Ali Afridi
@AliKAfridi
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Principal @EqualVentures | Built and maintain – a VC insight & thesis aggregator. 🇵🇰-🇺🇸
NYC
Joined April 2013
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Today’s retail Teardown is special.
It’s our first on a company in 🇵🇰 and it’s a company HQ-ed in my hometown.
Diving into Airlift – Pakistan’s highest funded startup 👇
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The fastest startup ever to become a unicorn? 🦄
From founding to a $1 Billion valuation in just 6 months. And this company did it while being profitable.
Diving into Mensa Brands, the India-based global eCommerce company 👇
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The 3rd largest seller on Amazon doesn't sell any of its own products.
Pattern Inc. has built a $2B business in Utah that even many within the eCommerce industry haven't heard of.
Today on Teardowns, our team dove in ⬇️
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New Post: A compilation of Mental Models that can be leveraged for startup & venture thesis ideation
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This time of year many VCs and analysts share their outlooks and predictions for the year ahead.
Our team compiled a running list of 2022 outlooks and end-of-year retrospectives at
Let us know if we’re missing any!
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Hard not to be pumped about the direction that Pakistan's startup ecosystem is headed with news of Airlift's round today!🚀
World's 5th largest country finally getting some investor love & attention
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Excited to launch a new experiment today through called Teardowns.
Every day, our team will dive into 2 of the fastest-growing companies across our coverage areas and share key insights on those businesses 👇
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Thrilled to be re-joining the
@EqualVentures
team and coming back into Venture at an incredibly exciting time in the industry!
1) I’m elated to announce that
@AliKAfridi
is rejoining
@EqualVentures
as a Principal!
This marks the 3rd time I’ve had the pleasure of hiring Ali and he is someone who defines many of the values that we think makes Equal what it is
Welcome back Ali!
👇
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Back in 🇵🇰 (Lahore + Karachi) for the first few weeks of Jan.
If you’re in either city or know someone great in tech or venture that is — I’d love to meet and buy you a ☕️ !
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is on Product Hunt!! Excited to share our digest of theses & analyses from 600+ VCs and analysts to a wider audience.
Check it out and would love an upvote if you enjoy it.
A huge thank you to
@mariogabriele
for hunting us!
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For a city with a quarter of a million Pakistani's, it's pretty sad how bad the 🇵🇰 food options are in NYC
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Organizing an after-work event for Pakistani founders, operators & investors in NYC in a few weeks with
@ShahryarBachani
@venture4pk
🇵🇰
DM/comment if interested and we’ll share details!
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One of the fastest companies to become a unicorn in India
And in the process inspiring numerous similar companies & investors across the region
Our team dove into Udaan, India's leading B2B Diving into Udaan, India’s leading B2B trade marketplace ⬇️
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The company has now raised over $100m, hitting a rev run rate of $50m+.
Our researchers dove into all public info on Airlift to compile today’s Teardown on its business, how the model works, intel on their products, and more.
Dig in at
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Consistently blown away by how bad the UX is of apps in Pakistan.
Someone needs to build a
@metalab
for the country
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Happening tomorrow in NYC!
Be sure to send to any Pakistanis 🇵🇰 you know in tech, finance, or startup-land.
👀
@ShahryarBachani
@venture4pk
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Stacked crypto investor panel at
#EthDenver
... including the newest member of the Illini "leave of absence" club
@niraj
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Grateful to be a part of the
@EqualVentures
team. Excited to continue partnering with founders bridging the digital divide!
Excited to announce
@AliKAfridi
's promotion to Principal at
@EqualVentures
Ali has been an incredible resource to our firm and its founders, so please join us in congratulating him on taking the next step in his investment career!
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An ensemble cast of global VCs at the first
@paklaunchdotcom
conference today!
Exciting to see the narrative around Pakistan tech changing live
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New Post: A framework mapping out the insights that VCs and founders leverage to develop new startup ideas and venture theses
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From founding to raising ~$500M in under 2 years. 🚀
has taken a unique approach to building one of the fastest-growing companies in the eCommerce industry.
