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

Alternative Sources Of Capital For Startups Episodes

June 26, 2022

Equity crowdfunding explained by VP at Community Round Fundraising (W…

Jonny Price , VP of Fundraising at Community Round Fundraising ( Wefunder ) in this episode talks about equity crowdfunding, process that founders need to undergo to have a successful crowd-funded round and more. We've also t...

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May 20, 2022

Running a company out of Ukraine and preparing to raise. By Alyona My…

Alyona Mysko, CEO & Founder at Fuelfinance in this episode talks about the story of her company and the effects that the war has on it and its future plans. Hint: no giving up in sight and Fuelfinance is preparing to raise soon while expanding!

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March 3, 2022

Raising and selling - no bootstrapping, why? By Nick Desai

Nick Desai - Founder and CEO at HeyRenee in this episode talks about how he started 5 companies and how many of them actually made it. He also explains why he chose to raise money from VCs for all his companies and how that d...

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Jan. 20, 2022

Build a financial organization in 3 weeks. By Duy Vo at Productfy

Duy Vo , Founder and CEO at Productfy talks about being a sole founder and yet having great Co-Founders (in a way) who have helped him lead the company to the success instead of selling early on. He also explains how Productf...

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Dec. 5, 2021

Raising $200k through a Twitter post. By Alex Simon with Elude

Alex Simon , CEO Co-Founder of Elude in this episode talks about the new strategies that modern founders can employ while fundraising for their startups. We also spoke about some key things that founders should have on hand b...

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Sept. 28, 2021

What is post-seed, how is it different from bridge round and is it re…

Paul Martino , founder at Bullpen capital talks about investing in founders who are "falling out of pattern", making post-seed investments and how such investments are different from bridge rounds. We also spoke about how fou...

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Aug. 14, 2021

Raising 100% of the money online: equity crowdfunding, it's major per…

Christopher Lustrino, Founder & CEO at KingsCrowd talks about his experience raising 100% of the funding for his company online. We discussed what are the major pros and cons of equity crowdfunding and how he maneuvered through them. Crhistopher also spoke about the repeat investor and their import…

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July 28, 2021

Hybrid fund - what does that mean and how does it work? By Billy Libby

Billy Libby, Co-Founder & CEO at Upper90 talks about what the term "hybrid fund" implies and how is it different from a "regular" fund. We talked about who should try raising debt and how can a startup separate the part of their business that is safe and raise debt backed by that chunk of their bus…

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June 11, 2021

Working at big corporations VS working at startups with less than 20 …

Mayank Sanganeria, software engineer at Instagram talks about his experience at Instagram and at smaller startups. We discussed how can an early stage startup attract a veteran software engineer like Mayank without going broke and how they should reach out. Mayank also talked about some of the best…

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May 3, 2021

Fundraising Without Pitching—Why Not? A New Way to Raise Money: CAFE.…

Thibauld Favre, co-founder and CEO of Fairmint talks about a new way to raise money from your customers on an ongoing basis. CAFE stands for Continuous Agreement for Future Equity—continuous being the key word—and this new form of fundraising is on the rise.

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April 12, 2021

How Does The Government Support Early-Stage Startup Founders? With Ch…

Christopher Hill — strategic advisor at Retina AI, angel investor, and board observer for the city of Los Angeles talks about government support for the startup process, angel investing, and major mistakes founders make on their pitch decks. We also talk about some free resources that founders freq…

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April 8, 2021

Raising $100 Million while beating COVID-19 - the story of Lloyed Lob…

Lloyed Lobo, co-founder and president of Boast.ai talks about his bootstraps story and how he raised VC funding. We talk about Boast.ai’s recent $100 million funding round, which Lloyed secured while battling COVID-19.

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March 22, 2021

Student-led Venture Capital, how is it different from other VCs? Stor…

Hunter Babcock, Managing Partner at Atland Ventures talks about the structure of Atland Ventures, their fundraising and their major differences from other VC firms. Hunter also spoke about who should really try to work with student-led organizations and who should aim for standard funding sources.

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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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Nov. 30, 2020

Raising money through KickStarter - how and who should do it? By Zach…

Zach Cohen, currently the Director of Business Development at Vista Investments and previously the President at Cohen and Sons Apparel that was acquired in 2018. In this episode he speaks about his fundraising experience and specifically about raising money through KickStarter - how did it work for…

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Nov. 16, 2020

How does reward-based crowdfunding work and who should try it? By Ste…

Stefanie Yu, Partnerships, Strategic Lead at IndiegoGo talks about reward-based crowdfunding and what kind of startup should try to pursue it. We talked about the major steps founders should take while preparing for it and the major mistakes founders make while raising money through this source.

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Nov. 6, 2020

Two rounds through equity crowdfunding - lessons learned. By Andrew C…

Andrew Christodoulides, Founder & CEO of Moro that has raised one round through equity crowdfunding and is planning to raise the second one through equity crowdfunding again talks about the major lessons he learned in the previous round. We also talked about how his strategy will change in the upco…

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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. 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. 12, 2020

What is a Hedge Fund and can startups raise from them? By Ryan Zhang …

Ryan Zhang and Mi Tu, Partners & Co-Founders at Standard Capital L.P. explain how do hedge funds work and how can startup founders raise money from them. We also talked about investing in securities vs investing in startups.

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