Taimur Rashid

AWS business development leader and investor

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Taimur Rashid is a business development executive and startup investor who ran business development for AWS for about 10 years. He joined Microsoft in 2018 and led its global customer success team for three years. He has also invested in and advised startups since 2017, including companies in Pakistan.

Education

Rashid first wanted a career in medicine. He attended the University of Texas at Austin. He began a bachelor's degree in 1997 as a pre-medicine biology major, then switched majors and became a computer science major. He graduated in 2002, when the job market was difficult. He dropped out of Stanford to take a job at Amazon. [1]

Career

Rashid decided he wanted to become a business development manager. Oracle bought the CRM software company, and he worked in partnerships and alliances. He spent about six years at Oracle and the CRM software company. He describes partnerships as a way to raise a product's value by working with another company. [1]

AWS

Rashid joined AWS in 2008 as one of its early team members. He ran business development for AWS for about 10 years. In that role he had direct interaction with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, then AWS's CEO. He says he earned two MBAs' worth of learning during his ten years at Amazon. [1]

Rashid says cloud computing disrupted three fundamental things. In his account, it replaced buying servers with access to a data center within minutes. He says the cloud business model moved from licensing to utility-based pricing, and that utility and SaaS pricing made sense for startups that were just starting. [1]

Microsoft

Rashid joined Microsoft in 2018 after ten years at Amazon. He moved to Microsoft mainly to gain enterprise sales experience. He says the final reason for his move was a cultural change under way at the company, and he was invited to help with the cultural transformation at Microsoft. [1]

At Microsoft he led the global customer success team for three years. He defines customer success as post-sales adoption of a technology. [1]

Redis

Rashid leads business development globally, with a focus on machine learning and AI. He knows the founders of Redis and says the relationship created a good opportunity to help them. [1]

He describes Redis as an open source in-memory database that has been on the market for about 12 years. He says Redis monetizes the open source database through a commercial offering. The main part of that offering is a managed database in the cloud. He says Redis Cloud runs on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine. [1]

Investing and advising

Rashid had done startup investing and advising on the side and planned to do more of it. He began investing and advising startups in 2017. He helped a founder with product-market fit and go-to-market. He found that many startup founders were technical but weak on go-to-market. [1]

When he visited Pakistan, Rashid gave talks at NUST University. He has invested in companies in Pakistan. Kleiner Perkins and another venture firm also invested in one of the companies he backed. He says there is uniformity in how Pakistani startups approach investing. [1]

Rashid says Y Combinator created the SAFE note as a standard instrument for founders. He describes a SAFE as a simple agreement for future equity. He says a SAFE protects both the investor and the entrepreneur. [1]

Seattle group and visits to Pakistan

Rashid is part of a Seattle-based group. He says the group represents people working in big tech at Amazon, Google and Facebook. About 20 people from the group came from Seattle in summer 2021, and the summer visit included a two-day event with many good meetings. The group met the Special Technology Zones Authority, the Ministry of IT and the National Incubation Center. [1]

He says about 15 to 20 of them spent two days in Islamabad, and the group had a meeting in Peshawar. People in Seattle have made commitments to invest in a special technology zone. The group plans a series of visits rather than a single visit, and it plans to publish a report. [1]

Views

Rashid is encouraged that the mindset in Pakistan is changing, and he says things there are changing, based on his observations. He says mindset must change first, or the old ways will return. He says that if the rationale for building motorcycles still exists, another factory will get created. He says young people should take a leadership role. [1]

He says that he and others are sitting on an opportunity of a lifetime to help Pakistan as a country. He names government regulation and political instability among the challenges. He says the answer to these headwinds is to break through them with the right intention. He names Allama Iqbal as one of the biggest inspirations for people from Pakistan. [1]

Rashid frames value as consuming it, adding to something existing, or creating new value. He wanted to put himself in an area where he could create new value. He says a lot of upskilling is needed. He wants Pakistan to produce the most data scientists within five to ten years. He believes Pakistan should focus on two or three specialty areas that define its talent market, and he says its biggest structural advantage is its people. [1]

He says the freelance economy is a huge market for Pakistan, and that people should then be connected to a job or a gig. He says scaling from 25 to 250 people will need digital means. He says he and others are discussing partnerships in Pakistan to build capacity. He says Pakistan needs a flywheel of upskilling, experience and jobs. [1]

Rashid says the pandemic showed that the same value can be delivered on Zoom as in the office. He says the norm has flipped, so in-person work is now the exception, and that people should decide how they want to live with family before bringing work in. He says companies care about value more than the visa regime, and that he believes there is no longer a concept of borders. He sees Pakistan becoming an indispensable contributor to the world economy. [1]

He says what people build should outlast them and that people with surplus should give it back. He says people in big tech are leaving their jobs to take control of their own work. [1]

Personal life

Rashid and his wife moved to Seattle from Silicon Valley in 2008. His father was upset that he was leaving his master's studies. [1]

Timeline

1997
Began a bachelor's degree as a pre-medicine biology major.[1]
2002
Graduated, took an internship and moved to California.[1]
2008
Joined AWS as one of its early team members and moved from Silicon Valley to Seattle.[1]
2017
Began investing in and advising startups.[1]
2018
Joined Microsoft after ten years at Amazon.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2022-01-21 The four-salesperson cloud bet that became AWS Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Taimur Rashid?

