How do you get venture capital funding?

“The best way to get funded is to stop treating it like a sales process and start building real relationships months before you need the money. I passed on leading Goodfire's seed because I was too late, wrote a small check, spent months helping them, and when they raised again they had seven term sheets in three days and chose us because they knew us.”

“You get funded by building real momentum before you ask, then telling the story as a set of provable assertions. I raised money when I had customers and metrics, not when I had a pitch.”

“Most founders I see raise well start with a warm introduction to the right partner, not a firm, because venture is a relationship business and that first meeting is the start of a decade-long partnership. After that, what wins the term sheet is clarity: why you, why this market, and why now, with the numbers to back it up.”

“Treat it like a sales process with a tight target list, not a coffee tour. Run a CRM of investors, cluster first meetings, and chase the partner who actually knows your space, not the marquee brand.”

“I don't think of it as getting funding. The founders we back have a rare, almost unreasonable conviction about why the world should work differently, and they've usually found early customers who agree. My job is to spot that before the data makes it obvious.”

“Venture funding starts with knowing exactly what hypothesis you’re testing and what cards you’ll flip with the money, because equity is for big, risky outcomes, not incremental cash flow. I usually tell creators to use the market to test their idea’s validity, but only raise if giving up a slice meaningfully increases your chance of success.”

“I would say the best way to get venture capital is to make raising it almost an afterthought. At Eventbrite, the most valuable stretch was the early 24/7 loop with customers, not chasing term sheets. Build something people love, show real traction, and the checks become a simpler conversation. Then be deliberate about who you take money from: pure capital at the highest price, or a partner you want in the trenches.”

“I see founders get funded when they can articulate, in one or two lines, why their idea is interesting and how it becomes a consequential company. At the early stages I focus on, relationships matter as much as the deck, so I tell people to build those before they need the check. If you have to run a process, a crisp memo can be more useful than slides because it helps me bring my partnership along.”

“I raised our first fund by telling the story of The Pitch to 230 listeners who trusted us with their money. The founders who get funded are the ones who can prove they can sell to real customers, not just the ones with the prettiest deck.”

“Most founders think fundraising is about the pitch, but the real work is making investors feel like they already know you before you ask. I spent years sending good deals to VCs, helping their portfolio companies hire, and building communities like On Deck and Village Global so that when founders raised, I was their first call. If you want capital, start by giving value to the people who have it.”

“Venture capital is two things bundled together: capital and partnership. The founders I back are usually people I can authentically help close great talent, and I have to believe their insight could build a really big, defensible business.”