In VC, investors want to win big — that’s why they love highly scalable tech companies so much. But today’s founder, Jaclyn Fu, is selling actual things. Her startup, Pepper, makes real bras in a very real factory. There’s no tech except that you can buy her company’s stuff on the internet. So how do you convince investors that the opportunity is massive, wh ... Show More
Aug 26
#184 Ventrix: The Gas Plant of the Future
Beer, dry ice, and concrete all have one thing in common... they require CO2. Between demand for CO2 rising, and new gas plants taking a billion dollars to build, shortages are becoming more common. So Sonny built a modular plant the size of a fridge, making it cheaper and easier ... Show More
47m 26s
Dec 2017
Where VC's Will Invest in 2018: Blockchain, AI, Voice, Pets
Venture capital isn’t a monolith, but startup investors are compared to lemmings for a reason. Once a trend gets hot, every firm needs to make a play, or come up with a good excuse for missing out. (To be safe, if the firm does miss a trend, its partners should privately trash ta ... Show More
12m 29s
Dec 2022
The keys to framing a winning investor pitch
It wasn’t very long ago that venture capital was so free-flowing it seemed as if any entrepreneur with a half-decent idea could raise an initial round of financing. Those halcyon days are clearly now past us, with inflation, rising interest rates, and slowing economic growth (or ... Show More
31m 47s
Jun 2023
Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Need Venture Capital to Scale
With all the hype in the startup world around unicorns and hypergrowth, entrepreneurs feel enormous pressure to raise massive amounts of cash from venture capitalists. But now, as interest rates have risen, a lot of that funding has dried up. And a growing number of founders are ... Show More
30m 45s