Raazi Imam is a Co-founder and Partner at Unlock Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Raazi is also a Co-founder and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Caiman Consulting, a management consulting firm that focuses on management consulting and digital marketing solutions.
Raazi started his career in mutual fund trading before transitioning to management consulting with companies like Arthur Anderson, Bearing Point, and Hitachi Consulting. Raazi has advised executives around the globe in a variety of industries including fintech and e-commerce, and is also an active early-stage tech investor.
What does it take to gain investor attention as a seed-stage entrepreneur? How can you know what investors are looking for? Do you have what it takes for an investor to invest in you?
As an investor, Raazi Imam has specific factors he looks for in a CEO and in their company. A CEO should have experience, and the ability to build and lead a team. He also advises entrepreneurs to be keen when choosing their investors — sometimes investors are great investors, but they're terrible board members. Most importantly, entrepreneurs need to think strategically about what their business needs to succeed before deciding if they want an angel investor, institutional investor, or anyone else.
In this episode of The Future is Borderless, David Nilssen sits down with Raazi Imam, Co-founder and Partner at Unlock Venture Partners, to discuss entrepreneurial tips on how to make investors invest in your company. Raazi explains what they look for before they make an investment, things that would make them pause on an investment opportunity, and the questions an entrepreneur should ask potential investors to help them effectively choose their investors.
