Zara Khan

Considering a career in startups or VC? Starting today, I'm available for 1:1 calls on @Intro to help startup founders and aspiring VCs think through the path ahead. As the founder + managing director of Red Sea Ventures, we invested early in companies like Allbirds (IPO), Sweetgreen (IPO), Nest (acq. Google), Casetext (acq. Thompson Reuters), and Prose to name a few. What topics can we cover? ✔️ Finding product-market fit ✔️ The different paths to funding ✔️ Determining how much you need to raise ✔️ Building a VC firm ✔️ Careers in VC ✔️ Celebrity partnerships Honored to be alongside world-class Experts like Chris DeWolfe (co-founder of MySpace (sold for $675M), Scott Saunders (founder of Happy Money, valued $1B+) & Geraldine Martin-Coppola (former President of Goop). I’ll be donating 100% of the proceeds to Seeds of Peace

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A new era of deep tech has emerged. First time funds will raise “unheard of” amounts of capital to fuel next gen deep tech startups - producing outsized, superior returns for LP’s compared to the rest. Prudent investors will act on this data and shift investment strategy as LP’s or risk being left behind savvy wealth managers and CIO’s / FO’s who saw this trend begin 4 years ago.

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Summary: The article discusses tech mogul Vinod Khosla and his recent success as a prominent investor. Khosla's main focus is on AI and its potential impact on various industries. He also addresses concerns regarding AI regulation and competition with Chinese AI. Key takeaways: Khosla's recent $50 million investment in OpenAI has garnered attention and success. He is passionate about the potential for AI to disrupt and improve various industries. Khosla's focus on AI regulation and concerns about Chinese AI competition. Counter arguments: Some may argue that Khosla's intense focus on AI may overshadow other important areas of technology. Critics may question the sustainability of AI in certain industries and its potential negative effects on job displacement. #ai #artificialintelligence #tech #venturecapital #vc #startups

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As the Shasta Ventures approval deadline approaches, we're presented with a unique opportunity to observe the complexities and inherent conflicts in GP-led secondary transactions. This scenario sheds light on the considerable leverage GPs hold within the private equity infrastructure. According to the article, proposed continuation fund requires LPs to approve the transaction if they wish to roll their interests into the new structure—a stipulation that could be seen as putting undue pressure on LPs. This raises critical questions about the balance of power in private equity deals and the alignment of interests between GPs and LPs. What are your thoughts? Is it appropriate for GPs to demand such conditions for LPs to participate in a continuation fund? How do you see this impacting the broader private equity landscape and the perception of GP-led secondary transactions? Looking forward to hearing your insights and perspectives on this pivotal issue. #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #InvestmentTrends #ShastaVentures #GPledSecondaries

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Over the years, we at GFR Fund have solidified our investment thesis, which is that we invest in "emerging digitally native communities." These communities can be built around games, social media, and any consumer applications. Now, founders have many easy-to-use tools to build user communities, such as Discord, X/twitter, Instagram, etc, and we believe the founders should start building communities even before they launch a product. The communities can help founders: - reach PMF faster - acquire users cheaper - retain and engage users longer - build better UX/UI, and - hire early employees Below, you can see how RTFKT and Omeda Studios built the community and then worked with them to create a product the users really wanted. We would love to talk to the founders who think the community is essential in building a product!

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🚀 Exciting news! I teamed up with Jamie Lane of FWDstart to launch the "VC React Podcast"! 🎙️ Each week, we bring you dynamic insights and reactions from three different VCs, diving into the latest news on MENA startups, VCs, and investment rounds. A huge thanks to Khaled Talhouni, Sara Ebeid, and Waleed A. Alballaa for an incredible first episode! 🌟 I hope you all enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Tune in and join the excitement! 📈✨ We talked about: - Rasan Going Public Summary: Saudi Arabia-based insurtech Rasan has announced its IPO, becoming the first insurtech company in the region to go public. The move aims to capitalize on the growing demand for digital insurance solutions and expand its market reach. - Connect Money Raising $8 Million Seed Round Summary: Egypt-based fintech Connect Money secured $8 million in a seed round led by Disruptech Ventures and Algebra Ventures. The funding will support the launch of five new business verticals in North Africa. Connect Money offers a white-label card issuing platform for businesses to provide debit and credit cards without developing fintech infrastructure or regulatory licensing. - SMPL Holdings Launching A $10 Million Fund Summary: SMPL Holdings has launched a $10 million fund to support tech and AI startups across the MENA region. The fund aims to foster innovation and accelerate the growth of emerging technology companies in the area. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions to enhance the format or content. https://lnkd.in/gqydVXMF

