Fundraising Fox

Aaref Hilaly

Investor

Partner at Bain Capital Ventures

San Francisco, California

Writes $1M – $100M checks · typically $10M

About

Aaref Hilaly, former repeat founder‑CEO who scaled Clearwell Systems to $100M ARR, is an AI investor advocating humans as CEOs of AI agent armies and prioritizing rapid iteration over moats.

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkSaaS

Experience

  1. Bain Capital VenturesPartnercurrent2020 — present
  2. SimileSeries A & B Investorcurrent2025 — present
  3. CognitionSeries C Investorcurrent2025 — present
  4. krea.aiSeries B Investor + Board Membercurrent2025 — present
  5. Charta HealthSeed & Series A Investor + Board Membercurrent2024 — present
  6. DecagonSeed & Series B investor + Board Membercurrent2023 — present
  7. EvenUpSeries B & D investor + Board Membercurrent2023 — present
  8. Sequoia CapitalPartner2012 — 2019
  9. SymantecVice President, Engineering2011 — 2012
  10. Clearwell SystemsPresident & CEO2005 — 2011
  11. CenterRunFounder & CEO2000 — 2003

Education

  1. Harvard Business SchoolMBA
  2. McGill UniversityMA, Economics
  3. University of OxfordBA, Philosophy

Skills & more

SaaS48Enterprise Software38C++1Salesforce.com2Software as a Service (SaaS)3Start-ups99Economics2Partner Management3Entrepreneurship70Venture Capital14Thought Leadership2Private Equity4
+12 moreWeb DevelopmentMobile ApplicationsBusiness DevelopmentLitigation SupportMergers & AcquisitionsProduct MarketingCRMGo-to-market StrategyStrategic PartnershipsCloud ComputingProduct ManagementProduct Development

From Aaref's professional profile.

Same school

Shared employers

Investments

Board seats

Decagon AI, Inc.

Per SEC Form D filings.

Colleagues at Bain Capital Ventures

Network6

Investors connected to Aaref in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.