May 2021 - Something Ventured

Ali Tamaseb pulls the curtain back on the myths about billion-dollar startups – and he does it with data. That’s not surprising for a guy who is a partner at DCVC, the multi-billion dollar venture firm focused on deep tech.

Ali is a scientist turned engineer who works on a broad spectrum of areas ranging from computational health/bio to cybersecurity. More specifically, Ali identifies early-stage highly technical and defensible startups in diagnostics tools, neuro-technology, precision medicine, synthetic bio and bio-logic, disruptive healthcare models, financial technologies, alternative data, next-generation computing, cryptography and blockchain.

“Super Founders” analyzes 65 factors to determine what differentiates billion-dollar companies. Interviewees in the book include:

• Arie Belldegrun – Co-founder, Allogene, Kite Pharma: Founded Two Billion-Dollar Startups While a University Professor
• Nat Turner – Co-founder, Flatiron Health: Founded a Billion-Dollar Startup With No Industry Experience
• Max Mullen – Co-founder, Instacart: Founded a Massively Successful Business in The Second Try
• Neha Narkhede – Co-founder, Confluent: Built a Billion-Dollar Startup Initially Originated at a Large Tech Company
• Tony Fadell – Co-founder, Nest – Inventor of the iPod: Built Highly Differentiated Products That Generated Billion Dollar Outcomes
• Rachel Carlson – Co-founder, Guild Education: Built a Billion-Dollar Startup Outside Traditional Tech Hubs
• Max Levchin – Co-founder, PayPal and Affirm: Did Both Market Creation and Market Expansion
• Mario Schlosser – Co-founder, Oscar Health: Founded a Billion-Dollar Startup With Perfect Market Timing
• Eric Yuan – Founder, Zoom: Founded a Billion-Dollar Startup That Won Against Fierce Competitors
• Tom Preston-Werner – Co-founder, GitHub: Bootstrapped a 7.5 Billion-Dollar Company For Over Four Years
• Michelle Zatlyn – Co-founder, Cloudflare: Founded a Billion-Dollar Startup In the Depth of the Financial Recession
• Elad Gil – Angel Investor: Invested in Over 20 Unicorns Including Coinbase, Stripe, Gusto, Square, Wish
• Keith Rabois – General Partner, Founders Fund: Invested in YouTube, LinkedIn, Palantir, Yelp, Lyft
• Alfred Lin – Partner, Sequoia Capital: Invested in iconic companies like Airbnb, Houzz, DoorDash, Zipline
• Peter Thiel – Co-founder Palantir, PayPal: Invested in Facebook, SpaceX, Stripe, Spotify, Asana, TransferWise

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Suneel Gupta is author of the book “Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance”. Backable tells Suneel’s journey from first-time entrepreneur to being named “The New Face of Innovation” by the New York Stock Exchange. Suneel’s ideas have been adopted by firms like Greylock and Google Ventures, and he served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He has personally backed startups including Impossible Foods, AirBnB, 23&Me, Calm, and SpaceX.

Also — In 2018, Suneel ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Michigan’s 11th Congressional District. Before running for Congress, Suneel co-founded and served as CEO of RISE, a mobile health company that partnered with Michelle Obama to lower the cost of quality care for thousands of patients. Just two years after launch, One Medical acquired RISE.
If that wasn’t enough — Suneel is also a lawyer and filmmaker. Yup. He started his career in the Clinton White House where he served as a speechwriter, learning from West Wing staffers like Michael McCurry and Rahm Emanuel. A few years later, he was asked to co-author the national platform for the Democratic Party.

Suneel produced the Kahani Movement, an interactive film project about the first generation of Indian-Americans, which debuted at South by Southwest with his brother, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN). He also worked for the president of Sony Pictures Television when the studio was investing in new creative concepts like Breaking Bad.

And then there’s…happiness. Suneel is the co-founder at Gross National Happiness Center of America in partnership with the Kingdom of Bhutan.

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