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A new flood of fresh funds is reshaping the venture capital landscape! 🚀 Recent highlights include TVM Capital Healthcare’s $250M Afiyah Fund LP, SVC's $30M investment into General Atlantic’s private equity fund, Golden Gate Ventures' $100M MENA-focused fund launch, and Investcorp's $570M fund closure. These announcements signal a broader trend of escalating financial commitments within the industry. MEA funds are heating up! 🌡️ Our data reveals a 74% YoY increase in the number of MEA-based funds being financed as of May 20th, 2024. Since Q4’23, there has been a notable surge in regional funds securing capital, with international investors also establishing localized funds. Stay informed with the latest trends in VC activity: https://lnkd.in/dP6ZkmCd By MAGNiTT Repost by : Salem Bagami Chief Executive Officer Digital Transformation Company & Managing Director 2080 Ventures Email: salem@2080.ventures Website: www.2080.ventures #VC #Funds #Investing

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Earlier this year, we surveyed our fellow Los Angeles-based GPs to get a pulse check on the LA venture ecosystem. Here’s what we found: 💗 Deal flow is healthy, and most LA venture investors (68%) are seeing the same or more deal flow YoY. ✈ LA investors are spending time in a variety of markets, with NYC, Austin, and SF following closely on LA’s heels. 🔍 Innovation is concentrated in AI and machine learning, space, and commerce. 💸 Funding is happening, but it’s barbell-shaped, with deals concentrated at the early and late stages. Funding post-Series A has been challenging. 🚩 LA is differentiated, but not without its challenges. Key difficulties include not attracting enough AI talent (despite having the largest number of engineers graduating from our region over any other in the United States); talent relocated to more tax-friendly or less expensive locations; and the great SoCal / NoCal divide 🙏 Thank you to all our many respondents! I’m so glad to be part of a venture ecosystem that includes great minds like Anna Barber, Brent Murri, W. Christine Choi, Sarah Tomolonius, Rob Smith, Win Chevapravatdumrong, John Tabis, Jill Royster, Jesse Draper, Ashley Balla, Britt Danneman, Tram Lai, Carmen Palafox, Elaine Russell, Deborah Benton Amanda Schutzbank, Brian Lee, Petra Griffith, Minnie Ingersoll, Shamin Walsh, Gabe Greenbaum...wow, this list could go on forever...plus too many other exceptional humans to name. You know who you are! Explore our findings more deeply with our survey dashboard: https://bit.ly/3JsaLaB

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Thanks for the interview Connie Loizos. More to come about investments yet to be announced and the founders who are working every day to build in these spaces. Excited to have shared the gamut across where we invest from Earth to TimberEye to Monaire. We're investing out of $440m under management across 3 funds and are thankful every day that we started this focused fund to partner with entrepreneurs who are ready to turn the last bastion of old world industries into tech sectors. The physical world is driven by huge industries that need to change...and not simply by completing work incrementally better or by fitting into existing buying cycles and budgets. Many of our companies are totally reinventing how products are made or services are delivered and their customers win. We want to see more of this in every sector including industrial, transportation, energy, defense, space, manufacturing to name a few. https://lnkd.in/e-TqpvFh

