Joined on a $3M pre-seed and hired all ten of the founding team, across product, design, engineering, ops, support and IT. Defined the data foundation: how records from different systems are pulled in, matched and found by the AI. Set agent permissions with the principal architect, per customer and per role, with a credential vault and an MCP server that holds outside agents to the same rules. Owned the evals, the checks every release had to pass, and the AI unit economics, modelled to a 75% gross margin.
Paying customers at launch.
The number was paying customers: the first on launch day, 4 February 2026, then more won from a $100M+ ARR incumbent. The SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 controls were in place at launch, while the SOC 2 observation window ran. They were Lexful’s controls, not Dacard’s. Darren’s role ended in March 2026, after the launch; Lexful raised a $7M seed in June 2026.
Bring the decision you are stuck on.
Thirty minutes, no deck, no fee. If we are not right for it, we will say so and point you somewhere better.
Hiring for a VP or chief seat? Email the role to darren@darrencard.com, read the CV, or download it.