How does Shabih filter startups?

Shabih Rizvi, Founding Partner at Gradient Ventures, filters startups by focusing heavily on the team, particularly their backgrounds and narratives. He emphasizes the importance of understanding what the team has done in the past and why they are working on their current problem. If these aspects are not clear in a slide or email, it can be a quick no, but a very polite one 1.

Rizvi also mentions the significance of responding to unexpected sources, such as introductions from less conventional channels, and stresses the need for investors to take responsibility for filtering opportunities themselves 2.