Bijan Mirashi on the steps he took to get angels and investors all aligned
This is the first segment of a 10-segment show, called fundRazor with John Bautista. In the show, John interviews entrepreneurs and explores their fundraising activities and what it took for these hardworking dreamers to get others - particularly venture capitalists and angel investors - to believe.
In this segment, John interviews Bijan Mirashi, co-founder and CEO of Xoopit, which was formed in the fall 2006. Xoopit helps to bring productivity tools to emails. Bijan talks about his experiences fundraising.
Here are some highlights:
At the seed round, Xoopit had both angel and venture investors. At the seed round, Bijan and his team knew they wanted to build a technology-heavy product to solve the complex problem of indexing inboxes. The team decided they had to raise $1 million. They decided to split the round between Foundation Capital and angel investors they considered "industrial experts," who came from eBay, iLike and Yahoo who are industrial experts.
Foundation Capital partners Adam Grosser and Charles Moldow helped Xoopit prioritize which products to develop first. Apparently, the team was flowing with ideas. Foundation also led a convertible round in Xoopit.
Foundation included a provision that allowed them to invest in a follow-on round and the venture partners also opened doors to the top Silicon Valley venture firms, like Accel Partners, which eventually came in on the Series A round. Theresia Ranzetta was the partner that brought the deal into Accel.
Be sure to check back for the second part of John's interview with Bijan, which will air next week.
Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs
Xoopit
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
We are creating Xoopit to help you take the effort out of organizing and retrieving your digital life, wherever it is. There's too much stuff out there and it's impossible to keep your fingers around it.
It's time to clear the clutter...
Xoopit's innovations in search engine technologies allow to deliver the next generation of search, productivity, and social media applications to Internet users.
Our passion is in building smart, simple applications that work for you. We've all grown tired of fussing with applications to get things done. Over the coming months, we will be rolling out a series of applications that make finding and repurposing your information 1 click or query away.
The company was founded around the baristas of San Francisco and through hundreds of hours of personal interviews. Most of these meetings felt like psychotherapy sessions. Relating to all of you is what drove us to build Xoopit.
Bijan Marashi
Joined Vator on
Venture Partner at icuemotion icuemotion Labs Georgetown University
John Bautista
Joined Vator on
Brian Singerman
Joined Vator on
Partner at Founders Fund