Yasmin Zarabi

Yasmin Zarabi joined Sierra Ventures in 2025, assuming the role of Chief Operating Officer. Over two decades, Ms. Zarabi has established herself as an accomplished executive, leveraging extensive knowledge and experience gained across diverse technology firms, encompassing both privately held such as Gracenote (acquired by Sony), Hearsay Systems (acquired by YEXT) and Parasable (acquired by CAI Software, LLC) and publicly traded entities such as Versata and TIBCO. Her professional background includes a high level of proficiency in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, intellectual property, and the negotiation of complex commercial transactions.

Ms. Zarabi holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor from the Golden Gate University School of Law.

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Insights from Shashank

What are the top three things you think about when looking at a potential investment?

Founder/s - given most of our investments are early stage, the bet is largely on the founder. Certain personality traits I tend to focus on are - do they add clarity or create confusion? Have they demonstrated past ability to overcome hardships in their personal or professional life? Any prior examples of “delayed gratification” is a huge bonus.
Headwinds and tailwinds - where are the macro trends in the industry, category or vertical headed towards? Will these macro trends benefit a tenacious founder?
Focus and alignment - is this truly a problem worth solving? We’re in the business of providing capital and expertise, so our alignment with the problem area is critical and proportionate to the value we'll add to the entrepreneur's journey.

What advice do you have for founders?

Be a fantastic human being - this makes it very easy for employees, customers, partners and investors to align with you on your journey
Understand the product really well - this helps build and maintain trust and competence
Good leaders never disconnect from the front lines - as organizations scale, this becomes even more important to not lose touch with the customer pain points

If you had to recommend one book to an entrepreneur what would it be?

Zero to One by Peter Thiel

What is your best “life-hack”?

Non-rushed mornings - for the past 10+ years, I’ve tried to start my day in a non-rushed manner. 8 hours of sleep, a morning workout at least thrice a week, no work meetings before 9 am - all set the tone for mental calmness and a relaxed state of mind that lead to clarity of thought and mindfulness.