Founder/CEO @MetalRaise -- building super intelligence for fundraising. Previously @Airlift_tech @DoorDash @MasterCard. Reach out at [email protected] 🇵🇰
Los Angeles
Joined January 2010
- Tweets3.8K
- Following1.7K
- Followers5K
- Likes2.8K
Pinned Tweet
Today we're announcing @metalraise $4.5M Seed Round, led by @a16z @speedrun / @ycombinator.
With participation from @pioneer_fund, Rebel Fund, @gaingelsvc, @indusvalleycap, @teamignitevc, @PhazeVentures and others.
In less than a year of launch, and with six consecutive quarters of 30-80% q/q growth, Metal is tracking for multi-million annual revenue run rate by the end of FY2026.
The core missing infrastructure in private markets has been an investor memory layer, an effort that we've been working on for three years. Today, for the first time, we are publishing our thesis on how private markets will evolve in the years ahead. See press release in comments below!
Consumer raises take a median of 211 days to close, almost 2x as long as AI ( @Metalraise Data Desk).
Consumer Series A deals also fell 48% from Q1 2023 to Q1 2025 ( @cartainc)
On Wednesday, I'm sitting down with @nik_quinn (ex-GP
@lightspeedvp, now Founding Partner @Connectventures) to talk about the state of Consumer Series A rounds and how founders should be thinking of Consumer rounds.
We'll cover what's changed, what hasn't, and how consumer founders should think about their rounds in 2026.
RSVP here: luma.com/ypdse5lp
Top 5 lessons from our Behind the Raise session with @SamShank, former Founder/CEO of @HotelTonight and ex-visiting partner at @speedrun.
In the clip, Sam explains why raising more is the wrong benchmark 🧵
5/ Think about distribution first.
Unless your product is a true breakthrough, you need a distribution advantage. For HotelTonight, it was being early on the App Store.
Curious about future events? We're hosting @Nik_Quinn on October 21st. Register here -- luma.com/ypdse5lp
In July 2025, I was invited to the a16z @Speedrun offices in Los Angeles (partly to introduce @Metalraise to their portfolio companies).
I ended up spending six months in LA, working from the @a16z offices.
During this time, many of my views evolved on startups, and this evolution was partly driven by a16z speedrun’s unique history and superpowers.
(1) Media for Startup: Before landing in LA, I was of the view that a uniquely powerful product is how you win the market. Through speedrun, I learned that there is an art and a science to launches, and that your demand gen team almost has to operate as a “media production” team.
(2) Storytelling: One of the most unique aspects of speedrun was the emphasis on storytelling. How you tell your story to the world has an outsized impact on various aspects of the business, particularly in the post-PMF world.
This week, a16z Speedrun opened applications for their next cohort (SR008), and I couldn’t recommend it more strongly to founders out there raising capital and building startups.
By the time a founder gets on a call with an investor, the investor has heard hundreds of similar pitches. The founder has done a handful.
Today we're launching Mock Calls on @metalraise. You can practice with an AI version of the investor you're about to meet, then get a score and a full debrief.
It pulls in your past emails and calls with that investor, so the practice call starts from where your conversation actually is.
Try it here: metal.so/book-a-demo
On October 8th, I'm chatting with @Samshank (Former CEO/Founder at @HotelTonight, ex-visiting partner at @Speedrun and Founder/CEO at Stand.
In 2019, Sam sold HotelTonight to Airbnb for around $440 million. Since then, Sam has gone to advise multiple companies (including Metal) and is without doubt, one of the best founders and investors out there.
In the session, we will draw from Sam's learnings from building Hotel Tonight, selling it to Airbnb and then eventually investing in startups.
Link to register in comments 👇
Read more on our thesis for Investor Relations here -- metal.so/metal-news/investor…
Three years ago, Senan Khawaja (Kollegio) knew nothing about fundraising. He just closed his round on @Metalraise.
He used @Metalraise to find education investors by activity, fund size and partner track record, then got warm intros through other founders.
If you're curious about Metal, book a free demo here -- metal.so/book-a-demo
At Metal, our social launches now generate 175+ demo calls and are major revenue drivers.
They're often run by a one-person team that uses agentic orchestration in every workflow.
Historically, bias to action and agency were the traits that let operators deliver results. In the age of AI, one factor is becoming even more important to execution: the inclination to imagine and implement new workflows using agents.
We saw this in our last launch (150K+ impressions, 1K+ reactions, 300+ comments, 600K+ views on X). We used agentic orchestration to tell friends and colleagues about the launch and invite them to weigh in at the right time.
AI literacy will become one of the most important factors in hiring. For the most forward-leaning companies, it already is.
Last week on @metalraise Behind the Raise, @davidcohen(Founder/CEO, @Techstars) broke down his new book, Chasing Unicorns: The Techstars Playbook for Building Billion-Dollar Startups.
His finding: every unicorn Techstars backed followed the same pattern, "PRIDE."
The ones that did not make it to being a unicorn often did the same things, just in the wrong order.
Clip below 👇
