Funded | How They Raised Millions

A lot of founders treat storytelling and hard data as two different things in a pitch — and that’s the mistake. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why your numbers mean nothing without a narrative wrapped around them, and why letting investors interpret raw data on their own is one of the most common pitching errors he sees. If you’ve ever wondered how much to lean on story vs. facts, this episode reframes the question entirely.

Venture capitalists don't have a perfectly indexed CRM in their heads. They run on recency bias — last in, first out. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down what he realized after bumping into a top VC at a cafe in San Francisco: investors share what’s freshest in their minds, not what’s most relevant. He explains what that means for how founders should think about messaging, surface area, and staying top of mind — without being manipulative about it.

Most founders make the same mistake when reaching out to their network during a fundraise, they try to combine a personal connection with a business ask in the same email, and end up doing both badly. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why blended emails feel disingenuous, and introduces his email appendix format: a simple structural shift that separates the personal from the functional so both actually land. If you’ve ever sent an awkward “hey, how’s your summer going, by the way I need a favor” email, this one’s for you.

Too many founders think they need capital before they can make real progress — but that's exactly the mindset that keeps them stuck. In this episode, Jason breaks down the "parked car" trap: why waiting for funding before moving forward is the wrong approach, and how to start building momentum now so investors see a moving train, not a standstill. If you're preparing to raise your first round, this one's for you.

On this episode of Funded, Mohak Nahta, founder and CEO of Atlys, returns three years after his first appearance to share what building a real business actually looks like after the Series A. He talks about pivoting hard from B2B to B2C, navigating investor skepticism in the age of AI, and why the TAM slide he thought was airtight kept working against him. He also gets brutally honest about the mistakes most founders never admit — the soft signals he ignored, the wrong investors he kept engaging, and the weak spots he defended instead of owned. It's a rare look at what it takes to raise at scale when the stakes — and the scrutiny — are much higher.

On this episode of Funded, Jackson Schultz, co-founder and CEO of ArgusEye, shares how he left Google right after the birth of his second son, with no VC network and no hardware background, to build a cybersecurity platform for connected devices. He talks about getting passed on by VCs who couldn't see the market size, pivoting his fundraising strategy mid-process, and how assembling an angel army of CISOs and supply chain executives investing out of their own pockets became the credibility signal that finally moved the needle. It's a real look at what it takes to build momentum from scratch, and how sometimes the best thing you can do is stop trying to raise the round you planned.

If your pitch deck or investor emails are full of words like "tremendous latent potential," "highly efficacious," or "flywheels of growth" — this episode is for you. In this Backchannel episode, Jason breaks down why flowery language and SAT words are one of the biggest red flags for investors, and why stripping it all back to simple, clear language will almost always get you further. He reads a real (anonymized) founder blurb as an example, breaks down exactly what's wrong with it, and shares a simple fix you can apply to your own pitch today.

Most founders treat cold outreach like a numbers game — blast enough investors and something will stick. It doesn't work that way. In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason breaks down why cold outreach is inherently at a disadvantage, why it should only ever be 5% of your fundraising strategy, and the specific tactics that can actually make a cold email land. From the traveling founder trick to warming up relationships on social before you ever hit send, this is a practical guide to using cold outreach the right way — without wasting your most valuable resource: time.

On this episode of Funded, Alex Bazzell, co-founder of Unrivaled, shares how he went from training NBA players to building one of the most talked-about new sports leagues in the country — and convincing investors to bet on it before a single game was played. He talks about getting passed on by VCs who invested in women's sports, what it felt like to fundraise without a prior exit or operator background, and how being completely not in fundraising mode turned out to be his biggest advantage. Then, mid-season, Bessemer Venture Partners — backers of LinkedIn, Shopify, and Twilio — came knocking unsolicited and delivered a term sheet the very next morning. It's a real look at what happens when deep belief, hard work, and the right timing collide.

On this episode of Funded, Emilė Radytė, co-founder and CEO of Samphire Neuro, shares how she went from academic neuroscientist to building a regulated neurotechnology company for women's hormonal health — a category most investors didn't even recognize. She talks about raising with no VC network, why hardware and women's health made investors nervous, and the mindset shift that changed everything: counting the nos instead of waiting for the yes. We also hear from her lead investor Kevin at In Venture, who cold-messaged her on LinkedIn, found out the round was already closing, and flew to London the next day to fight his way in. It's a real look at what it takes to hold conviction in a market no one has mapped yet — and why the right investor might find you before you ever find them.