Fundraising & investors
Building the business
653 episodes across 38 shows cover fundraising & investors. The shows that cover it most are How I Built This, The Startup CPG Podcast and The Robot Report Podcast. The most recent, from 10 Oct 2026, is “How to Ask Someone to Invest in Your CPG Brand, with Fave's Ryan Raish” from The Startup CPG Podcast.
Raising money: venture capital, angels, accelerators, grants, debt, bootstrapping as a choice.
653 episodes from 38 shows, most relevant and most recent first.
653 episodes
10 Years of How I Built This: A Decade of Innovation, Risk and Reinvention
Guy Raz and Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, review highlights from ten years of 'How I Built This,' discussing the emotional and financial struggles of founders like Sam Kalagani of Dogfish Head, Eileen Fisher, and Sarah Blakely of Spanx…
How to Ask Someone to Invest in Your CPG Brand, with Fave's Ryan Raish
Ryan Raish, founder of Fave, details his journey from a 20-year CPG career at brands like Popchips and Honest Tea to launching a certified organic powdered drink mix. He explains how he self-funded two years of R&D and retailer feedback…
Partnership Not Ownership: Inside Main Post Partners' Investment Approach
Tara Hyland, Principal at Main Post Partners, explains the firm's growth equity approach, which focuses on founder-led consumer businesses with $25M–$200M in revenue. She details how Main Post differentiates itself from venture capital by…
Should You Apply for Startup CPG's Founders & Funders?
Daniel Scharff, host of The Startup CPG Podcast, explains the value and mechanics of the upcoming 'Founders & Funders' event on December 10th in New York City. He details how the application-based summit connects early-stage CPG brands…
UGG: Brian Smith. How an epiphany, surfers, and $500 launched an iconic sheepskin footwear company.
Brian Smith, founder of UGG, explains how he imported Australian sheepskin boots to the U.S. in 1979, initially struggling with zero sales from surf shops before pivoting to marketing to real surfers like Mike Parsons and Ted Robinson. He…
Founder vs. Investor with Liz Zalman and Jerry Neumann
Oxide founders Bryan Cantrill and Steve Tuck join investor Seth Winterroth and authors Liz Zalman and Jerry Neumann to discuss the dynamics of the founder-investor relationship, drawing on insights from their book *Founder vs. Investor*…
#423: Inside the Investor's Mind: What VCs Look For in MedTech
Josh Eckelberry, Principal at Solas BioVentures, explains the firm's operator-led investment philosophy and its 'DOTE, GOAT, FLOAT, MOAT' framework for evaluating early-stage MedTech startups. He details how founders can de-risk their…
S3 E4: An Impact Hardware VC's Playbook with Carlota Ochoa from Extentia
Carlota Ochoa, Principal at Extentia Capital, explains that the fund looks for hardware startups with low residual R&D risk, step-change innovations, and a clear path to cost parity, rather than marginal green improvements. She highlights…
Oxide's $100M Series B
Oxide Computer Company CEO Steve Tuck and co-founder Bryan Cantrill discuss the company's $100M Series B funding round, highlighting the strategic importance of raising capital to scale manufacturing and engineering teams. They detail…
La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti. A Brotherhood Built on Coffee (2020)
Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti, co-founders of La Colombe Coffee Roasters, recount their journey from meeting in Seattle to launching a specialty coffee brand in Philadelphia. They detail the operational challenges of their early…
Shopify: Tobias Lütke. How a snowboarder built a $150 billion business (2019)
Tobias Lütke, co-founder and CEO of Shopify, explains how his 2004 attempt to launch a snowboard store called Snowdevil led to the creation of the Shopify e-commerce platform. Lütke details the pivot from selling physical goods to building…
#267: Term Sheets 101 with Giannuzzi Lewendon
Adam Marsh and Gabrielle McGonagle, partners at the CPG law firm Giannuzzi Lewendon, explain the critical components of term sheets for founders raising capital. They detail how to negotiate protective provisions, board control, and…
Why Investor Ryan Ball Wants You to Pivot Fast and Fundraise Smart
Ryan Ball, founder of Sperian Ventures, explains his investment criteria for early-stage CPG brands, emphasizing the importance of sales velocity data, specifically pre-, during, and post-promo metrics, to assess scalability and rebuy…
#261 - What Makes Brands Investable at Founders & Funders? with Hannah Dittman
Hannah Dittman, Operations & Finance Host at Startup CPG and former investor at Main Post Partners and Morphe, explains what makes a CPG brand investable to venture capitalists. She details the criteria used for Startup CPG's 'Founders and…
diapers.com: Marc Lore. The ecommerce visionary who lost to Amazon but still made billions (2021)
Marc Lore, founder of diapers.com and jet.com, explains how he built an e-commerce empire by using diapers as a loss leader to drive traffic to higher-margin baby products. He details the 'scorched earth' strategy Amazon used to force his…
S6E45 Jeremy Jarrett | Legal Advice & Strategy for Starting An Engineering Business
