Ali Partovi
23 statements across 2 episodes · 7 bullish · 6 bearish · 2 people on the record · first statement Mar 23, 2018 by Dan Lewis · said 29 times in 10 episodes since 2018 · across every show →
On the record as a speaker too: Ali Partovi's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Mentions by year
brought up most by Harry Stebbings (18), Hadi Partovi (4), Emil Michael (3), Tarek Mansour (2), Dara Khosrowshahi (1), Dan Lewis (1)
tap a year for its mentions
2026 1 mention in 1 episode
2025 4 mentions in 1 episode
2023 5 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
- Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Sheel Mohnot: How I Got Married in the Metaverse; Founder vs Product vs Market | E1035 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- 20VC: What are the World's Tech Leaders Running From? Fear? Insecurity? Poverty? What Drives the Best with Orlando Bravo, Bill Ackman, Dara Khosrowshahi, Parker Conrad, Tobi Luttke, Brian Armstrong and more..
- every mention in 2023, scene by scene →
2022 16 mentions in 3 episodes 5 per episode
- Hadi Partovi: How I Became an Advisor to Mark Zuckerberg; Lessons from Steve Ballmer | 20VC #961 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour: How to Build Moats Against Incumbents; How to Hire Engineers | 20VC #931 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Emil Michael: How I Negotiated the $4B Uber-China Deal, Why DoorDash Caught Up to Uber | 20VC #941 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- every mention in 2022, scene by scene →
2018 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: How To Strategically Build The Right Investor Base, Why Startup Timing is Like Surfing & How To Determine Whether Someone is Scaling with the Organisation or Not with Daniel Lewis, Founder & CEO @ Convoy
- 20VC: Thumbtack's Marco Zappacosta on The 3 Core Elements To All Board Meetings, Raising $250m from Sequoia and Why You Have To Win Supply Side Acquisition First For Marketplace Success
- every mention in 2018, scene by scene →
Everything said about Ali Partovi, oldest first
Mar 23, 2018
Dan Lewis evaluated multiple business models with Hadi and Ali Partovi
“And I spent a lot of time actually with Hadi Partovi and Ali Partovi exploring some of these ideas early, my co-founder, Grant Goodale. And then we kind of came up with the right business model in addition to, you know, four or five other ones that we looked a…”
Jan 21, 2022 positive
Partovi: Existing investors participating at fair market value signals company strength
“So I'm of the old school that letting your existing investors invest more is the best way to build a company. Not just to serve your old investors, it signals to everybody else what a great relationship you have and makes other people want to invest. But I wou…”
Jan 21, 2022 positive
Jan 21, 2022 negative
Jan 21, 2022 negative
Jan 21, 2022 negative
Partovi passed on Google in 1999 due to competitive hubris
“One of my smartest friends from Harvard, Craig Silverstein, was probably the top guy in our CS program. He and my brother and I were probably always vying for which of us is the best coder in the Harvard class of 94 in computer science, and it was probably Cra…”
Jan 21, 2022 bullish
Partovi passed on early Airbnb pitch, later invested at higher valuation
“I didn't invest in Airbnb the first time I met Brian. Brian was hustling because Airbnb was, this was pretty early on. I was at lunch with somebody else. I was having lunch with a Wall Street Journal reporter, Rob Guth, and Brian was at the table next to us. A…”
Jan 21, 2022
Partovi personally pitched nearly every early hire at Vanta and Kalshi
“In almost all my portfolio companies, if I didn't source their early recruits, I certainly helped close them. At companies like Vanta, Kalshi, Copercure, I think not a single person they hired was without a phone call, at least from me, to help convince them t…”
Jan 21, 2022 positive
Partovi: VC strategy focuses on generational founders over business plan flaws
“Rather than trying to poke holes in their business idea, I'm trying to figure out, is this person the next Bill Gates, or the next Mark Zuckerberg, and if they are, let me just step out of the way and not mess it up, just try to support them to achieve their p…”
Jan 21, 2022 positive
Jan 21, 2022
Jan 21, 2022 positive
Partovi: The 'us versus them' founder-VC dynamic is unhealthy and false
“If there was one thing I would change, it's the us versus them attitude between founders and VCs. It's, I touched on this just earlier. I think it's just false. You know, it's an unhealthy, false implication that these are two different species, or that the go…”
Jan 21, 2022
Candidates with minor interview flaws almost always turn out to be terrible
“It means your smaller team needs to work harder until you find the right people, and so, of course, there's a point at which you might need to make a compromise, but I've always found that if you're interviewing someone, and you're like, ah, They're not quite …”
Jan 21, 2022 neutral
Jan 21, 2022
Partovi: Startup success requires embracing risk rather than constantly de-risking
“But the big learning for me is that I think success in tech requires maintaining courage, no matter how terrified you are. And I think sometimes you have to go all in, even if you feel you have a losing hand. The path that I would say I took a lot as a founder…”
Jan 21, 2022
Jan 21, 2022
Jan 21, 2022 negative
Partovi passed on PayPal despite recognizing Max Levchin's genius
“At my first startup, LinkExchange, we had this brilliant contractor who was younger than us, so I was 25, Max Lefton was 22, and when we sold our company, he left to start PayPal. We all knew Max was, like, just a whole next-level brilliance. I mean, when he w…”
Jan 21, 2022 negative
Jan 21, 2022
Partovi: Raw talent and potential matter more than resume experience
“Talent is more important than experience. I mean, they're both important, but if you have to choose, I would always rather bet on a brilliant, hardworking young person and their potential to Then somebody who has the resume and the experience, but may not have…”
Jan 21, 2022 negative
Jan 21, 2022 bullish
Partovi: CoProcure could become the largest female-led company of all time
“An investment of mine that I'm super excited about. And I don't know if this will ever be a household name because it's a B to B type business, but it's a company called co-procure. I think it has a potential to be, could be the largest female led Company of a…”
Jan 21, 2022
Partovi: Negotiation strength comes from firm walkaway limits, not fake leverage
“Now, to be strong without misleading, all you need to do is to say, I won't accept that. You don't need to say why. You don't need to make implications for, I have a better offer or I don't. If you simply say, we won't do it for less than X, that's strength.”