S2 EP 13: The Startup Maze: How to Navigate Funding, Co-Founders, and Failures feat. Andrew Ackerman

🚀 How Not to Screw Up Your Startup – Hard-Earned Advice from VC Andrew Ackerman

In this episode of Stash Cast, Andrew Ackerman is back with raw, practical startup advice drawn from 70+ investments, 100+ coached founders, and two startup exits. He shares the real reason most founders fail—and what he’s doing about it with his new book A Novel Approach to Startups.

📘 This is not your average business book. Inspired by The Goal, Andrew’s novel delivers startup lessons through story, making it easier to remember and apply when it counts.🔍 Insights:

* Most startup education fails because it’s boring, disconnected, or delivered out of order

* Cold emails to VCs almost never work—they signal laziness, not hustle

* Startups are enterprise sales: the same planning, targeting, and positioning applies

* Great storytelling outperforms slides and spreadsheets when teaching real-world business skills

* Your co-founder matters as much as your idea—get that decision wrong and everything else crumbles

✅ Key Takeaways:

* Focus on warm intros and building investor relationships early—not just when you need funding

* Cold calling works (if you do the research); cold emailing does not

* Don’t pitch—ask great questions. The best meetings are conversations, not monologues

* The right investor is a long-term partner, not just a check

* Every founder should be spending 20–80% of their time fundraising—depending on stage

* Learn to teach your processes: if you can teach it, you understand it

🔔 Subscribe to Stash Cast for more honest conversations with founders, VCs, and operators building the future.

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