Amir Farha

adversity breeds resilience • started @cotuventures & @becocapital • early believer in @careem @propertyfinder @kitopihq @heyfresha @gohuspy @shakepay

[Amir Farha @afarha]

I’m not one for PR much, but we just announced our first fund on TechCrunch - a big thank you to everyone for their messages and show of support! It means so much to us 🙏

We did our final close a year ago and after nearly 3 years of investing, over 20 companies in the portfolio, and more than 30 awesome founders we’re working with, it’s been an eventful experience so far... and we’re just getting started.

For those interested in reading our journey raising COTU Champions Fund I, we wrote up our thoughts and learnings in the post below.

Despite all the challenges that the region and the world is facing recently, we believe that we are at an inflection point in the growth of our ecosystem, and are excited by what the future holds.

Nothing worth doing comes easy. We know what it takes and we’re in it for the long haul 🚀

https://t.co/zHfEGvVrO3

[Mohamed Oueida @MoOueida]

Full story live.

The problem, the platform, and where we are headed.

[Gabriella @GabriellaHach]

So excited to share that @Dessn_ai has raised $6m, led @pietrobezza , with participation from @betaworks , N49P, and a few other amazing partners and angels.

@eminimnim and I started the company 2 years ago
with one conviction: the future of product development wouldn’t happen in disconnected mockups or recreated environments. It would happen directly in production.

Today, Dessn is the only product that enables an entire team to design and prototype directly in prod — visually, collaboratively, and in one click.

[TechCrunch @TechCrunch]

Dessn raises $6M for its production focused design tool https://t.co/oin1V5hM5Y

[Amir Farha @afarha]

@amasad This looks 🔥

[Amir Farha @afarha]

@FredKempe @grok summarize

[Will Ahmed @willahmed]

You have no experience.
You’ve never started a company.
You’ve never had a full time job.
Nike is going to kill you.
You’re a kid.
You don’t have technical skills.
You shouldn’t build hardware.
Apple is going to kill you.
You can’t build hardware.
You can’t measure heart rate non-invasively.
Athletes don’t care about recovery.
Under Armour is going to kill you.
It won’t be accurate.
You don’t listen.
You’re an ineffective leader.
You can’t recruit great talent.
You’re going to have to pay every athlete.
You can’t measure sleep non-invasively.
It’s too expensive to research.
Athletes are a small market.
The product costs too much to make.
The product costs too much to sell.
Your valuation is too high.
Consumers aren’t going to want it.
Hardware is too hard.
You should measure steps.
Fitbit is going to kill you.
You can’t build a marketing engine.
You can’t raise enough money.
You need a real CEO.
Google is going to kill you.
You can’t be a subscription.
You can’t build a brand.
You can’t do consumer in Boston.
Your valuation is too high.
You shouldn’t make accessories.
You shouldn’t make apparel.
Lululemon is going to kill you.
You can’t predict Covid.
Stay in your niche.
You are going to run out of money.
You can’t build a health platform.
Amazon is going to kill you.
You can’t measure blood pressure.
You can’t get medical approvals.
The market is too small.
You don’t understand AI.
The market is too competitive.
It won’t work internationally.
The supply chain is too complicated.
You can’t build an AI.
You can’t raise enough money.
It’s too competitive.
Healthcare isn’t going to want it.
…

Just keep going ✌️

[Mishaal @algergawi]

My first article in 9 years is a love letter to the UAE. This crisis will pass and we’ll come back stronger. https://t.co/WMDfhNuZWj

[Amjad Masad @amasad]

Software isn’t merely technical work anymore. It’s creative.

Introducing Replit Agent 4. The first AI built for creative collaboration between humans and agents.

Design on an infinite canvas, work with your team, run parallel agents, and ship working apps, sites, slides & more.

[محمد بن زايد @MohamedBinZayed]

To all those who call the UAE home and guests in our beloved nation.

The UAE places its security and the protection of all citizens, residents, and visitors at the very top of its priorities. With God’s grace, the UAE is fully prepared to confront these threats.

I extend my deepest appreciation to our brave armed forces, our committed security services, and all national institutions and teams working tirelessly to keep our country safe. They represent the highest standards of readiness and cooperation. We are truly proud of them.

I would also like to underscore my sincere gratitude for the awareness shown by our community of Emiratis and our resident brothers and sisters, partners in this nation, who have expressed their genuine love and loyalty to the UAE through both words and actions. In the UAE, everyone is Emirati through their love for this land and their contributions to it.

May God have mercy on the victims and grant the injured a speedy recovery. With God’s blessing, the UAE—the land of Zayed—will remain strong in its unity, steadfast in defending its sovereignty, and steadily advancing towards the future.

[Amir Farha @afarha]

Don't forget to enjoy the ride 🚀

[Amir Farha @afarha]

New term unlocked: full stack builder.

Taking a product manger, front end engineer, back-end engineer, designer and rolling them into one.

[Stuart Blitz @StuartBlitz]

VC vs. founder

[Paul Graham @paulg]

It's a mistake for startups to treat fundraises as a series of milestones. There's something even more impressive than raising a series whatever: to be making so much that you don't need to. Eventually all companies have to reach this point. The sooner you do, the better.

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Hire out of pain. Don't hire because you think you'll need someone soon or maybe sometime later. Wait until you or your team are actually hurting: working weekends, missing family dinners, dropping balls. That pain is the signal that the role is real. I learned this the hard way after watching founders (including myself) hire ahead of need and end up with people in roles that weren't fully formed yet. When you hire out of pain, you know exactly what the job is because you've been doing it yourself. You can evaluate performance because you know what good looks like. And the new hire knows you'll step back in if they fail, because you were just doing it last week.

[Amir Farha @afarha]

@KayraYasa @valaratomics @JosephLillard_ You’re one of a kind (now two). What a wonderful story! Congratulations ❤️ 🥳

[Amir Farha @afarha]

@TalalAlKaissi @core42_ai Huge congratulations Talal! Well deserved and excited to see how @core42_ai grows with you at the helm.

[Amjad Masad @amasad]

How to Keep Winning

https://t.co/cfUFTlDctk

[Brendan (can/do) @BrendanFoody]

the threshold for unicorn should change to $1B in revenue.

unicorns aren’t supposed to be this common…

[Grant Lee @thisisgrantlee]

Gamma crossed $50M ARR with 28 employees and more cash in the bank than we had raised ($23M)

In hindsight: We got here because we ignored common VC advice.

Examples of glaringly bad advice that you should ignore to save you $10M+ and years of time, like we did for Gamma:

[Rania @umyaznemo]

Nothing stands in their way. Not bullets, not missiles, not drones!