The AFT podcast: At the Forefront of Transactions | Payments | Fintech | Pay-tech | Banking

Abboud Chaballout , Co-Founder at Diagnoss talks about working in a heavily regulated field and what it takes to get into healthcare space. We also talked about fundraising for Diagnoss and how he approached it during the pandemic. Abboud's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abboud-chaballout-207484a/ Diagnoss: https://www.diagnoss.com/

Taylor Nieman , Co-Founder and CEO at Toucan talks about raising money from investors who previously rejected her. We spoke how to maintain good relationship with investors and how that can lead to an investment from someone who previously rejected you. Taylor's Twitter: https://twitter.com/taylor_nieman?lang=en https://salesql.com/ - tool to find emails of leads. Toucan: https://jointoucan.com/

Amy Cheetham , principal at Costanoa Ventures talks about investing in Fintech during the pandemic (and post-pandemic) and how founders in these fields should work with investors at times like this. Amy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-cheetham-61835127/ Amy's Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyecheetham?lang=en Costanoa Ventures: https://www.costanoavc.com/ P.S. Happy New Year! The next e...

Martijn De Wever , CEO & Founder of Force Over Mass and Floww , talks about using (and building) referral networks and getting warm introductions to investors you've never met before. Martijn also talks about his experience of raising money during COVID and his advice to founders who want to raise money soon. Martijn's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijndewever/ Floww: https://www.fl...

Vladimir Klimontovich , Co-founder & CTO @ Jitsu (YC S20) talks about how it felt to be in the YC during the pandemic. He explained what major problems he saw in participating in the program fully remotely and also discussed the benefits of remote-YC. We also spoke about creating the momentum for fundraising and how YC still manages to do its main job even during the pandemic. Vladimir's Linke...

Pascal Unger , Managing Partner at Darling Ventures talks about raising money from non-US-based investors and who should try this strategy, we also spoke about raising money for funds and how funds approach their fundraising. Touched onto San Francisco being not the center of the startup universe anymore and much more. Pascal's Twitter (super useful for founders) - https://twitter.com/PascalUnger...

Steve Morin , Head of Mobile Engineering at Asana talks about the importance of the mission statement of the company and its culture and how it affects hiring talented employees. We also talked about Steve's investment/mentorship thesis and his advice to early stage entrepreneurs trying to create their own companies. Steve's newsletter: https://productivegrowth.substack.com/ Asana: https://asana.c...

Sandy Huang , Head of Product Growth at Alexa Mobile, talks about understanding your customers early on, running individual customer interviews, releasing surveys and doing the customer development in a lean way. We also spoke about how larger companies do that and when a founder needs to hire a professional to do the job. Sandy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandycook/ How to run custome...

Dave Krauthamer , Founder and CEO at QuSecure , Founder at Quantum Thought , Founder at Neural Sales and Chair of Digital Disruption Group at the Band of Angels . In this episode he speaks about how the Band of Angels invests, what major metrics do they look at and how to get to them.  We also discussed how one can be a founder of multiple companies simultaneously and how does that work. Dave...

Peter Corbett, founder of iStrategyLabs talks about his journey through the startup world and shares his thoughts on fundraising for early stage startups. Peter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corbett3000/ ISL: https://isl.co/

Co-Founder and CEO at Cladwell that exited in 2019 and currently the founder of J umpdocs.com (formerly named Boilerplate.legal) talks about his previous experiences in fundraising and selling his company. We also spoke about the major problems that startup founders are having and how to avoid those problems.  Check out Jumpdocs.com (in episode referred to as Boilerplate.legal) - https://www....

Pascal Levy-Garboua , currently the Venture Partner at Long Journey Ventures , talks about his previous experiences with both - fundraising and building companies in general. We also talked about what Long Journey Ventures likes to invest in and those who are good fit can ping Pascal and LJV using links below. Pascal's Twitter: https://twitter.com/2pasc Long Journey Ventures' Twitter: https://twit...

