#22 - Founder Radar: EARLY UBER Investor Shervin Pishevar on Detecting Talent Before a Pitch Deck | Early Podcast

In this episode of The Early Podcast, I sit down with legendary early-stage investor Shervin Pishevar — the man who bet on Uber in October 2011, when it had only 30 people, and helped launch it around the world.

From escaping Iran as a child to watching his Father struggle while driving cabs in DC — and then backing Travis Kalanick, Elon Musk, and more — Shervin shares how he developed what he calls his “Founder Radar”: a gut instinct for spotting generational talent before the spreadsheets, pitch decks, or models exist.

More to come with Shervin in the coming months. This is a PART 1!

We get into:

• 🚕 The full-circle story of his dad driving a cab and Shervin investing in Uber

• 🧭 How he learned to “detect the signal” and back founders at the idea stage

• ✈️ The story behind chasing Travis to Dublin to close the Uber deal

• 🌍 Building Uber’s global city launch playbook & regulatory war chest

•⚡ How he got Elon Musk and Travis in a Tesla at SXSW — and why it mattered

•🎓 Paying it forward: From founding companies to investing in the next generation

👉 Listen, subscribe, and share with anyone who loves raw stories from the people who really built iconic companies.

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⏱️ Chapters

0:00 Intro — Founder Radar

2:10 Escaping Iran & the Cab Story

10:00 Starting WebOS, First Wins

18:00 Early-Stage VC vs Spreadsheet VC

28:00 Meeting Travis Kalanick

36:00 The Dublin Term Sheet

46:00 Tesla, Elon & Travis SXSW

56:00 Lessons in Gut Instinct Investing

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🎙️ ABOUT THE SHOW:

The Early Podcast is where host Max Crowley, Uber’s #25 employee, sits down with the earliest builders behind today’s most iconic companies. No fluff, just the raw stories of what it’s like in the trenches when your startup could still fail tomorrow.

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✅ Like, comment & share if you know someone interested!

✅ Listen on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts

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