Today on Teardowns, our team dove in ⬇️
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It's crazy how quickly one can set up a global org today
– Incorporation docs filed w/ EIN back in ~24 hrs w/
@incfile
– Bank account approved + cards issued in under an hour with
@BankMercury
– Global payroll, benefits, and compliant contracts set-up in <24 hrs w/
@oyster_hr
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Founded in 2019 as a private transit network for commuters, Airlift raised 🇵🇰's largest seed round at the time.
It soon raised eyebrows for being the first there to raise a Series A from a top-tier US VC in
@firstround
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Nuts that Pakistan outranks India, the UK, and Canada in terms of new eComm merchants on Amazon
What
@enablers_org
and
@ExtremeCommerce
have accomplished is pretty remarkable. 2 of the most active eComm communities I've seen
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Newest guilty pleasure: a warm and crispy paratha with a healthy smattering of
@gooeysnacks
Absolute 🔥!
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For anyone down in Miami, Aatif is by far one of the best ppl to connect with on Pakistani startups & venture!
In Miami this week. DM if you are here and want to chat Pakistani startups 🇵🇰
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It's difficult from the outside looking in to figure out how early-stage VCs evaluate companies and decide whether to invest or pass.
@Rick_Zullo
and team
@EqualVentures
just open-sourced the firm's internal rubric & voting form.
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Excited to finally unveil
@EqualVentures
and the inaugural fund!
1/ We (
@kerby
and
@rick_zullo
) are excited to announce the official launch of
@EqualVentures
, a thesis driven, seed stage fund focused on bridging the digital divide
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[New Post] Studying fast-growing companies from across markets was a big part of my process while in VC to understand market shifts & opportunities.
I wrote a bit about the learnings one can drive and a list of the writers who dive deep across markets:
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Any ⚽️ fans in NYC tech / venture? Getting a group together to catch some Euros games this summer.
👀
@EricSchoenbach
@grgwng
@shubh311
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5 years ago today
@eric0ng
,
@brettbivens
,
@BrendanKarp
, and I hosted a ‘Young in Tech’ event in Chicago.
Crazy to look back at this pic and see what folks have done since. I 👀 at least 2 VC Partners, 2 Principals, 4 VC-backed founders and several execs at tech companies
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After being forced to halt operations as a result of COVID, Airlift pivoted to offering express grocery delivery.
It’s the same quick-commerce model that's attracted billions over the last 2 years across players like Getir(Turkey), Jokr(US), Gorillas(Germany), and blinkit(India)
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One of the best feelings when running a newsletter is when a person signs up and then a week later the entire firm subscribes.
Happened a few times now, most recently with a firm that had 10 people sign up in 3 days last week
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4th issue of the digest went out this morning featuring:
– 2021 outlooks from
@AVC
,
@VentureTwins
,
@RedpointVC
,
@rdkondrat
, &
@C_C_Insider
– Venture opportunities from
@eriktorenberg
&
@buckymoore
+ plenty more
link:
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Is there a phrase amongst desis that has caused more societal harm than “log kya kahein gay"?
(What will people say?)
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Compiled a list of funding resources for student founders with
@jbensal
. Know any we missed?
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Today was my first day at
@Lightbank
. Stoked to be joining this team & becoming a part of Chicago's tech ecosystem!
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Kicking off the first
@ChicagoETM
of 2017 with local VCs discussing the trends they're seeing and what they are looking forward to this year
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Love seeing all the promotions across venture firms this holiday season
So many incredible people moving into senior investment roles heading into 2022 🚀
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Over the past several years,
@Kerby
&
@Rick_Zullo
have built an incredible community of Emerging VC GPs that work together to help each other succeed.
They just opened applications to the community. It's a must join for anyone starting or running a fund!
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The company has acquired over 15 brands and is approaching a team of 100 employees.
Our researchers dove into all public info on Mensa to compile the Teardown on its business, how their playbook works, and more.
More here ⬇️
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Built a small side project over the past few weekends that brings VC, investing & startup-oriented content into a single feed. Just launched an MVP for it:
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One of the frameworks I've found most helpful for thinking about the stages in a successful startup's lifecycle is
@Rick_Zullo
's Steps to Build & Sustain Moats.
Learn more in Equal's latest post:
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I just published “Getting Venture Capital experience while still in school”
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OH in SF: I'm not marrying my girlfriend till she provides me her 23andMe test results
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Our research team dove into Pattern, its history, business model, and more.
