Investors and partners have been doing this for a long time. They understand founder psychology, mentality. And they know what pressure tactics could and should look like. Building a company is a long term game at the end of the day. You want to insure that you're finding the best partner for your business.
Amber Atherton is the founder and CEO of Zyper (YC W18).
Iba Masood is the cofounder and CEO of TARA (YC W15).
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
1:16 - Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara
3:26 - Tara's pivot
4:31 - Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara
18:11 - Evaluating investors
23:46 - Meeting with associates and partners
30:35 - Raising a Series A as a female founder
39:31 - Fundraising psychology
41:46 - What not to do when fundraising
45:01 - Talking to portfolio companies about investors
46:21 - What it's like to run a Series A stage company
1:00:41 - The most important piece of advice for fundraising