sameer

member of non-technical staff @clay | former @tpg / @goldmansachs

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@parkerconrad Smashing the phone with an axe then putting it down the drain is crazy when you realize this is b2b saas

[Mountain Outpost @MountainOutpost]

Rachel Entrekin wins the 2026 Cocodona 250, in a new course record of 56:09:48.

[Marcus Milione @MarcusMilione]

The sub 2 hour marathon barrier has been broken in London

Sabastian Sawe: 1:59:30
Yomif Kejelcha: 1:59:41

4:34/mile for 26.2 miles... insane

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@clay Insane

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@rak_garg I feel like all of these restaurants have some items that are fantastic (Ambassadors, Bungalow, Semma, Musaafer are in a different tier vs others) - depends on what you ordered

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@LincolnRestler Think e-bikes are in high demand and should remain at a premium. Non-assisted bikes should be capped at a low price.

Bigger issue is having more docks!

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@churchill_dan absolute machine

[Keith @keithdunn]

The 2026 Barkley Marathons is over. There are no finishers. #BM100

[Keith @keithdunn]

The conch was blown at 5:00am. The 2026 Barkley Marathons begins in one hour. #BM100

[ₕₐₘₚₜₒₙ @hamptonism]

do everything in your power to move to sf.

[Karan Parekh @kp_1123]

Today, we’re announcing Clay’s second employee tender in just 9 months at a $5B valuation. And while it’s a milestone to celebrate, it’s also not common for a business at our scale. That raises an obvious question:

Why don’t more companies do tenders?

Historically, the bargain has been uneven. Founders, executives, and early investors could sell. Employees usually couldn’t.

There are a few reasons most companies avoid them.

1 — They’re hard to set up.
You’re asking investors to buy common instead of preferred, which creates friction and real work.

2 — There’s no direct economic benefit to the company.
The company doesn’t get any cash. A tender is a transaction between employees and third-party buyers, meaning the company runs a fundraising-level process it doesn’t financially benefit from.

3 — Founders worry about fundraising dynamics.
Secondaries can feel like they compete with future primary rounds.

4 — There’s a belief that liquidity demotivates employees.
That if people sell some stock, they’ll stop being “all in.”

We don’t agree with that at Clay.

So, why do we do tenders?

FIRST: we don’t believe motivation requires financial handicapping.

We want people who believe in the mission, rather than people who feel trapped by their cap table. People should have real skin in the game. But they shouldn’t need all their eggs in one basket, or have to wait 10 years for liquidity, just to stay motivated.

SECOND: it’s the fair thing to do.

If executives and early investors can sell, employees should be able to as well.
Our employees are the ones building the company. Treating them as a different class of owner never made sense to us.

THIRD: it’s actually good for the business.

This one is often missed but it’s the most salient. Liquidity makes equity real. It builds trust, increases conviction, and helps new employees believe ownership here actually means something.

And finally: this works for how Clay is built.

We’re capital efficient. We don’t need billions and billions of dollars to grow. Every dollar we put into the business goes a long way.

What matters most to us is that employees know (in an ongoing way) that the company will look out for them, that their equity is real, and that it can support their real life events.

When people aren’t stressed about money or hypothetical outcomes, they do better work.

That’s the bet we’re making. And looking around the team, it’s clearly one that is paying off.

The tender will allow employees to sell up to $55M of Clay shares at a $5B valuation, and is led by DST Global, with participation from @conviction, @AvraCap, @OpCo_VC and @Frontlinevc, alongside a stellar roster of angels and customers, including Stripe's @chughesjohnson, Figma CMO @SheilaVashee, Superhuman CEO @shishirmehrotra, and product leader @lennysan.

→ Check out The New York Times feature by @m_delamerced: https://t.co/IYZ72rHZ0f

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

Such an exciting time to be at @clay. Feel like the fun never stops and we're always looking for talented people to join the team!

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@tkexpress11 LTV is really hard to know so early in a business. It’s really garbage in / garbage out. CAC also tends to be a bit fake if you have a ton of inbound / organic traffic.

Founders should experiment and lean into motions then at some scale look at metrics

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@tanayj Curious what concentration of customers in each cohort looks like and if a few customers are driving most of the change

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

Everyone's debating where AI value accrues - infra layer, apps, enterprise vs consumer.

But the biggest value creation is happening where nobody's measuring.

Wrote about it: https://t.co/CwhSbPk3X0

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@mal_shaik @pranavmitl built this already using @clay

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

Netflix will unlock way more value from a catalog than the studios that made it

in streaming, distributors decide what gets seen and monetized and Netflix owning a bigger library from Warner lets them use their scale, data, and reach in ways licensing never could

Studios are starting to realize that and I think we’ll see a lot more vertical integration here as content continues being more commoditized.

Think well see some more of this in media (for example Spotify with creation tools, TikTok investing in music IP) more broadly where distributors will consolidate other parts of the value chain

[Netflix @netflix]

Today, Netflix announced our acquisition of Warner Bros. Together, we’ll define the next century of storytelling, creating an extraordinary entertainment offering for audiences everywhere. https://t.co/rXPFMNIs1A

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@jamesfly @Forbes @sequoia @shaiglalex @ForbesUnder30 Congrats!

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@the_transit_guy Greenpoint / Williamsburg needs more than the G to get to downtown Brooklyn!

[sameer @sameer_ziaee]

@thogge Docusign has someone of the worst customer service in the world - not sure how they’ve existed for so long.