Insight
Masood: Founders should not maximize valuation over partner alignment
“You shouldn't maximize for valuation because the thing is that if you maximize for valuation then you know incentives aren't necessarily aligned, and so what you really want to maximize for is, are we getting to work with the right people?”
Insight
Masood: VCs shouldn't route diverse founders to diverse partners by default
“Founders should be able to talk to the partner at the fund that understands their industry and their business. That's really, it's that simple. It's, you know, they shouldn't automatically assume that because, you know, this person is a female founder or a min…”
Insight
Masood: Vet VC associate influence via LinkedIn tenure and board roles
“I think the most important thing is to meet with senior associates that have influence and how you can figure that out is really just go onto their LinkedIn and see how long have they been at the firm. Are they someone who's really an analyst, but has the asso…”
Insight
Masood: Committed VC partners will work weekends to prep founders
“If the GP really wants, you know, you to present your best foot forward in terms, in front of the full partner meeting, they will work through that weekend or, you know, whatever that date period is to make sure that your presentation is as good as it can be.”
Insight
Masood: Founders should ignore fund brand and choose the best partner
“Building a company is a longterm game at the end of the day. And so what that means is you want to ensure that you're finding the best partner for your company or your business and really take the fund out of the equation.”
Insight
Masood: Product-market fit is a stepladder you repeatedly gain and lose
“Product market fit is a stepladder. So, you're going to have it for a little bit, and then you're gonna suddenly lose it, and then you have to change your product again, and so, that's really how it is.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Masood: TARA raised $2.8M after pivot for a $3M seed round
“About a fourth of our investors doubled down. And so from that 200 K when we pivoted, we raised 2.8 million. And so we had a three million Called it a three million seed.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Masood: TARA secured a Series A term sheet in nine days
“Our total fundraise process to go from first coffee meeting to term sheet was nine days.”
Insight
Masood: Ask portfolio founders how VC partners acted when things failed
“Do your homework, but then come armed with very specific questions and really try to ask about, What did that partner do when things went south?”
Disclosure
Masood: TARA AI conducts board meetings every eight weeks
“So we do board meetings every eight weeks.”
