Episodes
November 04, 2020
#99 The Friends & Family Gap
In VC, before you pitch investors, you’re expected to get some initial cash from friends and family. Getting this money is a critical first step for a new startup. But what if your friends and family aren’t wealthy? Two found...
October 14, 2020
#98 Hello! You’ve Reached The Pitch Helpline
We're now in a business climate transformed by Covid. And founders need help figuring out how to impress investors, find new customers, and connect with potential cofounders in this uncertain time. We wanted to help out. So w...
September 30, 2020
#97 Secret Sauce or Snake Oil?
Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortg...
B2B SaaS
September 16, 2020
#96 A Test of Time
It was three years ago, when Claire Coder went in front of our investors to pitch Aunt Flow. At the time, her startup was a very risky bet. But now, in 2020, Claire’s business has stood the test of time. We find out just how ...
CPG Where Are They Now?
August 26, 2020
#95 You Asked. Investors Answered. Now What?
In the spring, founders desperate for ideas about how to keep their companies afloat called in to get advice from our investors. Several months later, the economy is still far from recovering, so we called the founders back t...
August 05, 2020
#94 The Breaking Point
When gyms closed at the start of the pandemic, Kevin Allen’s at-home fitness app, Row Vigor, went gangbusters. But there was a problem -- a few lines of code were preventing Kevin from cashing in.
Where Are They Now?
July 15, 2020
#93 David vs. Godzilla
When Alon Shwartz started his parental control app, UnGlue, he thought Apple would be an ally. But then Apple decided to make their own competing product and Alon was forced to go toe-to-toe with the biggest tech company in t...
Where Are They Now?
July 01, 2020
#92 Who Did the PPP Actually Save?
We talk to three startup founders who got money from the Paycheck Protection Program and try to find out, what did the PPP money actually do?
June 10, 2020
#91 “If We Don’t Get the Money by Friday …”
In 2018, founder Cody Candee raised $150,000 on our show. He went on to raise over a million dollars in funding that led to extraordinary growth for his startup, Bounce . But then Cody found out the hard way that to keep grow...
Where Are They Now?
May 13, 2020
#90 How Startups Can Succeed in a Pandemic 2
COVID-19 has pushed many founders to attempt risky pivots with their business. Other founders are hoarding cash. And many of them are seeing VC money dry up. On today’s show, investors Sarah Downey and Phil Nadel advise four ...
May 06, 2020
#89 A Big Bet on an Ex-Trucker
For years, Pierre Laguerre worked as a truck driver. During those years he saw one of the biggest inefficiencies in the industry up-close: getting available drivers matched with trucks ready to get on the road. Barely a year ...
Marketplace
April 22, 2020
How I Saved My Startup
Investors are giving founders everywhere an ultimatum: just find a way to survive the next few months. This had us concerned about the entrepreneurs who’ve been on this show. Debbie Wei Mullen pitched Copper Cow Coffee to our...
Where Are They Now?
April 15, 2020
#88 How Startups Can Succeed in a Pandemic
In the last few weeks, COVID-19 has changed just about every business in the country. Investors everywhere are scrambling to help their startups survive the pandemic. On today’s show, investors Elizabeth Yin and Charles Hudso...
April 01, 2020
#87 Uber for Pets
Last year, investors woke up to the fact that the biggest ridesharing companies still struggle to make money. But today’s founder, Aparna Srinivasan, thinks she can buck that trend by introducing pets into the equation. But o...
Consumer Tech Marketplace Badass Female Founders
March 25, 2020
#86 If the Suit Fits, Invest.
Founder Ray Li says he can make you a custom suit, out of a quiz. And his company, Sene, is already making a profit. Ray wants to pursue the technology AND build up a cool brand but the investors wonder if Ray would be better...
CPG Fashion Ecommerce
March 11, 2020
#85 Will Coronavirus Kill This Deal?
There’s a tried and true playbook in tech: get a ton of users, then figure out how to monetize them. Today’s founder, Ofo Ezeugwu, has plenty of users on his site, but the investors press Ofo about his plans to monetize. And ...
Marketplace
March 04, 2020
#84 The Napkin Pitch
Tiffany Walling McGarity called in to the show and you, our listeners, voted her on to pitch the investors. But from the moment she stepped in the room, it was clear that this pitch would play out differently from the rest. O...
How Not To Pitch Your Startup
February 19, 2020
#83 Can Small Bras Be a Big Market?
In VC, investors want to win big — that’s why they love highly scalable tech companies so much. But today’s founder, Jaclyn Fu, is selling actual things. Her startup, Pepper, makes real bras in a very real factory. There’s no...
Badass Female Founders
February 12, 2020
#82 A Deal Too Perfect to Pass Up
This is how much of a go-getter Bobbie Racette is: when she got laid off, she started a business to help thousands of other people who were out of work. Now, she has so many customers, she can’t keep up. And Michael Hyatt, ou...
Badass Female Founders
January 29, 2020
#81 Jillian to the Rescue
During our last call-in show, Thor Wood wowed us with his 30-second elevator pitch for SnapShyft, a company that matches workers with open shifts at restaurants. Now Thor will have to convince a much tougher crowd, the invest...
January 22, 2020
#80 Can This App Silence The Trolls?
Ben Trenda thinks he can stop the trolls on Twitter and other social spaces. He’s building Goodtalk, where famous people can have public one-on-one conversations without interruption. But if you strip away the bad, will you a...
January 08, 2020
#79 The Anti-JUUL
“Move fast and break things” is a mantra for a lot of startup founders — but what if the federal government is slowing you down? That’s the situation that Josh Israel is in with his startup, Hava Health. Josh needs to wait fo...
How To Crush Your Pitch To Investors
November 13, 2019
#78 Got Goals? Grab a Cru
Tiffany Dufu has spent her career uplifting women and girls. Now, she’s turning a lifetime’s worth of expertise into a venture-backed business. Her startup, The Cru, is dedicated to helping women achieve their goals by connec...
How To Crush Your Pitch To Investors Badass Female Founders
November 06, 2019
#77 Sell Online or Go Door to Door
Kate Flynn has a plan to make her healthy snack bites stand out: skip the grocery stores, and find potential customers when and where they need a snack. It’s a strategy that’s outside of the investors’ wheelhouse, but if she ...
Food & Bev