Announcing Affinity's new CEO, Ken Fine

We are thrilled to welcome Affinity’s new CEO: Ken Fine! Shubham Goel and Ray Zhou will be stepping down from their co-CEO roles and remain focused on Affinity as co-founders and board members.

A message from Ray and Shubham

When Shubham and I started Affinity, we had a simple core realization: relationships are the most valuable asset in the world. They form the backbone of the world’s largest industries. But back then the tools for managing those relationships were broken.

We asked ourselves if we could reinvent the relationship software stack by thinking about data very differently. Every organization owned a vast amount of untapped data—emails, calendars, messages, scattered datasets about people and companies and transactions. What if we could harness that data to build a new kind of platform?

Ten years later, Affinity has come a long way. Our ideas that seemed questionable at the time have become a new gold standard across private capital and professional services. Over 3,200 firms in 80+ countries entrust Affinity with managing their deals, investors, portfolios, clients, and relationships. We’ve processed billions of emails, calendar events, and contacts. Today, Affinity captures more global deal flow and investor relationships than any other software platform. The serendipity and connections engineered by those relationships have financed everything from the current AI renaissance to frontier biotechnology.

It seems only fitting, then, that the serendipity of a relationship would lead us to our big announcement today. We are thrilled to share that we have hired Ken Fine as Affinity’s new CEO. Shubham and I will be stepping down from our current roles as co-CEOs, but we remain dedicated to Affinity as co-founders and board members, and we look forward to spending even more time with our customers, on evangelism, and on scaling our incredible team.

Shubham and I were first introduced to Ken under a very different context. Last year, we started a search for a new independent board member to augment our team and company with an exceptional operator. We were eager to partner with and learn from someone world-class who had successfully navigated the next phase of scale Affinity was just entering.

Ken was referred to us by our network as one of the strongest growth-stage CEOs our trusted friends and investors knew. First of all, his track record speaks for itself. From leading Financial Engines from its earliest days, to scaling Medallia and most recently Heap, he has led multiple companies to $200M+ in ARR including 2 IPOs and several acquisitions.

More importantly—as we built our own relationship with Ken, diving into Affinity and brainstorming how we could take our company to the next level—he blew us away. Our time together humbled us into realizing what his operating leadership could bring to the table at Affinity. A few things stood out to us about Ken across our many conversations:

• Ability to align organizations and leadership teams with an incredible level of operational excellence
• Experience and rigorous methodology for identifying and scaling new product lines and markets
• A deep connection to the core values that we founded Affinity with and that bind us together

While this marks a big and emotional decision for us, we’ve never been more optimistic about the future for Affinity and our customers. The industries we serve have transformed since Affinity’s humble beginnings. We’ve been lucky to play a role in that transformation. But our most important work remains yet ahead of us. Data and AI are taking private capital through its biggest shift yet in over a decade. Many other industries have yet to even know what relationship intelligence is. We think we have a big role to play in these changes, and cannot wait to share what we’ve been working on next at Affinity.

Shubham and I want to thank our beloved customers and dedicated team—especially those who took an early bet on us since the very beginning. Thank you for putting your trust in us over all of these years. We can’t wait to see where we go next with you!

A message from Ken

I'm excited to announce that I've joined Affinity as CEO. Affinity is the leader in relationship intelligence and I look forward to applying my 25+ years of experience leading B2B SaaS companies through successful growth to Affinity.

Prior to Affinity, I led growth at Heap, where we developed innovative technology and GTM execution to drive market leadership and revenue growth. Before Heap, I helped to lead both Medallia and Financial Engines through periods of rapid expansion, culminating in successful IPOs and revenue milestones exceeding $200 million. What drew me to Affinity was the combination of product-market fit, growth potential, and a healthy company culture. 

Affinity has a strong product-market fit, with 50% of top venture capital firms using the platform to drive deals forward, providing a solid foundation to build upon as we innovate and expand our offerings. Additionally, the growth potential at Affinity includes the introduction of Affinity for Salesforce and several new products on the road map. The innovative solutions we are developing will help to solidify our position as leaders in the private capital market.

Affinity's commitment to fostering a healthy culture, characterized by open communication and a balance between results and empathy, align with my values as a leader. I am committed to nurturing this culture.

Finally, I was compelled by the product itself. There is a clear place for Affinity in the market, and I am compelled by the vision for the future.

As we look ahead, it is clear that Affinity is at an inflection point in its journey. With our marketing leadership paired with a deep investment in data and AI, we are well-positioned to capitalize on our momentum and take the company to the next stage of growth.

In closing, I am excited to join the Affinity team for the journey ahead. Together, I am confident that we will empower dealmakers around the world to succeed.

Learn more about this announcement in the press release.