Juniper Ventures · Esben · Platform Partner
Q4 progress.
updated 2026-08-14 19:45 PT · window 2026-08-14 → 2026-11-14 · auto-maintained by Claude from progress.md
Latest · Engine v2 shipped — company-tenure "Founder-ripe" signal (worked too long at a company), alignment labs added to the corpus (where safety talent works now), Semantic Scholar corpus key-gated (add S2_API_KEY to widen). New fields populate (Current employer, Company tenure, Founder-ripe, Programs). Weekly cron live.
10 / 42 tasks done across 8 projects
Next up · unblocked
◐ Autonomous scraper v0 (arXiv AI-safety feed) 2026-08-14 ○ Add Semantic Scholar API key (S2_API_KEY repo secret) to widen corpus + fire founder-ripe 2026-08-20 ○ Evaluate Modaic + give Griff a take (round?) 2026-08-20 ○ Update juniperventures.xyz with my name 2026-08-20 ◐ Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) 2026-08-25 ◐ Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones 2026-08-29 ○ Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) 2026-08-29 ○ AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh 2026-09-05 Waterfall timeline
Aug 14 Aug 28 Sep 11 Sep 25 Oct 09 Oct 23 Nov 06 Nov 14 today P01 · Sourcing engine 60% Scope the funnel + sources (MATS, fire-towns) · 2026-08-14 ◉ Scope the funnel + sources (MATS, fi…Scope the funnel + sources (MATS, fire-towns) · 2026-08-14 08/14 Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Ventures · 2026-08-14 ◉ Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Vent…Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Ventures · 2026-08-14 08/14 Review Nick's existing CRM tables · 2026-08-14 · needs: Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Ventures ◉ Review Nick's existing CRM tablesReview Nick's existing CRM tables · 2026-08-14 · needs: Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Ventures 08/14 Map AI-safety talent programs to feed the engine · 2026-08-14 ◉ Map AI-safety talent programs to fee…Map AI-safety talent programs to feed the engine · 2026-08-14 08/14 Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables live (pre-existing, rich schema) · 2026-08-14 · needs: Review Nick's existing CRM tables ◉ Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables l…Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables live (pre-existing, rich schema) · 2026-08-14 · needs: Review Nick's existing CRM tables 08/14 Autonomous scraper v0 (arXiv AI-safety feed) · 2026-08-14 ◐ Autonomous scraper v0 (arXiv AI-safe…Autonomous scraper v0 (arXiv AI-safety feed) · 2026-08-14 08/14 Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (weekly GitHub cron, top-institution corpus) · 2026-09-08 · needs: Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables live (pre-existing, rich schema) ◐ Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (w…Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (weekly GitHub cron, top-institution corpus) · 2026-09-08 · needs: Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables live (pre-existing, rich schema) 09/08 Add Semantic Scholar API key (S2_API_KEY repo secret) to widen corpus + fire founder-ripe · 2026-08-20 ○ Add Semantic Scholar API key (S2_API…Add Semantic Scholar API key (S2_API_KEY repo secret) to widen corpus + fire founder-ripe · 2026-08-20 08/20 Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified founders in CRM · 2026-09-26 · needs: Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (weekly GitHub cron, top-institution corpus) ○ Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified …Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified founders in CRM · 2026-09-26 · needs: Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (weekly GitHub cron, top-institution corpus) 09/26 >=15 machine-sourced founders reach a partner first-meeting · 2026-10-24 · needs: Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified founders in CRM ○ >=15 machine-sourced founders reach …>=15 machine-sourced founders reach a partner first-meeting · 