How Zayd Ali Sold His First Startup in High School

This is how Zayd Ali sold his first company in high school and immediately started a new one in AI, called Valley, that has raised over $3 million already.

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Follow Zayd's journey:
🐦 X → x.com/zaydsyedali
💼 LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/zayd-syed-ali-4201101a9
🚀 Startup → joinvalley.co

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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?