Daniel Gross
Combined timeline of two individuals named Daniel Gross described in the provided text: (1) Daniel Gross (entrepreneur), Israeli‑American tech founder and investor (born 1991), cofounder of Greplin/Cue, former Apple director, Y Combinator partner, founder of Pioneer and AI investor; (2) Daniel Gross (journalist), American financial/economic journalist and author (born Aug 4, 1967), columnist, editor, and author of multiple books.
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Life & Career Timeline
Birth — Daniel Gross (journalist)
Daniel Gross (journalist) born in East Lansing, Michigan.
Graduated East Lansing High School
Daniel Gross (journalist) graduated from East Lansing High School.
BA from Cornell University
Daniel Gross (journalist) received a bachelor's degree in American history and government from Cornell University.
Birth — Daniel Gross (entrepreneur)
Daniel Gross (entrepreneur) born in Jerusalem (Katamon neighborhood), Israel.
AM from Harvard University
Daniel Gross (journalist) earned a master's degree in American history from Harvard University.
Published: Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time
Daniel Gross (journalist) authored/edited Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time (Wiley, 1997).
Became editor of STERNBusiness
Daniel Gross (journalist) began serving as editor of STERNBusiness (NYU Stern's semi-annual magazine); tenure runs 1998–2007.
Published: Bull Run
Published 'Bull Run: Wall Street, the Democrats, and the New Politics of Personal Finance' (PublicAffairs, 2000).
Fellow at New America Foundation
Served as a fellow at the New America Foundation (2001–2002).
Co‑authored: The Generations of Corning
Co-authored 'The Generations of Corning' with Davis Dyer (Oxford University Press, 2001).
Began Slate Moneybox column and NYT/Earlier columns
Daniel Gross (journalist) wrote the 'Moneybox' column for Slate; contributed columns to The New York Times and others (Slate run 2002–2010).
Published NYT Economic View column
Wrote 'ECONOMIC VIEW; Drive Forward. Look Back. Predict' in The New York Times (July 25, 2004).
Published: Pop!: Why Bubbles Are Great For The Economy
Authored 'Pop!: Why Bubbles Are Great For The Economy' (HarperCollins, 2007).
Newsweek Contrary Indicator column (approx. 2007–2010)
Wrote the 'Contrary Indicator' column at Newsweek; served as columnist and senior editor at Newsweek (2007–2010).
Published: Dumb Money
Authored 'Dumb Money: How our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation' (Free Press, 2009).
Appearance on The Colbert Report
Daniel Gross (journalist) appeared on The Colbert Report (April 28, 2009).
Accepted to Y Combinator (early founder)
Applied to and was accepted to Y Combinator on a pre-army trip; at that time among the youngest founders accepted (helped launch Greplin).
Joined Yahoo Finance as economics editor and co‑host
Served as economics editor and co-host of The Daily Ticker at Yahoo Finance (2010–2012).
Faced Israeli IDF enlistment / pre‑army mechina to YC pivot
Gross (entrepreneur) was attending a mechina (pre‑army academy), applied to YC on a pre‑army trip and did not enlist — notable personal milestone affecting career and travel to Israel.
Reported as 'youngest founder accepted' to YC at time
At the time of his YC application/acceptance, Gross was described as YC's youngest accepted founder.
Founded Greplin (later Cue)
Daniel Gross (entrepreneur) launched Greplin, a unified personal search engine, with Robby Walker (commonly cited as founded in 2010).
Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 & Business Insider lists
Forbes (30 Under 30 - Pioneers in Technology) and Business Insider (25 Under 25 in Silicon Valley) recognized Gross in 2011.
Began angel investing
Started angel investing in early-stage startups (2011 onward).
Regular media appearances (journalist)
Daniel Gross (journalist) frequently appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, and NPR across his career; ongoing through 2010s/2020s.
Greplin investor Sequoia recognition
Sequoia Capital invested in Greplin (2011); media highlighted Gross as one of Sequoia's youngest founders.
Raised seed/early funding (~$4M) for Greplin
Greplin raised approximately $4M (reported at $4.0–4.7M) in 2011 from investors including Sequoia Capital, Lerer Ventures and SV Angel.
Joined The Daily Beast / Newsroom roles
Served as a columnist and the global business editor at The Daily Beast (2012–2014).
Published: Better, Stronger, Faster
Authored 'Better, Stronger, Faster: The Myth of American Decline . . . and the Rise of a New Economy' (Free Press, 2012).
Greplin renamed to Cue and launched predictive features
Greplin rebranded as Cue in 2012 and added predictive search/assistant features.
Raised $10M Series A for Cue
Cue raised $10 million in November 2012 from Index Ventures (Series A).
Acquired by Apple — Cue
Apple acquired Cue in 2013 for an undisclosed sum widely reported between $40M and $60M; Cue product was later shut down by Apple.
Joined Apple as director for machine learning
After the Cue acquisition, Gross joined Apple as a director focused on machine learning and product integration (tenure ~Oct 2013–Jan 2017).
