Arif Damji Promoted to Partner at Conductive Ventures

We’re excited to share that Arif Damji has been promoted to Partner at Conductive Ventures.

Arif’s path to this role is anything but conventional. His background spans retention marketing, B2B SaaS, luxury wine, and venture capital — each experience sharpening his instinct for what makes a business both durable and distinctive. He began his career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, advising executives on marketing and sales strategies across hospitality and financial services. He later joined the founding team at 500Friends, a Y Combinator-backed SaaS loyalty platform that was acquired by Merkle. There, he worked closely with founder Justin Yoshimura — now the CEO of CSC Generation, one of our current portfolio companies. That early experience shaped Arif’s appreciation for the journey of operationally-obsessed founders and the evolving path to building lasting, efficient businesses.

Following 500Friends, Arif took a detour into the world of fine wine, leading innovation at Kosta Browne Winery, a PE-owned winery, which was acquired by Duckhorn. The shift from software to wine might seem unusual, but it reinforced Arif’s intellectual curiosity, especially as it relates to customer-centricity and brand retention — traits he still looks for in startups today. At each stop, Arif developed a strong commercial lens and a deep appreciation for building with care, precision, and a customer-first mindset.

He brought those values to Conductive Ventures in 2019. As our first investment team hire, Arif helped shape the investment process and culture of our firm from the ground up. He’s since led investments in companies like MoeGo, HopSkip, and Cloverleaf — three distinct businesses with one thing in common: founders who operate with efficiency, clarity, and conviction. He has been pivotal with other investments, including but not limited to evolvedMD, Lily AI, and Nice Healthcare. He always brings a thoughtful, founder-first approach.

Arif is driven by intellectual curiosity. He tends to gravitate toward sectors and founders that others might overlook — those who prioritize solving real problems over chasing headlines. And his investment style reflects that: he backs entrepreneurs who are quietly, and persistently, building businesses that work.

I’ve known Arif for over a decade, going back to when I was on the Board of 500Friends and he presented to us as a young operator. He stood out then, and he stands out now. Arif was our first investment team hire at Conductive and as such has been instrumental in shaping our culture, sourcing great companies, and being a true partner to founders. His humility, work ethic, and portfolio-first mindset embody what we value most at Conductive.

– Carey Lai, General Partner & Co-Founder, Conductive Ventures

Arif’s promotion comes as we continue to scale with our $200M Fund III, and a total of $450M under management. We’re staying grounded in our mission: to back capital-efficient, unconventional founders across software and technology-enabled services. Recognizing leaders like Arif — who live and breathe that mission — helps us do that even better.

Please join us in congratulating Arif on this well-earned promotion to Partner.