Taimur Rashid is a business development executive and startup investor. He ran business development for AWS for about 10 years and led Microsoft's global customer success team for three years. He has invested in and advised startups since 2017.[1]

What does Taimur Rashid do?

Taimur Rashid leads business development globally, with a focus on machine learning and AI. He also invests in and advises startups, including companies in Pakistan.[1]

Where did Taimur Rashid study?

Taimur Rashid attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he began as a pre-medicine biology major in 1997 before becoming a computer science major. He graduated in 2002. He also left Stanford, where he was working on a master's degree, to take a job at Amazon.[1]

What did Taimur Rashid do at AWS?

Taimur Rashid joined AWS in 2008 as one of its early team members. He ran business development for AWS for about 10 years. In that role he had direct interaction with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, then AWS's CEO.[1]

Why did Taimur Rashid join Microsoft?

Taimur Rashid says he moved to Microsoft mainly to gain enterprise sales experience. He says the final reason for his move was a cultural change under way at the company. He joined in 2018 after ten years at Amazon.[1]

When did Taimur Rashid start investing in startups?

Taimur Rashid began investing and advising startups in 2017. He helped a founder with product-market fit and go-to-market. He found that many startup founders were technical but weak on go-to-market.[1]

What does Taimur Rashid say about Pakistan's technology talent?

Taimur Rashid says a lot of upskilling is needed and that Pakistan's biggest structural advantage is its people. He wants Pakistan to produce the most data scientists within five to ten years. He says Pakistan needs a flywheel of upskilling, experience and jobs.[1]

What is a SAFE note, according to Taimur Rashid?

Taimur Rashid describes a SAFE as a simple agreement for future equity. He says Y Combinator created the SAFE note as a standard instrument for founders. He says it protects both the investor and the entrepreneur.[1]

