Steven Smith is the Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Employees 1st Ventures. Expertise in operational transformation, enterprise-scale efficiency programs, and post-acquisition value creation. Leads the firm's operational strategy and portfolio company execution.

With over 20 years of global leadership experience in IT strategy, sourcing, and operational transformation, Steven brings a unique blend of enterprise insight and executional rigor to the venture space.

Prior to joining Employees 1st, Steven held senior roles at Cisco, Shell, and Hewlett-Packard, where he spearheaded large-scale ERP deployments, led global sourcing strategies, and optimized complex vendor ecosystems. His ability to align technology, operations, and supplier networks has consistently driven measurable outcomes and long-term value for Fortune 500 organizations.

Steven brings an enterprise operator’s perspective (“outsider’s view”) into Employees 1st—having experienced firsthand the challenges large organizations face in achieving coherent, scalable transformation. This perspective fuels his commitment to building modular, people-centered solutions that align with the firm’s FutureFlow™ blueprint and enable organizations to scale with speed, trust, and resilience.

Known for his collaborative leadership style and deep operational expertise, Steven is passionate about building high-performing teams, fostering strategic partnerships, and helping organizations thrive in a world where innovation is perpetual and business is orchestrated—not managed.

Anuj Saxena is the Managing Partner and Chief Growth Officer at Employees 1st Ventures, where he leads go-to-market strategy, enterprise engagement, and growth acceleration across the firm’s venture portfolio. With over 20 years of global leadership experience in SaaS, digital transformation, and enterprise consulting, Anuj brings a unique blend of strategic vision and executional excellence to the venture space.

Prior to joining Employees 1st, Anuj served as Global VP of Sales at HighRadius, where he played a pivotal role in scaling the company from 50 to over 900 global cloud customers—driving a 100X increase in annual recurring revenue and positioning the firm as a leader in Autonomous Finance. His career also includes leadership roles at IBM, PwC, Deloitte, and Alti (now TCS), where he led large-scale ERP implementations, enterprise sales strategy, and digital transformation initiatives.

Anuj is known for his deep expertise in AI/ML-driven sales strategy, SaaS pricing, and complex enterprise deal-making. He has successfully guided companies through multiple funding rounds and built high-performance sales engines that consistently outperform in competitive markets.

At Employees 1st, Anuj helps shape the firm’s FutureFlow™ blueprint—co-creating modular, people-centered solutions that enable organizations to scale with speed, trust, and resilience. His work is focused on empowering visionary founders and enterprise leaders to build the next generation of autonomous, innovation-led businesses.

Sabina Iyengar is a seasoned B2B marketing leader with over 27 years of experience driving growth for enterprise, mid-market, and startup SaaS organizations. She partners with portfolio companies to design and implement intelligent, data-driven marketing systems that scale with intention.

Her expertise spans integrated growth marketing, demand generation, account-based marketing (ABM), and go-to-market strategy. Sabina brings a systems-thinking approach to building modern marketing engines—ones that are measurable, modular, and aligned with the firm’s FutureFlow™ blueprint for perpetual innovation.

At Employees 1st, she plays a pivotal role in crafting the digital presence and marketing architecture of portfolio companies, ensuring brand coherence and market impact. Sabina is passionate about transforming complexity into clarity and enabling organizations to grow intelligently and sustainably.

She is a collaborative strategist and trusted contributor, dedicated to helping organizations design and scale marketing systems that drive meaningful, sustainable growth.

Will Andrews brings over two decades of experience at the intersection of technology and business performance.

As Partner and Head of the Strategic Consulting Practice at Employees 1st Ventures, Will leads the firm’s enterprise advisory services, powered by the proprietary FutureFlow™ framework. His focus is on helping organizations design and scale intelligent operating models that drive measurable transformation and unlock human potential.

Prior to joining Employees 1st, Will led the Digital Solutions practice at firms like Trianz, PwC, and Quovera, where he advised Fortune 500 clients on leveraging digital technologies to differentiate customer experience, optimize sales operations, and modernize enterprise architecture. His consulting career has spanned a wide range of industries, consistently centered on enabling clients to move faster, adapt smarter, and build systems that sustain innovation at scale.

Will’s approach is grounded in systems thinking, strategic clarity, and a deep belief in the power of technology to elevate business outcomes. At Employees 1st, he is instrumental in shaping the Embedded Autonomy practice—helping enterprises orchestrate transformation with speed, trust, and coherence.

Outside of work, Will is an avid outdoorsman and is currently pursuing a personal goal of hiking the 211-mile John Muir Trail with his family.

Ganeshan Venkateshwaran is the Founder and Managing Partner of Employees 1st Ventures — a firm that deploys proprietary AI as infrastructure into real economy sectors to generate outsized returns. He leads the firm’s investment strategy, fund operations, and multi vertical platform vision spanning FinTech, InsureTech, LogisticsTech, HealthTech, and SovereignTech.

Ganeshan architected the firm’s core AI capabilities around two operating principles — Continuous Modernization and Hyper Personalization — designed to transform unit economics in any sector the firm enters. The first deployment in the global credit space, applied to an active portfolio of over 120,000 users, has already delivered strong performance and validated the foundational thesis.

Before building the firm, Ganeshan spent 25 years as an execution operator, delivering the alpha rather than just underwriting it. He led large scale transformation programs for Fortune 500 enterprises across the US, India, and the Middle East, with leadership roles at Wipro, Trianz, and Mastech. His career has centered on scaling teams, running P&Ls, and converting strategy into measurable operating results — an operator DNA that now informs every investment the firm makes.

His guiding thesis is clear: AI deployed as infrastructure — not invested in as a standalone product — will define the next generation of investment returns. Employees 1st Ventures is built for that shift.

Ganeshan holds a B.E. in Industrial & Production Engineering from M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, and has completed executive programs at the Indian Institute of Science and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Guillermo Diaz, Jr. is a visionary business leader, technology innovator, and passionate advocate for inclusive opportunity. As a Board Member at Employees 1st, Guillermo brings decades of experience driving enterprise transformation at the intersection of people, process, and technology.

Guillermo is the Founder and CEO of Conectado Inc., a pioneering Web3 and AI-powered platform focused on accelerating access to opportunity for underrepresented communities. He also serves as Chairman of HITEC (Hispanic Technology Executive Council), where he champions global executive leadership and diversity in technology.

Previously, Guillermo served as Global Chief Information Officer at Cisco Systems, where he led the company’s IT strategy and operations, helping shape Cisco’s evolution into a digital-first enterprise. His career spans leadership roles at Silicon Graphics, Ingram Micro, and Alza Corporation, and began with a distinguished tenure in the U.S. Navy.

Guillermo currently serves on the boards of Blue Shield of California, Jack in the Box (NASDAQ: JACK), and several mission-driven organizations, including Cristo Rey High School, NPower, and the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative.

At Employees 1st, Guillermo’s deep expertise in enterprise systems, digital transformation, and inclusive innovation aligns with the firm’s mission to build the Autonomous Enterprise—a new operating model designed for scale, speed, and trust. His leadership will help guide the firm’s investments in founders and technologies that are reshaping the future of work and enterprise autonomy.