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Summary: Industry Ventures has raised a $900 million early-stage hybrid fund for investing in emerging managers and directly backing growth-stage companies. This is their seventh hybrid fund and is larger than their previous one. The fund will be split between backing VC funds, direct investments, and acquiring stakes from emerging managers. Key takeaways: Smaller, newer funds are finding it more difficult to raise capital, but this fund from Industry Ventures offers hope for emerging managers. The fund will be split between various investments, including backing VC funds and buying secondary interests. Industry Ventures may have an advantage due to their ability to invest in both emerging and more established managers. Counter arguments: Some may argue that it is still difficult for emerging managers to raise funds. The success of Industry Ventures may not be indicative of the overall climate for emerging managers. #venturecapital #venture #startups #fundraising

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Last week, I attended Houlihan Lokey's 2024 Global Consumer, Food & Retail Conference in New York. Here are some key takeaways that stood out to me. Continued Tailwinds in the Pet Industry: 🔹 Pet Owner Sentiment: With 92-96% of pet owners viewing their pets as family, there's increasing demand for *functional* treats, supplements, and innovative food formats like freeze-dried pet food, the fastest-growing segment within freeze-dry products. 🔹 Category Consolidation: Single-product and single-capability companies are merging into larger pet platforms, opening up M&A opportunities and filling portfolio gaps. 🔹 Expansion into the Cat Category: Dog-first companies are expanding into the cat category, where purchases are stickier (e.g., cat litter) due to the selective nature of pet cats. Rise of Preventative Wellness: 🔹 Increased Gym Visits: The rise in gym memberships and equipment utilization is driving up replacement rates. 🔹 Female Athlete Surge: The increase in female athletes is influencing market trends. 🔹 Customer Service and Amenities: High-quality customer service and amenities (e.g., towel service, childcare) are essential for retaining gym memberships. Personalized customer interactions enhance member loyalty. 🔹 Men’s Health Awareness: Growing focus on men’s health, addressing the issue of men suffering in silence. 🔹 HSA/FSA Approvals: The IRS and health insurance companies are increasingly approving preventative wellness expenses like gym memberships and fitness programs for HSA/FSA reimbursement. Franchising and Multi-Unit Asset Resilience: 🔹 Growth Despite High Interest Rates: Franchising and multi-unit assets in health and wellness for both humans and pets are rising despite the high interest rate environment. 🔹 Tech-Driven Analyses: Investing in advanced tech stacks enhances customer service and expands topline and margins through data-driven approaches. 🔹 Recurring Revenue Focus: Emphasis on creating sticky, recurring revenue streams through memberships, fostering habitual use, and offering services that are typically inconvenient or time-consuming to switch. I'm looking forward to seeing how these trends evolve in 2024! #PetIndustry #PreventativeWellness #Franchising #HealthAndWellness #TechInnovation #BusinessGrowth #Investing

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At Costanoa Ventures, we pride ourselves on identifying and supporting exceptional founders poised to create impactful, lasting change. Hona is a shining example, driven by a trio of extremely talented founders: Manny Griffiths, Joshua Christensen, and Matt McClellan. They each bring unique, differentiated expertise to the table, and Amy Cheetham and I are extremely excited to partner with them. There are approximately 450,000 law firms in the United States, with half of those firms being B2C - think personal injury, mass tort, or immigration law as opposed to BigLaw. One of the reasons we love how Hona is tackling this market is their focus on B2C law firms and product excellence - B2B firms are historically difficult to sell brand new software products into, but B2C firms are completely different buyers. Oftentimes there's just a handful of lawyers and paralegals in a partnership, and any piece of technology they can use to give them an edge would be valuable. 44% of negative Google reviews on law firms directly reference poor communication as the reason for a negative experience, and the number 1 reason for Attorney Bar complaints in the U.S. is "lack of communication". On the lawyer's side, attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants spend an average of 7.4 hours per week on unnecessary updates, redundant communication, and activities that aren't directly contributing towards getting a client's case solved. Manny and the team at Hona are working to change all of that. Hona delivers a tightly-integrated communications platform to help facilitate better communication between law firms and their clients. During legal proceedings, client communications tend to be a large resource-stressor for law firms. Clients will frequently call firms for case updates, legal explanations, or general administrative questions that tend to eat away at firm resources without providing any additional progress toward case resolution. Hona exists to ease that burden - it’s a platform that allows law firms to efficiently communicate with their clients over text, easily build customizable web pages and embed videos, and share information on case status and basic legal process education. This crucial communication processes allow attorneys to focus on their job – moving cases forward, while keeping their clients informed and educated. If you're a lawyer dealing with these problems - don't hesitate to reach out to us or the Hona team! It's a privilege to work with Hona on this journey. The company has been growing at a rapid pace, and they're delivering meaningful technology to help people get through legal proceedings in a much more fluid, transparent, and easy process. Manny, Joshua, and Matt are exceptional founders whose combined skills and dedication to continuous learning position them perfectly to lead Hona to success. They're just getting started, and we can't wait to see what they'll achieve.