Learn more through our Teardown ⬇️
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Don’t think most realize how hard starting a venture fund is.
Was inspiring to watch
@Rick_Zullo
&
@kerby
hustle & persevere through countless challenges to get Equal off the ground
1) Later this spring,
@EqualVentures
will turn 3. At this time, 3 years ago, I was nearly broke. Fundraising was next to possible, I hadnt taken a salary in close to a year and had a baby due. When
@kerby
and I went fundraising, we shared rooms in a hostel to cut costs. 🧵
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@StephNass
Not sure if someone mentioned already but
@Trace_Cohen
has a great list as well that could be a good addition
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We're back to publishing Teardowns!
This evening we sent out one on
@Ankorstore
– digging into the company that went from 0 to $2B in under 3 years.
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This brand aggregation playbook has been a popular VC-backed model, raising billions in recent years.
The model was popularized by Thrasio in the US. I shared a bit earlier on how Thrasio's success spawned a slew of similar companies
July '20 – Thrasio touts its success in press releases & articles
Seed rounds soon after in 2020 »
– Sept: Boosted raises $87m (now ~$125m)
– Oct: Perch raises $120m+ (now ~$900m)
– Nov: Heyday raises $175m (now ~$800m)
Not to mention the dozens of others in the US + overseas
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Found out recently that this campus ecosystem post I wrote a yr ago is now a part of the U of I's MBA curriculum 😀
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Learning from active AI VCs about trends in the industry and what they look for in investments
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Worked with
@badboyboyce
for a summer and his love for the art of venture and drive to support founders was truly intoxicating
Any founder would be lucky to have him on their cap table!
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Awesome opportunity to break into venture and work with some amazing people
.
@PritzkerVC
is looking to hire an Associate for the
#Chicago
investment team! RT and send to good candidates!
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Favorite post from yesterday's digest was this piece by
@sajithpai
on defining PMF.
One of the most nebulous concepts in startupland that everyone seems to describe differently.
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Just updated with a dozen new posts from January. Now at 35+
This time of year many VCs and analysts share their outlooks and predictions for the year ahead.
Our team compiled a running list of 2022 outlooks and end-of-year retrospectives at
Let us know if we’re missing any!
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Out in South East Asia for the next couple of months. Let me know if you have any recs on cities to visit, coworking spaces to work from, or are traveling around as well!
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Still early days but so exciting to see Pakistan's startup ecosystem finally start to take off 🚀.
It's about time investors + founders started paying attention to the world's 5th largest country.
Great overview by
@mikalkhoso
!
Pakistan's tech ecosystem is having it's moment. As a Pakistani, I've been spending a lot of time trying to understand why. Here are my thoughts in
@TechCrunch
this week!
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Anyone else ever check FB ad library before making a purchase to see if there is a better deal running?
Why get $25 off when I can get $100 by clicking a different ad
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@wileycwj
@vai_pahwa
@jbensal
@afestekjian
I'm extremely disappointed that no bots liked the previous tweet.
#growthhacking
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Great time meeting
#Illini
startups and answering questions on VC with
@sychou
@pxmanv
@pointsnfigures
@eduboe
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This has to be one of the biggest false truths in startup-land.
Plenty of venture studios and founders searching for an idea who will happily clone ideas they see in market
absolutely no one is remotely interested in "stealing" your startup idea 😏
if you have an idea, talk to as many people as you can
execution🚀 > ideas 💡
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Digest
#30
of rounding up the latest from top VCs & startup analysts out this morning!
Featuring analyses from
@mariodgabriele
,
@mikalkhoso
,
@robmay
,
@samlangse
, and
@kevindstevens
(1/2)
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An incredibly powerful framework for developing and analyzing the capabilities that lead to moats
1) “Moats” are a term thrown around a lot in startup circles
In reality, companies don’t build moats, they build "CAPABILITIES" that yield them
We’ve created a simplified, but exhaustive framework for capabilities that create company defining moats
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Yesterday, we launched a new initiative at to highlight the best agencies & vendors that work with startups called 1st Team.
The spotlighted vendors are crowd-sourced from VC-backed founders and investors across our ~2,000 subscribers.