References

  1. The four-salesperson cloud bet that became AWS . Thought Behind Things , 2022-01-21.
Show the source passages (89 statements)
  1. He attended the University of Texas at Austin. I went to University of Texas at Austin.
  2. He began a bachelor's degree in 1997 as a pre-medicine biology major. main 1997 mein bachelors maine shuru kiya tha, so I started pre-med, bio major in fact.
  3. He first wanted a career in medicine. mera jo background tha aur khwahish thi ki maine medicine mein jaana hai.
  4. He switched majors and became a computer science major. Toh uss dauran then I switched majors and I became a computer science major.
  5. He graduated in 2002, when the job market was difficult. 2002 mein by the time I graduated, the market was actually very, very tricky.
  6. He took an internship and moved to California in 2002. But I ended up getting an internship and I moved to California in 2002.
  7. He took a full-time role at a CRM software company. Then I got a full-time role, Seibel Systems ke naam se. They built the CRM, one of the pioneers in CRM software.
  8. He started his career as a QA engineer. So, I started my journey, you know, as a QA engineer in fact.
  9. He left QA because he was more interested in the business side. But I knew that I didn't want to do QA engineering. I always was interested on the business side and creating things.
  10. He moved from engineering into product management for two years. eventually I sort of started progressing from engineering to product management, two years of product management.
  11. He worked on a real-time machine learning product for call centres. The one product that we were building, real-time machine learning product for call centers.
  12. He decided he wanted to become a business development manager. So, I didn't know about a business development manager. I am like, hey, I want to be that, right?
  13. Oracle bought the company, and he worked in partnerships and alliances. by that time Oracle bought Seibel Systems, it was a partnership and alliances.
  14. He spent about six years at Oracle and a CRM software company. So, then I spent about six years over there between Oracle and Seibel Systems.
  15. He describes partnerships as a way to raise a product's value by working with another company. how do you take the value of a product you are building and increase that value by partnering with another company
  16. He and his wife moved to Seattle from Silicon Valley in 2008. 2008 mein my wife and I, we moved to Seattle from Silicon Valley.
  17. He joined AWS in 2008 as one of its early team members. 2008 mein I joined AWS as one of the early members of the team.
  18. He ran business development for AWS for about 10 years. For 10 years, I basically ran business development uh for AWS.
  19. At AWS he had direct interaction with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, then AWS's CEO. Alhamdulillah I got interaction with uh Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, who was the CEO of AWS back then
  20. He dropped out of Stanford to take a job at Amazon. So, I dropped out of Stanford during that time to go pursue this Amazon job.
  21. His father was upset that he was leaving his master's studies. Toh abbu mere bade naraz ho gaye the, yaar tum kyun, why are you leaving your masters?
  22. He says he earned two MBAs' worth of learning during his ten years at Amazon. I think I earned two MBAs during those 10 years.
  23. He wanted to put himself in an area where he could create new value. I want to put myself in an area where I can create create new value, right?
  24. He says cloud computing disrupted three fundamental things. cloud computing not only, main jo dekhta hoon, it disrupted three fundamental things.
  25. He says cloud computing replaced buying servers with access to a data center within minutes. it completely went from, you know, this uh very difficult rack and stacking servers, buying equipment, buying a colo facility, or even buying a leasing agreement to immediately getting access to a data center within minutes.
  26. He says the cloud business model moved from licensing to utility-based pricing. It went from licensing utility to utility-based pricing model, right?
  27. He says utility and SaaS pricing made sense for startups that were just starting. So, this utility pricing model, SaaS model, it made sense for people that were just starting their businesses.
  28. He joined Microsoft in 2018 after ten years at Amazon. So, then I joined in 2018 after 10 years at Micro uh at Amazon.
  29. He moved to Microsoft mainly to gain enterprise sales experience. moving to Microsoft mere liye was more about getting experience with enterprise sales.
  30. He says the final reason for his move was a cultural change under way at the company. Lekin finally jo the the reason I moved was Satya was doing this cultural change
  31. He was invited to help with the cultural transformation at Microsoft. Why don't you come and help us with the cultural transformation at Microsoft
  32. At Microsoft he led the global customer success team for three years. maine three three years um Microsoft mein I led their global customer success team.
  33. He defines customer success as post-sales adoption of a technology. ultimately it's about post-sales adoption of a technology.
  34. He had done startup investing and advising on the side and planned to do more of it. On the side, I did startup investing and advising, toh yeh plan tha ke I'd do more of that.
  35. He leads business development globally, with a focus on machine learning and AI. Toh in my role, I lead business development for them globally, uh with a focus on machine learning and AI.
  36. He knows the founders of Redis and says the relationship created a good opportunity to help them. I know the founders of uh Redis, toh we uh developed a good relationship and a good opportunity to help them.
  37. He describes Redis as an open source in-memory database. Redis is basically an open source uh in-memory database.
  38. He says Redis has been on the market for about 12 years. So, it's been around in the market for about 12 years.
  39. He says Redis monetizes the open source database through a commercial offering. But we also have a commercial offering, jismein hum we actually monetize that.
  40. He says the main part of that commercial offering is a managed database in the cloud. but the most aspect is it's a managed database offering in the cloud.
  41. He says Redis Cloud runs on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine. Redis Cloud, it's available on all three clouds, AWS, um, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine as well too.
  42. He began investing and advising startups in 2017. To it started in 2017. Right. Mera ek dost tha, ex-Amazon, uh, he worked for another company
  43. He helped a founder with product-market fit and go-to-market. I helped him with his journey, product market fit, uh, go to market kaise karna ho.
