Fun Raising

Turner Novak is one of the most unique voices you'll hear in early-stage VC. As a solo GP at Banana Capital writing $100K-$250K checks, he operates more like a founder than a traditional fund partner, and that perspective shapes everything he says. He's built an audience of nearly 200,000 followers across social platforms, and he actively uses that distribution to help portfolio founders get in fr...

Emily Lindberg brings a genuinely rare perspective to the VC world -- a PhD in biomechanics from UC Berkeley who transitioned into venture through Nucleate, a student-run VC focused on bio companies. That scientific background shapes everything about how Undeterred evaluates deals, and Emily is refreshingly candid about what that means in practice. She emphasizes that even when a fund loves your t...

Leo brings a rare combination to the table: technical depth as a mechanical engineer with a PhD from MIT, operator experience as a former founder, and the analytical rigor of a McKinsey diligence background. That blend makes his fundraising advice unusually grounded. Where many investors speak in generalities, Leo is specific. He walks founders through how to build their investor CRM, explaining w...

Leo brings a rare dual perspective to fundraising advice: he thinks like an engineer and communicates like an investor. One of the most useful threads throughout the episode is his emphasis on respecting a VC's time and attention. With 50 to 100 cold emails landing in his inbox every week, Leo makes it clear that founders who stand out do so not by explaining everything upfront, but by treating th...

Mike Steadman is not your typical VC. A former Marine infantry officer, three-time national boxing champion, and self-described "underdog and misfit," Mike came up through bootstrapping businesses before landing at Context VC as a venture partner -- a path that gives him a sharp eye for what separates founders who get funded from those who don't. His advice throughout this episode is grounded, tac...

Jesse brings a rare dual perspective to this episode. Having built and sold his own company before becoming a VC, he speaks to founders as someone who has genuinely sat on both sides of the table. One of the most refreshing threads throughout the conversation is his honesty about what VCs actually go off of at the pre-seed stage: almost nothing. With data rooms described as "ghost towns," Jesse ex...