2026-10-24 · needs: Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified founders in CRM 10/24 Write a check into >=1 machine-sourced deal · 2026-11-14 · needs: >=15 machine-sourced founders reach a partner first-meeting ○ Write a check into >=1 machine-sourc…Write a check into >=1 machine-sourced deal · 2026-11-14 · needs: >=15 machine-sourced founders reach a partner first-meeting 11/14 P02 · Research 15% Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) · 2026-08-25 ◐ Build research.juniperventures.xyz (…Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) · 2026-08-25 08/25 AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh · 2026-09-05 ○ AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refreshAIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh · 2026-09-05 09/05 Publish AIAT report 2.0 · 2026-10-10 · needs: AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh ○ Publish AIAT report 2.0Publish AIAT report 2.0 · 2026-10-10 · needs: AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh 10/10 Artifact 2: AI-assurance market map · 2026-09-26 · needs: Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) ○ Artifact 2: AI-assurance market mapArtifact 2: AI-assurance market map · 2026-09-26 · needs: Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) 09/26 Artifact 3: "safety builds the frontier" piece · 2026-10-24 · needs: Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) ○ Artifact 3: "safety builds the front…Artifact 3: "safety builds the frontier" piece · 2026-10-24 · needs: Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) 10/24 P03 · Juniper Talks 0% Lock the format (pilot the man-on-the-street / cosplay concept) · 2026-09-05 ○ Lock the format (pilot the man-on-th…Lock the format (pilot the man-on-the-street / cosplay concept) · 2026-09-05 09/05 Talk 1: Luke Drago · 2026-09-19 · needs: Lock the format (pilot the man-on-the-street / cosplay concept) ○ Talk 1: Luke DragoTalk 1: Luke Drago · 2026-09-19 · needs: Lock the format (pilot the man-on-the-street / cosplay concept) 09/19 Talk 2 · 2026-10-10 · needs: Talk 1: Luke Drago ○ Talk 2Talk 2 · 2026-10-10 · needs: Talk 1: Luke Drago 10/10 Talk 3 · 2026-10-24 · needs: Talk 2 ○ Talk 3Talk 3 · 2026-10-24 · needs: Talk 2 10/24 Talk 4 · 2026-11-14 · needs: Talk 3 ○ Talk 4Talk 4 · 2026-11-14 · needs: Talk 3 11/14 P04 · Public LP intelligence list 40% Validate no existing service already covers this · 2026-08-14 ◉ Validate no existing service already…Validate no existing service already covers this · 2026-08-14 08/14 Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones · 2026-08-29 · needs: Validate no existing service already covers this ◐ Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top…Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones · 2026-08-29 · needs: Validate no existing service already covers this 08/29 Deliver validated list to Griff + Nick · 2026-09-05 · needs: Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones ○ Deliver validated list to Griff + Ni…Deliver validated list to Griff + Nick · 2026-09-05 · needs: Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones 09/05 P05 · Compute cluster (421 Tehama) 20% v1 hardware source found (3x RTX Pro 6000, ~$20K, via contact) · 2026-08-14 ◉ v1 hardware source found (3x RTX Pro…v1 hardware source found (3x RTX Pro 6000, ~$20K, via contact) · 2026-08-14 08/14 Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) · 2026-08-29 ○ Finalize the ask to David (pick best…Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) · 2026-08-29 08/29 David go/no-go + structure decided · 2026-09-19 · needs: Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) ○ David go/no-go + structure decidedDavid go/no-go + structure decided · 2026-09-19 · needs: Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) 09/19 Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000) · 2026-10-10 · needs: David go/no-go + structure decided ○ Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000)Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000) · 2026-10-10 · needs: David go/no-go + structure decided 10/10 Gregory ships portal compute section · 2026-10-17 · needs: Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000) ○ Gregory ships portal compute sectionGregory ships portal compute section · 2026-10-17 · needs: Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000) 10/17 Provision from portal -> run Kimi K3 experiment · 2026-10-31 · needs: Gregory ships portal compute section ○ Provision from portal -> run Kimi K3…Provision from portal -> run Kimi K3 experiment · 2026-10-31 · needs: Gregory ships portal compute section 10/31 Full cluster (8x8 P200s) ordered via Fare · 2026-11-14 · needs: David go/no-go + structure decided ○ Full cluster (8x8 P200s) ordered via…Full cluster (8x8 P200s) ordered via Fare · 2026-11-14 · needs: David go/no-go + structure decided 11/14 P06 · Swag package 15% Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, hoodies, tees, hats, MagSafe; gin) · 2026-08-14 ◉ Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, h…Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, hoodies, tees, hats, MagSafe; gin) · 2026-08-14 08/14 Design Juniper-branded assets · 2026-09-12 · needs: Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, hoodies, tees, hats, MagSafe; gin) ○ Design Juniper-branded assetsDesign Juniper-branded assets · 2026-09-12 · needs: Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, hoodies, tees, hats, MagSafe; gin) 09/12 Place order ($5K) · 2026-09-30 · needs: Design Juniper-branded assets ○ Place order ($5K)Place order ($5K) · 2026-09-30 · needs: Design Juniper-branded assets 09/30 P07 · Network 10% 1:1 with every portfolio founder · 2026-11-14 ◐ 1:1 with every portfolio founder1:1 with every portfolio founder · 2026-11-14 11/14 Meet all important LPs · 2026-11-14 ◐ Meet all important LPsMeet all important LPs · 2026-11-14 11/14 >=3 network intros (e.g. Anton) · 2026-10-31 ○ >=3 network intros (e.g. Anton)>=3 network intros (e.g. Anton) · 2026-10-31 10/31 Deepen Schmidt / Friedman / Hinton via the Foundation · 2026-11-14 ○ Deepen Schmidt / Friedman / Hinton v…Deepen Schmidt / Friedman / Hinton via the Foundation · 2026-11-14 11/14 P08 · Admin / near-term (from the Aug 14 call) 50% Stop personal DoorDash on Juniper card (+ flag Nick/Tyler) · 2026-08-14 ◉ Stop personal DoorDash on Juniper ca…Stop personal DoorDash on Juniper card (+ flag Nick/Tyler) · 2026-08-14 08/14 Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper email for juniperventures.xyz · 2026-08-14 ◉ Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper …Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper email for juniperventures.xyz · 2026-08-14 08/14 Evaluate Modaic + give Griff a take (round?) · 2026-08-20 ○ Evaluate Modaic + give Griff a take …Evaluate Modaic + give Griff a take (round?) · 2026-08-20 08/20 Update juniperventures.xyz with my name · 2026-08-20 · needs: Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper email for juniperventures.xyz ○ Update juniperventures.xyz with my n…Update juniperventures.xyz with my name · 2026-08-20 · needs: Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper email for juniperventures.xyz 08/20 ◆ milestone · ┈ dependency · today (red)
Projects
P01
Sourcing engine — repeatable, programmatic in-progress
Source AND write a check into >=1 deal via the repeatable engine (the MVP) · target 2026-11-14
