Dylan Whitman

Dylan Whitman is an ecommerce operator turned SaaS founder and investor. A U.S. Navy veteran, he holds a degree in Liberal Arts / Philosophy from Flagler College. In 2013 he co-founded BVA (originally "BVAccel," short for Brand Value Accelerator), which grew into one of the largest Shopify agency partners in the world. As Co-Founder and CEO he scaled the agency from zero to roughly 125–140 employees and eight-figure annual revenue (80%+ recurring) in under five years, serving high-growth brands such as MVMT Watches, Red Bull, Procter & Gamble, Whirlpool, Stash Tea, Kylie Cosmetics and Ipsy, before selling the business to private equity in 2018 (the agency later became part of Accenture).

After the BVA exit, Whitman co-founded and led Inveterate, a Shopify-focused SaaS platform that lets merchants launch paid "Amazon Prime–style" membership and loyalty programs (offering perks like member discounts, free shipping and exclusive access). Inveterate raised about $2.8 million and launched publicly on May 16, 2022, with an initial team of around 11 people, going on to power programs for merchants including True Classic, Liquid IV and Lashify.

More recently, Whitman has turned his attention to AI and commerce, serving as Co-Founder and CEO of Won AI, an AI commerce platform, and publishing frequent commentary on agentic commerce and the Shopify ecosystem. Alongside his operating roles he is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Pari Passu Venture Partners (PPVP), a founder-led, founder-backed early-stage venture firm led by Managing Partner Julia Gudish Krieger (formerly of Insight Partners) with founding partners Whitman and Kyle Widrick (founder of Win Brands Group). In 2024 PPVP launched "PariPassu," a members-only co-investment network for accredited investors.

Whitman relocated from the West Coast to Greenville, South Carolina, where he continues to operate and invest. He maintains an active public profile (roughly 19,000 LinkedIn followers and an X account, @Chillestdotcom), much of it built during his BVA tenure.

• Invests at the intersection of technology and retail/commerce — B2B SaaS, DTC enablement tools, and increasingly AI-in-commerce.
• Backs founder-led, capital-efficient companies, frequently those building on or adjacent to the Shopify ecosystem where he has deep operating relationships.
• Individual angel checks at the seed/early stage; through PPVP, participates in seed-through-growth deals via SPVs, with member minimums around $10,000 and $50M+ deployed across 60+ companies.
• PPVP is explicitly "founder-led, founder-backed" — the thesis is that operating founders bring pattern recognition, distribution and value-add that traditional financial investors can't match.
• Leans on his own operator playbook (acquisition + conversion + retention) — a bias toward companies that improve merchant economics like retention, loyalty, support and marketing performance.