Derek Thomas Fears

CRE | Stanford/Harvard

Los Angeles, California, United States

About

Serial technology startup founder and global go-to-market executive with a track record of building and scaling AI-powered enterprise and consumer products. Agile leader with over ten years of experience building and managing high-performance go-to-market and product teams in the US and Latin America. Cross-functional leadership across SaaS and consumer applications, HR and law. Passionate about creating team cultures that prioritize bold bets and precision execution.

Experience

  • Founding team at Stealth CRE
    Jul 2025 - Present · 1 yr 1 mo

    Also running commercial strategy, business development, and AI strategy at a multi-billion AUM brokerage and developer. https://www.winstonoak.com/

  • LEVEE (8 yrs 1 mo)
    • Co-founder | Head of Go-to-Market
      2020 - 2024 · 4 yrs

      Co-founder of Levee. Responsible for the P&L of Levee's US business. Responsible for the US launch, product and GTM strategies. Managed a multinational team from the US and LatAm. As a co-founder and board member with a legal background, I was also responsible for legal and governance oversight of the Levee global corporate structure. Levee is an AI recruitment platform on a mission to transform the way companies hire and retain their people. We are backed by the leading future of work and AI investors globally including 8VC, Trust Ventures and Palantir founders. MIT Future of Work Inclusive Innovation Challenge winner.

    • Co-founder | Head of Go-to-Market
      2016 - 2020 · 4 yrs

      Head of sales, marketing and customer success. Led a team of 30+ high-performing professionals. Scaled operations from zero to multinational (US, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico). Responsible for multi-million dollar revenue generation, 1,000%+ topline growth, including a key account strategy that led to multiple million dollar+ contracts.

  • Co-founder | Chief Product Officer at Emprego Ligado
    2012 - 2016 · 4 yrs

    Emprego Ligado is the world pioneer in mobile-based skills assessment and georecruitment. We use machine learning to help low-income individuals in urban metropolises find good work, very close to home. For cities, we reduce emissions attributed to the daily commute. I was responsible for building the product, including the first SMS and WhatsApp recruitment chatbots in the Americas. We reached 4M users / 1M MAU through growth hacks and viral A/B tests. We helped tens of thousands of low-income and minority individuals obtain formal sector employment. Facebook Start Latin American Application of the Year, June 2016.

  • Corporate Associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
    2007 - 2011 · 4 yrs