Dan is a Partner at Dawn and invests across automation, vertical software and fintech. He heads up our research platform and led early investments into several future category leaders including Tink, Cover Genius and Copper.
Whilst I was at Oxford, I was seriously considering a career as a historian. I’m still fascinated by the way stories shape us - when they emerge, who gets to tell them, why they stick. And I loved the craft: piecing together chaotic, often contradictory, data trying to build a narrative that could create clarity from complexity.
I still enjoy the research process, going thematically deep to identify platform shifts and business models that could change and reshape an industry’s value chain. Automation, vertical software and fintech are where I’m mostly focused.
But in a decade investing, I’ve also seen play out repeatedly the often stated truth that venture is all about the people. Talent density, culture and communication are everything.
The best founders I’ve worked with have been deeply humble but highly independent thinkers with an exceptionally high bar for excellence. They have also been remarkable storytellers, able to articulate a vision so compelling that it forges together the market’s best team and bends an industry towards them.
Identifying those people and those narratives early is, for me, the heart of what we do. That rare sort of person deserves to partner with people that are equally invested in their mission. It was this culture of hunger, drive and partnership that convinced me to join Dawn from JPM a decade ago.
Outside investing, between time spent with family and friends you can find me enjoying a good history podcast, planning travel to remote corners of the world, playing music and following test cricket.
Prior to Dawn, Dan spent several years at J.P. Morgan in London within M&A and corporate finance. He was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. He graduated with a first in Modern History from Oxford University, where he also went on to earn a distinction in his Masters.