Zain Jaffer on Muck Rack

Zain Jaffer

San Francisco
As seen in: LinkedIn, Medium, MSN, Forbes, MSN UK, The Independent (UK), Yahoo News, Mashable, Newsweek, Yahoo Finance and
Covers:  Startups, real estate, public markets, proptech, company culture, fundraising, international expansion, board management, recruiting, angel investing, private equity, fintech, mobile app industry,
Founder at Blazel. Prev founded Vungle (sold for $780M) | Writes about AI

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Zain Jaffer’s Biography

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Zain Jaffer is a serial entrepreneurial and multi-asset investor with a particular focus on real estate and start-ups. He writes about a variety of general business topics and trends with a particular focus on PropTech / Real Estate. He sold his last company for $780M and is a PropTech focused venture capitalist.

Zain Jaffer’s Journalist Portfolio

CNBC Interview with Zain Jaffer - Zain Jaffer's Mobile App Insights From 2017

CNBC Interview with Zain Jaffer - Zain Jaffer's Mobile App Insights From 2017

In this video, Zain Jaffer talks about the app economy. I talk about the impact and growth of the mobile apps…

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Founder's Advice: Raising Money for A Startup - Zain Jaffer

Founder's Advice: Raising Money for A Startup - Zain Jaffer

Not knowing where and how to raise money is the most common way startup ideas fail. Here's some advice I wish…

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Scaling to a $700M Exit: Zain Jaffer, CEO of Vungle (Part 1) | Sramana Mitra

Scaling to a $700M Exit: Zain Jaffer, CEO of Vungle (Part 1) | Sramana Mitra

This is a delightful story of a young entrepreneur duo's goofy journey to a huge exit! Sramana Mitra: Let's s…

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Zain Jaffer, Co-Founder and Former CEO of Vungle, Calls Acquisition by Blackstone 'A Historic Day...

Zain Jaffer, Co-Founder and Former CEO of Vungle, Calls Acquisition by Blackstone 'A Historic Day...

SAN FRANCISCO, July 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Zain Jaffer, Co-Founder of mobile advertising company Vungle Inc…

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Zain Jaffer - Entrepreneur, Investor & CEO of Zain Ventures

Zain Jaffer - Entrepreneur, Investor & CEO of Zain Ventures

Mr. Jaffer co-founded Vungle in 2011 and served as its CEO until 2017. Under his leadership, Vungle grew beyo…

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Trends in Multi Family Real Estate Investing

Trends in Multi Family Real Estate Investing

Navigating a pandemic involving an economic shut down, a global supply chain failure, and unprecedented trave…

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Articles

Why VCs Are Suddenly Funding the Business Model They Used to Hate

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By Zain Jaffer
| Inc.
For decades, VCs called agencies ‘lifestyle businesses’ and refused to invest. AI changed the math, and now the biggest firms in venture are racing to fund them. I remember sitting in boardrooms five years ago where the word “agency” was treated like a contagion. If a founder mentioned they were building a service-based business, the conversation became awkward instantly. The polite dismissal was “this looks like a great lifestyle business.” In VC-speak, “lifestyle business” is a death sentence.
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Why VCs Are Suddenly Funding the Business Model They Used to Hate

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By Zain Jaffer
| Flipboard
5 hours ago Here’s what happens when founders mistakes their own presence for a company. By the time WeWork’s IPO collapsed in 2019, the company relied heavily on one person for decision-making, risking operational failure if that person left, highlighting the dangers of founder dependency. When that person …
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Non-Tech-Savvy Startup Founders Can Turn Vibe-Coding Into a Superpower. Here’s How

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By Zain Jaffer
| Inc.
I struggled with engineering execution at my previous company, but startup founders today don’t need to. In 2019, my mobile advertising startup Vungle was acquired by the private equity firm Blackstone for $780 million. I was disappointed with the result. It should have been an even bigger outcome. The reason it wasn’t? I didn’t know how to code. There was this tiny competitor called AppLovin who came out of nowhere and started winning deals from us.
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Interview

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How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?

I’ll usually reach out to industry experts from my social media network - which is the best way to connect with me.

What's your favorite social network?

Twitter right now but I’m working on my other channels

Why did you become a journalist?

I’m a guest contributor to publications and like sharing from my experiences running a tech company and also as a multi-asset investor

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