Mayfield and Startup Grind Open Nominations for New AI List Celebrating Emerging Individuals Shaping the Future of AI

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mayfield and Divot, a Startup Grind initiative, today announced the opening of nominations for the Mayfield | Divot AI List, a new annual effort to recognize 100 rising stars in AI. The list will spotlight innovators, founders, builders, and thinkers whose early contributions are shaping the next era of AI.

From emerging startup founders and technical researchers to policy leaders and media voices, the list focuses on individuals whose early work is laying the foundation for the next era of intelligence but who may not yet be widely known.

Nominations are now open through September 10, 2025 — Nominate here.

Members of the public are invited to nominate themselves or others doing outstanding work in AI across categories, including startups, builders, researchers, industry leaders, media voices, policymakers, and more.

“At Mayfield, we invest in people first and foremost. We’re witnessing an incredible wave of emerging talent across the AI ecosystem – brilliant builders, researchers, industry leaders, media voices, policymakers, and founders whose early work is laying the foundation for the Collaborative Intelligence era,” said Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner at Mayfield. “What excites us is how the Mayfield | Divot AI List is celebrating these rising stars. We’re proud to partner with Startup Grind to champion the people building the future of AI.”

“The Mayfield | Divot AI List is one of the most exciting things I’ve been part of in my 15-year history with Startup Grind. Our organizations are some of the world’s best at finding and helping incredible people to make an impact. This list will serve as an important launching point in many careers headed for greatness,” said Derek Anderson, Founder and CEO of Startup Grind. “Together with Navin and our judges, this is the early days of one of tech’s most important communities.”

Nominees will be reviewed by a panel of respected industry leaders, including Dustin Moskovitz (Asana, Facebook), May Habib (Writer), Rahul Vohra (Superhuman), Sridhar Ramaswamy (Snowflake), Logan Kilpatrick (Google Deepmind), Emily Chang (Bloomberg), Ion Stoica (Databricks, Anyscale), Armon Dadgar (HashiCorp (IBM)), Nicholas Thompson (The Atlantic), Dheeraj Pandey (DevRev, Nutanix), Howard G. Wright (NVIDIA), Navin Chaddha (Mayfield), Stefano Ermon (Inception Labs, Stanford), Molly O’Shea (Sourcery), Derek Andersen (Startup Grind), Philip Dawson (Armilla AI), Sam Loesche (Waabi), Tanya Dua (LinkedIn News) and others. Evaluation criteria include originality, early traction, potential for long-term impact, and commitment to responsible AI development.

The honorees will be announced on October 1, 2025, and recognized at a live event in San Francisco on November 6. The event will bring together leaders from academia, venture capital, AI-leading industries, and public service to celebrate the honorees and foster connections across disciplines.

Honorees will be featured on the Divot and Mayfield websites, amplified at Startup Grind events, across partner channels, and invited to join a one-of-a-kind community of AI builders spanning startups, research, policy, and enterprise—connected by thoughtful programming and an unparalleled network of peers.

To learn more, visit divot.org/list.

About Mayfield

Mayfield partners with founders from day zero who see limitless possibilities where others see constraints. Drawing on our 55-year legacy of company building and people-first philosophy, we bring founder-to-founder expertise because we've built and scaled companies ourselves. We've celebrated over 120 IPOs and 225+ acquisitions, including breakthrough companies like HashiCorp, Lyft, Mammoth BioSciences, and Poshmark. From our Silicon Valley home, with $3 billion in assets under management, Mayfield is more excited than ever to back founders building the AI future. Join us at mayfield.com.

About Startup Grind / Divot

Startup Grind is the leading global startup community, supporting early-stage founders from bootstrap to Series A and beyond. With members across 150 countries, Startup Grind helps entrepreneurs build companies through events, education, and community.

Divot is the narrative-forward arm of Startup Grind—a community for those making their mark on the world. What began as a podcast has grown into a platform spotlighting legendary leaders and the next generation of rising stars, through storytelling, recognition, and connection.