Scott Friend is a former founder who built and sold a retail analytics company to Oracle before becoming a venture investor at Bain Capital Ventures, where he specializes in commerce and retail technology rather than investing broadly across tech sectors. He's known for making large, early bets on commerce companies when they're still just ideas on paper, like leading Jet.com's $140M Series A, and focuses on finding founders with deep conviction rather than just vision.

• A deep focus on the infrastructure and software that powers modern e-commerce and retail operations. He frequently highlights investments that solve backend operational hurdles, such as his enthusiasm for Soona moving e-commerce photography to the cloud and Attentive driving mobile commerce.
• Valuing the long-term journey of early-stage investing and maintaining deep relationships with founders from the very beginning. He often references his experience writing the first check for Rent the Runway in 2009, expressing nostalgia for watching the founders run early trunk shows at universities before eventually guiding them to an IPO.
• Interested in the intersection of artificial intelligence and personalized marketing within the retail sector. He actively engages in industry dialogue regarding this shift, including speaking at retail conferences about how AI tools are finally enabling brands to achieve true one-to-one customer engagement.
• Conviction in the growing dominance of online marketplaces across both consumer and business-to-business sectors. He points to the rapid valuation growth of portfolio companies like Mirakl to illustrate his belief that specialized software is essential for enterprises looking to launch and manage their own digital marketplaces.
• A habit of publicly recognizing the broader operational teams behind a startup, rather than just the CEOs. He often takes time to list and thank specific early employees, board members, and management leaders who helped navigate challenges like the pandemic, signaling he appreciates the collective effort required to scale a business.