• 31 minutes 40 seconds
    Ep. 323 How I Raised It with Matt Ober of Social Leverage
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Matt Ober of Social Leverage, a San Diego-based venture capital fund that invests in FinTech and Vertcal AI startups. Learn more at https://socialleverage.com/. In this episode, Matt shares his journey from working at a quant hedge fund to becoming a VC, trends in FinTech and Vertical AI, tips for using Claude and MCPs for raising capital, how they use content to attract the best founders, advice for emerging VC managers, tips for founders, and more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    26 August 2026, 4:13 pm
  • 38 minutes 49 seconds
    Ep. 322 How I Raised It with Victor Cardenas of Slash
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Victor Cardenas of Slash, a FinTech startup that provides banking, cards, crypto, treasury and more. Learn more at www.slash.com In this episode, we discuss his journey starting Slash in the middle of the pandemic at age 18, getting into YC, why it's important to be able to describe your startup in 2 ways (what you're doing + where you're going), his playbook for rapidly expanding into new markets and customer segments, why it's important to be dilution-conscious, how to time-box your raise, and more. Slash most recently raised a $100 million Series C at a $1.4 billion valuation, bringing the company's total funding to $160 million. The round was led by Ribbit Capital and Khosla Ventures and Goodwater Capital also co-leading. NEA and YC also invested in the round. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    18 August 2026, 3:37 am
  • 37 minutes 36 seconds
    Ep. 321 How I Raised It with Kane Hsieh of Root.vc
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Kane Hsieh of Root Ventures, a deep tech seed VC fund that funds and supports investors at the earliest stages. Learn more (and check out their very cool website) at Root.vc. In this episode we discuss why chaos and disruption is good for founders and VCs, why it's critical to find your edge to raise capital, how being a VC is similar to being a Hollywood agent, how geting intros to VCs / LPs is the first "meta test", ways that Root is applying AI to the venture game, and much more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    30 June 2026, 9:53 pm
  • 40 minutes 57 seconds
    Ep. 320 How I Raised It with Andrei Serban of Console
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Andrei Serban of Console, a San Francisco-based startup that provides an AI-powered IT Service Management platform that automates routine internal support requests and IT tasks directly through platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Learn more at www.console.com In this episode, we discuss the acquisition of Andrei's previous company, Fuzzbuzz, by Rippling and he shares tips for managing the exit process. We then discuss what Console does and why he started the company. Following that, Andrei shares the story of raising capital from Thrive Capital, DST Global and prominent angels, how he ran a really tight 2 week process, how he used AI and an Investor Memo in the process, tips for who to target at a VC fund, why he likes to hire ex founders, and more. Andrei is a repeat guest of the show -- to catch the original episode when he was building Fuzzbuzz, click here: https://soundcloud.com/user-2586856/ep-106-how-i-raised-it-with-andrew-serban-of-fuzzbuzz Console has raised $29M from Thrive Capital and DST Global, with backers including Ramp's founders, Box CEO Aaron Levie, and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    28 May 2026, 5:52 pm
  • 54 minutes 44 seconds
    Ep. 319 How I Raised It with Itamar Novick of Recursive Ventures
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Itamar Novick of Recursive Ventures, a VC fund that invests in US pre-seed and seed-stage tech startups disrupting industries with Artificial Intelligence (AI). In this episode we discuss "anti-patterns" that can derail a startup, his background as an executive at Life360, how he got started angel investing, how he launched his first angel fund, tips for evolving the business and raising a "proper" fund from institutional LPs, advice on setting up the fund's back office, and much more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    22 April 2026, 12:47 am
  • 52 minutes 26 seconds
    Ep. 318 How I Raised It with Sarah Lucena of Mappa AI
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Sarah Lucena of Mappa AI. Mappa offers an AI-powered voice analysis tool that reads patterns in voice data and translates them into behavioral insights for better hiring. Learn more at mappa.ai. In this episode, we discuss Sarah's journey from a small town in Brazil to running her VC-backed startup in San Francisco. She shares multiple tips for immigrant founders considering a similar journey. Mappa most recently raised an oversubscribed $3.4 million seed round led by Draper Associates, with participation from Serac Ventures, Riverwalk Capital, SherVentures, Seagrass, Angel Squad (Hustle Fund), Grão VC, SoGal Ventures, The Pitch, and AngelHub Mexico. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    21 April 2026, 12:01 am
