Fareed
Mosavat

Connecting the dots

I started at Pixar building physics simulations, then spent a decade as an operator at startups from pre-launch to public — Zynga, Runkeeper, Instacart, Slack. I ran product education at Reforge for thousands of product leaders. Now I invest at the earliest stage through a16z speedrun.

What I invest in

People first. I look for founders with a track record of excellence — people who've done remarkable things and are unstoppable. The idea matters, but the founder matters more.

Most of the companies I work with are B2B and almost all are AI-native — not AI as a feature, but AI enabling a new class of company that couldn't have existed before. Small teams, capital-efficient, building where AI fundamentally changes the cost structure.

Writing & teaching

• Product Strategy
  The course I built with Casey Winters at Reforge. Thousands of product leaders have taken it.
• Unsolicited Feedback
  Weekly podcast with Brian Balfour. We say what we actually think.
• Lenny's Podcast
  On building trust, the four types of product work, and avoiding the manager death spiral.
• Crossing the Canyon
  The hardest career transition in product — and how to survive it.
• 14 Big Ideas for 2026
  What we're watching and what we think is coming next.
• Advice for the Next Generation of Startup Founders
  What we tell every founder who comes through speedrun.