Greg Raiz

Greg Raiz is an American entrepreneur and venture investor based in Greater Boston. He is a co-founder and general partner of FoundersEdge, a pre-seed venture fund that invests at the intersection of artificial intelligence and user experience^[11].

Raiz founded Raizlabs in 2003, a mobile technology and design firm that became a four-time Inc. 5000 honoree and grew to 80 employees before its acquisition by Rightpoint in November 2017^[2][4]. He later served as Managing Director of the Techstars Boston Accelerator, where he selected and mentored cohorts of early-stage startups^[5].

Before founding Raizlabs, Raiz worked as a program manager on the Windows XP user experience team at Microsoft^[6]. He holds a computer science degree from Tufts University.

Raiz studied computer science at Tufts University, where he also took design classes and worked on the college newspaper^[6]. He has described the combination of technical and design coursework as formative, noting that it shaped his later conviction that software quality depends on the integration of engineering and user experience.

After graduating from Tufts, Raiz joined Microsoft as a program manager on the user experience team for Windows. His first year was spent on research and a prototype operating system codenamed Neptune, which never shipped but informed the visual design philosophy behind Windows XP^[12]. The team focused on making the operating system feel friendlier — incorporating natural photography for wallpapers and designing icons with softer, anti-aliased edges^[12].

Raiz was fired from Microsoft at age 23, an experience he has cited as a turning point that led him to start his own company^[6].

Raizlabs (2003–2017)

Raiz founded Raizlabs in 2003 in Boston with a focus on user interface and user experience design for web applications^[8]. In 2005, the company hired its first developer to bring design and implementation under one roof. The business shifted decisively toward mobile application development with the launch of the iPhone in 2007^[8].

Raizlabs built hundreds of mobile applications, including early work on RunKeeper, a fitness tracking app that helped establish the firm's reputation in the Boston technology community^[8]. The company appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies four consecutive years, ranking No. 1,972 in 2015, No. 1,534 in 2016, and No. 1,573 in 2017^[4].

On November 7, 2017, Rightpoint, a customer experience agency based in Chicago, announced its acquisition of Raizlabs for an undisclosed sum^[2][3]. The deal brought Rightpoint to approximately 400 employees across nine U.S. offices. In 2018, Raizlabs became the first U.S. agency admitted to Google's Developers Certified Agency Program^[10].

Rightpoint (2017–2021)

After the acquisition, Raiz joined Rightpoint's leadership team as Chief Innovation Officer, working with enterprise clients on digital transformation initiatives spanning mobile, voice, IoT, and augmented reality^[2]. In 2019, Rightpoint was acquired by Genpact, a global professional services firm^[6].

Techstars Boston (2021–2023)

Raiz became Managing Director of the Techstars Boston Accelerator in 2021, succeeding Clement Cazalot^[5]. In the role, he selected cohorts of early-stage companies and provided mentorship throughout the three-month accelerator program. He has said he looked for "signs of passion, resilience to adversity, and a deep-seated knowledge that they are onto something big" when evaluating founders^[1].

FoundersEdge (2022–present)

Raiz co-founded FoundersEdge with Jess Lynch, a former founder and CEO of Wishroute. Originally launched as Raiz Capital, the firm rebranded to FoundersEdge in 2024^[11]. The fund invests $150,000 to $200,000 at the pre-seed stage, typically as a lead investor or in collaboration with other funds, focusing on AI-enabled software with strong user experience^[11].

FoundersEdge developed a proprietary assessment tool called the Founder Index, which uses founder psychology and AI to evaluate founder aptitude as part of the investment decision process^[9]. As of 2026, Raiz and Lynch have collectively invested in and mentored over 100 companies, with portfolio companies raising a combined $100 million or more in follow-on capital^[11].

Under Raiz's leadership, Raizlabs appeared on the Inc. 5000 list four consecutive years and was named the first U.S. agency in the Google Developers Certified Agency Program in 2018^[4][10].

Raiz serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Tufts University's Derby Entrepreneurship Center. He has spoken at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Northeastern, and Boston University on topics including AI, entrepreneurship, venture capital, and product design^[11].

He maintains a blog called "Half Ideas" at gregraiz.com and publishes content on YouTube (HalfIdeas) and X (@graiz), covering design, AI, and the startup ecosystem^[8].

Raiz has appeared in interviews and on podcasts focused on entrepreneurship, mobile technology, and venture investing.

Quotations attributed to Raiz in published sources.

Raiz lives in Greater Boston with his wife and two daughters^[8]. He describes himself as a "recovering entrepreneur" and writes regularly on his blog, "Greg's Half Ideas," which covers design thinking, AI, and the startup ecosystem.