Cue product shut down by Apple
Apple shut down the Cue product shortly after acquiring the company (2013).
Contributor to major publications (ongoing)
Daniel Gross (journalist) wrote cover stories for New York and The New York Times Magazine; contributed to Fortune, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe.
Folio 'Eddie' award (2016/2017 listed later)
Multiple industry editorial awards listed later (2016–2017); included here as recognition trajectory.
Press report: Apple paid ~$40M for Cue
Multiple outlets reported Apple paid around $40M (some sources say $40M–$60M) to acquire Cue/Greplin in 2013; Times of Israel cited $40M for a '21‑year‑old's app' (reporting varies).
Listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 (Tech)
Forbes again named Gross one of '30 Under 30 Influential Young People in Tech' (2014 listing referenced).
Joined strategy+business as executive editor
Became executive editor of strategy+business magazine in 2015; served until January 2020.
Folio 'Eddie' award (2016)
Received 2016 Folio 'Eddie' – B-to-B Column/Blog – Banking/Business/Finance for a column.
Created 'YC AI' program
At Y Combinator, Gross created and institutionalized a dedicated AI program (YC AI) to support AI startups.
Folio 'Eddie' award (2017)
Received 2017 Folio 'Eddie' – B-to-B Column/Blog - Overall for 'Why Artificial Intelligence Needs Some Emotional Intelligence'.
Joined Y Combinator as partner
Gross became a partner at Y Combinator in January 2017, focusing on artificial intelligence and creating a YC AI track.
Daniel Gross (journalist) continues to publish and speak
The journalist Daniel Gross continued to publish articles, columns and speak publicly (e.g., various magazine pieces and media appearances through 2018–2023).
Founded Pioneer (remote accelerator/fund)
Launched Pioneer, an early-stage remote startup accelerator and fund focused on discovering talent worldwide (Aug 2018).
Pioneer supports many founders
Pioneer reportedly helped hundreds of founders from many countries (growth of the program through 2019–2023).
Named editor‑in‑chief of strategy+business
Daniel Gross (journalist) was named editor‑in‑chief of strategy+business in February 2020 (after being executive editor).
Started major AI investing with Nat Friedman
Gross and Nat Friedman began making significant investments in AI startups and programs in 2021; launched AI Grant program (offers up to $250k to AI‑native companies).
Published: A Banker's Journey
Authored 'A Banker's Journey: How Edmond J. Safra Built a Global Financial Empire' (Radius Publishing, 2022).
Co‑founded NFDG (VC firm with Nat Friedman)
Gross and Nat Friedman founded NFDG, a venture capital firm that by 2024 had invested in companies including Safe Superintelligence (approx founding date pre‑2024).
Media coverage: 'Billion‑dollar AI venture fund offers Nvidia chips' (profile)
Press coverage in 2023 highlighted Gross and partners offering GPU access to startups (e.g., The Information, Business Insider, Forbes) — recognition of influence in AI investing.
Andromeda cluster reported growth to 4,000 GPUs by 2024
Reports indicate Andromeda grew (by 2024 reported to have 4,000 GPUs available to portfolio startups).
Named to Time 100 Most Influential People in AI
Time 100 listed Daniel Gross as one of the 'Most Influential People in AI' (TIME100 AI, 2023).
Deployed Andromeda Cluster (2,512 H100 GPUs)
Deployed the Andromeda supercomputer cluster (reported 2,512 NVIDIA H100 GPUs) for startups in their portfolio; project cost reported around $100M including ops.
Public event: Talk in Geneva on A Banker's Journey
Spoke at the Société de Lecture in Geneva on Oct 11, 2023 about his book on Edmond J. Safra.
Andromeda cluster — project cost report
Reports noted the Andromeda cluster project cost roughly $100M including electricity/cooling (context for Gross' investment infrastructure work).
Safe Superintelligence reportedly raised $1B
Reports (Bloomberg) state Safe Superintelligence had raised about $1 billion in funding/commitments in 2024; Gross was a co-founder.
Portfolio investments include many notable startups
Gross (entrepreneur) is noted as an investor in Uber, Instacart, Figma, GitHub, Airtable, Rippling, CoreWeave, Character.ai, Perplexity.ai and others (various years; aggregated milestone).
Perplexity AI founding round (led)
Gross led a founding round in Perplexity AI; Perplexity raised $63M in a round reported April 23, 2024, making it a unicorn (Gross participated as lead investor earlier in 2024 coverage).
Co‑founded Safe Superintelligence Inc.
Ilya Sutskever announced founding Safe Superintelligence Inc. alongside Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy (June 19, 2024).
Invested $3.9M in Pulse (with Nat Friedman)
Gross and Nat Friedman invested $3.9 million in AI company Pulse (February 2025 reported).
Left Safe Superintelligence to join Meta Superintelligence Labs
Reported in July 2025 that Gross left Safe Superintelligence to join Meta Superintelligence Labs.
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