Smayan Mehra
9 posts
I keep a folder on my desktop called "visa stuff."
It has 10+ applications in it. Tourist. F1. OPT. STEM OPT. H1B. Every single one a small bet made by a kid trying to make it in the greatest country in the world.
I was born in Mumbai. Spent my teenage years at boarding school in the UK. Then Columbia University in New York. The first time I walked down Park Avenue and looked up at every skyscraper, I knew: this is home.
Here's what I've come to believe after three continents and a decade of trying to plant my flag: America isn't a people. It isn't a geography. It isn't a line on a map. It's a set of values: courage, freedom, and exceptionalism.
You either live by them or you don't, no matter where you were born.
I've spent the last several years trying to live by them. And making the immigration system prove it.
Anyone who's done this dance knows it's a second job: paperwork, deadlines, lawyers, lottery odds, the constant low-grade fear that one wrong move ends that dream.
Then I got into a16z speedrun.
I'll say this plainly: nothing in my 10+ visas has come close to how seamless their Global Founders program made this process. While I was closing customers, hiring engineers, and trying to actually build a company, @tmhammer handled the parts of the immigration process that would've consumed me whole.
@speedrun didn't just write a check. They cleared the runway so I could do the only thing that matters: build.
And build we have.
Tom 🔨@tmhammer
30 of the 70 companies in our last @speedrun batch had founders born outside the US and if we keep doing our job – and we will – that number is only going up: * founders building products + teams internationally * builders stuck in an H-1B job ready to accelerate their slope * students here on F-1 who are ready to take a shot at their startup idea Speedrun Global Founders is our answer >> our end-to-end approach to guiding founders through visas, customs, housing, banking, and building local SF community, while enabling founders from all over the globe to participate in Speedrun we also have the coolest hat in venture - maybe thats a lame flex, but i honestly challenge you to show me better vc drip you might catch a few of our founders wearing them today. come through Global Founders and I’ll bring you one 🫡 -apply below my friends-
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My first 6 years as a startup founder:
- Failed with 4+ startups
- Ran out of money multiple times & had $15K credit card debt
- Was rejected by Y Combinator 8 times
- Got 200+ rejections from investors
My last year as a startup founder:
- Got into a16z @speedrun & raised $18M
- Moved to SF & got O1 thanks to @tmhammer & @lighthousehq_
- Scaled Rork to #1 AI mobile app builder in the world
The average journey to a $1B company takes 10 years. I’m on year 7.
Keep building.
Tom 🔨@tmhammer
30 of the 70 companies in our last @speedrun batch had founders born outside the US and if we keep doing our job – and we will – that number is only going up: * founders building products + teams internationally * builders stuck in an H-1B job ready to accelerate their slope * students here on F-1 who are ready to take a shot at their startup idea Speedrun Global Founders is our answer >> our end-to-end approach to guiding founders through visas, customs, housing, banking, and building local SF community, while enabling founders from all over the globe to participate in Speedrun we also have the coolest hat in venture - maybe thats a lame flex, but i honestly challenge you to show me better vc drip you might catch a few of our founders wearing them today. come through Global Founders and I’ll bring you one 🫡 -apply below my friends-
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30 of the 70 companies in our last @speedrun batch had founders born outside the US
and if we keep doing our job – and we will – that number is only going up:
* founders building products + teams internationally
* builders stuck in an H-1B job ready to accelerate their slope
* students here on F-1 who are ready to take a shot at their startup idea
Speedrun Global Founders is our answer >> our end-to-end approach to guiding founders through visas, customs, housing, banking, and building local SF community, while enabling founders from all over the globe to participate in Speedrun
we also have the coolest hat in venture - maybe thats a lame flex, but i honestly challenge you to show me better vc drip
you might catch a few of our founders wearing them today. come through Global Founders and I’ll bring you one 🫡
-apply below my friends-
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@smayan_mehra damn this picture goes so hard, and also that is a cold blooded dig at the british hiding in the middle of this story, wonder how @paddy_dex will feel about that
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The U.S has been my home for as long as I can remember, but on paper I’ve always been a guest.
