Asher Siddiqui, Member Of The Board Of Advisors at Race Capital. 20+ years of experience as an entrepreneur, corporate development / M&A professional and a VC / tech investor - exposed to several disruptive events: 1997: The Asian Financial Crisis (building supplier relationships in Asia for my first startup while at University) 2000: The Dotcom Crash (software engineer trying to make it on my own) 2001: 9/11 (co-founder of a SaaS startup) 2007/08: The Global Financial Crisis (corporate development / M&A) 2020: COVID-19 (raising capital for my next venture) Career Overview: 2016-date: Tech Investor - Previously part of the global leadership team at 500 Startups in Silicon Valley, helping 500 survive a difficult transition, raised significant capital, brought in a strategic investor/shareholder and launched the Opportunity Fund (securing anchor LP's for a 1st close at ~40% of the target). 2006-2016: Corporate Development/M&A - Led over 36 advanced stage TMT deals, at Etisalat Group, valued at approximately ~$34bn and closed 20+ deals (9+ M&A transactions and 12+ VC deals) valued at ~$8bn across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. 1997-2006: Entrepreneur - Started my career by creating / building / working for myself (developed a male skincare brand while still at university, bootstrapped several B2B SaaS startups, was a freelance java / j2ee software developer, interface developer, technical sales consultant, etc.) while helping angel investors, startup founders & emerging VC fund managers. Key skills & experiences: mergers & acquisitions (deal flow, deal origination, deal structuring, deal negotiation, etc.), venture capital, growth capital, private equity, capital raising, portfolio management, corporate restructuring, special situations, corporate turn-arounds, corporate strategy, investment strategy, investment thesis development, business development, managing and investing in technology startups, as well as participating in several non-executive (board director, investment committee and board of advisors) roles.