  • 49 minutes 25 seconds
    Ep. 317 How I Raised It with Gesa Miczaika of Auxxo
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Gesa Miczaika of Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, a venture firm that backs female-founded startups based in Europe. Learn more at https://auxxo.de/ In this episode we discuss the opportunity of investing in female founders, how the firm evolved from angel investing into a VC fund, tips for cracking into German family offices and raising capital from the European Investment Fund and much more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    29 January 2026, 12:50 am
  • 47 minutes 46 seconds
    Ep. 316 How I Raised It with Sam Lessin of Slow Ventures
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Sam Lessin of Slow Ventures, a a generalist early stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco, Boston, and New York that has invested ~$1B in startups building in the security, fintech, buyouts/rollups, SaaS, crypto, consumer, healthcare, and the creator economy. Slow's portfolio includes companies like Airtable, Brightside, Gusto, Metropolis, OpenPhone, PillPack, Ro, Solana, Teamshares and more. In this episode we discuss what Slow invests in across its 5 funds, why Slow is a "generalist fund," how Sam and Kevin raised capital for their first fund from ex-Facebook employees, why Slow decided to launch a dedicated fund focused on the creator economy, his advice for emerging VC managers and much more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    16 January 2026, 4:29 pm
  • 53 minutes 55 seconds
    Ep. 315 How I Raised It with David Alvo of Impacta.vc
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with David Alvo of Impacta.vc, a seed fund investing in purpose-driven startups in LATAM. Learn more at https://www.impacta.vc/ In this episode we go deep into the LATAM startup and VC scene. David shares his thoughts on which country produces the best startups, and the differences between Mexican, Columbian, Argentinian and Chilean founders, why LATAM is a great place to invest in startups (hint: lower valuations), what it takes for LATAM startups to raise capital in the USA, his process for raising Fund I and II and how the LP composition has changed, and much more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    10 December 2025, 11:56 pm
  • 44 minutes 40 seconds
    Ep. 314 How I Raised It with Naveen Verma of EnCharge AI
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Naveen Verma of EnCharge AI, a startup developing energy efficient analog in-memory-computing AI chips. In addition to being CEO, Naveen is a Professor at Princeton and so we discuss his journey from academia and research to leading a startup to an over-subscribed $100 M Series B. Learn more about EnCharge at https://www.enchargeai.com/ EnCharge most recently raised over $100 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Tiger Global and included participation from Maverick Silicon, Capital TEN, SIP Global Partners, Zero Infinity Partners, CTBC VC, Vanderbilt University, Morgan Creek Digital, and others. Previous investors participating in the Series B round include RTX Ventures, Anzu Partners, Scout Ventures, AlleyCorp, ACVC, and S5V. The round also included strategic investors including Samsung Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Samsung, HH-CTBC, a partnership between Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and CTBC VC, In-Q-Tel (IQT), the not-for-profit strategic investor advancing technologies for the U.S. national security community and America’s allies; RTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of RTX, a leading manufacturer of aerospace and defense systems and technology solutions; and Constellation Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of clean, emissions-free, reliable energy. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    8 December 2025, 5:36 pm
  • 47 minutes 4 seconds
    Ep. 313 How I Raised It with Max Spero of Pangram
    Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Max Spero of Pangram, an AI detector tool. We talk about the challenges of AI in the classroom when it comes to plagiarism, and tips for how to use AI the right way to generate good content. Max also shares his journey from the Stanford dormitories to raising $4m from Semil Shah of Haystack Ventures and Kevin O’Connor of ScOp VC. Learn more at https://www.pangram.com/. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com
    7 November 2025, 9:04 pm
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