Madison McIlwain

I’m Madison; an endlessly curious venture capitalist, podcast host, and storyteller who believes the right relationships change everything. I started in product management at Gap Inc., where I built backend logistics tools and spoke at Dreamforce on chatbot innovation. But it was the founder stories that captivated me most—so I moved into venture at Defy VC, where I grew from Associate to Partner by 26, backing early-stage B2B and consumer startups alike.

At the same time, I co-founded The Room Podcast to open doors in tech and venture—especially for underrepresented voices. With 100+ episodes and key partners such as Mercury and Perkins Coie, we’ve brought founders like Michelle Zatlyn (Cloudflare) and Johnny Ho (Perplexity) into listeners’ lives, one real conversation at a time. We were honored to be named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media.

Rooted in a love of learning (Dartmouth undergrad, now Harvard MBA), I care deeply about creating ecosystems that build meaningful connection and businesses. When I'm not investing, building or podcasting, I’m likely reading #booktok recommendations or traveling somewhere new.

Check out The Room Podcast Here: https://www.theroompodcast.com/