How Zayd Ali Sold A Company at 18 Years Old

And founded Valley — an AI SDR company that's raised $3 million

Author

Michael Houck
November 07, 2024

Hey y’all — what were you doing when you were 18? It probably wasn’t having your first startup get acquired.

Today I’m sharing my conversation with Zayd Ali. Within months of selling that company, he founded a new one — Valley, which has raised $3M to build an AI SDR.

Zayd’s energy is infectious and he has a ton of practical and, sometimes, counterintuitive fundraising advice that you can apply. Check it out below:

Listen now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or your podcast platform of choice.

As a reminder, each Thursday I interview a world-class founder about their unique paths to uncover tactical insights they've learned about how to fundraise, grow, validate, hire, scale, and lead teams.

Also, after each conversation I write up my candid takeaways. Become a member and grab them ✨ here ✨ along with lifetime access to my private founder community and more.

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In our chat we discuss:

Founder's Journey

  • 01:19 — Selling a company in high school

  • 07:03 — The feeling after selling a company

  • 09:09 — Community accelerator programs

  • 21:30 — Bootstrapped vs. venture-backed startups

  • 34:58 — Selling before building

  • 52:34 — Risk of startup life in your 20s

The Art of Pivoting

  • 14:51 — Executing a pivot

  • 17:39 — Advice for reluctant founders

  • 18:54 — Founder market fit & "why now"

Investor Dynamics

  • 23:11 — High-profile investors’ impact

  • 24:52 — High energy in investor meetings

  • 28:23 — Creating urgency for investors

  • 38:03 — Investor response to customer LOIs

  • 38:47 — Pre-read deck strategy

  • 41:45 — Analyst to partner transition

  • 44:01 — Anticipating investor pushbacks

  • 45:10 — Avoiding introductions from investors who passed

  • 47:30 — Challenges for AI startups

  • 50:44 — Raising in a hot market

Rapid Fire

  • 54:56 — Who's an investor you'd recommend?

  • 55:47 — One thing you'd change about startups?

  • 56:44 — Advice for first-time founders?

  • 57:38 — Something you believe that most disagree with?

Where you can find Zayd and Valley:

Listen now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or your podcast platform of choice.

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