Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Pablo Srugo of Mistral.vc, a seed stage venture capital firm based in Toronto that invests in early stage startups that have achieved (or are close to reaching) "product-market fit." Learn more at https://mistral.vc/ Previously, Pablo was the Founder of Gymtra...
Jan 28, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Jorian Hoover, a startup fundraising consultant based in London. In this episode, we go deep into "Fundraising Prep 101"... everything you need to do BEFORE you start to raise capital, including i) tips for getting your materials together; ii) building a targe...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Joe Ruscio of Heavybit, a venture capital fund that invests in developer-first startups (many of their portfolio companies make products used by software and technology developers). Learn more at www.heavybit.com. In this episode we talk about what’s happening...
Jan 21, 2025•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Danielle Patterson of Family Office LIst, a database and platform that aggregates family office data. See https://familyofficelist.org/ for more info. In this episode we go DEEP into "all things Family Office". We talk about the main types of family offices an...
Dec 13, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Matthew Burris of Venture Studio Associates, a firm that helps other firms design and launch venture studios. See https://venturestudioassociates.com/ for more info. In this episode we go DEEP into Venture Studios and Startup Studios. We talk about the two mai...
Nov 12, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Kirin Kalia, founder of Grow Through Story, (https://www.linkedin.com/company/grow-through-story/) a consultancy that works with startups, VCs and accelerators to improve their pitches. In this episode we talk about how to leverage large tech events to generat...
Oct 30, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Caroline Winnett of UC Berkeley SkyDeck (https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/) a leading West Coast accelerator that works with 250 startups per year. In this episode we talk about the pros and cons of raising capital from a university fund, how Caroline launched the SkyD...
Oct 24, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Courtney McCrea of Recast Capital, a fund-of-funds that invests in emerging VC managers. Recast also runs the Accelerate program to boost women-led VC firms. Learn more at https://recastcapital.com/ In this episode we talk about fund-of-funds, and we go deep into t...
Oct 03, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Lloyd Danzig of Sharp Alpha Advisors, a venture capital firm specializing in sports, gaming, and entertainment -- basically, any business where winning is a key component. Learn more at https://sharpalphaadvisors.com. In this episode, we discuss his 6-step process ...
Sep 24, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Liza Rodewald of Instant Teams (www.instantteams.com) a talent marketplace that connects companies to military and veteran spouses. In this episode, we discuss the challenges and advantages of being a veteran / ex-military entrepreneur, how she got over 80 warm intros to investors, what it was like pitching Tiger Global, tips ...
Aug 29, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Amir Farha of COTU Ventures, a VC fund that invests in early-stage startups in the Middle East / MENA region. In this episode, we talk about what he looks for in startup founders, how to find your "champion" LPs and secure an anchor investor, tips for getting to a first close, tips for p...
Aug 08, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Shomik Dutta of Overture VC (https://www.overture.vc/). Overture is a climate tech venture fund that invests in startups working to transition our economy to a sustainable, decarbonized future. In this episode, we discuss the massive opportunities for climate tech startups, industry them...
Aug 01, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Celine Halioua of Loyal (https://loyal.com/) a San Francisco startup developing drugs to extend the lifespan of dogs. In this episode, we discuss how to plot (and raise against) key company milestones, how to engineer scarcity with VCs, what terms are important and how to negotiate them, how to read an investor's body language...
Jul 19, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Dayton Miller of BFG Partners (https://www.bfgpartners.com/) a VC fund that invests in "better for you" consumer products and the surrounding ecosystem of startups. In this episode, we discuss tips for emerging VC managers on raising their first fund (as well as how things change for funds #2 and #3), managing capital calls, h...
Jul 18, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Martin Tobias of Incisive.vc an early stage $10M venture fund that invests in technology companies that reduce friction at scale. Sectors of interest include B2B and B2C Software (SaaS, Fintech, Marketplaces, HealthTech, eCommerce, EdTech, AI/ML). In this episode, we discuss how poker is a good metaphor for startup investing, ...
Jul 12, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Rene Hansen, CEO of X Shore (https://xshore.com) a Swedish startup making 100% electric boats. In this episode, we discuss the chicken and egg problem when launching a new category like e-boats, the technology that makes it all possible, how the business raised capital from both banks and over 500 individual investors (many of...
