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Check out the latest in the ecosystem this week or skip straight over to this week's piece👇🏾
This Week in Startups
💰 Funding
GoZayan, a Bangladeshi travel tech startup acquires FindMyAdventure, its Pakistani counterpart - a very cool sign of consolidation taking local startups to regional levels
Daftarkhwan, a co-working space with locations across Pakistan, has raised an undisclosed seed round led by strategic investors EMPG. EMPG owns and operates 10 brands in 16 countries including Zameen and OLX.
📚 Reading
Check out this cool Twitter thread from FindMyAdventure co-founder Komail Naqvi reflecting on the journey.
TruckItIn’s Muneeb Shakil, Sr. National Manager Supply Acquisition, reflects on the company’s mission in light of their recent funding round.
SandHill.io have launched a teardown series and one of the first companies they have profiled is q-commerce giant Airlift.
Breaking into VC: Getting Literate
The most common question I’ve received in the past year, both before and after launching the newsletter has been ‘how do I break into VC’. The answer is manifold more complicated than what I can cover in this newsletter but like many things, the process is quite simple. Executing it is hard.
Get literate on the subject
Network within the industry and with key stakeholders
Get as much initial experience as you can (internships, work/study, insight programs, supporting startups on nights and weekends etc.)
Leverage your experience and ongoing insight to take things to the next level
In this article, I am focusing on covering the first point with global relevance and an additional focus, as always, on MENAP. While I didn’t realise it, this is pretty much the exact same process that I followed which helped me land my first two experiences in VC and many offers since then.
The aim is to develop a base level of ‘literacy’ in VC. This has two main strands. First, commercial awareness, understanding which deals are happening, who the main players are, and what the latest happenings are. Second, the language of VC, this is an understanding of the key terms and processes which are almost intentionally obfuscated to prevent ‘outsiders’ from breaking in.
Lucky for us, on the first point, there’s a lot of content out there that can provide a very strong base from which to operate on a global, regional and local level. I’d like to provide a range of options but also focus on the content that I have found works best for me.
Global
It’s important to be aware of the global trends and keep a track of the deals that are getting done. Once you’re paying attention for a couple of weeks you’ll start to see patterns emerging. Be curious. These are good starting points but the endpoint could be anywhere!
If you consume one piece of content regularly, I’d recommend the StrictlyVC newsletter. StrictlyVC is published Monday to Friday and is the closest thing I’ve found to a comprehensive tracker of venture activity happening across the world. They cover kind of everything, from the small deals happening with startups in our part of the world all the way to closes of large venture funds on the other side. Not only will you know what the latest deals are, but you’ll also know which funds have recently closed which can indicate who might be hiring and where money might be deployed in the near future. Make sure to go beyond the newsletter itself, click the links it sources, and learn more about the companies they discuss.
There are definitely other written sources that can be useful. Techcrunch has long been the go-to outlet which can be good to keep track of what’s happening. Unfortunately, more substantive pieces are often paywalled. Substack, the platform on which this newsletter is hosted, is home to a range of interesting outlets. Some of my favourites include Packy McCormick’s Not Boring which covers pieces on the broader internet - from business breakdowns to explorations of Web 3, he’s enjoyable to read and informative. Another great source of insight is Mario Gabriele‘s The Generalist which goes deep on specific topics and has especially great pieces on some of the biggest venture players including Tiger Global, Coatue, and more.
Finally, one of the best sources for content comes from venture funds themselves. As put best by Alex Lieberman of Morning Brew:
Quality varies and some of the best funds are strategically quiet but I’d recommend content from Sequoia Capital, A16Z’s recently(ish) launched publication Future, and NFX. They do a great job at breaking down industries, identifying opportunities, going beyond generic guidance for founders.
Beyond this, one of my favourite mediums is podcasts. They do take a little getting used to but can be great, authentic sources of insight. It’s easier to capture nuance in audio than in writing. I recommend the following:
Acquired - definitely my favourite, goes behind the scenes and explains the success of the biggest IPOs, acquisitions and more. It’s equal parts entertaining and informative.
How I Built This - similar to Acquired in its aims but brings insiders to the table to tell their story, more narrative and less analytical but still useful.
20VC - Harry Stebbings interviews the leading investors across the world, expect to learn a lot about how investors think.
Invest Like The Best - Similar style to 20VC with a broader base of investors, a lot of interesting learnings from other asset classes.
There are many, many more high-quality writers and creators on the internet and if you decide to go deep on a specific industry or geography, there’s almost guaranteed to be someone writing or talking about it.
Regional
Regionally, options are a little more limited but there’s still lots to dig in to. Menabytes provides a good running track of most of the deals happening but isn’t up to date recently. Wamda, one of the leading MENA funds, has been running a good podcast covering many of the more interesting opportunities in the region. The Emergent newsletter, written by Mikal Khoso who was formerly an investor at Wavemaker Partners, covers detailed business breakdowns and founder interviews across emerging markets.
Local
Techshaw’s multiple newsletters, the Misaal podcast, and funding tracker are probably the best way to have a comprehensive overview of the ecosystem with some additional breadth. i2i’s dealflow tracker is another great option in terms of keeping up to date and they have a regular strong analysis of the ecosystem. PakLaunch has been running many events that go super deep and bring exciting global speakers to the table.
So what do you actually do with all this content?
Yes, consume it - sure. But more importantly, think critically about it. Leave comments. Hit reply to the authors. Get on Twitter and interact with them directly. Ask yourself, why are these companies being funded, what’s unique about them, why now? We previously explored what VCs are looking for, apply this framework to every company you see for best results. Now when you go to conversations with key stakeholders, you can come prepared.
As always, thanks for reading! Know someone raising or looking to break into investing? Give this a share! And as always, please subscribe if you’d like to hear more! If you have topics you’d like me to cover, just hit reply :)
growing like a weed in them inbox!
i wanted to add some good resources to learn about the "history" of VC, helped me a ton put the asset class and the current VC moment in perspective:
1. https://ventureforward.org/education/history-101/
2. https://salon.thefamily.co/a-brief-history-of-the-world-of-venture-capital-65a8610e7dc2 by Nicolas Colin, GP at The Family
3. http://netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/Founding_Fathers_of_Silicon_Valley.shtml on NetValley’s Stanford magazine
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9oojO6ztKk by KPCB partner Dana Mead
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo the Secret History of SV by steve blank