The Raiser’s Edge
Top raisers, on the record.
Interviewing top founders and venture investors to reveal what the best fundraisers do to get a capital advantage.
All episodes
Learn the moves from the people who made them.
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13 episodes · newest first
Ep. 13 · Jul 2026
Sujal Patel on charisma, curiosity, and fine-tuned calibration
$500M+ raised · Nautilus Bio, Isilon
How he closed a $76M Series B in six weeks of COVID lockdowns, and the “dumb questions of the day” habit that made him fluent in a field he’d never worked in.
Ep. 12 · Jun 2026
Kevin Bennett on how you build a trust dividend
$200M+ raised · Caribou, Further
Why naming your own risks builds the confidence investors need to fund something unproven. It’s how he raised $200M in categories VCs overlooked.
Ep. 11 · Jun 2026
Sean Byrnes on the story VCs actually want to hear
$100M+ raised · Flurry, Outlier
How to read an investor’s bias before the first meeting, who to skip entirely, and why you get two minutes at the top of the pitch to earn the room.
Ep. 10 · May 2026
Tushar Garg on why trust is a long game
$200M+ raised · Flyhomes
A decade of rounds, from a seed closed in 30 minutes to a survival raise in a frozen market, and why every one traced back to a relationship built years earlier.
Ep. 9 · May 2026
Stefan Kalb on conviction, courage, and capital
Three-time founder · Shelf Engine, Super Labs
How to identify and win over the “kingpin” investor your round needs, and how he raised a preempted $8M for his newest company.
Ep. 8 · Apr 2026
David Politis on using story as strategy
$300M+ raised · BetterCloud, Vocalocity
Most founders don’t have a strategy problem. They have a storytelling problem: using the story to close risk and build belief, round over round.
Ep. 7 · Feb 2026
Omar Tawakol on evolution over ego
BlueKai, Voicea · exits to Oracle and Cisco
Treating every pitch as feedback to grow on, and how simplicity, humility, and relentless learning carry a founder through repeated raises.
Ep. 6 · Feb 2026
Greg Mark on fundraising at full throttle
$550M+ raised · Markforged, Backflip
Raising when you’re the hottest company in the round and when the market turns cold, and pitching your story like a movie investors want to watch.
Ep. 5 · Jan 2026
Evan Kaplan on doing what you say, and saying what you do
$400M+ raised · InfluxData
Building investor trust step by step, surviving near-death startup moments, and learning to see your raise from the VC’s side of the table.
Ep. 4 · Jan 2026
David Shim on what to chase, what to craft, and what you can’t control
Founder · Placed, Read AI
Designing the business to be fundable, why great metrics beat great narrative, and what pitching 100+ investors teaches you about timing.
Ep. 3 · Dec 2025
Russ Fradin on how honesty and humility are the real hacks
$1B+ raised · Adify, Dynamic Signal
Red flags and green flags when choosing your VCs, why FOMO-driven fundraising backfires, and what separates founders who raise from founders who stall.
Ep. 2 · Nov 2025
Dan Shapiro on letting data drive your raise
$200M+ raised · Glowforge
Treating the pitch like a product: feedback loops, A/B tests, and turning every rejection into the data that closes the round.
Ep. 1 · Nov 2025
Yifan Zhang on turning high stakes into supercharged raises
Gympact, Loftium · AI2 Incubator
Losing 90% of revenue in four days, pivoting, and raising again: fundraising sprints, picking the right investors, and tracking how each VC decides.
Sujal Patel on charisma, curiosity, and fine-tuned calibration
$500M+ raised · Nautilus Bio, Isilon
How he closed a $76M Series B in six weeks of COVID lockdowns, and the “dumb questions of the day” habit that made him fluent in a field he’d never worked in.
Ep. 12 · Jun 2026
Kevin Bennett on how you build a trust dividend
$200M+ raised · Caribou, Further
Why naming your own risks builds the confidence investors need to fund something unproven. It’s how he raised $200M in categories VCs overlooked.
Ep. 11 · Jun 2026
Sean Byrnes on the story VCs actually want to hear
$100M+ raised · Flurry, Outlier
How to read an investor’s bias before the first meeting, who to skip entirely, and why you get two minutes at the top of the pitch to earn the room.
Ep. 10 · May 2026
Tushar Garg on why trust is a long game
$200M+ raised · Flyhomes
A decade of rounds, from a seed closed in 30 minutes to a survival raise in a frozen market, and why every one traced back to a relationship built years earlier.
Ep. 9 · May 2026
Stefan Kalb on conviction, courage, and capital
Three-time founder · Shelf Engine, Super Labs
How to identify and win over the “kingpin” investor your round needs, and how he raised a preempted $8M for his newest company.
Ep. 8 · Apr 2026
David Politis on using story as strategy
$300M+ raised · BetterCloud, Vocalocity
Most founders don’t have a strategy problem. They have a storytelling problem: using the story to close risk and build belief, round over round.
Ep. 7 · Feb 2026
Omar Tawakol on evolution over ego
BlueKai, Voicea · exits to Oracle and Cisco
Treating every pitch as feedback to grow on, and how simplicity, humility, and relentless learning carry a founder through repeated raises.
Ep. 6 · Feb 2026
Greg Mark on fundraising at full throttle
$550M+ raised · Markforged, Backflip
Raising when you’re the hottest company in the round and when the market turns cold, and pitching your story like a movie investors want to watch.
Ep. 5 · Jan 2026
Evan Kaplan on doing what you say, and saying what you do
$400M+ raised · InfluxData
Building investor trust step by step, surviving near-death startup moments, and learning to see your raise from the VC’s side of the table.
Ep. 4 · Jan 2026
David Shim on what to chase, what to craft, and what you can’t control
Founder · Placed, Read AI
Designing the business to be fundable, why great metrics beat great narrative, and what pitching 100+ investors teaches you about timing.
Ep. 3 · Dec 2025
Russ Fradin on how honesty and humility are the real hacks
$1B+ raised · Adify, Dynamic Signal
Red flags and green flags when choosing your VCs, why FOMO-driven fundraising backfires, and what separates founders who raise from founders who stall.
Ep. 2 · Nov 2025
Dan Shapiro on letting data drive your raise
$200M+ raised · Glowforge
Treating the pitch like a product: feedback loops, A/B tests, and turning every rejection into the data that closes the round.
Ep. 1 · Nov 2025
Yifan Zhang on turning high stakes into supercharged raises
Gympact, Loftium · AI2 Incubator
Losing 90% of revenue in four days, pivoting, and raising again: fundraising sprints, picking the right investors, and tracking how each VC decides.
The research
It’s the research program, out loud.
Conversations with top raisers and the investors who back them, on what separates the founders who get the term sheet. What we hear in these conversations feeds the same research that runs under the client work.