held multiple leadership positions across many on-campus organizations.

Tal is an experienced CFO, having previously served as the CFO of venture funds (ff Venture Capital, Newark Venture Partners) as well as the CFO of VC- and PE-backed portfolio companies (Flok, acquired by Wix, and Leading Pharma, which he helped scale to over $50 million in sales). Prior to his CFO career, Tal spent 8 years on Wall Street as a buy-side and sell-side analyst. He was also the third employee of Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ: CRNT).

Tal holds an MBA from Wharton, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar, as well as electrical engineering and computer science degrees.