The setup
Valley is an AI-powered outbound sales platform that automates prospecting and books meetings for sales teams. Zayd Ali founded the company and raised over $3M from Antler, Launch, and RDV.
When Valley pivoted to its current form, Zayd had a problem. He was building sales tech for enterprise sales teams, but he had zero network of senior sales leaders. No warm intros, no credibility logos, no advisory board. He was selling into a world he didn't have access to.
What Jeff did
Jeff Becker is a General Partner at Antler who co-leads the US fund. Before Antler, he spent nine years at LinkedIn in sales leadership, running key accounts across the east coast and Canada. His former colleagues are now senior sales leaders at companies like Brex, Miro, DataDog, Rippling, and Ramp.
- He opened his entire network on his own initiative. Without being asked, Jeff sent around 30 introductions to senior sales leaders for an advisory board structure he helped design. Advisors would receive a nominal equity grant vesting at a high threshold. People liked having a voice and a small piece of equity. Jeff handled the outreach himself, taking hours out of a schedule stretched across hundreds of portfolio companies. The result: Valley brought on the CRO of Brex, the SVP of sales at Miro, the SVP of go-to-market at DataDog, and a SVP at Rippling as advisors. When it came time to raise the pre-seed, Jeff did the same thing. Zayd sent him a target list of 20 investors. Jeff made personalized warm intros to 50. That helped close the round.
- During a 45-day stretch where Valley lost half its revenue, Jeff kept showing up. He reinforced his belief in Zayd as a founder. Whether that belief wavered internally, he never let it show. For a founder dealing with the worst period of the company, that consistency was fuel. It made Zayd want to repay the trust, and it gave him a shoulder to lean on when the numbers said he should be panicking.
The result
Valley went from zero network in enterprise sales to an advisory board of senior leaders at some of the biggest names in tech. Those relationships opened doors Zayd couldn't have opened cold, and the logos gave Valley immediate credibility in a market where trust matters.
"If Valley IPOs or sells for a billion dollars and I start another company, I would never need to raise money again. But Antler will have 7% of my next company for the support they've given me. It's something I cannot repay enough."
-- Zayd Syed Ali, CEO & Founder, Valley
The takeaway
Jeff took two hours he didn't have and built Valley's advisory board from scratch. He did it on his own initiative and handled the outreach himself. That's the kind of help founders remember when they're deciding who gets into the next company.