Congratulations to Zann Ali!

Paths into venture are usually never linear, and Zann’s is no exception.

Zann joined us about a year ago after wrapping up grad school at MIT, where he was a pre-seed investor with Dorm Room Fund and was on the teaching team for MIT’s venture capital course. Before MIT, Zann spent most of his career at the intersection of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship within financial institutions. While he’s always had the entrepreneurial bug, he knew a career in startups was right for him when he helped cofound Fidelity Health, an insuretech startup funded by Fidelity Investments.

While it’s only been a year, Zann has already made a remarkable contribution to our firm.

Since day one, he has rolled up his sleeves, supported and refined our investment process, and stepped up to manage many aspects of the firm. He won everyone over with his can do attitude, passion for early stage startups, attention to detail, clear thinking, and stellar ability to execute.

Zann has also done an exceptional job supporting the 2048 Ventures’ portfolio.

We’ve heard consistently nothing but positive feedback from founders about Zann. He has supported founders with financial models, pitch decks, hiring, marketing, sales, and everything in between.

Starting early 2020, Zann continued to support the portfolio, but also began to help us shape it. Most recently, Zann led our investments in Turbodega and Bloom, and we are excited to have him help us further expand the portfolio this year and beyond.

Lastly, Zann is an exceptional human being. He is empathetic, kind, and great to work with. He supports his colleagues and founders by always being in good spirits, always looking on the bright side, and trying to find solutions no matter what challenges are in front of him.

We are lucky to have Zann on our team; please join us in celebrating this well deserved promotion.

You can email Zann at zann@2048.vc, see Zann's connections on LinkedIn, and follow him on Twitter @thisiszann.