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

Joost van Dreunen , ex-Co-Founder of SuperData Research acquired by Nielsen in 2018 and currently Investor and advisor, lecturer at NYU Stern and Author of "One Up" talks about fundraising for his exited company and about the major trends he sees in the universities. Joost's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joostvandreunen/ Interesting article about fundraising by Joost: https://medium.com/@s...

Hasan Luongo , VP Growth Marketing at Chipper Cash , previously Director of Growth Marketing at Voicea (acquired by Cisco), Growth Marketing Lead at Fairy acquired by Postmates and Head of Growth at Honey acquired by PayPal, talks about growth marketing and how founders with no experience in this should approach it.  Hasan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hasanluongo/ Chipper Cash: htt...

Poseidon Ho , Founder and General Partner at Outliers Fund talks about investing in deep tech and the real moonshots. We've also talked about crypto investing and how Outliers Fund was started and how it became what it is in 2020. Poseidon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/poseidonho/ Outliers Fund: http://outliers.fund/ Episode of FR on working with the US department of defence: https://www...

Audra Gold Co-founder and CEO at Vurbl Media in this episode explains how she managed to close the round after the covid hit. We've also discussed the major tactics she used while raising money and how her approach to investors changed after covid. We also talked about the moment that Vurble started getting more attention from VCs and the round got oversubscribed. Audra's LinedIn: https://www.link...

Adrian Sedlin , serial entrepreneur with 5 successful exits and currently the CEO at CANNDESCENT , talks about - what do you need to have to raise the pre-seed round? What is FFF round (friends family and fools) and how those are being raised. Adrian's linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-sedlin-1087473/ CANNDESCENT : https://www.canndescent.com/ Fill out this form to get connected to inve...

Srinivas Kilambi , founder with 2 exits and 2 IPOs and currently the Founder at Accelenovate talks about the exits in his career and one unsuccessful venture he had. We also discussed the major steps he took to get to those exits and his thoughts on the major mistake he's done in the past in terms of fundraising. Srinivas' LiN SAB Group:  Make the most of your professional life If you want to...

Steve Walsh , angel investor, Advisory Board Member at ZenSports and the CEO at Procurrence talks about angel investments, working as an advisor, fundraising for Procurrence and comparison of fundraising in the pre-COVID VS COVID world. We also discussed Steve's work at Procurrence and how he is approaching to investors right now.   Steve's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-walsh-a7...

Angad Singh , Founder and CEO at Casette that was acquired by Evernote and currently he is a Product Manager at Coda . And in this episode we spoke about differences between small and big startups from fundraising perspective as well as customer acquisition and much more. Touched onto an interesting pivot and a happy ending as well:) Angad's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/preetangad/ Coda:...

David Mandel , SoCal-based super Angel, investing in emerging technology startups who Invested in over 500 startups up to date, talks about early stage startups. We focused our conversation on how helpful accelerators can be and why founders should consider applying to those. We also talked about David's investing thesis and the way he gets his deal flow. David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...

Danny Done , CEO at GoBekli explains how his approach to fundraising changed in the post-COVID world and how he interacts with investors now. He also talks about methods that work for him now and those that clearly don't. For everyone who is trying to raise money now - this is for you:) Danny's linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielarthurdone/ GoBekli: gobekli.io Fill out this form to get co...

Sunny Kumar , Partner at GSR Ventures talks about the healthtech field. How can founders overcome multiple regulation barriers and get through the capital-intense field? How should they get in touch with the right people in healthtech space if they don't have the right network? Sunny's choice of newsletters that he recommends Fundraising Radio's listeners to follow (I like those too!) -  Stri...

Igor Belagorudsky , serial entrepreneur with several exits, currently an angel investor, mentor and president at FastCTO , talks about his previous experiences of starting companies, failing and winning. We talked about his major takeaways from that experience and the major mistakes he made in the past. We also talked about the major achievements, so this episode isn't too dark:) FastCTO: https://...

Daniel Kravtsov , previously co-founder and CEO at RTBmedia that exited in 2016 and currently co-founder and CEO at Improvado talks about his approach to fundraising and why he decided to raise from so many investors. We also talk about major pros and cons of that approach and about ways to manage that process. Speaking of management, below are the tools that will help you manage your leads, inves...

