Pioneer Square Labs Spinout Lev Names Serial Entrepreneur Jay Bartot as Chief Technology Officer

Seattle-based artificial intelligence startup Lev has appointed technology industry veteran Jay Bartot as its chief technology officer, as the company works to digitize and scale the traditional incubator playbook for early-stage entrepreneurs. Spun out of regional venture studio Pioneer Square Labs, Lev builds software intended to act as an "AI co-founder" for startup creators. Bartot will collaborate with Lev founder and chief executive officer T.A. McCann to advance the platform's technical development and automated company-building tools.

Bartot brings an extensive track record of founding, scaling, and advising technology ventures across the Pacific Northwest. He previously co-founded Farecast, an early airfare prediction startup that Microsoft acquired in 2008, before co-founding health information startup Medify, which was sold in 2012. He subsequently co-founded computer vision platform Vhoto, which streaming provider Hulu acquired in 2015. More recently, Bartot spent five years as chief technology officer of Madrona Venture Labs—a studio model similar to Pioneer Square Labs—and co-founded the Seattle startup AirSignal in late 2024. He has also mentored founders through programs at Creative Destruction Lab, the University of Washington, TheFounderVC, and Foundations.

Speaking about his decision to join the startup, Bartot emphasized the opportunity to combine software engineering with advisor-level mentorship. "Lev pulls all these different pieces together, where I can be building, but also building something that helps me interact with founders at scale," Bartot said in an interview first reported by GeekWire. The platform guides entrepreneurs through foundational business stages, including ideation, customer validation, and formal company formation. As founders move through the workflow, Lev automatically generates operational deliverables, such as competitive landscape analyses, customer outreach email templates, and product specifications.

To complement its core software, the company is launching Lev Learn, a free public resource designed to demystify complex venture capital terminology and startup concepts. The educational guide details term definitions, target audiences, application timing, and frequent mistakes made by early founders. These explanations are integrated directly into Lev's primary interface, allowing users who encounter terms like ideal customer profiles (ICPs) to access contextual guidance while working within the software.

Lev originated from internal software tools created by McCann and his team at Pioneer Square Labs (PSL) to structure and streamline the venture studio's internal incubation process. PSL and its dedicated AI Studio Fund provided over $1 million in financial backing to spin Lev out as an independent corporate entity earlier this spring. PSL co-founder and managing director Greg Gottesman serves on Lev's board of directors.

McCann noted that the software aims to replicate and scale the mentorship traditionally provided by human advisors across venture incubators and university programs. "You think about the 1,000 people who might be Techstars mentors, or all the people sitting at YC giving founders advice, or at CDL or UW or 1,000 different universities," McCann told GeekWire. "All of these can be scaled with a product like Lev."

The startup reported rapid user growth ahead of its planned commercial push. Over a four-month period, monthly signups increased 17-fold, with users creating more than 1,500 individual projects across more than 50 countries. Academic and research institutions represent nearly 10 percent of Lev's institutional user base, pointing to adoption among university founders.

Despite its growing footprint, Lev operates with a small core team that includes McCann, Bartot, former contract chief technology officer Per Nilsson, and design and development engineer Sahana Narendran. Lev remains pre-revenue, though leadership expects to roll out monetization features in the coming weeks.