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For the past five months, I’ve been going through VC Lab, the leading venture capital accelerator that helps new VC managers close on capital faster and more efficiently. It’s been a whirlwind of activity and learning. Here are the three major things I’ve learned by participating in the program. ***There’s so much more to VC than just doing deals*** You’re building a firm, not just a fund. You need to position your firm in the best light possible to attract LPs to invest in you, and startups to invest in. You have to model your portfolio construction and ensure your financials are sound. You need to assess and recruit partners - investors, team members, law firms, and others - whom you’ll work with for years or decades. And much more! ***Your Network is Your Net Worth*** VC is probably the most network-driven job in existence. First, new managers will be highly dependent on their first-degree connections in raising their first fund. Your friends, family, and close industry contacts will likely be your first investors, and may intro you to others in their network. And a lot of deal flow will come from your network of other VCs and founders. Strong deal flow is the lifeblood of your fund, and many deals will come from your existing network. VC is 100% based on relationships. ***VC is All About Trust*** Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once said: "In a networked world, trust is the most important currency." Truer words may never have been spoken. Raising a VC fund is based on trust and the strength of the relationships you have with your LPs: -How much do they trust you to manage their money and act in their best interests? -How confident are they that you understand your industry and will make investments that will provide outsized returns? On a similar note, strong founders will want to work with VCs who have their success in mind: -How much do they trust you to support them through thick and thin? -How confident are they that you can provide value beyond just capital? And both will judge whether they will enjoy working with you for the next few years or decades. Trust is truly the most important currency in VC. Read more about my experience here: https://lnkd.in/e52m9Vm9 If you’re thinking about starting your own VC firm, I highly recommend checking out VC Lab. They are currently accepting applications for Cohort 15, so get to it! https://lnkd.in/ecG7bqhj Let me know if you have any questions about the program or VC in general. Happy to help!

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🎙️ Amy Saper is a force of nature, having held senior product roles at Uber, Twitter, and Stripe, as well as being a partner at Accel and a Sequoia Scout, before joining forces with Jeff Clavier Tripp Jones Susan Liu Andy McLoughlin and team at Uncork Capital. Amy and I had a great conversation recently (Podcast in the comments below), but here are the main areas we covered: 1)Transitioning from product roles to VC: The adjustments that needed to be made and the similarities and differences of VC and working at startups. 2) Capital Constraints and Creativity: Drawing from her Twitter days, where the original 140-character limit spurred creative communication, she believes that today's capital constraints can be a large net positive for companies in unlocking creativity. 3) Being Client centric as VC: A strong parallel exists between operating companies and venture firms in their customer focus. What does being client centric mean in the context of VC firm and what is VC's version of Product-Market Fit? 4) Talent Attraction and Development: Her non-negotiable is a founder's ability to attract and develop top talent as it's a huge correlation to startup success. listen to the full conversation in the link in the comments: #VentureCapital #Startups #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #fundraising‍‍‍‍‍

