An AI-native venture studio that operates what it builds.
Lift 525 designs and runs AI agent systems as managed operational capacity for small and mid-market companies. Clients don't install software or hire a team. The studio builds the service, runs the agents, and delivers the outcome.
Build. Operate. Prove.
Each studio venture takes one well-defined operational job that companies struggle to staff, and delivers it as a service run by AI agents under human operating discipline.
01 Build
We design the agent system around the job: the workflows, the rules, the escalation paths, and the quality controls, drawn from how experienced operators actually do the work.
02 Operate
We run it. Agents do the work around the clock; the studio supervises, handles exceptions, and owns the result. Nothing to install, integrate, or manage on the client side.
03 Prove
Every engagement reports measured results against the client's own baseline, on a weekly cadence. If the numbers don't argue for the service, nothing else should.
Repeat CEO and value-creation operator for B2B software
Darren was the founding CEO of 280 Earth, spinning a deep-science project out of X, the Moonshot Factory (Google), into a venture-funded company, and most recently served as CEO of Conexiom, an enterprise software company, leading its repositioning for the AI era.
Before his software CEO roles, he spent a decade in private equity and operational transformation: co-founder of Quarry Capital, CEO and president roles across its portfolio and beyond, and turnaround consulting at AlixPartners. He started at General Motors, where he was the only employee in company history to receive all three GM-sponsored fellowships.
Harvard MBA. Stanford MS, Mechanical Engineering.
Full background on LinkedInGet in touch
For studio services, operator work, or anything else, email is fastest and goes directly to Darren.