Ali Vahabzadeh

Experience

CEO 2018 - Present (about 6 years)

Safari AI uses computer vision to provide enterprises the ability to auto-measure the most important physical activity in their operations. Our clients point their own IP... more

Exit

Chariot

Co-founder & CEO 2014 - 2018 (almost 4 years)

Co-founded and bootstrapped the company, raised three rounds of VC funding, part of YC's Winter 2014 batch, then sold to Ford Smart Mobility in 2016. Following the sale, we... more

NeighborCity

President & COO 2010 - 2013 (almost 3 years)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Vice President - Equity Derivatives 1999 - 2007 (about 8 years)

Employee

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, NeighborCity, Chariot, Safari AI

Projects

Virtual curbFlows

Providing delivery drivers real time curbspace availability

Product Manager · Using this network of partner merchant-hosted devices, curbFlow is launching its second product: virtual curbFlows. We use the word… · More

With Kevan Moniri, Angelo Stekardis

Roll my Route

Crowdsouring commutes from the public

Chariot's proprietary crowdsourcing platform that allows future users to provide the company where it's demanding a route.

With Romain Di Vuolo

Chariot's iOS mobile app

Get your SF commute solved using our newly-upgraded app

Chariot's iPhone app allows you to live-track your chariot, save a seat, check-in, purchase tickets, refer friends, get instant support from Team Chariot… · More

With Taylor Halliday

Chariot Enterprise Solutions

Corporate commuting solutions for employees

Why is Chariot the fastest-growing employee perk in the Bay Area?
Stress-free, productive commute
Commute from major neighborhoods & transit… · More

With Josh Weisman, Romain Di Vuolo

Chariot Charters

You do the celebrating, we'll do the driving!

Chariot's Charters product allows you to reserve private 14-seat passenger vans for any trip or event, including corporate retreats, trips to wine… · More

With Krystal Sze, Eric Campbell, Romain Di Vuolo, Evelyn Ferries

Education

About

Achievements

At Chariot, scaled a bootstrapped startup to a YC- and venture-backed company operating in six cities with tens of thousands of customers. Successfully pivoted from B2C to B2B enterprise model, then sold to Ford in 2016.

At curbFlow, our team pivoted during the pandemic and discovered a huge SaaS market that no one has cornered yet: automated & digitized counting and measuring for enterprises, governments and SMB's using our proprietary computer vision models. In the first three months of our 2021 pivot, we acquired 11 paying customers and in 2022 on a path to $2mm+ ARR and raising a Series A

Describe the most impressive thing you've done.

Skills

Sales Strategy and Management Product Management Executive Management Financial Modeling Finance CRM Customer Service Call Center Management Recruiting and Team Building

Locations

Silicon Valley San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco New York City

Q&A

What's the most useful business-related book you've ever read?

the hard thing about hard things

What words of advice would you give your younger self?

Join a startup much sooner in your career

What's the most creative thing you've ever done?

Started a company from scratch

What's your super power?

Not letting anything get in the way of success :-)

What's the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Through Angellist, of course!

What words of wisdom do you live by?

Every Day Matters

What aspects of your work are you most passionate about?

Building the best Product possible

Ali Vahabzadeh

Founder & CEO @Safari AI (2018-), Co-Founder & CEO @Chariot (sold to Ford in 2016). Love building great teams. @Vanderbilt. Unapologetic Long Islander