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

Episodes

Oct. 15, 2020

43 investments in 2 years - how is angel capital deployed? By Steve W…

Steve Walsh, angel investor, Advisory Board Member at ZenSports and the CEO at Procurrence talks about angel investments, working as an advisor, fundraising for Procurrence and comparison of fundraising in the pre-COVID VS COVID world. We also discussed Steve's work at Procurrence and how he is app…

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Oct. 13, 2020

Talk to customers damn it - how to pivot. By Angad Singh.

Angad Singh, Founder and CEO at Casette that was acquired by Evernote and currently he is the Product Manager at Coda. And in this episode we spoke about differences between small and big startups from fundraising perspective as well as customer acquisition and much more. Touched onto an interestin…

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Oct. 10, 2020

SoCal Super Angel - why accelerators? By David Mandel.

David Mandel, SoCal-based super Angel, investing in emerging technology startups who Invested in over 500 startups up to date, talks about early stage startups. We focused our conversation on how helpful accelerators can be and why founders should consider applying to those. We also talked about Da…

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Oct. 8, 2020

First steps in the fundraising - preparing to close a round during CO…

Danny Done , CEO at GoBekli explains how his approach to fundraising changed in the post-COVID world and how he interacts with investors now. He also talks about methods that work for him now and those that clearly don't. For...

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Oct. 7, 2020

Health tech field - how should founders overcome legal and financial …

Sunny Kumar, Partner at GSR Ventures talks about the healthtech field. How can founders overcome multiple regulation barriers and get through the capital-intense field? How should they get in touch with the right people in healthtech space if they don't have the right network?

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Oct. 6, 2020

Bootstrapping VS raising funding - lessons from failures and successe…

Igor Belagorudsky, serial entrepreneur with several exits, currently an angel investor, mentor and president at FastCTO, talks about his previous experiences of starting companies, failing and winning. We talked about his major takeaways from that experience and the major mistakes he made in the pa…

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Oct. 5, 2020

60 investors participating in one round - how was it done and why? By…

Daniel Kravtsov, previously co-founder and CEO at RTBmedia that exited in 2016 and currently co-founder and CEO at Improvado talks about his approach to fundraising and why he decided to raise from so many investors. We also talk about major pros and cons of that approach and about ways to manage t…

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Oct. 4, 2020

How big corporations work with startups and how to get in touch with …

Anya Cheng, who worked as Product Head | Facebook, eBay, Target | eCommerce, Growth and others talks about how big corporations chose partners and how a small startup can partner with smaller teams at large corporations. We also talk about best ways of getting in touch with those and getting the de…

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Oct. 3, 2020

Mentorship and resources in the US vs other countries. By Gail Christ…

Gail Christine Gannon, Managing director at WaveEdge Capital, mentor to startups at US Market Access Center and an angel investors talks about her experience traveling the world to help founders in other countries. In this episode we talk a lot about the resources that the US provides to the entrep…

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Oct. 2, 2020

Department of Defence as a startup customer and investor - how to wor…

Ellen Chang, director at BMNT and partner at Syndicate 708 talks about working with the DoD as a startup, she explained how a startup can get funding from the Department of Defence, what are the major problems of working with it and much more. We've also covered the major challenges for deep tech s…

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Sept. 29, 2020

Traditional banking explained - how can startups work with banks? By …

Reza Sabahi, Managing Director at Wells Fargo Capital Finance explains how traditional banking works. What do you need to have in order to get a loan from a bank for your startup? How do bankers evaluate startups and what are the decisive factors? All in this episode.

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Sept. 28, 2020

Fundraising through crypto - is it still viable? By Pelli Wang.

Pelli Wang, managing partner at DeerCreek talks about fundraising through crypto currency issues. Are ICOs still alive? Who should raise through crypto currency and what are the major downsides of this process? We've also discussed STOs and more.

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Sept. 27, 2020

Old VS young fund - who to reach out to and why? By Amit Mehta

Amit Mehta, partner at BuildersVC talks about reaching out to funds - should you reach out to an older fund that has been operating for 5 years after the raise or should you reach out to a freshly-raised fund? And why? And what are the indicators of the fund's activity? All in this episode.

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Sept. 26, 2020

2 weeks for fundraising - how to raise a fast round, by David Yaffe.

David Yaffe, Co-Founder at Estuary, Previously Co-Founder of Arbor (Acquired by LiveRamp) talks about closing a very fast round (2 weeks only) and how that happened. We also discuss the best strategies of gaining new connections and assembling the right network to accelerate the fundraising process.

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Sept. 25, 2020

First employees in successful companies - how to build that dream tea…

Andrew McIntosh, Director and Product Management for Platform & Integrations at Veritone Inc that went public in 2017 explains what he believes were the core strategies of the company founders that brought the company to a success. We also talked about early employees getting involved in the fundra…

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Sept. 24, 2020

Accelerating fundraising process - Adrian Mendoza on how to raise a r…

Adrian Mendoza, Founder and General Partner at Mendoza Ventures talks about his very first fundraising and why it took him so long. Adrain also talks about the ways to accelerate that process and what methodologies can be applied while fundraising.

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Sept. 23, 2020

Feature diarrhea - how to build product and how to start company in a…

Gabriel Paunescu, CEO at Naologic talks about his experience of opening 7 startups at 3 different countries and raising money for some of them. He talks about creating a useful and cheap product and how to start new business in a new place or even a new country.

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Sept. 22, 2020

Angel groups VS Venture Capital - how to choose? By Ryan Whittemore.

Ryan Whittemore, Chief Investment Officer at Florida Funders explains the major benefits of working with an angel group versus a venture capital. We also discussed what major factors should founders look into while making their decision.

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Sept. 21, 2020

Moving to the Silicon Valley as a founder - when? By Carlos Ochoa.

Carlos Ochoa, Founder and Managing Partner at Alpha Impact 8 Ventures explains what it means to expand to the South Americas, who should do it and when is it applicable. We also talked about moving to the silicon valley and specifically - when is it safe enough (in the economic sense) to move to th…

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Sept. 19, 2020

Investing in "unsexy" fields, by Denis Kalyshkin

Denis Kalyshkin, principal at I2BF Global Ventures explains what does it mean to work in the "unsexy" field and how the non-technological fields present a great opportunity for startup founders. We also talk about how startup founders can get involved in such fields.

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Sept. 18, 2020

Free accelerators and what does the government support mean for start…

Miki Reynolds - Co-Founder and Executive Director at Grid 110 talks about the support that government provides to the early stage startup founders and specifically talks about Los Angeles eco-system. We discussed a variety of government programs aimed to support startups and how founders can use th…

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Sept. 17, 2020

Advisers to CEOs - who needs them and how much do they cost? By Sherw…

Sherwin Estanislao, Founding Partner and Investor at Creative Interlace Tech Ventures in this episode of Fundraising Radio talks about who needs an advisor, how to find one and how much approximately should you give him/her. We also talked about the venture studio model and what kind of founders sh…

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Sept. 16, 2020

Acquired for $780 million - lessons learned about Fundraising and mov…

In this episode we talk to Zain Jaffer, Partner at Blue Field Capital and previously the founder and CEO of Vungle(acquired for $780M). Zain talks about how he moved from the UK to the US and about the mistakes that he had made during the fundraising process.

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Sept. 15, 2020

Stock buyback - how does it work in a startup? By Mike Preuss.

Mike Preuss, Co-Founder and CEO at Visible.vc explains how he managed to raise the first rounds of funding and how later on his company bought back some of the equity it sold to its investors. We also discussed the importance of following up with current investors and how it should be done.

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