Exclusive: Writ Secures $3.8M Seed Funding to Enhance AI-Driven Data Dashboards for Collaboration and Tracking

Data dashboards are ubiquitous in today's business landscape, with companies scrambling to create custom solutions or bundle them into existing cloud software. However, Writ, a new startup based in San Francisco, aims to transform the perception of dashboards from mere status indicators to powerful collaboration tools.

Writ has announced a successful $3.8 million seed funding round led by Google’s Gradient Ventures, alongside contributions from Defy.vc, High Alpha, Toba Capital, and various angel investors. Founded by Adam Weinstein (CEO) and Jason McGhee (CTO), Writ stems from their previous venture, Cursor, a data catalog solution acquired by DataRobot in 2019.

Writ's mission is straightforward: to create a proactive dashboard for the AI era that communicates across all company departments—not just data science or leadership. This dashboard will provide a transparent record of decisions made with data, along with their outcomes.

“Over the past few decades, dashboards have primarily served as one-way communication tools,” Weinstein explained. “There’s a growing need to bridge data with business teams and develop a solution that not only analyzes data but also facilitates decision-making.”

The company and its investors believe they’ve developed a unique dashboard tool that data scientists and team leaders can leverage. By harnessing AI, Writ aims to deliver intelligent insights and graphics swiftly and automatically across multiple teams, while also maintaining a persistent record of data-related actions.

“There are dedicated teams focused on specific data areas, such as sales or finance, yet they lack tools to facilitate discussion and action,” Weinstein emphasized.

Both founders have rich backgrounds with well-known companies like LinkedIn, Pandora, ExactTarget (now Salesforce), and Deloitte, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of data’s role in modern business.

Weinstein recounted his experience of sharing data insights with partners: he would take a screenshot of a dashboard, place it in an email, and distribute it. While it kept partners informed, it did not effectively showcase how the information was being used or document the decisions made.

“There would be numerous emails and discussions to initiate any changes, resulting in an arduous search in inboxes if you wanted to review past decisions,” he shared.

Writ intends to improve this process by documenting data utilization within organizations and tracking which roles and departments are involved.

“What can you enable analysts to do when they have this oversight?” McGhee posed.

Writ is already collaborating with partners and thought leaders to refine its core functionalities.

The startup is harnessing large language models (LLMs) and generative AI to enhance its intelligent dashboard offerings without the intent of developing its own models at this stage. McGhee stated, “We’re not investing heavily in creating a bespoke model; instead, we focus on user experience and addressing design partners’ needs.”

Writ is committed to preserving data privacy and security. The company will not share or train on customer data, opting to use "metadata" and representational data for interactions with external parties. Local or virtual private inferences of LLMs will be utilized to work with customer data.

A beta version of Writ's innovative tools will launch later this year, and interested parties can sign up to apply at writ.so.

Both Darian Shirazi, General Partner at Gradient Ventures, and Bob Rosin, General Partner at Defy.vc, expressed enthusiasm for Writ's potential to redefine data interaction. Shirazi highlighted the chaotic nature of customer data as a key challenge that Writ addresses through real-time data ingestion and analysis.

This development signifies a major advance not just for Writ but for the data-driven decision-making landscape, underscoring the increasing importance of sophisticated data tools in today's competitive business environment.