Jun 17, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Jack Kuveke of VC satire newsletter Jabroni Capital (subscribe at https://jabronicapital.com/subscribe). Jack also has a fundraising consulting business, Raiseyourseed.com. Jack is really amusing and he’s had an interesting background, including doing an ICO (do you remember those?) and ...
May 21, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Winter Mead of Coolwater Capital. Coolwater is an accelerator for emerging VC funds (https://www.coolwatercap.com/). Coolwater has helped launch 200 VC funds and to date, $1.5B has been successfully raised across all Coolwater cohort funds. Winter has also published two books, including ...
May 15, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with David Zhou, Head of Investor Relations at Alchemist Accelerator, a leading enterprise-focused startup accelerator and investor (https://www.alchemistaccelerator.com/). Alchemist has accelerated over 650 startups that have collectively raised over $3.9 billion in capital. David has a blog...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Brad Porter of Collaborative Robotics (https://www.co.bot/), a startup using the power of robotics to move the world. In this episode, we discuss Brad’s amazing 30 year journey in Silicon Valley and how he got to where he is today, the process and steps he uses to engage with investors, the column schema he set up in Foundersu...
Apr 18, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Michael Heyink of Yellow.Africa, a startup bringing connectivity and power to rural African communities through an innovative distribution and financing model. In this episode, we talk about the opportunities and challenges of building a startup in Africa, his transition from working in private equity to becoming a startup fou...
Apr 15, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Tato Bigio of UBQ Materials (https://www.ubqmaterials.com/), a company making plastic substitutes out of mixed household waste: chicken bones, cardboard, dirty diapers, etc. In this episode, we talk about the technology behind turning trash into usable materials, raising capital from strategic investors as well as family offic...
Mar 29, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with May Habib of Writer.com, a startup building a full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises. In this episode, we talk about enterprise AI and the trends happening in the space, selling solutions vs. selling technology, what it's like to raise capital in a white-hot market, the importance of being contrarian + right, how to...
Mar 21, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Jen Zeszut of Goodles.com, makers of "stealthily healthy" mac n' cheese products. In this episode, we talk about how to raise capital for a CPG startup, why she raised a $10M seed round to "launch big," how she recruited over 100 A-list celebrities to invest, tips for picking the RIGHT investor when you have many options, and ...
Mar 12, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Hillary Bush of Pollen (https://www.runpollen.com/) a professional community for freelancers, consultants, and other independent operators. In this episode, we talk about the future of work, how the entrepreneurial journey is "concurrent not linear," tips for scaling a consulting business, why it's important to find investors ...
Feb 09, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Samir Kaji of Allocate (https://www.allocate.co/) a startup that enables wealth advisers and family offices to invest in venture funds. In this episode, we go deep into what it takes for an emerging VC manager to raise funds from LPs. Samir shares an awesome 8-step...
Jan 24, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Howie Diamond of Pure Ventures (https://pureventuresvc.com/) a VC fund that invests in early stage companies and the personal development of their founders. Pure typically invests roughly 50% in consumer startups and 50% in frontier technology startups. Notably, Pu...
Dec 20, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Brian Gannon of Loop, a private family network and home display that helps families stay connected (https://www.joinloop.com/). Brian is a master networker so we cover tips for outreach, finding "believers" and building proof points, signaling momentum, how to effectively use deadlines, other tactics for creating FOMO, and muc...
Dec 18, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Anshu Sharma of Skyflow, a startup that makes a data privacy vault delivered as an API. Anshu has raised over $70m for SkyFlow, but he’s also angel invested in over 70 startups so we talk about targeting the right investors, testing your thesis, asking for advice and more. Skyflow's most recent round was a $45M Series B financ...
Nov 08, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Billy Thalheimer of Regent, a startup making the Seaglider, a cross between a boat and a plane that uses "wing in ground effect" physics to enable efficient, all-electric coastal travel. Learn more at https://www.regentcraft.com/ In this episode we talk about the technology and physics behind the product, raising strategic cap...
Oct 24, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
