Daniel Portillo built his career around recruiting and team-building rather than finance, starting as an early Mozilla employee, leading talent efforts at Greylock, and later helping bring tech leaders into the U.S. Digital Service under the Obama White House—work that has led people to call him the godfather of the talent partner role in venture capital. His approach centers on matching driven, hustle-oriented people with founders to solve real hiring and team-building problems, an outlook shaped by a working relationship with John Lilly that has lasted more than 20 years across Mozilla, Greylock, and startup investing.