# Fareed Mosavat

> Fareed Mosavat is a Visiting Partner at a16z Speedrun, a 12-week founder accelerator at the intersection of technology and entertainment. He came to venture capital after a career arc that started in physics simulation at Pixar and wound through product and growth leadership at Zynga, RunKeeper, Instacart, and Slack, before he ran product education for thousands of PMs as Chief Development Officer at Reforge. Today he backs AI-native B2B startups, co-hosts the Unsolicited Feedback podcast with Brian Balfour, and writes about what it actually takes to build products people love.

- **Role:** Visiting Partner at a16z Speedrun
- **Organizations:** Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a16z Speedrun, Reforge, Slack, Instacart, RunKeeper, Zynga, Conduit Labs, Pixar Animation Studios
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, Brown University
- **Known for:** Built physics simulation systems at Pixar used in Cars, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Up, and all subsequent Pixar feature films, Led Slack's growth team through its freemium-to-paid scaling phase as Director of Product, Co-created the Product Strategy program at Reforge with Casey Winters

## Career timeline

- **2001-2008** — Software Engineer at Pixar Animation Studios, building physics simulation networks for vehicle animation used in Cars, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, and Up
- **2008-2010** — Joined Conduit Labs (social games startup, Boston), built analytics and data tracking systems; company later acquired by Zynga
- **2010-2012** — General Manager at Zynga Boston post-acquisition
- **2012-2014** — VP of Product at RunKeeper (health & fitness app, Boston)
- **2014-2016** — Senior Product Manager, Growth at Instacart
- **2016-2019** — Senior PM / Director of Product at Slack, leading growth team (activation, monetization, freemium-to-paid conversion)
- **2019-2024** — Chief Development Officer at Reforge, co-creating Product Strategy course with Casey Winters, running product education for thousands of PMs
- **2023-present** — Co-host of the Unsolicited Feedback podcast with Brian Balfour
- **2025-present** — Visiting Partner at a16z Speedrun, backing AI-native and entertainment-tech founders

## Achievements

- Built physics simulation systems at Pixar used in Cars, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Up, and all subsequent Pixar feature films
- Led Slack's growth team through its freemium-to-paid scaling phase as Director of Product
- Co-created the Product Strategy program at Reforge with Casey Winters
- Served as Chief Development Officer at Reforge, reaching thousands of product leaders globally
- Co-authored 'Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader' with Casey Winters
- Keynote speaker at Mind the Product Conference San Francisco
- Joined a16z Speedrun as Visiting Partner to back founders at the intersection of technology and entertainment
- Co-hosts Unsolicited Feedback podcast analyzing products and growth strategies

## Latest updates

- **2025-07** — Announced joining a16z Speedrun as Visiting Partner
- **2025-08** — Shared early observations from inside a16z about AI-native B2B startup trends
- **2026-02** — Active on a16z Speedrun Substack writing about what investors look for in applications
- **2026-05** — Continues hosting Unsolicited Feedback podcast and advising Speedrun portfolio companies

## Links

- Website: https://fareedmosavat.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fareed
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/far33d
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0jSep7pzc
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fareedm/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/fareed-mosavat
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-09