shaherose (she/her)

Partner @unshackledvc | Startup builder turned VC | First Funders Podcast | Always helping founders | Raised on Atari, MS-DOS, Bollywood & Hip Hop 🇨🇦

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

https://t.co/BUOzdoDrXM

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

@Quan Absolutely, will text you now ;)

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

I have spent my entire career supporting founders and building startup ecosystems from Women 2.0 to Founder Labs to Nike to my podcast, First Funders. And in each era, the thing that moved the needle for founders in my orbit was meeting the right person at the right time to unlock a team member, a new customer or wisdom from lived experience. But this doesn't just show up, it's built over time of value exchange. It's rooted in trust, the one thing AI can't generate.

So we built something on top of our team's personal network of trust and credibility, rooted in time-tested relationships. Say hello to The Circle.

The Circle is a curated network of 60+ founders, operators, and executives who are immigrants, or have built alongside one, and who have personally committed to supporting our portfolio. It’s an active, operating part of how we support founders, and it exists for one reason: to manufacture serendipity, to put the right person in front of a founder at the right moment and drive momentum.

More below 👇 and please say hello to our members => https://t.co/Cut4BQ4cCH

[Unshackled Ventures @UnshackledVC]

https://t.co/7VcA9xF0o6

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

@dunkhippo33 Genius. Sign me up!

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

@chrissyfarr I feel so seen 🙏

[Christina Farr @chrissyfarr]

Emerging managers are also founders.

I talked to one this week that took zero pay for 2 years, a second mortgage on their home, and zero vacations.

I'm not saying we should break out the tiny violin. But we venerate one group, and willfully make fun of the other.

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

Deep dive with @girlstrong => Mel turned the mic to me and said, "you tell your story" so instead of me doing my usual interview, we both reflected on our time at Nike, our backgrounds and how it’s shaped the VC's we are today. This was truly reflective for me. Thanks for the nudge, Mel.

To hear the full interview search for "First Funders" on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcast and more.

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

Such a rich convo => @ShahramSN is trying invest in ChatGPT at the cellular level. The future of biotech is in the data, and how companies can use to feed and train models to excel in medical diagnostics and beyond with his fund @CivilizationVC.

To hear the full interview search for "First Funders" on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcast and more.

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

https://t.co/Fwk1J1RzfB

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

Every firm is says they back founders early, before signals, before consensus. We actually do this at @UnshackledVC (just ask our founders and follow-on investors).

When you write true first checks, it is reflected in the actual moment we invest and the way we evaluate founders. More on that here:
https://t.co/llZoasS2s6

Both @alexiszamira @mananm are the architects of our frameworks. Investing early certainly involves gut instinct but that alone isn't enough. We also apply structure to that instinct and follow our curiosity to determine if we want to invest vs. relying on signals.

[Yuliya Chernova @ychernova]

Scoop: Arif Janmohamed (Lightspeed) and Trevor Oelschig (GC) are raising $375 million for their new firm Duration Ventures to invest in early-stage enterprise AI startups https://t.co/rfukmnokWG

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

Listen to the full episode here:
First Funders: https://t.co/G6CDvZRDuL
Spotify:  https://t.co/NUuv7fqBjr
Apple: https://t.co/zkSs8aGxP7
YouTube: https://t.co/uyiZJRJjuS

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

Trust was never a soft skill. It was an invisible asset that AI has made visible and more valuable. That was the discussion that stuck with me after my convo with @MoniqueWoodard, long-time collaborator and friend and GP @cakeventures on First Funders.

[shaherose (she/her) @shaherose]

9/ We also got into:
• why “human-in-the-loop” is now a strength in industries like healthcare to address labor shortage and rising demand
• what revenue velocity really signals for AI-native companies
• what founding teams are starting to look like now