◉ Scope the funnel + sources (MATS, fire-towns) 2026-08-14 ◉ Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Ventures 2026-08-14 ◉ Review Nick's existing CRM tables 2026-08-14 ↳ needs: Accept GitHub invite to Juniper-Ventures ◉ Map AI-safety talent programs to feed the engine 2026-08-14 ◉ Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables live (pre-existing, rich schema) 2026-08-14 ↳ needs: Review Nick's existing CRM tables ◐ Autonomous scraper v0 (arXiv AI-safety feed) 2026-08-14 ◐ Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (weekly GitHub cron, top-institution corpus) 2026-09-08 ↳ needs: Airtable Sourcing/Watchlist tables live (pre-existing, rich schema) ○ Add Semantic Scholar API key (S2_API_KEY repo secret) to widen corpus + fire founder-ripe 2026-08-20 ○ Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified founders in CRM 2026-09-26 ↳ needs: Engine v1 auto-feeds Talent Radar (weekly GitHub cron, top-institution corpus) ○ >=15 machine-sourced founders reach a partner first-meeting 2026-10-24 ↳ needs: Warm-path mapping + >=100 qualified founders in CRM ○ Write a check into >=1 machine-sourced deal 2026-11-14 ↳ needs: >=15 machine-sourced founders reach a partner first-meeting
P02
Research — the "safety builds the frontier" engine in-progress
Publish AIAT report 2.0 + two more artifacts we're proud of · target 2026-11-14
◐ Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) 2026-08-25 ○ AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh 2026-09-05 ○ Publish AIAT report 2.0 2026-10-10 ↳ needs: AIAT 2.0 outline + 2026 data refresh ○ Artifact 2: AI-assurance market map 2026-09-26 ↳ needs: Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today) ○ Artifact 3: "safety builds the frontier" piece 2026-10-24 ↳ needs: Build research.juniperventures.xyz (content live; wire DNS — domain landed today)
P03
Juniper Talks — 4 in three months not-started
4 talks published, non-standard format, starting with Luke Drago · target 2026-11-14
○ Lock the format (pilot the man-on-the-street / cosplay concept) 2026-09-05 ○ Talk 1: Luke Drago 2026-09-19 ↳ needs: Lock the format (pilot the man-on-the-street / cosplay concept) ○ Talk 2 2026-10-10 ↳ needs: Talk 1: Luke Drago ○ Talk 3 2026-10-24 ↳ needs: Talk 2 ○ Talk 4 2026-11-14 ↳ needs: Talk 3 Format concept notes · (pending)
P04
Public LP intelligence list in-progress
Validated list of publicly-disclosed LPs across the top ~10 tier-one funds · target 2026-09-05
◉ Validate no existing service already covers this 2026-08-14 ◐ Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones 2026-08-29 ↳ needs: Validate no existing service already covers this ○ Deliver validated list to Griff + Nick 2026-09-05 ↳ needs: Scrape publicly-disclosed LPs of top-10 tier-ones
P05
Compute cluster (421 Tehama) — into procurement in-progress
Be in procurement (ordered); v1 provisioned from the portal to run a Kimi K3 experiment · target 2026-11-14
◉ v1 hardware source found (3x RTX Pro 6000, ~$20K, via contact) 2026-08-14 ○ Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) 2026-08-29 ○ David go/no-go + structure decided 2026-09-19 ↳ needs: Finalize the ask to David (pick best of the reasons) ○ Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000) 2026-10-10 ↳ needs: David go/no-go + structure decided ○ Gregory ships portal compute section 2026-10-17 ↳ needs: Install v1 (3x RTX Pro 6000) ○ Provision from portal -> run Kimi K3 experiment 2026-10-31 ↳ needs: Gregory ships portal compute section ○ Full cluster (8x8 P200s) ordered via Fare 2026-11-14 ↳ needs: David go/no-go + structure decided
P06
Swag package — $5K in-progress
$5K spent on Juniper-branded swag, and happy with it · target 2026-09-30
◉ Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, hoodies, tees, hats, MagSafe; gin) 2026-08-14 ○ Design Juniper-branded assets 2026-09-12 ↳ needs: Pick items + vendors (Fellow mugs, hoodies, tees, hats, MagSafe; gin) ○ Place order ($5K) 2026-09-30 ↳ needs: Design Juniper-branded assets
P07
Network — earn real standing in-progress
1:1 with every portfolio founder + all important LPs + >=3 network intros · target 2026-11-14
◐ 1:1 with every portfolio founder 2026-11-14 ◐ Meet all important LPs 2026-11-14 ○ >=3 network intros (e.g. Anton) 2026-10-31 ○ Deepen Schmidt / Friedman / Hinton via the Foundation 2026-11-14 CRM / rolodex · (local vault: All/Customer register (CRM).md)
P08
Admin / near-term (from the Aug 14 call) in-progress
Clear the fast action items so they don't block the projects · target 2026-08-22
