This week, we speak with Soraya Darabi, who is co-founder and general partner at TMV, an early-stage venture firm that has funded a broad range of startups. Darabi is also the founder of Transact Global and host of the podcast “Business Schooled.” She previously served as manager of digital partnerships and social media at The New York Times.
She discusses how the firm invests in “Non-Obvious” founders. There are market inefficiencies in this overlooked segment of entrepreneurs, while in Silicon Valley, there is both efficiency and similarity that lowers the probability of successful innovation. She also explains some of the advantages that being a successful entrepreneur lends to her as a venture capitalist.
Investing in seed rounds in places from Baltimore to Austin, being persistent in areas overlooked by others gives her access to deals in start-ups that are both cheaper and at lower capital requirements than perhaps places like SIlicon Valley or NY require.
A list of her favorite books is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here.
You can stream and download our full conversation, including the podcast extras on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Bloomberg, and Acast. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Sukhinder Singh Cassidy author of “Choose Possibility” hailed as one of the Top 100 People in the Valley by Business Insider and a Power Woman by Elle. She has 25 years of experience founding, scaling, and advising companies like StubHub! Google, Amazon, and Yodlee.
Soraya Darabi Favorite Books
Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond by Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman
Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant
A Gentle Creature and Other Stories: White Nights; A Gentle Creature; The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Drown by Junot Diaz
Passing by Nella Larsen
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (The Art of the Novella) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
