October 27, 2026 – Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm investing in bootstrapped B2B software and AI-enabled companies, is pleased to announce that it was named to Inc.’s annual Founder-Friendly Investors list for the seventh consecutive year.
The list celebrates the investors and firms that work closely with entrepreneurs and remain engaged with the businesses they back. Honorees are recognized for their approach to partnering with founders and supporting their companies through growth and beyond.
“This recognition carries a special meaning for us because it comes from founders. Bootstrapped founders build something rare, and when they choose their first investor, they trust us with their vision, culture, and customers,” said Vinay Kashyap, Partner at Mainsail Partners. “As AI changes what vertical software platforms can do, we continue to invest heavily in our people and resources to help our portfolio companies move faster, without losing sight of the founder and customer voices that fuel their opportunity to win.”
Mainsail’s Growth Team grew to more than 40 operating professionals this year, including specialists in data science, product, pricing, revenue operations, and other functions we believe are critical to accelerating data maturity and product velocity. With hands-on support from Mainsail AI Labs and Tech Advisors, our portfolio companies launched more than 50 AI agents to date, purpose-built to solve their customers’ most pressing needs. Throughout the year, they shared lessons from their AI builds and internal transformations within Mainsail’s portfolio community.
To compile the Founder-Friendly Investors list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders completed questionnaires about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital, and debt firms and shared data on how their companies have performed during these partnerships. The resulting list highlights investors that founders identified as strong partners throughout the investment process.
For more information or to view the complete list of honorees, visit https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2026
The 2026 Founder-Friendly recognition presented herein is awarded by Inc., a third-party that is not affiliated with Mainsail Partners or an investor in Mainsail Partners-sponsored vehicles. The recognition was awarded on 10/27/26 for the period 2026. Inc. assessed the nominees based on written responses to questions on Inc.’s nomination form and CEO responses to Inc.’s questionnaire. The number of nominees reviewed for this recognition was not disclosed to Mainsail, and therefore, it and the percentage of nominees receiving the recognition, cannot be disclosed herein. Inc.’s recognition is based on its own evaluation and opinion and is not indicative of Mainsail Partners’ future performance, and does not reflect the experience of, or any rating by, Mainsail Partners’ investors. Mainsail Partners paid an application fee to participate in the process as well as a fee to use the logo. The receipt of compensation influences, and is likely to present a potential material conflict of interest, relating to the rating. There can be no assurance that other providers or surveys would reach the same conclusions as the foregoing.
For more information regarding this recognition, please see the linked publication.