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

Venture Capital Episodes

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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Aug. 7, 2021

Quitting Facebook to build a startup - story of SwoonMe. By Tanvi Gup…

Tanvi Gupta, Founder and CEO at SwoonMe talks about how she left Facebook and stability that it provides in order to build her own company. We also spoke about building a startup in a crowded space (online dating) and how she managed to stand out from the crowd and get her pre-seed round oversubscr…

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Aug. 1, 2021

2 of 17 investments go for an IPO - how did Hoxton Ventures get to th…

Hussein Kanji, co-founder at Hoxton Ventures who presents himself as an analyst on LinkedIn to avoid spam messages from dozens of founders (I just find it hilarious that those messages go so out of hand, this kind of measures have to be taken so decided to mention it here). We spoke about the way H…

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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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July 17, 2021

Launching satellites and raising for them - how to fund raise for spa…

Anthony Baker , Founder and CEO at Satellite VU talks about fundraising for his company that is about to launch multiple satellites into space. We spoke about testing out such a complicated idea with low budget and presenting...

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July 14, 2021

Why invest in Israel and how do Israeli founders expand to the US? By…

Cynthia Phitoussi, Co-Founder & Managing Partner SeedIL Ventures talks about investing in Israel and explains the major differences between American and Israeli founders and shares the best qualities of both. We also discussed the major changes in the Israeli startup ecosystem that Cynthia saw over…

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July 9, 2021

Fundraising rules and content generation. Mark Peter Davis

Mark Peter Davis Managing Partner at Interplay Ventures, podcast host at Innovation with Mark Peter Davis and an author of The Fundraising Rules talks about the fundraising rules, the lessons he learned from being a VC. We also spoke about who should try to create content and in what form this cont…

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July 1, 2021

Indicators of future growth. By Duane Good

Duane Good , Co-founder & President at Tribal Credit talks about some of the indicators of the future growth in companies, red flags that can be spotted in metrics of a company and how Tribal credit raised $43 million. Duane'...

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June 26, 2021

Joining an accelerator after selling a company. By Dana Loberg

Dana Loberg, Founder of Leo AR, co-founder of MojiLaLa and previously the co-founder of MovieLaLa that was acquired by Gifycat talks about her story of acquisition and the launch of a new company. We also spoke about who should join the accelerator and does it make sense to join an accelerator if y…

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June 24, 2021

Climate tech in Europe and US. By Heidi Lindvall

Heidi Lindvall, General Partner at Pale Blue Dot talks about investing in ClimateTech startups in Europe and US and about the major differences between startups in the US and Europe. We spoke about some successful exits in climate-tech and how founders get there and much more useful stuff that I fo…

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June 19, 2021

Investing in startups since 1999 and talking about the major changes …

Mike Dowdle, Founding Partner at Circadian Ventures shares his 22+ years of experience in the VC space, explains how it changed in the past decades and how it affects startup founders who are trying to raise. We also discussed the differences between funds, syndicates and solo angels as sources of …

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June 17, 2021

B-corps and when startup founders should work with lawyers instead of…

Shayn Fernandez , Corporate Attorney at Rockridge Venture Law talks about the use of the "B-corp" signature and how to obtain one and if it's even worth it obtaining it. We also discussed how startup founders should interact ...

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June 7, 2021

Spotting a Unicorn: Vik Sasi on Being One of the Earliest Investors i…

Vik Sasi, Partner at Dreamers VC—co-founded by Will Smith—talks about spotting unicorns, the epic takeoff of Clubhouse and about the ways founders can be sure that investors see their venture as a future unicorn. We also spoke about partnering up with celebrities (such as Will Smith) while being a …

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June 3, 2021

Getting Started in Startups and Reaching an Acquisition - Eddy Badrin…

Eddy Badrina, CEO of Eden Green, previously the Co-founder of Buzzshift talks about his transition to the startup world and the major lessons he learned along the way. We speak about his first time fundraising and some mistakes that Eddy made. We also speak about the acquisition of Buzzshift and ho…

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May 30, 2021

Startups in LatAm—How are LatAm Startups Different From Those in The …

Brian York, Co-Founder & CEO at Cubbo, and Founder and GP at Bassin Ventures talks about Latin America and how it differs from the U.S. startup ecosystem. We also talk about exits from LatAm and Brian shares his advice to founders trying to expand their network in a new country.

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May 26, 2021

Content Generation: What Does it Take and Who Should Try it? With Amo…

Amos Schwartzfarb, Managing Director at Techstars and Trevor Boehm, Venture Partner at Saturn Five, co-authors of LEVERS - The Framework For Building Repeatability into Your Business talk about writing a book together and their motivation behind it. We also talk about content generation in general …

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May 23, 2021

First-Time Founders—How To Give Investors the Right Signals - With Al…

Alex Luce, Partner at Creative Ventures, talks about investing in first-time founders, the mistakes they tend to make and the green flags that they can show investors. We also touch on some major red flags that Alex sees and how those can be avoided.

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May 19, 2021

Investing in impact startups: Claudine Emeott Discusses Salesforce Im…

Claudine Emeott, Senior Director at Salesforce Impact Fund talks about investing in impact startups and what qualifies one. We narrow in on what founders of impact startups should and shouldn’t do to benefit the most from their unique position.

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May 14, 2021

Investing in Apps since the First iPhone was Released - With Benjamin…

Benjamin Narasin, Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates talks about changes he’s seen in the VC space over the last decade+, and about the process of taking one of his companies public. We also discussed alternatives to the pitch decks and ways founders can speed up their fundraising process.

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May 11, 2021

Proptech: Investing in Rent-tech Startups - With John Helm.

John Helm, Managing Director at Real Estate Technology Ventures talks about investing in proptech, and details the emerging market of rent-tech. John spoke about the future of this field and where he sees rent-tech going in the U.S. as the pandemic reaches its end. We also spoke about the two compa…

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May 7, 2021

Making a Career Pivot Smoothly: Lee Greene of Stairway to CEO and Wea…

Lee Greene, former founder and CEO of WearAway and current creator & host of the Stairway to CEO podcast talks about making the pivot from startups to airwaves. We also spoke about the acquisition of WearAway and the company got to that point.

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May 5, 2021

Landing BIG customers while being a small startup - story of Telesign…

Stacy Stubblefield, Co-Founder and CIO at TeleSign that was acquired by BICS in 2017 talks about them lending their first large customers and that leading to a chain reaction that brought even more large customers. We spoke about marketing your startup by implying what large customer you are workin…

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April 28, 2021

Choosing Between Small Law Firms, Big Ones, and Automated Alternative…

Anil Advani, founder and managing partner at Inventus Law and founding member and legal advisor at Excelerate talks about choosing the legal support that best suits your startup. We compare pricing of small and big law firms and some automated software that can help startups avoid working with lawy…

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April 26, 2021

Corinne Riley on the Importance of an Investment Thesis

Corinne Riley, Investor at Greylock talks about how an investment thesis strengthens a VC fund and a founder’s ability to pitch to that fund effectively. We discuss how much time you should spend trying to fit into an investment thesis and if you can expect a fund to make an exception to their thes…

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