Init Intelligence Atlas

Clark Lindsey

3 min read

Clark Lindsey

CEO of Try Olina (e-commerce startup, since Aug 2024) and Advisor at The Operator Network (OpNet) — where he previously ran venture operations as Director of Venture Operations (2021–2024).

Snapshot

  • Now: CEO, Try Olina (Aug 2024–present, San Francisco) + Advisor, The Operator Network (ex-Director of Venture Operations, 2021–2024).
  • Archetype (for init): Strategic / Operator — the OpNet venture-ops point of contact (operational, not an investing angel / check-writer).
  • Warm path: Ryan Carlson (init advisor + super-connector, also an OpNet member) / The Operator Network.

Why an init.inc angel target

  • Operational POC, not a check. OpNet bills itself as “not a fund, not a syndicate” — members invest as individuals. Clark’s role is venture-ops/operations, so he’s the right hands-on contact for navigating the OpNet operator bench, not someone to ask for an allocation in the open strategic-angel round.
  • Gateway to the OpNet operator bench — a tight group of C-level operators (Frederic Kerrest, Ryan Carlson, Stacey Epstein, Adam Gross, Aaron Katz, et al.) whose GTM/scale expertise maps cleanly onto init’s AI-MSP / back-office-automation build.
  • Already one connector-degree away — both Ryan Carlson (init’s existing advisor) and Frederic Kerrest (in init’s pipeline) sit on the same OpNet roster, so Clark is a low-friction internal routing contact.

Conflict screen

  • Clean. Clark’s operating company, Try Olina, is an e-commerce / consumer venture with no overlap with AI-ITSM / AI-MSP. No angel, advisor, or board role observed in any init competitor (Serval, Console, Atomicwork, Ravenna, STLabs, Edra, Treeline, Risotto, Siit, Echelon, ClearFeed, Modern, Rezolve.ai, Unthread, Wrangle, Querypal, Moveworks, Aisera, Fixify, Leena AI). No competitor tie found.

Background

  • Try Olina — CEO, Aug 2024–present (San Francisco Bay Area). Consumer/e-commerce company; he is its operating chief executive. ^[single-source — LinkedIn; Try Olina has minimal public footprint]
  • The Operator Network — joined June 2021 as Director of Venture Operations; per his current LinkedIn profile he is now an Advisor there. The public OpNet team page still lists his legacy “Director of Venture Operations” title. OpNet is a group of C-level operators who mentor founders alongside personal investment capital — explicitly “not a fund, and not a syndicate.”
  • Earlier founder/operator roles: Km Sports Nutrition (founder & CEO, 2018–2021), Flock App (founder & CEO, ~2015–2017), plus advisory at Armada.
  • Education: BA Economics (minors Finance + Entrepreneurship), Tufts University (Tufts Gordon Institute).
  • Based in San Francisco, CA. Personal site: clarklindsey.me. ^[single-source]

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