Preface Gratitude

Starting anything is impossible without the support of friends, believers, advisors, supporters, and family. There are many people without whom Preface Ventures would not exist — and I hesitate to name them for fear of forgetting someone. But I will try:

• My dear family and closest friends, who believed in Preface from day one. Specifically my mother, father, and brother. To my inner circle Manu Raghavan, Sean Eckard, Vik Sharma, Jamil Khan, Brian Maya, Matt Slotnick, Sangeen Zeb, Mood Rowghani, Shakhil Khan, Sid Kapoor, Jonathan Yaffe, Yousif Dujaili, Rick Zullo, Yuri Sagalov, Max Mersch, Evan Schoenbach, Amir Malayery, Pietro Invernizzi, Tanya Grischenko and Oliver Heimes — I know I can be a pain, but our fellowship got me through.
• My former bosses Mike Chalfen, Steve Schlenker, and Sandy Kory for backing me day one. You guys have been successful in your own right and always pay it forward — which is quite rare in our field — but you went above and beyond for Preface. Thank you. When others who could have helped made me feel alone, your support made me feel at home. I will do the same for others.
• To my LPs who doubled down after a highly successful POC Fund I.
• To Toni Alejandria for giving me time and support on all things Preface. You’re magical.
• The countless folks who pushed me to get over a decade of imposter syndrome and ensured my presentation and narrative was true to who I am — specifically, Pat Grady of Sequoia, Winter Mead of Oper8r, Mike Chalfen of Chalfen Ventures, Ed Sim of Boldstart, Sangeen Zeb of FCC, and Brett Berson of First Round Capital.
• For prescient advice on portfolio construction, particularly mid-fundraise (a niche but critical topic) — thank you to Roger Ehrenberg, Cack Wilhelm, Lee Linden, Morgan Beller, James Hardiman, Gaurav Jain, Trevor Oelschig and Amir Mayaleri.
• Particular thank you to Carlos Espinal, Kathleen Utecht, Saad Siddiqui, Nathan Krasnoff, Kate Beardsley, Jess Peltz-Zatulove, Soona Amhaz, Kanyi Maqubela, Chrys Chrysanthou, Chuck Ziegler, Shane Happach, Laura Thompson, Nikita Fahrenholz, Gopi Rangan, Cherian Mathew, Daniel Qu, Nick Chirls, Alfie Lavery, Aleksandr Gampel, Ken Seiff, Ashmeet Sidana, Jessie Guo, Iñigo Juantegui, Sharran Deora, Eric Woo, Henry Grant, and Ertan Can for opening your networks of both founders and LPs.
• Thank you to David Presser of NGE, Raisa Berger of Lorem Labs, and Matt Wheeler / Anne Dixon of the Standish Team for treating Preface as it was a multi-billion dollar fund.
• To the founders who I’ve partnered with that invited Preface to be part of their journey. You guys are my heroes! Through the trials and triumphs, I’m constantly learning from you. I’m inspired by your grit, creativity and sheer determination. Without you, Preface wouldn’t exist. In short, THANK YOU, I truly love you. I’m particularly grateful to Eric Olden, May Wang, Malinka Waliddayade, Andrew Mcleod, Matt Oppenheimer, Varun Badhwar, Gaurav Kumar, Alex Cyriac, Shikhar Shrestha for helping with references and just being there.

My very best,

Farooq