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Wiz rejects $23B acquistion offer from Google Why did this seemingly enticing deal fall through? 1) Strategic Independence: In a recent internal memo, Assaf Rappaport, the CEO of Wiz, addressed employees regarding the importance of strategic independence. The leadership believes that by staying autonomous, the company can capitalize on growth opportunities and work towards its goal of becoming the leader in the cloud security industry. 2) Financial Considerations: Although the $23 billion acquisition offer is substantial, company leadership seems to believe that the future potential of the company surpasses this amount. Currently valued at approximately $12 billion, the company anticipates achieving greater valuations through market expansion and innovation. Additionally, a potential initial public offering (IPO) could further enhance the attractiveness of this decision. 3) Antitrust Concerns: The agreement between Wiz and Google was likely to draw the scrutiny of antitrust regulators, which may have played a considerable role in the decision to reject it. - #acquisition #vc #venturecapital #privateequity #tech

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People often talk about how magical it was to take Uber (or now, Waymo) for the first time. If you extend this to fintech, the comparable that comes to my mind is doing an x-border transfer on WISE. Going from the tedious, opaque, expensive SWIFT payment to cheap, fast WISE payments. The magic behind WISE: Local Processing. Over the past few years, we have seen a few renditions of Local Processing across building global teams, remittances and payments among others. In the second edition of A Prepared Mind, I talk about Local Processing as a service, its various avatars and how it unlocks savings for customers while building interesting businesses! If you are building or thinking about building in the space, I'd love to jam with you, and exchange insights. I am always available at satvik@quona.com https://lnkd.in/gen2mVEz

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Our view on the current venture capital markets. Curious to hear other investors' thoughts but I feel like seed stage valuation, at least in the gaming and entertainment sectors, has finally come down to the pre-covid level. Since February or March this year, we started seeing that the founders are willing to raise a $1-2m seed round at a $10m-ish valuation, not like $4-5m at $20-25m in 2022 and 2023. What are you guys seeing?

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Here’s a question investors are often asked: When evaluating early stage companies, how much time do you spend on due diligence around future exits? It’s not surprising we hear this question a lot. Also not surprising: it’s got a wide range of answers depending on the firm. Some don’t spend much time here at all. Others make it a point to put meaningful time in as part of their process. Our current thinking: take the time to do the work on public market comps. At Alpaca VC, we spend significant time understanding how public market investors will  realistically value a business based on margin profile, product, business model & TAM. In short, we want to know: how will this company be valued at scale when we get taken out? Yes, we can acknowledge that the journey toward exit is a windy road and that there may be pivots along the way, but there are still public market companies that have a business model similar to the early stage company you're evaluating. And you can always look at gross profit multiples if you think the margin profile will change over time. So we still do the work on the comps. Quantitative metrics we look at when making the comparison to public market comps include EBITDA multiple, revenue multiple, Gross Profit multiple or all of the above. As part of this process, it’s also important to factor in the public market company’s year-over-year revenue growth as this will also significantly impact the multiple it trades at. Simple example: if you have two public market companies with similar business models and similar margin profiles, but one's growing 100% year over year, and one's growing 50% year over year, then obviously the DCF (discounted cash flow) analysis is going to spit out a very different valuation for the one that's growing faster. Why this matters: When you take all of that information into account as you evaluate an early stage business, you can begin to create a realistic picture of how this company will be valued in the public markets at exit - or how an acquirer will value the company for an acquisition. Strategic acquirers may, of course, pay a premium, but we won’t underwrite for that. This allows us, for example, to form conviction around valuation based on revenue and gross profit predictions. If we think they can do $100M of revenue five years from now, we use this diligence process to form a thesis about whether the characteristics above (product, margin, business model, etc.) will cause the company to be valued at $200M vs. $500M vs. $1B at exit. Curious how other early stage investors think about underwriting an exit and how much time they’re spending on public market comps even though these companies are in their infancy.

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We are living in a world that embodies our Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology investment thesis at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions & Great Power Competition; The Climate Crisis & Severe Weather; Consumer Behavior & Demographics. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital

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