“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
I challenge you to find a single founder that successfully navigated the funding world on their first try. Anyone who has raised money, successfully or not, has regrets.
Fortunately, this is great news for you. Many of these founders have taken to the internet to communicate their experience and share their funding wisdom with would-be founders.
These nuggets of funding gold exist in many forms, but my favorite format is podcasts. There is nothing quite like hearing about an experience than from the mouth of the person who experienced it.
Here are my favorite podcasts for founders trying to raise money:
Startup Funding
This is exactly what you think it is. Founders are interviewed and speak about their funding triumphs and tribulations. VC’s brains are picked about how they make their investment picks and Angles are questioned about how they pick out winning startups from the noise.
One thing I appreciate about this podcast is the focus on post-money valuation. Too often, people get hung up on pre-money valuations and forget that what truly matters is the value of the company after the money has changed hands.
My episode picks:
Alternative Startup Financing with Jessica Norwood
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The Pitch
The pitch works because it is real. The show is hosted by Josh Muccio, a startup advisor, and investor, and he brings on guest founders to pitch their businesses. The twist? They have to do it in one minute or less.
This listen can give founders are a better understanding of what kinds of questions they may be asked by an investor. Also, hearing the details of a business can be helpful in understanding how to structure your own.
The pitch is great at helping founders see their pitch, and subsequently business, in a fresh light.
Listening to others pitch and answer questions can be hugely influential in helping a founder get out of his or her own head and figure out where their strengths lie.
My episode picks:
#48 Will This Space Startup Make It off the Ground?
#36 When Two Startups Love Each Other Very Much …
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How I Built This
This podcast is hosted by Guy Raz and tells the stories of how some of the world’s most famous companies, like Instagram and Airbnb, got their starts.
The stories of these mega successes are surprisingly human. Guy Raz does a great job at digging into the struggles, creative solutions, and personal impact of Unicron founders.
What I love about this podcast is that it really hammers in the point that there are no guarantees in life or business. Anyone can build a successful company, and anyone can fail.
It is not as specifically funding-focused as some of the other options on this list, but any listener will quickly realize that funding is almost always integral to the conversation.
My episode picks:
Burt’s Bees: Roxanne Quimby (2019)
Serial Entrepreneur: Gary Vaynerchuk
Diapers.com & Jet.com: Marc Lore
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The Entrepreneur’s Library
Instead of focusing on founders or funders, this podcast features authors talking about recent books applicable to entrepreneurs. If you are looking for your next great read, this could prove to be a great resource.
What I love about this show is the variety of perspectives. You can jump around to whatever episode catches your interest.
This is a nice break from the onslaught of big founder success story interviews. It is more sporadic, grounded, and diverse than most others on this list.
Some episodes are more funding-focused than others, but the majority of them contain at least a tidbit or two of wisdom on the subject.
My episode picks:
The Entrepreneurs Guide Sleeve Free Selling
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So there you have it, my top 4 podcasts for entrepreneurs looking to raise money. Whether you’re trying to get a general understanding of the process or want to hear specific tips and stories from founders and investors, these shows have something for everyone.
Best of luck out there,
JP
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