Amber Atherton of Zyper and Iba Masood of TARA on Raising a Series A as a Female Founder

Company & Founder Profiles

• Tara AI (Iba Masood, CEO): Builds an end-to-end product management solution that helps engineering managers spec products, monitor development lifecycles, and track progress from JIRA issues to GitHub commits.
• Zyper (Amber Atherton): Connects Fortune 500 brands with their "super fans" to co-create products and recruit brand ambassadors.
• Tara AI Financing History:
  • Raised a $1.2M seed in London (2017) for a Middle Eastern careers platform.
  • Pivot to US product management tools after YC Winter 2015 application (second attempt).
  • Raised an additional $2.8M post-pivot (totaling $3M) due to early ML traction and investor support.
  • Completed Series A in 2024 via YC's Series A Batch.
• Zyper Financing History:
  • Raised a $4M seed pre-demo day (Winter 2018) led by Forerunner Ventures.
  • Completed Series A in January 2024 via YC's Series A Batch.
  • Total raise process (first coffee to term sheet) took nine days; legal closing took 60 days.

Fundraising Strategy & Execution

• YC Series A Batch Impact:
  • Both founders cited the YC Series A program as a critical factor in accelerating their timelines and structuring the process.
  • Zyper spent two weeks pre-batch nailing their pitch segmentation; Tara focused on filling an investor pipeline Excel sheet.
• Investment Memo Tactic:
  • Both founders wrote their own investment memos for VCs, effectively performing the VC's due diligence work to explain the thesis, risks, and market opportunity.
  • Amber's memo included high-level financial projections backed by a deeper internal model.
  • Iba's memo utilized the "Why should we invest?" structure to pre-emptively answer partner questions.
• Speed & Urgency:
  • Zyper secured a term sheet in nine days from the first meeting with the lead partner.
  • Tara closed their round in roughly 60 days from first meeting to cash in bank, despite a 90-day legal negotiation period.
  • Founders advised against artificially manufacturing urgency or lying about other term sheets, noting the small size of the founder/VC community.
• Valuation Approach:
  • Both founders rejected optimizing for maximum valuation, opting instead for lower valuations to align incentives with the "right" partners.
  • Tara accepted a lower offer from one fund to avoid "blank term sheet" tactics and ensure cultural alignment.
  • Zyper explicitly avoided "glitz and glam" tactics, such as celebrity introductions, prioritizing operational partners.

Partner Selection & Vetting

• Criteria for Selection:
  • Operational Depth: Tara sought investors who understood data layers, integrations (JIRA/GitHub), and category creation.
  • Relationship Focus: Zyper prioritized partners who asked insightful questions about product details during customer calls and showed genuine excitement for the space.
  • Background Check: Both founders emphasized speaking to portfolio founders, specifically asking how partners handled downturns ("rubber meets the road").
• Meeting Structure:
  • Zyper met with a senior associate who became a key influencer; Tara required a "full partner meeting" where the entire partnership reviewed the deal.
  • Zyper noted that funds willing to move a deal forward will often work weekends or hold multiple meetings in short succession.
  • Tara met with London-based partners (Talis) and consolidated operations to San Francisco post-Series A.
• Deal Terms & Red Flags:
  • Tara rejected a "blank term sheet" tactic used by one investor.
  • Zyper advised founders to negotiate a cap with legal firms to control closing costs, as legal processes often exceed initial estimates.
  • Founders recommended setting up a specific "funnel sheet" to track every fund's status to manage the chaos of multiple offers.

Diversity, Gender, & Founder Psychology

• Female Founder Experiences:
  • Amber noted historical pressure to adopt "male" communication styles (e.g., aggressive tones, specific attire like hoodie/trouser suits) to fit Valley norms.
  • Iba highlighted that diversity in VC firms has increased since her seed round (2018), with more female partners and LPs present during her Series A.
  • Both agreed that female founders should not default to seeking female partners but rather partners with deep sector expertise.
• Psychological Preparation:
  • Iba utilized executive coaching (via YC batch company Torch) to build conviction and manage the "how big can this be" question.
  • Founders advised against using gender or minority status as a primary fundraising lever; traction and product-market fit are the primary drivers.
  • Both founders emphasized that the fundraising process requires full-time mental focus, often taking up "all the time" even outside of meetings.

Post-Series A Operations & Scaling

• Team Building:
  • Tara expanded from a small team to 21 full-time employees, recruiting early-stage engineers from Nest, Google, Apple, and Atlassian to ensure "hustle" understanding.
  • Zyper focused on hiring executives who were "early enough" in their own journeys to handle building processes from scratch.
  • Both founders acknowledged the mistake of hiring too-senior talent too early and the difficulty of recruiting against Big Tech equity bonuses.
• Culture & Values:
  • Tara created a unique value system called "Tricep Flex" (an eccentric, memorable acronym) to aid in recruiting and scoring candidates.
  • Zyper emphasized building a "founding team" culture where every hire shares the specific frustration the product solves.
• Governance & OKRs:
  • Tara instituted OKRs for the first time post-Series A, emphasizing that they must be measurable (Yes/No), specific, and created with team buy-in.
  • Board meeting cadence: Tara meets every 8 weeks; Zyper meets twice a year but does monthly investor updates.
  • Tara leverages earnings calls and public company board decks as templates for their own board meetings to reduce prep time.
  • Both founders integrate leadership team updates directly into board decks to ensure transparency and efficiency.

Key Advice for Future Founders

• Focus on the Person: The most critical factor is the specific partner you work with, not the fund brand; verify their track record via back-channeling and reference checks.
• Process Discipline: Create a color-coded Excel funnel to track every fund and interaction to maintain control over the chaotic process.
• Mindset: Secure executive coaching or similar support to maintain high conviction and resilience during the fundraising "dark times."
• Patience: Do not judge fundraising speed by peers; deals can take 30, 60, or 90 days, and a "yes" will come if the product is right.