How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Ryan Boyko, CEO of Embark Vet (www.embarkvet.com). Embark Vet makes an animal DNA testing kit designed to improve dog health and wellness. Embark recently raised a seed round co-led by Founder Collective, Freestyle and ThirdKind, with support from Anne Wojcicki, Bill Maris, Slow Ventures, SV Angel and others. In this episode, Ryan talks about how he built a target investor list by researching other companies, how raising capital is like speed dating, how to keep investors interested and "hungry," how he landed strategic angels like Anne Wojcicki (co-founder of 23andMe) and Bill Maris (founder of Google Ventures) and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Igor Lebovic of Kindly Care, based in San Francisco. Kindly Care is a self-service management platform for hiring caregivers for senior citizens. The Company recently raised $5.4 million of Series A venture funding led by Javelin Venture Partners with participation by MHS Capital and Jackson Square Ventures. In this episode, Igor talks about venture capital as a "reputation business", how to prepare in advance for a round (e.g. setting up a data room, soft-signaling, etc.), the difference between raising Seed vs. Series A, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Chetan Rane and Akshay Ramaswamy of Alma Campus. Alma is a college-exclusive social network that enables students to discover and connect with peers on their campus. The Company recently raised from Marissa Mayer, Norwest Venture Partners, Sergio Monsalve, Felicis Ventures, and others. The Company has also raised capital from Lightspeed Ventures, Index Ventures, Pear Startup Garage, Cardinal Ventures. In this episode, Akshay and Chetan talk about building a startup while in college, growth hacks and getting early adopters, choosing investors on an oversubscribed round, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with David Fink and Jonathan Neddenriep of Postie.com. Postie makes a direct mail platform that behaves like a digital channel. The Company recently raised a seed round from Bonfire Ventures, Crosscut Ventures, and Rincon Venture Partners. In this episode, Jonathan and David talk about direct mail as a marketing channel, pitching their KPIs and metrics, understanding the operational background of the investors you're meeting, using fundraising as a learning process, controlling the narrative, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Andrew Farah of Density.io, which makes door sensors designed to measure how busy a location is in real-time. Density recently raised a $12 million Series A, led by Founders Fund. Previously, the Company raised capital from Mark Suster and Upfront Ventures, Jonathon Triest of Ludlow Ventures, Jason Calacanis and others. In this episode, Andrew discusses what he pitched at each round (e.g. "product validation" vs. "progress milestones" vs. "owning the market"), staging investor meetings, running a process, tips for pitching celebrity investors, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Bill Boebel of Pingboard. Pingboard makes org chart and workforce planning software. The Company has raised 3 seed rounds in Austin, Texas from a mix of high profile angel investors and VCs. In this episode, Bill talks about raising capital from other founders, his "touch-zero" operating model (and how that helps him balance the tension between VC expectations and how he wants to run the business), how he uses monthly investor updates to leverage his investors, and much more. PS: for more on the "touch zero" concept, see: https://austinstartups.com/anatomy-of-our-5-million-seed-round-7965d177535b

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Bobby Tinsley of Priatek. Priatek makes prize based advertising technology. The Company recently returned from a fundraising roadshow that took the team to Moscow, London, Geneva, Zurich, Lugano, and Monte Carlo (see https://youtu.be/qAdYIA6dCQI). In this episode, Bobby talks about how they put together the roadshow, the role that advisors played in setting up meetings, key things when pitching family offices, the importance of "compliance first" when fundraising, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Amanda Johnson and KJ Miller of Mented Cosmetics. Mented is an online cosmetic store that features a range of nude lipsticks for women with deeper skin tones. The Company recently raised $4.2M from CircleUp and others. In this episode, Amanda and KJ talk about the grind of raising their first pre-seed round, tapping networks such as NY Angels and HBS, how to time-box + divide & conquer when raising, the importance of both a metrics story and a big vision in the pitch, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Mitch Grasso of Beautiful.ai. Beautiful.ai makes an AI-powered presentation tool created for building visual documents. The Company recently raised an $11M Series B. In this episode, Mitch talks about his "ridiculously easy" funding round (and his decision whether to raise at all), the importance of product/founder fit, raising before launch (and before numbers / metrics can be used against you), what he's doing differently on his third venture-backed startup, and much more.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Emily Best of Seed&Spark. Seed&Spark is a crowdfunding and digital distribution platform. The platform helps filmmakers and audiences join forces to fund, promote and watch new independent films, enabling filmmakers to support new film projects and audiences to watch more independent movies. In this episode, Emily talks about the realities vs. perception of fundraising, building a diverse cap table, the similarities of funding a film vs. a startup, and much more. Note: to put some of the conversation threads in context, it might be useful to read this Medium post: https://medium.com/techstars/how-raising-a-2-m-seed-round-really-actually-went-b1c53ff9096a