About
Deon Nicholas is Co-Founder and CEO of Espa Labs, an AI-native executive assistant company. He previously co-founded and served as Chairman of Forethought, which was acquired by Zendesk, and has worked at Meta, Palantir, Dropbox, and Pure Storage. An angel investor in over 30 companies including Anthropic, Cognition, and Bluesky, Nicholas studied AI and mathematics at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and the University of Waterloo.
Founder at Forethought Technologies, Inc.
Intro paths
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In turn, Deon can intro founders to Forethought Technologies, Inc.'s investors below.
Forethought Technologies, Inc.'s investors · 11
8VCAustin · $100K – $50M checks · since 2018Blue Cloud VenturesNew York · $5M – $30M checks · since 2018Cleo CapitalNew York · $100K – $1M checks · since 2018Frontline VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $3.2M checks · since 2018Geodesic CapitalFoster City · since 2018Inspired CapitalNew York · $500K – $20M checks · since 2018K9 VenturesPalo Alto · $250K – $750K checks · since 2018New Enterprise Associates (NEA)Menlo Park · $200K – $40M checks · since 2018Operator CollectivePalo Alto · $500K – $1.5M checks · since 2018Village GlobalCovina · $100K – $500K checks · since 2018Worklife VenturesWalnut · $500K – $2M checks · since 2018
Co-founders at Forethought Technologies, Inc.
SG
Sami GhocheFounder
Experience
- Espa LabsCo-Founder & CEOcurrent2026 — presentSan Francisco, CA
- ZendeskStrategic AI Advisorcurrent2026 — presentSan Francisco, California, United States
- ForethoughtCo-Founder & Chairman2024 — 2026San Francisco Bay Area
- ForethoughtCEO & Co-Founder2017 — 2024San Francisco Bay Area
- Pure StorageSoftware Engineer2015 — 2017Mountain View, California
- DropboxSoftware Engineer2015San Francisco, CA
- Palantir TechnologiesFull Stack Software Engineer Intern2014Palo Alto, CA
- FacebookSoftware Engineering Intern2013Menlo Park, CA
- Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence (RLAI) Intern2011Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)Research & Development Intern2010Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Skills & more
Teamwork21Creative Problem Solving6Public Speaking11AlgorithmsC++28Software Engineering27Databases13Data Structures13Java10Web Applications9Research8Python12
+12 more
Computer ScienceSocial MediaBig DataGame ProgrammingTechnical WritingCSSArtificial IntelligenceDistributed SystemsCascading Style Sheets (CSS)Python (Programming Language)Machine LearningSoftware DevelopmentLanguages English · French
- ICPCID — ICPC - International Collegiate Programming Contest
From Deon's professional profile.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Deon Nicholas?
- Deon Nicholas is Co-Founder and CEO of Espa Labs, an AI-native executive assistant company. He previously co-founded and served as Chairman of Forethought, which was acquired by Zendesk, and has worked at Meta, Palantir, Dropbox, and Pure Storage. An angel investor in over 30 companies including Anthropic, Cognition, and Bluesky, Nicholas studied AI and mathematics at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and the University of Waterloo.
- Where does Deon Nicholas work?
- Deon Nicholas is Founder of Forethought Technologies, Inc..
- What companies did Deon Nicholas found?
- Deon Nicholas founded Forethought Technologies, Inc..
- Where did Deon Nicholas go to school?
- Deon Nicholas studied at University of Waterloo (Bachelor of Mathematics (with Distinction), Honours Computer Science and Combinatorics/Optimization); Leaders In Tech (Leaders in Tech Fellow).
Founder mafias
University of Waterloo mafia261
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Apoorva MehtaBAScFounded InstacartJon LernerBachelor of Applied ScienceFounded Textnow +2Zach WaterfieldComputer EngineeringFounded Zettlor +1Peter CarresciaBMathFounded GoConfirm +1Eric BlondeelBAScFounded Samos Insurance +1Peter SumaGD - Graduate Diploma in Theoretical NeuroscienceFounded Applied Brain Research +1
+ 254 more
Dropbox mafia85
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Drew HoustonCo-Founder and Co-CEOFounded AccoladeKanjun QiuProduct ManagerFounded Kanjun +2Gautam JayaramanEngineerFounded Onsite Pro +2Ivan KiriginProduct ManagerFounded YesGraph +1Sujay JaswaBusiness Founder / Vice President of Business & Chief Financial OfficerFounded Superunlimited +1Sam OdioSenior Director of Product ManagementFounded Divvyshot +1
+ 78 more
Leaders In Tech mafia38
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Sam HashemiFounded Felt +1Michael BabineauFellow (2022-2023)Founded Second Measure +1Michael HeinrichFounded OG Labs +1Ferhat BabacanFellowFounded Bluedot +1Ron EfroniFellowFounded Flox +1Selinay ParlakFellowFounded Bluedot +1
+ 31 more
Same school
Also attended University of Waterloo474
Chamath PalihapitiyaFounder & CEO of Social CapitalApoorva MehtaFounder of Instacart; founder of Cloud Health SystemsAchintya ChaudhariInvestor at LightbankKarim GillaniGeneral Partner at Luge CapitalRohan MongaInvestment Associate at Luge CapitalAndrew MiklasGeneral Partner at Y Combinator
+ 468 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Forethought3
Also worked at Pure Storage22
Mike SpeiserManaging Director at Sutter Hill VenturesMike VolpiInvestor at Index VenturesCameron BaharVenture Partner at Think+ Ventures Management, LlcJoe PintoChief Customer Experience Officer, Pure Storage at Two Bear CapitalMallun YenFounder & Managing Partner at Operator CollectiveJay ChongManaging Partner at Millennium New Horizons
+ 16 more
Also worked at Dropbox155
Danny RimerPartner at Index VenturesDrew HoustonCo-founder & CEO of DropboxArash FerdowsiCo-founder of DropboxQuentin ClarkInvestment Team at General CatalystAna AndreescuInvestor at Index VenturesMark GoldbergInvestor at Index Ventures
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+ 149 more
Also worked at Palantir Technologies250
Garry TanPresident & CEO of Y CombinatorJoe LonsdaleFounder & Managing Partner of 8VC; co-founder of Palantir and AddeparTrae StephensPartner at Founders Fund and co-founder of AndurilTarek MansourCo-founder & CEO of KalshiViviana FagaGeneral Partner at Felicis VenturesBryan OffuttInvestor at Index Ventures
+ 244 more