the z list 💥🧿✨#62

why community unlocks growth (for founders + VCs)

Author

Zehra Naqvi
October 22, 2024

Hi friends! Speaking at a ton of events the next few weeks and I’m finally back to hosting ~huge fun consumer events. This thursday :) more details below or RSVP here.

  • I’m a huge fan of Perplexity, and so when the news broke that they might be raising another round of financing at a $9B valuation (up from a $250M valuation earlier this year, then a $3B valuation also ealier this year) I was elated. Why? Well, because Perplexity’s PLG (product-led-growth) strategy is the reason they’re blowing up (my POV from the outside looking in) and feels reminiscent of Notion/Airtable's early days, but, of course, this is entirely different since it is AI. I started using Perplexity not because one of my VC/founder friends told me about it, but one of my friends in a Masters program swears by Perplexity and I tried it immediately (and never churned). Perplexity’s latest push of Tiktok ads (which have popped up on my FYP in the last month or so) have also successfully advertised to Gen Z in an organic, culturally relevant, current way (credit to Walid). I’m bullish about the future of consumer AI (search specifically). If I were to go back to the building, this is the industry I would build in and pay attention to. With that in mind:

I’m excited to invite new venture scouts to join the Headline consumer investment team! Interested in getting VC experience? Apply here. 

Should I host a mini (1 day) consumer tech conference in NYC Q1 2025?

I'd invite founders who recently closed seed, Series A, and Series B rounds. VCs still excited about consumer. Engineers/technical talent building these products. Heads of Growth at well known consumer social startups that have defied the odds, etc.

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Z List IRL hosted by Zehra

REMINDER: As such, I’m making a commitment to meet 5 new founders, 3 new VCs, 2 new operators, and 1 new angel investor IRL a week. 

Here are some of the cool new people I’ve spent time with in the past few weeks:

wednesday 10/23

thursday 10/24

friday 10/25

  • LlaMAPALOOZA NYC

    • TLDR: ​​3 hours of unforgettable performances by the top fine-tuners of Llama models. ​​They will have a DJ set, photographers, open bar, and food drops (boba, mochi donuts, taco station, sliders) throughout the evening. ​​Headliners include Meta, Hugging Face, Cerebras, Val.Town and more.

    • hosted by: Cerebras

    • I will be there! Shoutout Ami for getting me involved :)

saturday 10/26

sunday 10/27

  • The Monday Girl Summit

    • for who: women in tech, business, VC, etc.

    • hosted by: Monday Girl

    • I’m speaking on a panel with the Director of Product Solution + Ops at Tiktok and the VP of Strategic Ops at Skims. This will be an awesome event.

I just happen to be speaking at a lot of events sorry for all the pics of my face

wednesday 10/30

The first IRL to URL dinner is ~2 weeks away!

Apply to join here — for those of you that have my phone number, expect a text from me in the next few days!  

sunday 11/3

thursday 11/7

VC Ecosystem News (No GPs Allowed) 

No GPs Allowed is back tomorrow; here’s a preview of what to expect :)

Friend’s of The Z List: Events & Projects
Wanna feature your event? Fill out this form.

wednesday 10/23

  • Datadog + Primary Venture Partners for a Networking Happy Hour for NYC Transplants!

    • hosted by: Datadog + Primary

    • “Are you a Technical Founder, Engineer, or Product Manager who’s recently moved to NYC and looking to expand your network? Join us for an evening of conversations, connections, and shared experiences at Datadog’s NYC office. This event is designed for technical professionals with a passion for AI/ML, and those with scrappy startup experience. Whether you’re an engineering leader or someone with an international perspective, this happy hour is a great opportunity to meet others who’ve lived or worked abroad and are now building their careers in NYC’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem.”

thursday 11/7

thursday 11/21

Nominate a startup to be featured! Click the image to open up the form :)

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  • Kulfi Beauty, use code “zehra” for 20% off. I use their concealer rose rush and their kajal eyeliners in nazar-no-more everyday.

Want to work with Zehra?

  • If you’re interested in working with me, I have some bandwidth and would love to learn more :) fill out this form. 

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Have fun! 💥🧿✨👩🏻‍💻