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I wonder if the Thrasio team regrets its PR from July 2020 highlighting just how profitable and fast-growing they were.
At that point, the acquirer space was still pretty nascent. Within months dozens of new competitors popped up with billions of funding
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Mensa is a brand acquirer that rolls up eCommerce brands.
The company acquires sellers across Fashion, Beauty, Personal Care, and Home products with a focus on scaling them across channels locally and internationally.
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The SadaPay product is the 1 exception I've found to my earlier comment. Truly in a league of its own on this front.
👏
@tmnsky
@omersalimullah
Consistently blown away by how bad the UX is of apps in Pakistan.
Someone needs to build a
@metalab
for the country
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The unique part of Pattern's model is that instead of operating as an agency or SaaS provider, the company buys products at wholesale rates from brands and then re-sells it at retail prices.
Their demand forecasting & sales capabilities enable them to take on the inventory-risk.
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65%+ of UIUC CS grads leave Illinois after grad. Long way to go before
#ChicagoTech
attracts top talent but think future is bright
Chicago universities and
@WorldBizChicago
hope SV immersion trips strengthen Bay Area ties to the Midwest:
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If you're a startup looking to recruit
@EngineeringAtIL
students, message
@vai_pahwa
. He has a great opportunity to recruit on campus
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Took 2 co's public, investor in the world’s largest bitcoin startup, advisor to the NVCA + more. Great to have you onboard
@VictorPascucci3
!
We're delighted to welcome
@VictorPascucci3
to the Lightbank team. Learn more about our newest Managing Partner!
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Great dive into the cross-border payments stack and the many inefficiencies with the process
I spent much of 2021 entrenched in the world of payments and discovered that b2b cross-border payments are broken.
So, I wrote an explainer of who's involved in an international business transaction and why they're so slow and expensive:
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Best of luck
@Ablordesays
&
@DavidVandegrift
! Can't wait to start using
@4DegreesAI
. “Why we’re leaving VC”
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So well deserved. Congrats
@zchelseaz
&
@simrangsuri
!!!
Incredibly excited to announce the promotions of
@zchelseaz
and
@simrangsuri
. These two took a bold risk in joining us on our journey and we're so fortunate that they did. They bring so much to our firm and it's been amazing to see them grow as investors.
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Free pizza & beers + Execs from startups that have raised $175M+ in funding. Won't want to miss
@ChicagoETM
next Wed
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Founded in early 2021, Mensa raised a round of $135 Million in November '21 that valued it at ~$1.2 Billion.
They've raised over $300 Million in total across debt & equity.
Investors include leading global VCs such as Accel, Norwest, and Tiger Global
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Issue # 26 of the SandHill digest went out this morning! Featuring theses & analyses from top investors across over a dozen firms
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Cool to see
@Rick_Zullo
's memo from 2018 on the thesis around a platform for offline retail come to fruition as
@Leap_retail
scales out
2018 memo:
2021 results:
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.
@TroyHenikoff
from
@techstars
Chicago and
@MATH_V_P
talking to
@Illinois_Alma
students about entrepreneurship
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Highly recommend
@recesslabsnyc
to any entrepreneurs or hackers in NY. And even if you're not in NY, this is a community worth moving for (I did)
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I started compiling a list of people/groups involved in Stockholm's startup scene. Who else should I add?
#sthlmtech
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The company is one of the 6 million sellers on Amazon's marketplace. They've scaled to become the 3rd largest in the US.
Pattern was reported to be on track to hit $500m in sales in 2020 and is anticipated to reach $2B+ this year.
Image from
@MarketplacePuls
– iServe is Pattern
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Now that Clubhouse is mainstream,
@join_space
is where the early adopters hang out
@mirmanwar
@cflexman
@zxed
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.
@Cast21Official
out of
@Illinois_Alma
is building a new type of cast that's breathable, waterproof and sturdy
0
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Huge news out of
@TempusLabs
@lightbank
this morning! Rooting for them in their fight against cancer
Excited to announce
@TempusLabs
new $70 million round of funding from NEA, Revolution via
@crainschicago
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Is anyone doing an ICO for a new sovereign nation yet? Surely someone's thinking about it in current environment
@lrettig
@santisiri
@niraj
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