Jeremy Jarrett, a corporate and M&A attorney at Sacks Tierney, advises engineers on the legal strategies for starting and scaling a business, emphasizing the importance of entity structure, funding, and contract negotiation. He highlights…
#424: The MedTech Startup Survival Guide with Steve Bell
Steve Bell, a veteran MedTech entrepreneur and co-founder of various AI-powered initiatives, explains why over 75% of startups fail due to emotional attachment to non-viable concepts and underestimating the time and financial commitment…
Ep. 15: Can Mexico Become Robotics’ Next Powerhouse? | The Robo Success Podcast
Aldo Luevano, Chairman and Co-Founder of Roomie IT, explains how his company pivoted from consumer robotics to enterprise AI software due to the difficulty of proving ROI for humanoid robots in Latin America's low-labor-cost market. He…
New Mexico proves America can still build [partner content]
Rob Black, New Mexico's Secretary of Economic Development, and Jim Kenney, Secretary of the Environment Department, explain how their state is accelerating clean energy and deep-tech manufacturing through a 'white glove' government…
Insomnia Cookies: Seth Berkowitz
Seth Berkowitz, co-founder and CEO of Insomnia Cookies, recounts the 21-year journey of building a $350 million late-night cookie delivery business. He details early pivots, including a failed partnership with the frozen yogurt brand Tasty…
Thrive Market: Nick Green
Nick Green, co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, explains how he pivoted from selling his SAT prep company to building an online grocery marketplace after being rejected by dozens of VCs. He details the critical decision to raise seed…
Springdale Ventures' Dan Graham on Financial Forecasting and Investor Communications
Dan Graham, Co-Founder of Springdale Ventures, explains the firm's seed-to-Series-A investment thesis, focusing on fast-moving consumer goods with strong unit economics and repeat-purchase potential. He details how Springdale evaluates…
Founder Fundraising Journey: Frozen One, Alan Chen & Conner Mennig
Alan Chen and Conner Mennig, co-founders of Frozen One, detail their journey from prototyping with a Ninja Creami machine to securing $5.5 million in funding and expanding into 2,300 retail doors, including Target and Wegmans. They discuss…
Founder + Funder: Fundraising, Retail Growth, and Building a Modern Hydration Brand with Alex Michaelsen of Leisure Hydration and Ryan Springer of Midnight
Alex Michaelsen, Co-Founder and CEO of Leisure Hydration, and Ryan Springer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Midnight, discuss the journey of building a modern hydration brand and the nuances of founder-investor relationships. They…
e.l.f. Cosmetics: Joey Shamah. The Dollar Store Formula That Built a Cosmetics Giant
Joey Shamah, co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, explains how he and partner Scott Vincent Borba launched a $1 makeup brand in 2004 by cutting out celebrity endorsements and premium packaging to focus on product quality and low-cost…
A blueprint for scalable fusion power
Carrie von Muench, COO of Pacific Fusion, explains the company's strategy for scalable inertial fusion power using modular, commodity-based drivers to achieve net facility gain by 2030. She details the technical distinction between the…
222: Securing Grants for Scaling Up a Hardware Startup
Micki Vandeloo, President of Lakeview Consulting, explains how hardware startups can secure government grants to fund scaling operations, noting her firm has raised over $250 million for clients. She distinguishes between state grants…
2023 climate tech venture investment trends
Kim Zou, co-founder and CEO of Sightline Climate, joins host Shayle Khan to analyze the 2023 Climate Tech Investment Trends report, revealing a 30% decline in venture funding driven by the disappearance of mega-rounds rather than a drop in…
Financing first-of-a-kind climate assets
David Yeh, a climatetech investor with experience at the White House, Generation Investment Management, and CIBC, explains the structural difficulties of financing first-of-a-kind (FOAK) climate assets, where venture capital is too…
Athletic Brewing Company: Bill Shufelt
Bill Shufelt, founder of Athletic Brewing Company, explains how he pivoted from a finance career to reinvent non-alcoholic beer after quitting alcohol to improve his health. He details the struggle to find a brewer, eventually partnering…
AM at a Crossroads: Incodema3D Proves What's Possible at Scale
Sean Whittaker, founder and CEO of Incodema3D, explains how the company evolved from a sheet metal prototyping shop into one of North America's largest metal additive manufacturing operations, now scaling to over 50 Laser Powder Bed Fusion…
Investor Spotlight: Graham Garzon, Ground Force Capital — Growth Stage Investing, Business Fundamentals, and What It Takes to Build an Acquirable Brand
Graham Garzon, Vice President at Ground Force Capital, explains the firm's growth-stage investment strategy, which targets CPG brands with $15-20 million in revenue for checks of $10-40 million. He details the shift toward profitability…
Investor Spotlight: Bill Schultz, Beliade Consumer Partners
Bill Schultz, Partner at Beliade Consumer Partners, explains the firm's investment thesis of backing founder-led disruptor brands in established categories like hummus and diapers, citing Little Sesame and Coterie as key examples. He…