I spent every summer and winter in Los Altos, California, starting the year I was born. I looked forward all year to golfing at Stanford and skiing in Tahoe.
I grew up in a family of founders during the glory days of Silicon Valley. I saw water purification warehouses, animated movie studios, children’s education apps, all built from kernels of ideas into real businesses employing thousands of people, through the sheer determination of my dad and uncle. I always knew there was no other path for me.
So I did all the right things. Went to Duke, studied computer science, learned from the best at every scale of company. I started building things that I thought were cool, trying to figure out what would click and be a real business some day.
But then STEM OPT ran out. 3 shots at the lottery, no H1B. I had to move to London. It felt like the end of the world for me. Partly because I realized I’d be around British people all the time, but more so because it felt like I was being kicked out of my home.
I’ve always believed I was extraordinary and was going to build something great, except now there was a forcing function, and my path back depended on it. So I locked in on building and founded anchr with @tzartaraporvala. The goal was to rebuild the heartbeat of one of the country’s most important supply chains, and fix a trillion dollar industry from the inside.
There’s one firm that we wanted in our corner that cares more than anyone else about rebuilding the core infrastructure of this country – a16z, and we immediately applied to @speedrun. Not only have they been a catalyst for Anchr’s early success, but the team (shoutout @tmhammer) personally supported me through every stage of my O1-A petition.
If you’re a founder trying to find your path to the greatest country in the world by building something special, apply to SR007. Happy to talk through it 🇺🇸
Tom 🔨@tmhammer
30 of the 70 companies in our last @speedrun batch had founders born outside the US and if we keep doing our job – and we will – that number is only going up: * founders building products + teams internationally * builders stuck in an H-1B job ready to accelerate their slope * students here on F-1 who are ready to take a shot at their startup idea Speedrun Global Founders is our answer >> our end-to-end approach to guiding founders through visas, customs, housing, banking, and building local SF community, while enabling founders from all over the globe to participate in Speedrun we also have the coolest hat in venture - maybe thats a lame flex, but i honestly challenge you to show me better vc drip you might catch a few of our founders wearing them today. come through Global Founders and I’ll bring you one 🫡 -apply below my friends-
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@smayan_mehra @tzartaraporvala Everybody should follow Smayan 💯
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Applications for SR007 are now live! 🚨
Almost a year ago @tzartaraporvala and I applied to @speedrun with nothing but an idea and a borderline delusional belief in ourselves. Best decision we ever made.
From the peers and the homies who inspired us every day and pushed us to compete @TaylorOffer @jai_mansukhanii @anthonyazrak @RohrAntoine
To the killer investment team (with obviously impeccable taste) who backed us from day 0 @tkexpress11 @andrewchen @Tocelot @far33d @JoshLu @ndrewlee @zebird0
To the world class operating team who really helped us speedrun the earliest stages of this company @_CallMeMacy @nazzari @justmazer @thetalentcarver @tmhammer @Chen @RKRigney @SamiraBehrouzan
Anchr wouldn’t be the same without everyone in this n-of-1 community.
Here’s your chance to be a part of it. I can’t stress this enough – APPLY.
Oh, and I’m also a scout so I can invest up to $10k into your company! If you’re a founder working on hard problems, get in touch.
Good luck 007!!
a16z speedrun 🧊@speedrun
SR007 APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN NOW If you're building the next great company, we want to give you up to $1M in funding and $5M+ in credits, plus the most powerful launch platform in tech. Apply before 11:59pm PT on May 17, 2026. It only takes 5 min 👉 speedrun007.a16z.com/x
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@smayan_mehra @tzartaraporvala @speedrun all these months later and i think i can still recite the first 30 sec of your demo day pitch.
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