◉ Stop personal DoorDash on Juniper card (+ flag Nick/Tyler) 2026-08-14 ◉ Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper email for juniperventures.xyz 2026-08-14 ○ Evaluate Modaic + give Griff a take (round?) 2026-08-20 ○ Update juniperventures.xyz with my name 2026-08-20 ↳ needs: Create GoDaddy account on a Juniper email for juniperventures.xyz
Changelog
2026-08-14 19:45 — Engine v2: added the **Founder-ripe** signal (Esben's ask: founders who've been too long at a company) — OpenAlex affiliation year-ranges → current employer + company tenure; flags company/lab tenure ≥4y. Added alignment labs (Anthropic/OpenAI/DeepMind/Redwood/Apollo/EleutherAI/…) to the corpus so it covers where safety talent works now, not just universities. Semantic Scholar corpus wired but key-gated (S2_API_KEY, added later) — widens discovery, resolves to OpenAlex for unified enrichment. +4 Airtable fields. Verified fields populate (Toronto/Vector tenure). Founder-ripe correctly 0 for the current all-academic set; fires for company/lab-tenured people as the corpus widens. Note: OpenReview is login-walled (403) and MATS /alumni is testimonials not a roster — reliable "where they work now" comes from OpenAlex last-known-institution + the tenure signal, not a scraped alumni join. 2026-08-14 19:10 — Engine v1 SHIPPED: repo Juniper-Ventures/sourcing-engine + weekly GitHub Actions cron + AIRTABLE_TOKEN secret + new Airtable "Talent Radar (engine)" table (tblsxo8b…). v1 = OpenAlex disambiguation (real author IDs, not names), co-author clusters, tenure + publication-cadence, pre-exit signals (productization / founder-timing / publication-slowdown / tight-cluster). HONEST finding: free bibliometric APIs cap signal — arXiv is hard rate-limited (429 on my IP AND GitHub runners); OpenAlex keyword = noisy; OpenAlex institution-filtered = clean but low-volume (sparse institution metadata). Table seeded w/ 6 high-signal top-institution candidates (Yaodong Yang, Xuehai Pan = real alignment researchers). Deliberately did NOT dump noise. v2 = better source (OpenReview API / Semantic Scholar key / arXiv bulk mirror). 2026-08-14 17:40 — LIVE Airtable access (PAT saved in ~/.zshrc). Found the base already has populated Sourcing (26f) + Watchlist (14f) tables + an active curated workflow — so the schema task was already done, not to-build. Proved engine→CRM wiring: deduped + wrote one tagged test candidate (David Demitri Africa, rec…PW65) into Sourcing. NOT bulk-importing the 184 raw candidates into the curated table — cadence/ownership to confirm with Griff/Nick. 2026-08-14 17:22 — Sourcing engine v0 SHIPPED: runnable sourcing_engine.py pulls 633 recent AI-safety papers from arXiv → 184 ranked author-candidates (first-authorship weighted) → /sourcing subpage + candidates.json. First working slice of the engine. (v0: name-only dedup; v1 = affiliation disambiguation + Apart/LessWrong/OpenReview feeds.) 2026-08-14 17:14 — Autonomous batch: reviewed Nick's CRM (Airtable base + crm-updater agent) → crm-review subpage w/ watchlist schema spec (unblocks P01 schema task); built LP-intelligence list (31 ranked LPs + pull method) → P04; mapped AI-safety talent programs → P01 sourcing feeds; built swag playbook ($5K BOM, Seldon→Juniper) → P06. GoDaddy + DoorDash done (Esben). LP-list validation done (Preqin/PitchBook cover raw data, none score AI-safety fit → thin scraper + scoring is the build). 4 subpages linked. 2026-08-14 16:56 — GitHub invite done. Research build → in progress (research.juniperventures.xyz still NXDOMAIN — DNS pending, domain landed today). Software task dates pulled in (AI/software leverage); LP-list fast-tracked to Sep 5. GPU provisioning + talks unchanged. 2026-08-14 — Tracker created. 8 projects, 33 tasks, dependencies + target dates seeded from the Griff goals call. Baseline progress set. Generated from progress.md by build_progress.py — do not hand-edit this page. Claude auto-updates the source file while working on Juniper and reminds Esben on each change.