Articles
Articles by Zain Jaffer on startups, fundraising, AI investing, and the founder life.
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Anthropic Just Voided Millions in Secondary Market Shares
Wow, I know so many people who went from being worth $100M+ to broke overnight…
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How Coding From My Phone Became My Most Productive Habit
I'm on my phone before bed and first thing in the morning. I used to…
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My Mum Just Exposed the ARR Problem Most Founders Won't Admit
I told my mum that we hit $1M ARR recently. She innocently asks me what…
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Your AI Startup Isn't Safe in the Application Layer
Your startup is not safe if you are in the AI Application Layer, which is…
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Why Content Writers Will Become AI's Most Valuable Asset
Content Writers are not getting replaced by AI. The language of AI is so abstract…
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We Hit $1M ARR in 7 Months. Why Do I Feel So Bad?
We just hit $1M ARR in our first 7 months. So why do I feel…
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Startup Now Homeless
Our 16-person startup is now homeless. We just got evicted from our Industrious office space…
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The Real Schedule of a Startup Founder With a Newborn
YC is backing founders who are barely out of their diapers and love to brag…
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Why Google's Project Genie Has Me Convinced We Live in a Simulation
At the risk of sounding insane, Google's new Project Genie has me convinced that we…
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Why Most Advisor Roles Should Actually Be Consulting Gigs
I've never brought on an advisor for equity. I've also been an advisor many times…
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Why Startups Should Never Hire Product Managers
#ez-toc-container, .ez-toc-container, div.ez-toc-v2_0_17 { display: none !important; } I am against hiring Product Managers in…
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How I Turned a $7M Offer Into $17M by Writing My Own Term Sheet
When I raised Vungle's $17M Series B, I literally sent a term sheet to VCs…
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Why Every Founder Needs an Immaculate Data Room (Before It's Too Late)
A tip for founders: always maintain a data room that’s in immaculate condition. Otherwise you…
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The Best AI Investments Are Hiding in Plain Sight
Some of my startup investments have been stuck for a few years at less than…
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Work-Life Balance Is Broken
I now weigh 200 pounds, thanks to the startup lifestyle of 9-9-6, working from 9…
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Your Bug Fix Time Is Your Success Clock
The speed at which a startup fixes its website bugs tells you everything you need…
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Our AI Startup's First Office
After months of nomadic work life, our stealth AI startup has finally taken a significant…
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Founders Financial Blindness
Some founders are in the dark about how much money they’re spending each month, and…
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Why You Should Never BCC Important Introductions
We’ve all been there. Someone makes a valuable introduction for you , and your first…
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The AI Unicorn Playbook: 3 Common Strategies
As I study many new AI unicorns, I’ve noticed 3 things they have in common…
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When Founders Turn Against Their Investors
I recently had one of the most troubling experiences as an investor . We invested…
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Rise & Recognise: People of Impact
I was recently featured by Rise & Recognise as a “People of Impact” for sharing…
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Two Paths to Startup Success in Today's Market
The startup funding landscape has shifted dramatically. If your startup isn’t on track to go…
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How We Hit $100K ARR in 6 Weeks While Staying Stealth
Building a startup doesn’t always require the spotlight. Sometimes the best growth happens when no…
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5 Things I'm Doing Differently in My New AI Startup
After getting my last company acquired , I’m launching a new stealth AI startup. But…
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$50K ARR in 30 Days: Building Services as Software
The intersection of artificial intelligence and human talent is creating new opportunities in ways we’ve…
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3 Common Mistakes Killing AI Startups
Every time OpenAI launches something new, another 100 AI startups quietly die. The reason is…
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How Jack and I Turned a Bad Startup Into a $780M Exit
Right out of college, I joined a startup. Within a month, they stopped paying my…
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Why Most GenAI Startups Won’t Last
As I think about my next startup , I’ve been speaking with dozens of AI…
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How to Become a Better CEO
One of the most underrated ways to grow as a founder is by serving on…
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How One Question Transformed My $1K Service Into a $10M Business
Service businesses often get constrained by deliverable-focused pricing. They price based on what they create,…
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The GenAI Arbitrage Trap
Why are we hyping GenAI startups that boast $10M+ ARR with only three people? What…
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How I Raised $2M With Just a Deck
14 years ago, I pitched a dream. I had no product. No team. Just a…
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