Metal's fundraising data suggests that process velocity, not traction or founder experience, is the strongest predictor of fundraising success.
Gul Usman, founder and CEO of Metal, has experienced both sides of venture capital fundraising. After working at Mastercard, Marqeta, and DoorDash, he founded Airlift in Pakistan, raising $120 million in venture financing before the company shut down after failing to secure its Series C. Now, backed by a16z and Y Combinator, he's building Metal, an AI-powered fundraising platform serving hundreds of founders.
In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, host Brian Bell sits down with Gul to examine why fundraising remains inefficient and what actually separates founders who close rounds from those who don't.
Drawing on data from thousands of fundraising processes, Gul reveals that only about 7% to 20% of fundraising attempts succeed, depending on the stage. Surprisingly, Metal's analysis identifies process velocity as the strongest predictor of success, ahead of traction, founder background, and existing investors. Founders who move investors through their pipelines quickly, replace stalled conversations, and maintain momentum have a meaningful advantage.
Gul also challenges conventional startup growth advice. After Airlift expanded aggressively during the 2021 funding boom and ultimately shut down, he adopted a different philosophy at Metal: prioritize long-term positioning over maximizing quarterly growth. He explains why independent thinking, customer retention, and strategic urgency matter more than simply moving faster.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss
- 00:01Introduction to Gul Usman and Metal
- 00:48From Lahore to Mastercard, Marqeta, and DoorDash
- 03:31The DoorDash experiment that broke Salesforce
- 08:52Why career growth isn't linear
- 10:37Building Airlift and solving Pakistan's transportation problem
- 13:25Why Airlift shut down after raising $120 million
- 16:05The fundraising problem that inspired Metal
- 19:25Y Combinator, experimentation, and finding product-market fit
- 22:47Solving fundraising software's retention problem
- 26:01How Metal matches founders with investors
- 30:03Why sustainable growth beats short-term acceleration
- 32:48Strategic urgency versus bias for action
- 35:29Why most fundraising processes fail
- 40:02Making investor updates more effective
- 42:12Why warm introductions outperform cold emails
- 46:02The strongest predictor of fundraising success
- 48:30Closing thoughts and Metal's future
The conversation includes Gul's DoorDash experiment that persuaded restaurants to offer 32% commissions by modeling incremental revenue, Metal's six-landing-page experiment during YC, and a practical technique for removing unresponsive investors from fundraising pipelines. Brian also explains how specific round-progress updates can revive investor conversations.
The deeper lesson is that lasting entrepreneurial advantage comes from independent judgment, disciplined preparation, and knowing where to direct effort.
Pull Quotes
"It's not your capital, it's not your traction, it's none of those things, is actually your process velocity."
"The preparation goes into a round is is where the magic happens."
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