Drew Moffitt , Exited Founder turned Corporate Venture Builder, Mentor at Techstars and a Fledgling Angel, talks about how he raised his seed round for Tailbus and how that company got to an acquisition. We've also talked about how a startup founder can raise a series A round instead of the acquisition.  Drew's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewpmoffitt/ Venture Sails: www.venturesail...

Zach Cohen, currently the Director of Business Development at Vista Investments and previously the President at Cohen and Sons Apparel that was acquired in 2018. In this episode he speaks about his fundraising experience and specifically about raising money through KickStarter - how did it work for him and who he believes should pursue that path.  Zach's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/...

Phil Nadel , Founder and Managing Director at Forefront Venture Partners (formerly Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners), talks about the major instrument used for raising money - SAFEs or SAFE notes. We talked about the major misunderstandings about this instrument, who should use it and when is it time to price your round instead of using a SAFE note. Phil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ph...

Victor Zhou , Ex Founder & CEO of Sentinel Tec that was acquired by DT talks about how he managed to grow his company in China and why that happened. We also looked into who should try to look abroad while being based in the US and how your startup can prosper in another country. Victor's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vzhehao/ Fill out this form to get connected to investors and mentor...

Alex Eckelberry is a technology CEO with an extensive background in senior technology leadership, with private, venture/PE backed, and publicly-traded companies. Alex was most recently President and COO of AutoLoop, a SaaS disrupter in the automotive technology space, now merged with Affinitiv Alex's linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeck/ Affinitiv Inc: https://www.affinitiv.com/

Stefanie R. Yu, Partnerships, Strategic Lead at IndiegoGo talks about reward-based crowdfunding and what kind of startup should try to pursue it. We talked about the major steps founders should take while preparing for it and the major mistakes founders make while raising money through this source. Links mentioned in the episode:  The very successful campaign that raised 17M I mentioned, they...

Wade Fletcher , Founder at ScoreTwoMedia that was acquired in 2020 and currently the Founder of UndercoverVC , talks about constructing scout networks and how a high school student can grow a small startup. We've also discussed how can startup founders take advantage of such scout networks and how do they work. UndercoverVC: https://undercover.vc/ OnePagerVC by Open Scout: https://onepager.vc/ Fil...

Daniel McCarthy , Director and Co-Founder of Theta Equity Partners and Co-Founder and Chief Statistician of Zodiac acquired by Nike, talks about building and selling companies, how some funds invest based on stats only and how he personally approaches fundraising and investing. Daniel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcc/ Pipe - get access to your annual cashflow today (funds based on...

Jason Myers , Partner at CopyPro.ai and Chairman of Various and Guerrilla Marketing Global, talks about how he grew multiple businesses into cash-generating machines and how he managed to get through the very first stages. We also discuss Guerrilla marketing and how it works and other customer acquisition channels. Guerrilla Marketing Global: https://www.gmarketing.com/ Fill out this form to get c...

Andrew Christodoulides , Founder & CEO of Moro that has raised one round through equity crowdfunding and is planning to raise the second one through equity crowdfunding again talks about the major lessons he learned in the previous round. We also talked about how his strategy will change in the upcoming fundraise and why did he decide to choose equity crowdfunding again. Moro: https://moro.com...

Scott Schwab , Co-Founder at Bottega, Managing Partner at Aethos Ventures and Partner at Mett Corp talks about his first fundraising experience and how his approach to fundraising changed since then. We also discuss how startups can survive and prosper in heavily saturated markets.  Scott's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-schwab-8306713/ Mett Corp: https://mett.com/ Non-Profit tha...

Skip Sanzeri , currently the founder and partner at Multiverse Capital and founder at QuSecure and Quantum Thought, previously the founder with several exits and failures. In this episode we talk about creating advisory boards - how to compensate advisors, what kind of contract should you have with an advisor, how to chose the right advisors and much more. Multiverse Capital: https://www.multivers...

Brian Mac Mahon , Founder at Expert DOJO - one of the largest and most active accelerators in Los Angeles talks about fundraising for early stage startups, investment thesis of Expert DOJO and funding availability during the pandemic. Brian's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmacmahon2/ Apply to Expert DOJO: https://expertdojo.com/register/international-accelerator/ Miki Reynolds talking...