What Founders Get Wrong About Raising Capital - Steve Walsh | 157

Horizon Search

Feb 28, 2025•40 min•Ep. 157

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Episode description

After building two billion-dollar business units, Steve Walsh walked away from the corporate world in 2018. Burned out but driven by a new mission, he turned his focus to helping early-stage founders raise capital, scale revenue, and accelerate growth.

Now, as a Contrarian Investor and Techstars mentor, he's invested in 66 startups, with 35 reaching Series A, and his portfolio raising over $1.2 billion collectively. But what’s his secret?

In this episode, we discuss:

Why founders—not products—determine startup success
How honest feedback and contrarian investing help startups grow
The biggest fundraising mistakes and how to avoid them

Save hours with top business hacks every Friday – The Searchlight: https://thesearchlight.com/subscribe

Connect with Steve Walsh:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/handsonangel/
Twitter (X): https://x.com/HandsOnAngel1

The Funding Accelerator: https://handsonangel.com

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups – Jason Calacanis
Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Invest-Technology-Startups-Timeless-Investor/dp/0062560700

Day Trading Attention – Gary Vaynerchuk
Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Trading-Attention-Actually-Social/dp/0063317591

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:12 Corporate Scaling vs Startup Growth
5:08 Taking the First Step in Entrepreneurship
7:56 Helping Startups Through Network and Experience
12:17 The Venture Capital Industry’s Dirty Secret
15:10 Investing in Overlooked Founders
19:03 The Founder and Team
23:33 The Power of a Concise Pitch
23:39 Emerging Business Models
24:53 Investor Sentiment
28:56 The Value of Accelerators and Mentorship
31:23 Corporate Life and Startups
32:28 How to Avoid Burnout
37:30 The Most Profound Business Advice Ever Received
39:48 Outro

#HorizonSearchPodcast #StartupSuccess #AngelInvestor #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #Fundraising #StartupFunding #FounderMindset #BusinessGrowth #Techstars #ContrarianInvestor #StartupAdvice #SaaSStartups #EarlyStageStartups #ScaleYourBusiness

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