Welcome to The AFT podcast: At the Forefront of Transactions | Previously known as Fundraising Radio.!

Episodes

Feb. 19, 2021

How to break into VC and how Array ventures invests in solving big pr…

Shruti Gandhi, General Partner and Founding Engineer at Array Ventures talks about how she managed to get into the VC space and what are the most valuable skills needed to do so. We also discussed investing in Deep tech and the big problems that it's solving and how Shruti approaches it.

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Feb. 17, 2021

How to accelerate the due-diligence process? By Michael Proman.

Michael Proman, Managing Director at Scrum Ventures talks about the due-diligence process and why some investors like to "take their time" while doing it. We also discuss what should founders do if an investor is already 2 months into "due-diligence" and still didn't give a definite response.

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Feb. 15, 2021

Testing out the idea for market disruption - how FidoCure made it. By…

Christina Lopes, Founder and CEO at FidoCure talks about how she came up with an idea, how she tested it out and raised her first rounds of funding. She also explained how she managed to get the attention of such notable investors as a16z, Tau ventures, YC and Lerer Hippeau.

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Feb. 12, 2021

SPACs, how they work and where is the consumer space headed. By Joe T…

Joe Tonnos, principal at Mistral Equity Partners and Co-Founder at Ketch Ventures talks about his experience of creating SPACs and how founders can benefit from them. We also spoke about the general structure of SPACs and how they differ from other options of going public. We also discussed the fut…

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Feb. 10, 2021

Fair insurance - fundraising in InsureTech. By Carey Anne Nadeau Co-C…

Carey Anne Nadeau, Co-CEO of Loop talks about what it means to be a Co-CEO and how that works, how Loop managed to raise over $3 million in such a short time and what led her into this field. We also spoke about diversity (the lack of it) amongst founders and specifically founders in the InsureTech…

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Feb. 9, 2021

How to choose the right growth investor and difference between early …

Mary D'Onofrio, Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners (the oldest VC firm in the US) talks about choosing the right growth investor for your company and about the preparation to that stage (explaining how to get in touch with growth investors early). We also spoke about the major differences …

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Feb. 5, 2021

What do you do after you raise your Pre-Seed round vs Seed round? By …

Jonathan Anderson , Co-Founder & CEO at Candu talks about what happens after each round of fundraising and what are the major differences between the pre-seed and seed rounds. We also spoke about how Candu came up with its pr...

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Feb. 3, 2021

When technical risk outweighs the market risk it's the true deep tech…

Ryan Li, Co-Founder at Deep Ventures talks about the deep tech investing and how he sees it. We also spoke about how he managed to raise and run a syndicate while being a college student and how investors reacted to this. And we discussed what Deep Ventures' team looks at while evaluating a startup.

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Feb. 1, 2021

Where is AI getting us and how deep-tech investing works? By Amit Garg

Amit Garg, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Tau Ventures talks about deep tech investing and the AI field. We discussed how VCs make their decisions while evaluating complicated deep-tech startups. We also discussed how AI is used now, where it is going and what are the major misconceptions that …

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Jan. 28, 2021

Using operational experience in investing. By Laurent Grill.

Laurent Grill, partner at Luma Launch and we spoke about the use of operational experience in startup investing. We also discussed which companies shouldn't try to raise money from VCs, what are the alternative sources of capital and what are the major mistakes that Laurent sees student founders ma…

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Jan. 26, 2021

15 years of investing experience - what do founders do wrong? By Ali …

Ali Jamal, Growth and Product Executive, Founding Partner at First Check Ventures, Angel Investor and a Startup Advisor talks about the major mistakes that founders make while pitching their ideas. We also spoke about what qualifies as a competitive advantage for a startup and how to present it to …

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Jan. 24, 2021

Gas Stations in Space. By Daniel Faber

Daniel Faber, CEO at Orbitfab explains why he decided to go into the space field, what is happening there right now and what is more importantly - how to raise money in the field that is very capital-intense? We spoke about what it takes to get to such a complicated space and what Daniel's advice w…

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Jan. 20, 2021

PLASMA THRUSTERS - how to raise money in capital-intense fields? By M…

Mark Stokes CEO and Co-Founder at Magdrive, a company that is developing a plasma thruster for the new space age talks about raising money for such complicated projects, what it takes to get into the space startup field, what are the major pitfalls in the space startup world and how to avoid them. …

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Jan. 18, 2021

Finding the right investors at the right stages, by Andrew Gluck.

Andrew Gluck, General Partner at irrvrntVC talks about how startup founders should choose investors for every stage of fundraising that they go through. We also talked about what qualities should founders look for in VCs and why is it important.

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Jan. 15, 2021

371 ideas and $1.7 million raised at pre-seed. Story of Heru by Stive…

Stiven Rodríguez , Co-founder and COO at Heru talks about how they managed to raise such a large pre-seed round, why they decided to start a company in Mexico instead of the US and how his work at Uber helped him. We also tal...

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Jan. 11, 2021

Raising during covid Winter, by Adam Jackson.

Adam Jackson, Founder & CEO at Braintrust talks about how he managed to close a round during the covid and how different it was from the "normal" fundraisings. We spoke about early stage fundraising VS raising for Series A+ and much more.

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Jan. 8, 2021

Looking at key factors. By McKeever (Mac) Conwell

McKeever (Mac) Conwell, Managing Director at RareBreed Ventures talks about investing in minorities through the RareBreed Ventures fund and also talks about what major metrics he personally looks at when reviewing a startup.

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Jan. 6, 2021

Money, Data, Product and Healthcare. By Abboud Chaballout

Abboud Chaballout, Co-Founder at Diagnoss talks about working in a heavily regulated field and what it takes to get into healthcare space. We also talked about fundraising for Diagnoss and how he approached it during the pandemic.

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Jan. 4, 2021

Building relationship after the rejection, by co-founder of Toucan - …

Taylor Nieman, Co-Founder and CEO at Toucan talks about raising money from investors who previously rejected her. We spoke how to maintain good relationship with investors and how that can lead to an investment from someone who previously rejected you.

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Dec. 30, 2020

Investing in Fintech by principal at Costanoa Ventures - Amy Cheetham

Amy Cheetham, principal at Costanoa Ventures talks about investing in Fintech during the pandemic (and post-pandemic) and how founders in these fields should work with investors at times like this.

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Dec. 28, 2020

Using referral networks and how to get intros to investors. By Martij…

Martijn De Wever, CEO & Founder of Force Over Mass and Floww, talks about using (and building) referral networks and getting warm introductions to investors you've never met before. Martijn also talks about his experience of raising money during COVID and his advice to founders who want to raise mo…

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Dec. 23, 2020

YC during pandemic - how did it work out? By Vladimir Klimontovich

Vladimir Klimontovich, Co-founder & CTO @ Jitsu (YC S20) talks about how it felt to be in the YC during the pandemic. He explained what major problems he saw in participating in the program fully remotely and also discussed the benefits of remote-YC. We also spoke about creating the momentum for fu…

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Dec. 21, 2020

Raising from overseas investors, by Pascal Unger from Darling Venture…

Pascal Unger, Managing Partner at Darling Ventures talks about raising money from non-US-based investors and who should try this strategy, we also spoke about raising money for funds and how funds approach their fundraising. Touched onto San Francisco being not the center of the startup universe an…

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Dec. 18, 2020

Importance of startup culture and mission statement. By Steve Morin

Steve Morin, Head of Mobile Engineering at Asana talks about the importance of the mission statement of the company and its culture and how it affects hiring talented employees. We also talked about Steve's investment/mentorship thesis and his advice to early stage entrepreneurs trying to create th…

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