  44. He found that many startup founders were technical but weak on go-to-market. many of the startup founders, they're very technical in their understanding, ke humne product kya banana hai and how do we want to use the technology. Lekin this go to market thing was lacking, right?
  45. When he visited Pakistan, he gave talks at NUST University. jab main Pakistan aata tha, I would actually go to NUST University and give a talk.
  46. Kleiner Perkins and another venture firm also invested in one of the companies he backed. one investment, you know, Kleiner Perkins has invested in them as well, too, uh, 2 Sigma Ventures.
  47. He has invested in companies in Pakistan. Haan, Pakistan mein bhi invest kiya hai.
  48. He says there is uniformity in how Pakistani startups approach investing. I think uniformity in how Pakistani startups approach investing as well, too, as well.
  49. He says Y Combinator created the SAFE note as a standard instrument for founders. YC, which is Y Combinator, Right. unka standard ek unhone safe note banaya hai um for entrepreneurs.
  50. He describes a SAFE as a simple agreement for future equity. it's basically a simple agreement for future equity.
  51. He says a SAFE protects both the investor and the entrepreneur. it does protect the investor, but it also protects the entrepreneur too.
  52. He is part of a Seattle-based group. To hamara we Pak Seattle Tech Connections.
  53. He says the group represents people working in big tech at Amazon, Google and Facebook. To it represents people in Big Tech, jo abhi Amazon, Google, Facebook mein kaam kar rahe hain.
  54. The group met the Special Technology Zones Authority, the Ministry of IT and the National Incubation Center. They met with Special Technology Zones Authority, Ministry of IT, uh, National Incubation Center.
  55. About 20 people from the group came from Seattle in summer 2021. summer 2021 earlier this year, uh, about 20 of us came from Seattle.
  56. The summer visit included a two-day event with many good meetings. To two-day event tha. Many good meetings happened.
  57. He says about 15 to 20 of them spent two days in Islamabad. To about 15, 20 of us are here too as well. Two days humne Islamabad mein guzare hain
  58. People in Seattle have made commitments to invest in a special technology zone. Ab there's commitments from people in Seattle ke unhone they want to invest in a special technology zone.
  59. The group plans a series of visits rather than a single visit. rather than doing like one visit, we'll do a series of visits.
  60. The group plans to publish a report. we are going to publish uh a report
  61. The group had a meeting in Peshawar. Lekin Peshawar mein bada achha tha, uh, Atif Khan ke saath they met.
  62. He is encouraged that the mindset in Pakistan is changing. what I'm encouraged is mindset is changing.
  63. He says things in Pakistan are changing, based on his observations. Based on my observations, I think things are changing.
  64. He says mindset must change first, or the old ways will return. Agar mindset change na ho, you can implement any sort of thing, the mindset will bring back the old way.
  65. He says that if the rationale for building motorcycles still exists, another factory will get created. if the rationality of building motorcycles still exists, another factory will get created.
  66. He says young people should take a leadership role. But leaders within the um jaise the youth Right. to take a leadership role.
  67. He says that he and others are sitting on an opportunity of a lifetime to help Pakistan as a country. We're sitting on an opportunity of a lifetime to really not only help Pakistan as a country
  68. He names government regulation and political instability among the challenges. Government ke regulation ke um political instability, jo bhi aap keh dein, right?
  69. He says the answer to these headwinds is to break through them with the right intention. Yaar main kehta hoon ke break through them. And woh bhi with the right intention.
  70. He names Allama Iqbal as one of the biggest inspirations for people from Pakistan. one of the biggest inspirations for us as individuals from Pakistan, jo na Allama Iqbal ke jo vision and thought and philosophy
  71. He frames value as consuming it, adding to something existing, or creating new value. you either consume the value that other people create, yeah, ya you add more value to something existing or you create new value.
  72. He says a lot of upskilling is needed. people have to learn, upskilling, upskilling ki zaroorat bahut hai.
  73. He wants Pakistan to produce the most data scientists within five to ten years. Mera like one of my goals is to actually say that you know 5, 10 years from now, Pakistan produces the most data scientists.
  74. He believes Pakistan should focus on two or three specialty areas that define its talent market. there should be two or three specialty areas which define Pakistan's talent market.
  75. He says Pakistan's biggest structural advantage is its people. I think the biggest value jo structural advantage Pakistan ka hai, it's the people.
  76. He says the freelance economy is a huge market for Pakistan. I look at jaise aap dekhein the freelance economy for Pakistan, huge market for us.
  77. He says people should then be connected to a job or a gig. Then find a connection for them to get a a job, a gig.
  78. He says scaling from 25 to 250 people will need digital means. Then how do you get from 25 to 250? You're going to have to do it through digital means.
  79. He says he and others are discussing partnerships in Pakistan to build capacity. Hum yeh soch rahe hain ki okay how do we take that to the next level with bright partnerships Pakistan mein, takay hum start creating some capacity.
  80. He says Pakistan needs a flywheel of upskilling, experience and jobs. Upskilling, experience, find jobs. Spin that flywheel.
  81. He says the pandemic showed that the same value can be delivered on Zoom as in the office. the same value you get inside the office, aap Zoom pe bhi kar sakte hain
  82. He says the norm has flipped, so in-person work is now the exception. the thing is flipped ke working in-person is the exception now
  83. He says people should decide how they want to live with family before bringing work in. How do I want to live with my family? And then I bring work into it.
  84. He says companies care about value more than the visa regime. companies don't really care about the visa regime, they care about value.
  85. He says he believes there is no longer a concept of borders. what I believe actually is that there is no concept of borders now.
  86. He sees Pakistan becoming an indispensable contributor to the world economy. if you look at how Pakistan can be an indispensable contributor to the world economy
  87. He says what people build should outlast them. jo bhi main kar raha hoon, it has to outlast me.
  88. He says people with surplus should give it back. Woh surplus just give it back. Don't keep it.
  89. He says people in big tech are leaving their jobs to take control of their own work. people are leaving their big tech jobs and saying like, I have control over my own thing.