VC Minute
Quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Founders, do you feel like you're fundraising on an uneven playing field? You are. The VC minute is here to help you level up. Venture capitalists navigate pitches and negotiate investments every day. They know the ins and outs and are up-to-date on the current funding environment. But as a founder, it may be your first foray into fundraising, and no matter how much success you've had in other areas nothing truly prepares you for the fundraising journey. The VC Minute was created to help founders close this gap. While it may seem like securing an investment at the seed stage is mostly driven by luck, there are steps founders can take to increase the odds of successfully raising a round. And that's what we're going to cover on the VC Minute through a series of short episodes. I'm going to share with you insights to help navigate the seed stage financing dynamics. I'm Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures with 25 years business experience a dozen years in the startup ecosystem. I've applied my experience from sales, finance, and venture investing, to help startup founders fundraise better.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 2 minutes
- Episodes
- 275
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2024
130. Setting Investors Up For Success
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After you pitch an investor, they have to go back and pitch their team. Did you set them up for success in the first meeting?
About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime …
129. Kicking Off Season 3
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Announcing the guests who will be featured on this season's VC Minute, including: Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta. Neha Govindraj, founder and CEO of Bons…
128. Season 2 Wrap
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That's a wrap on Season 2, but VC Minute will be back in three weeks with tons of new content including:
- Multiple founders who recently raised Seed or Series A in…
127. Not "Female Founder," Just "Founder" Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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It's important to build a diverse team because diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams. It's important to invest in great founders. And women happen to make gr…
126. Focus. Distraction Is Kryptonite For Founders feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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Distraction is like kryptonite to founders. Yet fundraising is one giant distraction.
Read Rachel's original post about fundraising on LinkedIn.
About SpringTime V…
125. Come Prepared With Questions and Next Steps feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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Asking questions, asking for the next step are crucial to running a good fundraise process.
Read Rachel's original post about fundraising on LinkedIn.
About Spring…
124. Done Differently: Numbers & Vision feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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Rachel's big lesson was leaning into the big vision and not being afraid to put up projections that were a big stretch.
Read Rachel's original post about fundraisi…
123. Found Self-Care: Part of the CEO's Job feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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When you take time for yourself, don't think of it as taking you away from your job. Recognize that it is part of your job.
Read Rachel's original post about fund…
122. You Can't Convince Investors They're Wrong feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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You can't convince investors they're wrong.
That statement could be the whole episode followed my one minute of silence for refection 🧘
(I'll add that both founder…
121. Eternal Optimists & Achievable Valuations feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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Founders are eternal optimists. It's a benefit to your company for you to think that the company is always going to prevail in the end. At the same time, founders…
120. Reasons Investors Pass On Your Round—NOT On You feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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Let's reframe this: investors don't pass on YOU, they pass on opportunity right now for a specific set of reasons. Some of which you know, some of which you don't…
119. Demonstrate You've Thought About The Question feat. Rachel McCrickard, CEO @ Motivo Health
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Rachel McCrickard, CEO and Co-Founder at Motivo Health recently raised a Series A. She agreed to come on VC Minute to offer her fundraising guidance—and it's exce…
118. Going from Seed to Series A, Money is a Tool feat. Josh Sanchez, CEO @ FloatMe
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Money is a tool and you should use it as an accelerant for an opportunity that you've identified.
About FloatMe
FloatMe revolutionizes access to credit and savings …
117. Commanding the Fundraising Process, Mistakes & Storytelling feat. Josh Sanchez, CEO @ FloatMe
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A mistake of fundraising is being ambiguous when it shouldn't be ambiguous, it should be truly a process.
About FloatMe
FloatMe revolutionizes access to credit and…
116. Accountability & Updating on the Three P's
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This simple format for updating investors is all you need. The 3 P's: Plans, Progress, Problems.
About FloatMe
FloatMe revolutionizes access to credit and savings…
115. Asking for Advice feat. Josh Sanchez, CEO @ FloatMe
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Josh share the quintessential example of "ask for money, get advice; ask for advice, get money."
About FloatMe
FloatMe revolutionizes access to credit and savings t…
114. First Time Founders Should Focus on Accountability - feat. Josh Sanchez, CEO @ FloatMe
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This week's guest is Josh Sanchez, CEO of FloatMe. Josh has raised over $50M in equity, venture debt, and credit. He is a first-time founder whose passion for the…
113. The Penny Gap
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Why is the differentiation between pre-revenue and any revenue at all so important? The answer is from a classic startup post:
The Penny Gap by Josh Kopelman
About …
112. Do You Invest Pre-Revenue?
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Ask a VC, "do you invest pre-revenue?" and 90% of them are going to say some version of, "it depends." Think of revenue as just one throttle. What are the other t…
111. Messaging Market Fit feat. Brandon Brooks @ Zinsu
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In the final episode from Brandon, he shares about how you need to tune your message to your audience. He calls this, Messaging Market Fit.
Follow Brandon Brooks …