About Me

Hey, I’m Aran Ansari — currently and calling Somerville, MA home (for now). I was born and raised in Belmont, MA, the youngest of three, with a family that taught me how to think both creatively and critically.

My dad, an Iranian-born psychiatrist, is a master of reason and logic. My mom, a Venezuelan-born translator and artist, sees the world through color and intuition. Growing up in a home shaped by two distinct cultures and perspectives, I learned how to balance both sides of the brain — analytical and imaginative — and I bring that same mindset to everything I do.

Outside of work, you’ll find me throwing a frisbee, cooking with friends, digging into a new playlist, or dreaming up my next side project. Most recently, I’ve been planning to build a tiny home in the woods of Vermont 🌲 — a long-time dream and a new kind of project to design from the ground up.

My Career

I studied Finance at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, minoring in Economics and Information Technology. There, I started to chart my own path — opting out of the Big 4 pipeline and diving into the startup world instead.

My first break was at Gigzolo (acquired by Glia), a scrappy NYC startup where I worked on onboarding talent for their event booking marketplace. From there, I joined YearUp, helping the grants team research foundations for funding — and getting my first taste of mission-driven work.

After graduation, I was set on joining a small, fast-moving company. I started building a product idea to help people support local businesses — sort of like GoFundMe for Main Street — and during research, I stumbled upon Mainvest, which turned that concept into investable revenue-share offerings for SMBs. Their team had deep UMass ties, so I reached out. A week later, I was in.

Over the next five years, I helped build Mainvest from the ground up — from a couple hundred users to tens of thousands. I touched nearly every part of the business: operations, finance, growth strategy, and eventually product management. Leading product initiatives, I worked cross-functionally to run experiments, build features, and scale the platform in tandem with our users’ needs.

In 2024, I briefly stepped away to care for a family member and took time to reflect on what I wanted to build next. During this time, I joined Morty — a Series B mortgage tech startup — as an Operations Manager. There, I focused on improving onboarding efficiency, strengthening compliance reporting, and uncovering insights through data analysis. It gave me a broader view of operations at scale and sharpened my ability to navigate highly regulated environments.

I’ve continued launching new MVPs (like Mixtape and anywhere), exploring ideas around local commerce and reclaimed materials, and searching for smart, kind people to work with on meaningful problems.

I’m currently looking for a role where I can contribute as a high-output generalist — ideally at a company that values product velocity, creativity, and impact without burning people out. Whether it's a fast-growing startup, a VC-backed venture, or my own future company, I’ll keep building. If you’re working on something exciting, I’d love to hear from you 💙.