Meet the Next Gen Builder: April Underwood, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Adverb Ventures
How to navigate hypergrowth, technology shifts, and early-stage investing
April Underwood has been a part of some of the most iconic tools in tech—from scaling Twitter/X during its hypergrowth days to shaping Slack into the workplace messaging platform millions rely on today. Now, as co-founder and managing director of Adverb Ventures, she’s backing the next wave of high-impact product builders.
In this episode of the Next Gen Builders podcast, April sits down with host Francois Ajenstat to reflect on what she’s learned as a product leader, executive, and now investor—and why sometimes the most powerful product differentiator isn’t what you do, but how you do it.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
A vision that doesn’t waver
April’s journey (and CV) is full of incredible milestones that shaped how she views products and those who build them. After five years at Twitter/X, she saw Slack as her next logical step. After all, it was a product that she already loved—one that brought the speed and customization of consumer communication to the corporate world.
Slack had a profound impact on the venture work April does today. The platform’s early success, April says, came from something rare: a product vision that was clear from day one. Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield’s blueprint—channel-based communication, deep integrations, powerful search, and, eventually, AI—remained surprisingly consistent through hypergrowth and into IPO.
“What’s wild is that [Slack] didn’t really change. Not in the form of not responding to the market—I mean in the form of, sometimes you just get it right.”
—April Underwood, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Adverb Ventures
The power of principles (and taste)
As Slack’s Chief Product Officer, April helped translate that vision into reality by prioritizing not just outcomes, but craft. She thinks of product and design principles as internal compasses—the “how” you build, not just the “what” you build.
And ultimately, this “how” is what inspired the name of her venture capital (VC) firm, Adverb.
“Adverb is a nod to what I’ve learned in my own journey. It’s not just what you do, but how you do it that matters—the care for craft, consideration, and deep user empathy.”
—April Underwood, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Adverb Ventures
At Slack, the product principles weren’t about flashy features—they were about being a good host, thinking deeply about every interaction, and remaining human in the midst of growth. “Taste” wasn’t a buzzword—it was a necessity for scaling decision making across teams.
Navigating founder dynamics
April can confidently say that she has worked alongside some of the best-known founders in tech. So she’d be the first one to admit that the product-founder relationship is both an art and a science. Founders, she says, don’t always seem rational. But the best ones have a strong internal data model shaped by thousands of interactions, support tickets, and customer conversations.
The key is mutual respect. You don’t want a clone—you want someone who complements you.
“You can’t expect founders to be rational all the time, but the best founders are right enough of the time.”
—April Underwood, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Adverb Ventures
The role of design
From mobile apps to generative AI, major tech disruptions often reshuffle product dynamics. Francois’s take is that for each of those shifts, strong design is an untapped superpower.
April couldn’t agree more. Engineers may lead the early exploration, but it’s design that makes new technology useful and delightful. For ongoing disruptions like AI, she believes we’re still in the early innings—and the teams that build novel, human-centric interfaces will have a real edge.
And for builders watching AI from the sidelines, April offers a word of advice: Don’t sleep on this moment. Founders with no traditional tech experience are already spinning up products fueled by AI-powered tools. Whether you’re a product manager, designer, or operator, she says now is the time to jump in.
“We should all be looking at AI and thinking that if everything we have worked hard to do in the past is now becoming commoditized, then I either need to fire these tools up and get into the mindset of somebody that comes to this with a fresh set of eyes, or I need to be on the side of building tools that are a part of the evolution.”
—April Underwood, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Adverb Ventures
From operator to investor
At Adverb Ventures, April brings her product-first perspective to VC. She looks for founders with strong taste, big ambition, and the ability to execute.
“I think the kids call it ‘rizz’ now. You meet a set of founders and believe there’s something they know earlier than others, and they have the ability to execute and capitalize on that.”
—April Underwood, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Adverb Ventures
Adverb has invested in all types of founders who embody these traits. Their commonality resides in their clarity of thought, early traction, and a spark that suggests something bigger is possible.
Sometimes, a simple idea, beautifully executed, is all it takes to become the next X or Slack.
Tune in to April’s story
April’s journey epitomizes the “how” behind the “what.” From wearing her product hat to her investor one, she understands both the challenges and the beauty behind a successful venture. That makes this episode perfect for any product founder or builder.
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Brynn Haynam
Sr. Director, Brand Marketing, Amplitude
Brynn Haynam is a brand builder who's always had a passion for the intersection of art and data, and for building world-class creative teams. Before Amplitude, Brynn built and led a brand team at Medallia and helped grow the business from startup to a publicly traded company.
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