About
Daniel Gross sold his startup Cue to Apple, became Y Combinator's first AI-focused partner, and founded the talent accelerator Pioneer before co-founding Safe Superintelligence with Ilya Sutskever in 2024. He invested alongside Nat Friedman through their fund NFDG until July 2025, when he left SSI to join Meta Superintelligence Labs.
ContactΒ· published on Daniel's own website
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3Deep TechDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFintechSector Agnostic
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Cofounded Safe Superintelligence Inc, which is building a safe superintelligence. Cofounded Cue, a search engine acquired by Apple in 2013. Gross founded Greplin, a personal search engine, which he pitched to Y Combinator's Winter 2010 batch. Gross founded the search engine Cue, which was acquired by Apple in 2013. Gross launched the remote-first accelerator Pioneer in August 2018 with backing from Marc Andreessen and Stripe. Gross co-founded Safe Superintelligence alongside Ilya Sutskever.
- Education
- Studied at Horev yeshiva Studied at Eli pre-military academy
- Family
- Gross was born in Jerusalem in 1991 to American parents who had emigrated to Israel, and was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in the Katamon neighborhood.
- More
- Started the AI program at Y-Combinator as a Partner. Often invests in early stage companies alongside Nat Friedman. Gross created the YC AI vertical track at Y Combinator in March 2017 to provide specialized support for AI startups.
From Daniel's own website β common ground for a warm intro.
Experience
- MetaVP Computecurrent2025 β present
- VariousInvestorcurrent2013 β present
- Safe Superintelligence Inc.Cofounder2024 β 2025
- Y CombinatorPartner2017 β 2018
- AppleDirector2013 β 2017
- Cue (formerly Greplin)Cofounder2010 β 2013
Investments
Investor
AirtableCharacter.aiCoinbaseCoreWeaveCruiseEmbarkFigmaGitHubNotionOpendoorPerplexityUber
Per curated public sources.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Daniel GrossHow Apple Builds Product with Daniel Gross. Tango.vc #6
Ivan Kirigin
"Startups we love right now" with Indie Hackers' Courtland Allen & Pioneer's Daniel Gross | E1162
This Week in Startups
E1079 Power of Accelerators E10: Pioneer Founder Daniel Gross on gamifying the startup process
This Week In Startups
In Conversation with Daniel Gross(Pioneer) - From 0 to 1 Scaling a Modest Project to a $20M Series A
Techsylvania
In Conversation with Daniel Gross(Pioneer) - From 0 to 1 Scaling a Modest Project to a $20M Series A
Techsylvania
Daniel Gross and Brett Berson on Breaking Down Common Startup Tropes
Village Global
Colleagues at AI Grant
Network14
Peter ThielScout
Co-founder & Partner at Founders Fund
Nat FriedmanScout
Co-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDG
Guillermo RauchScout
Founder & CEO of Vercel
Alex BouazizScout
Partner at Sarona Ventures
Andrej KiskaScout
Board Partner at Credo Ventures
Andy WeissmanScout
Partner at Union Square Ventures (USV)
Ben UretskyScout
Angel
Brianne KimmelScout
Founder & Managing Partner at Worklife Ventures
Charlie SonghurstScout
Sr. Venture Partner at Acequia Capital (AceCap)
Josh Kushner
Founder & CEO of Thrive Capital
Faraz Fatemi
Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
Max Mullen
Investor at Instacart
βΆ2 more connections
Investors connected to Daniel in public investor directories β a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Daniel Gross?
- Daniel Gross sold his startup Cue to Apple, became Y Combinator's first AI-focused partner, and founded the talent accelerator Pioneer before co-founding Safe Superintelligence with Ilya Sutskever in 2024. He invested alongside Nat Friedman through their fund NFDG until July 2025, when he left SSI to join Meta Superintelligence Labs.
- Where does Daniel Gross work?
- Daniel Gross is at AI Grant.
- What does Daniel Gross invest in?
