Artico Search Fills Senior Role with Floodgate
March 28, 2025 – Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor and Matt Meyer of Artico Search have assisted in the recruitment of Mike Heller as partner with Floodgate. “It’s been over a decade since we’ve added a new partner at Floodgate,” Mike Maples said in a LinkedIn post. “Mike Heller checks every box we care about, as an investor, a human, and a co-conspirator for top .1% founders.”
Mike is a seasoned go-to-market (GTM) and sales leader turned early-stage investor with deep experience in both operational and advisory roles. He has previously held positions as Expert in Residence at First Round Capital and Venture Partner at Angular Ventures. Prior to investing, Mike built and scaled revenue functions at startups like Clearbit—where he was the first GTM hire and helped grow ARR 30x—as well as holding sales leadership roles at Whimsical, Dropbox, and across various international markets with Prep Zone Academy. Over the past few years, he has also advised 30+ early-stage startups on GTM strategy, positioning, and growth.
Floodgate is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments, particularly in seed and pre-seed rounds. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm is known for backing startups at their formative stages, often before product-market fit has been established. Floodgate has invested in a range of technology companies across sectors and is recognized for its hands-on involvement with founders during the earliest phases of company building.
With offices in San Francisco, New York, and Austin, TX, Artico is off to one of the fastest starts among boutique search firms in recent memory. Given the billions of dollars flowing into venture capital and private equity investments, as well as the ever-present threat of cybersecurity breaches, the founders expect continued growth ahead. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor has completed over 75 CEO searches as well as partner, principal, and other CXO level assignments for the world’s most successful global investors.
Related: 6 Ways AI Will Impact Private Equity Firms’ Human Capital Needs
Ms. Chatfield-Taylor’s team focuses on executive-level search for scale-up venture capital and private equity-firms and their portfolio. The team has deep expertise in AI, software, data and emerging technology businesses.
Cowboy Ventures Search
Artico Search also recently assisted in the recruitment of Caroline Duffy as a partner in the investment team at Cowboy Ventures. “Caroline embodies Cowboy values, especially in understanding and practicing venture as a craft; as a great student of technology, collaborator, risk taker, and empath,” the company said in a release. “We’re thrilled for Caroline to add her perspectives, experience and smarts to our team.” Ms. Duffy brings a decade of experience working with enterprises, B2B software, AI and data science to Cowboy Ventures. She has a track record and passion for partnering with special founders on a mission to modernize traditional and overlooked industries.
Venture Capital Reinvented: All Roads Lead to Talent
The latest PitchBook NVCA Venture Monitor report offers up a revealing look at how the new year might unfold for a sector that has been under water for three years. According to the company’s analysts, artificial intelligence (AI) continues to dominate investment strategies, accounting for nearly half of total VC deal value. Traditional hubs like the Bay Area and New York have maintained their dominance, while smaller markets strive to establish their foothold. Meanwhile, prolonged exit timelines and concentrated fundraising dynamics are reshaping how firms deploy capital and adapt to market realities.
Ms. Duffy joins Cowboy Ventures from Construct Capital, where she developed a special talent for identifying earliest stage startups to transform traditional industries “burdened” by legacy systems; and, for finding valuable, overlooked opportunities in manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics. And years prior, she began working with technical startups as the first hire at the AI fund, working alongside AI pioneer Andrew Ng.
Cowboy Ventures is a seed-focused venture capital firm dedicated to supporting founders building technology companies. The company is based in Palo Alto, CA, and invest across the United States.
Related: Private Equity’s Top Value Lever: Outside Talent
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
