Mind games and “dirty term sheets.” These are the kinds of potential pitfalls that await tech entrepreneurs and employees in the financial landscape of 2023, especially those particularly in need of fresh infusions of venture capital. In this latest episode of Onward, Fundrise CEO Ben Miller walks co-host Cardiff Garcia through another set of fascinating — if often unforgiving — complexities arising from today’s high interest rate environment. Now that capital is no longer flowing freely and willingly from investors across the country, what options do tech leaders have when their companies’ valuations plummet in comparison to the sky-high estimations from just last year? As Ben emphasizes once again, when we’re uncertain about the future, we should always look to the past. Using lessons learned from the 2000 tech bubble collapse, Ben illustrates for us how a company seeking venture capital in a harsh financial environment like today’s has a choice. They encounter a fork in the road: Is it more prudent to take a down round and accept a lower valuation? Or better to accept structured money and dirty terms, while maintaining the high value assessments assigned during the fundraising of earlier rounds? All this and more in the latest episode of Onward.

Have questions or feedback about this episode? Drop us a note at [email protected].

Onward is hosted by Ben Miller, co-founder and CEO of Fundrise, and Cardiff Garcia, co-founder of Bazaar Audio and host of the economics-focused podcast The New Bazaar (after spending many years as the co-creator and co-host of NPR's The Indicator podcast).

Podcast production by The Podcast Consultant. Music by Seaplane Armada.

About Fundrise

With over 1 million users, Fundrise is America's largest direct-to-investor alternative asset investment platform. Since 2012, our mission has been to build a better financial system by empowering the individual. We make it easier and more efficient than ever for anyone to invest in institutional-quality private alternative assets — all at the touch of a button.  

Please see the Fundrise Flagship Real Estate Fund website (http://fundriseintervalfund.com), Fundrise Income Fund website (http://fundriseincomerealestatefund.com), and Fundrise Innovation Fund website (http://fundrise.com/innovation) for more information on each fund, including each fund’s prospectus.  For the publicly filed offering circulars of the Fundrise eREITs and eFunds, not all of which may be currently qualified by the SEC, please see fundrise.com/oc.

Disclaimer: An investor in the Fundrise Innovation Fund should consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. The Fund’s prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund and may be obtained at fundrise.com/innovation. Investors should read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Want to see the specific properties that make up and power Fundrise portfolios? Check out our active and past projects at www.fundrise.com/assets.