Anya Cheng , who worked as Product Head | Facebook, eBay, Target | eCommerce, Growth and others talks about how big corporations chose partners and how a small startup can partner with smaller teams at large corporations. We also talk about best ways of getting in touch with those and getting the deal closed eventually. Anya's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anyacheng/ Anya's Book: https://m...

Gail Christine Gannon , Managing director at WaveEdge Capital, mentor to startups at US Market Access Center and an angel investors talks about her experience traveling the world to help founders in other countries. In this episode we talk a lot about the resources that the US provides to the entrepreneurs and how founders can use those. Email Gail: Gail@ensantellc.com  Gail's LinkedIn: https...

Ellen Chang , director at BMNT and partner at Syndicate 708 talks about working with the DoD as a startup, she explained how a startup can get funding from the Department of Defence, what are the major problems of working with it and much more. We've also covered the major challenges for deep tech startup founders. Resources mentioned in the episode:  DEF:  https://www.def.org/ SBIR: www...

Reza Sabahi , Managing Director at Wells Fargo Capital Finance explains how traditional banking works. What do you need to have in order to get a loan from a bank for your startup? How do bankers evaluate startups and what are the decisive factors? All in this episode. Reza's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reza-sabahi-a695364/ Wells Fargo Capital Finance: https://wellsfargocapitalfinance.co...

Pelli Wang , managing partner at DeerCreek talks about fundraising through crypto currency issues. Are ICOs still alive? Who should raise through crypto currency and what are the major downsides of this process? We've also discussed STOs and more. List of events, I highly recommend attending toastmasters: https://www.eventbrite.com/d/united-states/startups/?page=1 Fill out this form to get connect...

Amit Mehta , partner at BuildersVC talks about reaching out to funds - should you reach out to an older fund that has been operating for 5 years after the raise or should you reach out to a freshly-raised fund? And why? And what are the indicators of the fund's activity? All in this episode. Amit's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dramehta/ Fundraising Radio on acquisitions: https://www.fundr...

David Yaffe , Co-Founder at Estuary , Previously Co-Founder of Arbor (Acquired by LiveRamp) talks about closing a very fast round (2 weeks only) and how that happened. We also discuss the best strategies of gaining new connections and assembling the right network to accelerate the fundraising process.  Estuary: https://estuary.dev/ David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidyaffe/ Fil...

Andrew McIntosh , Director and Product Management for Platform & Integrations at Veritone Inc that went public in 2017 explains what he believes were the core strategies of the company founders that brought the company to a success. We also talked about early employees getting involved in the fundraising process and how does that work. Andrew's Twitter: https://twitter.com/andymmmmc Fill out t...

Adrian Mendoza , Founder and General Partner at Mendoza Ventures talks about his very first fundraising and why it took him so long. Adrain also talks about the ways to accelerate that process and what methodologies can be applied while fundraising. Mendoza Ventures : https://mendoza-ventures.com/contact/ Connect to Adrian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianmendozavc/ Put the kittens i...

Gabriel Paunescu , CEO at Naologi c talks about his experience of opening 7 startups at 3 different countries and raising money for some of them. He talks about creating a useful and cheap product and how to start new business in a new place or even a new country.  Gabriel Paunescu : https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielpaunescu/ Gabriel's company, Naologic: https://naologic.com/ Fill out this...

Ryan Whittemore , Chief Investment Officer at Florida Funder s explains the major benefits of working with an angel group versus a venture capital. We also discussed what major factors should founders look into while making their decision. Florida Funders: https://www.floridafunders.com/ Ryan Whittemore : https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-whittemore-91618410/ Fill out this form to get connected to...

Carlos Ochoa , Founder and Managing Partner at Alpha Impact 8 Ventures explains what it means to expand to the South Americas, who should do it and when is it applicable. We also talked about moving to the silicon valley and specifically - when is it safe enough (in the economic sense) to move to the valley to run your company. Alpha Impact 8 Ventures: https://www.ai8ventures.com/ Fill out this fo...