Fundraising: Preemptive Rounds and Relationships

Zach Lloyd is the Founder and CEO of Warp, the next-generation developer terminal reinventing how engineers build and collaborate. Warp has raised over $70M from top-tier investors including Sequoia Capital, GV, Dylan Field, and Elad Gil. Before founding Warp, Zach was Principal Engineer at Google, where he led development of Google Docs, and later served as CTO at Time. He's one of the most respected engineering minds redefining the future of developer tools.

AGENDA:

04:14 Biggest Product Lessons from Rewriting Google Sheets

07:10 Why I Would Short Google: Leadership and AI Strategy

09:55 Comparing AI Models: GPT, Claude, and Gemini: Who Wins and Loses

17:04 Do Margins Matter in AI?

24:57 Adding $1M in ARR Every Week: Is Triple, Triple, Double, Double Dead?

33:58 How to Build Defensibility in a World of AI?

43:05 OpenAI vs Anthropic: Who Wins and Why?

44:25 Biggest Fundraising Lessons Raising from Sequoia, Elad Gil and GV

50:56 Why Sequoia are the Best VC

53:51 What Every Founder Gets Wrong in Fundraising

01:01:30 Quick Fire Questions and Final Thoughts