Founder + Funder: Anabel González, Founder of Good Bacteria and Hayden Williams, Partner of BrandProject
Anabel González, founder of Good Bacteria, and Hayden Williams, Partner at BrandProject, discuss the investment journey of Good Bacteria, a rotating probiotic system. González explains how a postpartum health journey led to a pivot from a…
S4E41 Neil Thompson | Technical Pitches: Revealing Flaws, Using Stories, & Wiggling Toes
Neil Thompson, founder of Teach the Geek and creator of the Teach the Geek Pitching Society, explains how technical founders can improve their investor pitches by focusing on empathy, storytelling, and transparency. He advises…
#334: MedTech Funding and Preparing for Due Diligence
Devon Campbell, founder of Product, explains how medical device startups should prepare for due diligence by understanding the distinct motivations of angel, strategic, and VC investors. He identifies five critical red flags during…
#473: The MedTech Odyssey: Bridging Academic Science to Series A Success
Jordi Martorell, CEO and co-founder of Aortyx, discusses his journey from mapping arterial blood flow at the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center to raising a Series A for his Class III medical device company. He explains how Aortyx…
Advice Line with Scott Tannen of Boll & Branch and Jamie Siminoff of Ring (2025)
Scott Tannen of Boll & Branch and Jamie Siminoff of Ring advise three early-stage founders on scaling physical product businesses. Tannen and Siminoff counsel Melita of Q for Quinn on the trade-offs between bootstrapping and venture…
233: Raising Money For Scaling Via a Crowdfunding Campaign
Will Ford, President and Co-Founder of LaunchBoom, explains how hardware startups can leverage crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo to validate products and raise growth capital without giving away excessive equity early. He…
#374: Clinical Evidence - The Key to Market Adoption
Shaherah Yancy, CEO of Research Lifecycle Solutions and former executive at Medtronic, Stryker, and Smith & Nephew, explains why robust clinical and regulatory strategies are critical for MedTech companies to secure funding and achieve…
Advice Line with Jeni Britton of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (2025)
Jeni Britton, founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and her new fiber company Flora, advises three early-stage CPG founders on marketing, fundraising, and PR. Jesse Koenig of Jesse and Ben's discusses marketing frozen fries made with…
Founder Fundraising Journey: Craig Dubitsky, Happy Products
Craig Dubitsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Happy Products, discusses his journey building brands like eos, hello, and Method, and his current venture, Happy, which partners with NAMI. He explains that Happy is in the 'Happy business' with…
Investor Spotlight: Elly Truesdell, New Fare Partners
Elly Truesdel, founder and Managing Partner at New Fare Partners, discusses her transition from Whole Foods to venture investing, highlighting her fund's focus on seed and Series A food and beverage companies. She details the differences…
Investor Spotlight: Mollye Santulli, Springdale Ventures
Mollye Santulli, Principal at Springdale Ventures, explains the firm's investment thesis, which targets founder-led consumer brands generating $1–$15 million in revenue, with a sweet spot of $1–$5 million. She details Springdale's…
S1 E9: Building a Strong Capital Stack for a Hardware Product with Orin Hoffman
Orin Hoffman, founder of VXI Capital and former operator at iRobot and The Engine, explains how hardware founders should strategically structure their capital stack to mitigate the high technical and techno-economic risks of physical…
Frontier Forum: Why clean energy capital boomed in a volatile year [partner content]
Alfred Johnson, CEO of Crux, and Katie Bays, Head of Research at Crux, discuss the resilience of the clean energy capital market in 2025, noting that total capital expenditures reached approximately $120 billion despite policy volatility…
Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain
Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter, explains the five-step nuclear fuel supply chain, highlighting enrichment as the critical bottleneck where the US relies heavily on European and Russian sources. He details the distinction between Low…
Axel Bichara | How to Work with VCs to Build An Engineering Business
Axel Bichara, Co-Founder and General Partner at Baukunst, explains how his engineering background at MIT and experience founding Premise informs his approach to venture capital. He details Baukunst's strategy of acting as 'company…
S1 E7: Level Up Your Hardware Product Pitch with Haje Kamps
Haje Kamps, a pitch coach and former VC, explains why technology rarely speaks for itself and why founders must demonstrate founder-market fit, VC-scale potential, and bottom-market fit to secure funding. He argues that traction is the…
2024 year in review: bold bets and dashed dreams
Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman, Gene Demaitre, and Brianna Wessling review 2024 robotics trends, highlighting the surge in humanoid development led by Agility Robotics and Figure AI, alongside significant funding for autonomous systems. The…