Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Meha Agrawal of Silk and Sonder (www.silkandsonder.com) which sells a self-care monthly planner and journal subscription service. In this episode, Meha talks about her motivation for starting a mental wellness platform for women, how to identify investor targets, the value of the 500 Startups accelerator program, tips for the investor update, what it was like...
Mar 27, 2020•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with entrepreneurs and VCs who have raised capital. This episode is with VIk Sasi of Dreamers VC (www.dreamers.vc) a Los Angeles based venture capital fund that bridges Japanese corporate investors with early stage US-based startups. In this episode, Vik talks about raising a fund with a celebrity team (e.g. actor Will Smith and soccer star Keisuke Honda), how raising money for a fund is different than for a startup, why it's...
Mar 20, 2020•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Holly Whitaker of Tempest (www.jointempest.com) an online sobriety and alcohol rehabilitation platform. In this episode, Holly talks about her motivation for starting a sobriety platform, what it takes to be a "good networker," collecting feedback from VCs when they say no, when and why to raise a bridge round, why she moved the company from SF to New York, t...
Mar 11, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Robert Sadow of Scoop (www.takescoop.com), a carpooling service that helps users share a commute with nearby coworkers and neighbors. In this episode, Robert talks about how to know when you are ready to raise each round, nuances of raising Series C, tips for running a process, raising capital from strategic investors, tips for managing your Board, and more. ...
Feb 27, 2020•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Ant Taylor of Lyte.com, a ticketing platform that helps keep venues full and fans happy. In this episode, Ant talks about how fundraising is painful yet transformative, the key "bets" the company has made within the ticketing space, how to research VC partners, running a sequential vs. parallel process and more. The Company most recently raised a $15.3 millio...
Feb 25, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Jessica Rolph and Rod Morris of Lovevery.com which makes subscription-based play products for early childhood development. In this episode, Jessica and Rod talk about raising capital for Lovevery and how it contrasted with their previous startups (Happy Family, which was acquired, and Opower, which went public), how they practice a "humble hustle" approach wh...
Feb 20, 2020•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Matt Tucker of Koan.co, a software platform that helps manage and report on goals (OKRs) and to turn strategy into action. In this episode, Matt talks about why he bootstrapped the company for seven years before raising capital, the balance between chasing profitability and the largest valuation, when to use an "investor memo" vs. a pitch deck, the definition...
Feb 13, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Ksenia Yudina, CEO of UNest (https://unestapp.com/), an easy-to-use mobile app that helps you save and invest in your kids’ education, tax-free. In this episode, Ksenia talks about how she strategically built an Advisory Board, why fundraising needs to be a full-time job, overcoming funding challenges for female founders, how to build relationships with Serie...
Feb 10, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Peter Njonjo of Twiga Foods (ww.twiga.ke), a market place and supply chain that connects farmers and vendors in Kenya. In this episode, Peter talks about selling his house to fund his startup, getting into the 1776 accelerator, raising capital from family offices, how to prepare for due diligence, advice for African entrepreneurs, and much more. The Company m...
Feb 05, 2020•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Frank Reig of Revel (www.gorevel.com) a provider of on-demand electric moped rentals. In this episode, Frank talks about how to find identify potential investors in a heavily-funded space, how he got to a term sheet in 6 days with one investor, how he used LinkedIn to build a strategic network and target investor list, and much more. The Company most recently...
Jan 29, 2020•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Kim Raath of Topl.co which makes a blockchain infrastructure that enables companies and communities to prove and monetize their ethical and sustainable practices. In this episode, Kim talks about raising money during the "crypto winter," how she hosted educational events to build her investor network, going through Capital Factory's accelerator, Rice Accelera...
Jan 23, 2020•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO of Fleet.Space which is launching 100 small satellites to build an iOT network in space. In this episode, Flavia talks about collecting feedback from investors on a scouting trip to Silicon Valley, the transition from space engineer to startup founder, meeting Solina Chau in an elevator (which led to an investment from Li Ka-Shing's v...
Jan 17, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Benjamin Johnson of Spruce, a provider of a mobile concierge platform for apartment residents (www.getspruce.com). In this episode, Benjamin talks about how to build an MVP when you're serving a 3-sided market, the dynamics of raising capital from people who don't invest in many startups, the Austin and Houston startup scenes, tips for pitching Capital Factor...
Jan 14, 2020•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Eshchar Ben-Shitrit of Redefine Meat (www.redefinemeat.com) which uses 3-D printing to make meat. In this episode, Eshchar talks about the Israeli startup scene, the importance of "commitment" and "fire in the eyes" when convincing angels, how to lean on other founders for help, and more. The Company most recently raised $6 million of seed funding in a deal l...
Dec 17, 2019•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Joe Mahavuthivanij of Mythic Markets (www.mythicmarkets.com) a platform that securitizes collectibles such as comic books, Magic The Gathering trading cards, etc and allows people to invest in things they love. In this episode, Joe talks about common fundraising mistakes, "nerd rage" and how he came up with the idea for securitizing collectibles, how to incre...
