OneSixOne Ventures

I rarely talk about my story here. At the age of 14, I ran away from home. I dropped out of high school. I floated through life in my late teens and early 20's with no real purpose. And then I learned of the wonderful world of start-ups. An ecosystem where you are rewarded for your drive and not just your background and accolades. This changed the entire trajectory of my life. Since then, I have been committed to giving opportunities to driven people who may not have the connections, prestige, or capital to make their dreams come true. I am honored to speak to founders at Harvard University this month alongside my brother Shivang Raisurana. This will not be a talk about "what your pitch deck should look like" or "founder market fit". This will be a real peek behind the curtain as to how investors (and other founders) truly evaluate YOU as a founder before even thinking about your company. If you are a founder who wants advice, guidance, intros, or whatever, never hesitate to reach out.

Excited to be moderating the one and only @mattmcilwain during his keynote speech tomorrow at our @161ventures event tomorrow As always, shoutout to our sponsors @SiliconVlyBank , @innodata

⚡️Fastest way to spot AI slop: You can tell no human edited it. 🔎Founder takeaway: AI should amplify thinking, not replace it. Humans still ship vision and taste. #AItools #productthinking

AI won’t replace taste, judgment, or storytelling. ✨ 🔎Founder takeaway: AI can generate infinite content. Only humans make people care. Craft still wins — especially when paired with leverage. #AI #storytelling #founders

😷Pandemic lesson: communities built on buildings disappear. Communities built on relationships survive. 🔎Founder takeaway: your network should outlive locations. If it doesn’t, it was never real. #communitybuilding #founders

Genius is equally distributed. Opportunity isn’t.” 🌍 🔎Founder takeaway: most founders don’t lack talent — they lack access. If your city doesn’t have operators or investors, build the room yourself. #entrepreneurship #ecosystem

⏩The AI startups winning right now aren’t flashy. They quietly turn 15 minutes into 15 seconds. 🔎Founder takeaway: if you can show clear before vs after, distribution solves itself. Demos > decks. Always. #AIstartups #SaaS

If your AI pitch starts with “we use AI,” stop. 🤖 Founder takeaway: customers buy outcomes, not models. Lead with cost ↓, time ↓, accuracy ↑. AI is the engine — business impact is the product. #AI #B2B #product

📈Scaling lesson: you can’t make every decision — but you can define how decisions get made. 🔎Founder takeaway: hire people who solve problems without permission. Process scales after values, never before. #scaling #operators #founders

Culture isn’t a values slide. Culture is decisions made when no one’s watching. 👀 🔎Founder takeaway: the moment “that’s not my job” becomes normal, speed dies. Early teams win with default ownership. #leadership #startupculture

The agent future isn’t one execution model. It’s bursts and marathons. Stateless and stateful. That’s why a new agent-native platform had to be built from first principles Congrats @jhaynie @rblalock @agentuity!

Every pitch deck says “this is a unicorn.” 🦄 Investors don’t fund projections — they fund momentum. Founder takeaway: show a metric moving (churn ↓, time ↓, revenue ↑). Hype expires. Proof compounds. #startuplife #VC #traction

Most early startups fail because they build to fundraise instead of to sell. 😬 🔎Founder takeaway: fundraising is a tool, not the job. Customers create leverage. Revenue creates options. The best rounds happen when you don’t need the money. #fundraising #founders

Founders don’t need more networking events. They need warm customer intros, early hires, and investors who answer texts. 📲 Founder takeaway: community isn’t vibes, it’s infrastructure. If your ecosystem doesn’t create outcomes, build the room yourself. 🏗️ #startupcommunity

My man @DrGrasshopper says those in the know should go. So I'll see you all there. luma.com/fllftlj7

AI will kill jobs—and create new ones 🤖⚖️ Every tech revolution does. WEF: AI creates 97M new roles by 2027, even as others disappear. The edge isn’t AI itself. It’s judgment 🧠, context 🧭, and critical thinking. Use the tool. Don’t outsource your brain. #FutureOfWork #AI

If you want a company that lasts 10+ years ⏳ build belief—not just software. Great products feel inevitable. Bain: companies with strong loyalty grow 2.5× faster If leaving your product feels painful 😣 you’re doing it right. #Brand #CustomerLove

Education is the real AI opportunity 🎓 Most companies don’t know how to use AI safely—not whether to use it. Gartner: 80% of enterprises fail to scale AI due to data & governance issues Winners won’t build flashiest AI ✨ They’ll make AI usable 🛠️ #AIAdoption #B2B

AI adoption isn’t blocked by technology 🤖 It’s blocked by fear 😨 Fear of job loss Fear of change Fear of breaking things Deloitte: 60%+ of enterprises delay AI due to org resistance, not capability Founders who remove fear unlock demand 🔓 #AI #Enterprise

Ask for money early 💰 Not validation 👍 Not feedback 📝 Money. Stripe data: startups that charge within 6 months reach PMF faster If even friends won’t pay… strangers definitely won’t 😬 Revenue is truth 🧾 #Bootstrapping #SaaS