- Daniel Gross invests in AI & Machine Learning, Crypto & Web3, Deep Tech, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Sector Agnostic.
- What companies has Daniel Gross invested in?
- Investments tracked here include Airtable, Character.ai, Coinbase, CoreWeave, Cruise, Embark, Figma, GitHub, Notion, Opendoor, Perplexity, Uber.
- What podcasts and interviews feature Daniel Gross?
- Tracked appearances include "How Apple Builds Product with Daniel Gross. Tango.vc #6", ""Startups we love right now" with Indie Hackers' Courtland Allen & Pioneer's Daniel Gross | E1162", "E1079 Power of Accelerators E10: Pioneer Founder Daniel Gross on gamifying the startup process", and 5 more.
Paths to reach Daniel
People who overlapped with Daniel at the same organization β a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.
Together at Y CombinatorDaniel: Partner
Sam Altman2017β2018Co-founder & CEO of OpenAI; former President of Y CombinatorJohn Burroughs School Β· Stanford UniversityGarry Tan2017β2018President & CEO of Y CombinatorJessica Livingston2017β2018Co-founder of Y CombinatorMichael Seibel2017β2018Partner Emeritus at Y CombinatorYale UniversityDalton Caldwell2017β2018Co-founder of Standard Capital; Partner Emeritus at Y CombinatorSuhail Doshi2017β2018Founder of Mixpanel; founder of ParticleArizona State University Β· Y Combinator
Together at MetaDaniel: VP Compute
Nat Friedman2025β2026Co-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDGMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyDrew Houston2025β2026Co-founder & CEO of DropboxMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyYair2025β2026Investor at Perceptive Ventures Management Company, LlcTel Aviv UniversityAnand2025β2026Investor at Hartmann CapitalMassachusetts Institute of Technology Β· Y Combinatorbethanye McKinney Blount2025β2026Compaas at Roble VenturesAli Mahmood2025Executive Director at Plus VCSan JosΓ© State University
Together at AppleDaniel: Director
Steve Wozniak2013β2017Co-founder of AppleUniversity of California, Berkeley Β· University of Colorado BoulderAnne Foor2013β2014Investor at Khosla VenturesNotre Dame Belmont Β· University of California, Santa CruzBill Hurley2014Principal at Marlin Equity PartnersBabson CollegeMichelle Gonzalez2013β2015Corporate Vice President and Global Head of M12University of Oklahoma Β· Yale Law SchoolSam Parker2014β2017Investor at IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)Massachusetts Institute of Technology Β· Menlo School Β· Stanford University Graduate School of BusinessShaun Chaudhuri2017Partner at The Westly Group
Together at Safe Superintelligence Inc.Daniel: Cofounder
Shared employers
Also worked at Meta304
Nat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDGDrew HoustonCo-founder & CEO of DropboxGabriel PereyraCo-founder & President of HarveyTinaInvestments & Portfolio Services Team Member at Clear VenturesMike ArpaiaComputer scientist working on machine learning and data infrastructureKevin ColleranManaging Director at Slow Ventures
+ 298 more
Also worked at Safe Superintelligence Inc.1
Also worked at Y Combinator344
Garry TanPresident & CEO of Y CombinatorJessica LivingstonCo-founder of Y CombinatorAlexis OhanianFounder & General Partner of Seven Seven SixMichael SeibelPartner Emeritus at Y CombinatorDalton CaldwellCo-founder of Standard Capital; Partner Emeritus at Y CombinatorMathilde CollinCo-founder & Executive Chair of Front
+ 338 more
Also worked at Apple489
Reid HoffmanCo-founder of LinkedIn; Partner at GreylockJim BreyerFounder & CEO of Breyer CapitalSteve JurvetsonCo-founder of Future VenturesKai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AISteve WozniakCo-founder of AppleBrian ActonCo-founder of WhatsApp; co-founder of Signal Foundation
+ 483 more