Dec 12, 2019•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Keegan Peterson or Wurk (enjoywurk.com) an HR software platform for the cannabis industry. In this episode, Keegan talks about raising capital for cannabis startups, how to get the most value out of an accelerator program (in this case, Canopy), how to send useful investor updates, what to do if you need to walk away from a term sheet, and more. The Company m...
Dec 05, 2019•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Vansh Langer of BBy (http://bbyworld.com) a social app that connects nursing mothers and parents to by and sell breast milk. In this episode, Vansh talks about raising capital for an “out there” startup idea, why or why not to raise $$ on crowdfunding, the value of being in WeWork Labs, tips for networking at events and more. The Company most recently raised ...
Dec 02, 2019•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Victor Noguera of Flat.mx, an online platform that buys and sells residential properties in Mexico. In this episode, Victor talks about unique attributes of raising capital in Mexico, how to get intros to wealthy family offices, pitching Joe Montana from a parking lot in Tijuana, information arbitrage and finding business models that work in other markets, an...
Nov 26, 2019•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Henrique Dubugras of Brex.com which provides a corporate credit card for startups. In this episode, Henrique talks about the genesis of Brex and "why the world needed another credit card," why he believes raising capital at a high valuation is key to extending runway, why getting as many investors on your cap table as possible is a good strategy, why he alway...
Nov 18, 2019•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Immad Akhund, CEO of Mercury.co which provides banking for startups. In this episode, Immad talks about going through Y Combinator (twice), his 6-step process for raising capital, lessons learned from making over 100 angel investments, how to sequence investor emails and how often to follow up, how to decide if your deal is "fundable" and much more. The Compa...
Nov 06, 2019•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Bryton Shang of Aquabyte.ai which makes AI-powered monitoring systems that improve fish farming efficiency. In this episode, Bryton talks about how he used "guerrilla marketing" to overcome the skepticism of VCs, how he viewed his pitch as an adaptive process, where he came up with the idea of using machine learning to count sea lice, and more. The Company ra...
Oct 25, 2019•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with David Hassell of 15Five.com, a cloud-based software platform that analyzes and improves employee performance. In this episode, David talks about why you should bootstrap as long as possible, tips for getting to cash flow breakeven, pitching onstage at Jason Calacanis' LAUNCH Festival, why he religiously sends a monthly investor update, the value of being both...
Oct 15, 2019•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Aydin Mirzaee, CEO of Fellow.app a software platform that helps managers and their teams have more effective 1-on-1s and team meetings, exchange feedback, and track goals. In this episode, Aydin goes through a WEALTH of advice -- 14 tips in all -- covering a wide variety of fundraising tactics... everything from picking the right partner, designing the pitch ...
Oct 08, 2019•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Igor Jablokov of Pryon.com, an AI company that delivers augmented intelligence for the enterprise. The company is developing a platform that connects employees to digital transformation, extending their ability to find and use knowledge, drive workflows, and make smarter decisions. In this episode, Igor talks about the Raleigh NC startup scene, letting the ma...
Sep 27, 2019•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Roneil Rumburg, CEO of Audius.co, a decentralized audio streaming platform that directly connects artists and fans to share and discover content. In this episode, Roneil shares lessons he learned from his previous career as a VC. We discuss creating time pressure during a raise, controlling the process, finding an investor champion in the early days of a rais...
Sep 24, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Shahzad Younas CEO of Muzmatch.com, a dating app for the world's 1.8 billion Muslims. In this episode, Shahzad talks about the London startup scene, tips for acing the Y Combinator interview and making a memorable Demo Day pitch, how he "dictated" terms and valuation when raising, and more. The Company raised $7 million of Series A venture funding in a deal l...
Sep 13, 2019•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Steven Galanis of Cameo.com, a marketplace that allows customers to book and pay for personalized video shout-outs from the celebrity of their choice. In this episode, Steven talks about how he raised $65 million (with no pitch deck), why the company was able to raise so quickly, how the deal's "heat" (aka investor interest) helped him negotiate good terms, h...
Sep 10, 2019•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Bryant Lee of Cognition IP (www.cognitionip.com). Cognition IP streamlines patent filings by using machine learning along with a network of lawyers to provide expert guidance on IP strategy In this episode, Bryant talks about the benefits of Y Combinator, why selling to startups can be a good market, getting mentored by Adora Cheung (CEO of Homejoy) and Jared...
Sep 05, 2019•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Jonathan McNulty of Haus.com, a real estate platform bringing flexibility and affordability to home ownership. In this episode, Jonathan talks about his experience at Trulia and how that led to founding Haus, the early days incubating the company at Garrett Camp's Expa Labs, advice for capital intensive startups, and more. The Company raised $7.13 million of ...
Aug 27, 2019•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Jon Staff of Getaway which designs micro-cabins and tiny house rentals that offer customers an escape from their everyday lives (www.getaway.house). In this episode, Jon talks about being transparent vs. being cynical when raising capital, how the pitch evolved between Seed, Series A and Series B, why capital structure matters (especially with an "asset heavy...
Aug 22, 2019•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
