Zehra began The Z List out of frustration; of the 14 very different startups she worked for, she realized that no matter how much they raised from investors, the next fundraise would always loom over them. Founders (and by extension, the operators supporting them) consistently dreaded the time and effort of the next fundraising cycle, and the attention it called away from what they did best: running their business.
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Having worked with dozens of founders and investors over the course of her career, Zehrabegan connecting founders informally with VCs and angel investors in their respective industries and building a deeply-rooted network through these connections. What began as Zehra aggregating every deal that came her way and sending it out, transformed into a curated deal flow list, one where Zehra curates the top 10 deals she finds most compelling every two weeks. Each of these are diligenced by the Z-list team, and is shared to a growing community of what is today over 4,000 global investors.

Since then, Zehra aimed to start demystifying the VC fundraising process for founders via educational events and facilitating community between founders, operators, and investors. After starting to host events in NYC since 2021, 14,000 people have signed up to attend her events hosted across the country and globe.

Sidenote: Zehra is also a published art historian and you can read her works at Yale and UChicago’s respective undergraduate art history publications. You’ll soon notice that Zehra likes to excel at anything she puts her mind to.