In this episode, Chris breaks down the five patterns of fundable founders. This comes after reviewing well over 500 founders within the last two years.

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I'm Chris Hines, and on this episode of Next Round Ready, I sit down with Pam Kavalam — a self-described "prolific commenter," super connector, and community builder who's been quietly becoming one of the most plugged-in people in the New York venture ecosystem. Pam's path into VC is anything but traditional: she started in international education at NYU, spent time in Japan on the JET program, transitioned into tech through a complaint email to ClassPass that turned into a job, worked her way through customer success, operations, and product roles, and eventually broke into venture by volunteering — a lot. She volunteered at check-in desks for hundreds of events, ran dinners for visiting founders, helped with AGMs, and showed up day after day until the community couldn't help but notice her.

In our conversation, Pam walks me through how she made that transition, why volunteering at event check-in is the ultimate networking hack, and how asking good questions became her superpower when she had no financial or social capital to offer. We dig into why I think hosting a podcast is a cheat code for building relationships, the parallels between breaking into VC and fundraising as a founder, and why patience — not pitching — is the real key to building trust with investors. Pam also shares her thoughts on event curation, why she doesn't believe in charging founders to attend, and how being a "prolific commenter" on LinkedIn built her reputation as a super connector. She's about to start a new full-time role working with founders and early-stage VCs, and she shares two Notion resources — one for founders and VC-curious folks, and one for events — that you can connect with her on LinkedIn to access.

Connect with Pam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-kavalam/

00:00 Introduction

00:20 Career Journey

03:59 Volunteering & Networking

06:04 The Podcast Cheat Code

09:31 Value of Connecting People

10:46 Finding Founders Outside Traditional Hubs

12:20 Event Planning Experience

15:29 Patience in Relationship Building

17:18 Focused Events & Curation

19:19 Event Pricing & Value

22:13 Content Creation & LinkedIn

23:39 Outro & Resources

In this episode, we break down how founders can use content to drive sales — even if they've never sold anything before. The episode covers a 3-step framework for creating content that primes prospects, builds trust, and ultimately moves them to buy.

Key Topics

Mentioned in this episode

• Startup Content Capital — An upcoming program launching soon. Reach out on Instagram, LinkedIn, or X for early access and discounted pricing.

00:00 Welcome Content Will Help You With Sales

00:15 Why Most Founders Hate Selling

01:22 The Problem With Surface-Level & AI-Generated Content

02:51 Step 1: Create Content That Solves a Specific Problem

04:18 Step 2: Research Your Audience's Problems Through Conversation

06:25 Step 3: Move the Needle Content (Selling Through Content)

10:42 Wrap-Up & Call to Action: Startup Content Capital Program

Hey everyone, Chris here. This week I sit down with Damian Murray from Hearst Level Up Ventures to break down what really makes a founder stand out — and what makes an investor pass. We get into the green flags I look for, like resourcefulness and relationship building, and the red flags that kill deals, from incessant name-dropping to lacking basic likability. Damian walks through Hearst's investment thesis across fintech, sustainability, and sports & media, and explains why their corporate VC process takes 4-8 weeks. We also talk about the power of content creation for founders, Kevin Durant's massive return on Hugging Face, and why venture capital needs to become more accessible to Middle America. If you're a founder looking to understand what investors are really thinking, this one's for you.

Chapters:

0:00 Welcome & Introduction

1:45 Green Flags in Founders

6:59 Red Flags in Founders

11:40 Investment Thesis & Focus Areas

14:40 Investment Process & Timeline

17:02 Building Relationships & Content Strategy

19:09 Hugging Face & Athlete Investors

21:33 Democratizing Venture Capital

22:40 Closing & How to Reach Damian

Mentions & References:

Guest: Damian Murray, Hearst Level Up Ventures | Find him on LinkedIn as Damien J. Murray

Two Seattle-area startups are making the same quiet bet: the most valuable job for AI right now isn't creating something new, it's the follow-through humans hate doing. This episode covers Devplan, whose AI agents chase down project status before anyone has to ask, and KredosAI, whose AI chases overdue payments without ever sounding like a collections call. Real founders, real funding, real numbers — plus what to watch as both companies scale.

In this episode:

Companies featured: Devplan (devplan.com) · KredosAI (kredosai.com)

Want to be featured? Start with submitting your startup to [email protected] 

Building your own waitlist is a great way to ensure that the market likes your product. If you can get people to join a waitlist and give you their name, email, and even pay you, that means that you can build to product-market fit a lot faster. In this episode we're going to break down exactly how founders in different sectors can use waitlists to build product-market fit.

0:00 Why Waitlist Strategies Matter

0:56 My Personal Waitlist Success Story

2:35 The Power of Early Feedback

4:42 Why Investors Care About Waitlists

6:06 How to Build Your Own Waitlist Launch

9:13 Closing & Call to Action

Be sure to complete your Fundability Assessment: https://Raise.NextRoundReady.vc 

Chris breaks down how leading companies built massive brands through content strategy rather than ad spend. The episode covers three case studies and makes the case for why founders should prioritize content creation from day one.

Complete the Fundability Assessment: https://raise.nextroundready.vc

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https://linkedin.com/in/thecoachchris 

Introduction & Fundability Assessment - 0:00
Zapier's Content Strategy - 1:27
Notion's User-Driven Content - 2:56
A16Z's Content Ecosystem - 4:10
Content vs. Advertising - 6:05
Why Founders Should Start with Content - 6:35
Content as Infrastructure - 8:16
The Compounding Advantage - 9:02
Personal Experience & Outro - 10:44

In this solo episode, Chris breaks down the content-driven fundraising blueprint for pre-seed and seed founders. Drawing from two years of investor interviews and his work as a scout for multiple VC firms, he explains why fundraising is really about relationships — and why those relationships start the moment an investor can find you online, not when you open a data room.

Complete the Fundability Assessment to get your ideal investor matches: https://raise.nextroundready.vc

Connect with us: https://Instagram.com/NextRoundVC 

00:00 Brand Evolution

00:41 Relationships for Startup Founders

02:01 Stealth Mode Myth

03:26 Why My Advice Matters

05:20 Content Leverage

06:27 Authenticity Over AI

08:22 Investors Need Content

12:22 Community & Programs

14:54 Connect & Follow

Sarah Romanko, an investor at Geek Ventures, shares her unconventional journey from real estate to venture capital — a path that involved leaving a stable job, moving back home with her parents, and taking a leap with no Plan B. She and host Chris Hines dive deep into how VCs are using AI tools like Claude to automate workflows, what green flags she looks for in founders, why asking for an NDA is a red flag, and how founders can stand out through research, creativity, and genuine relationship-building.

Check out Taku at https://Taku.ai

00:00 Introduction
00:26 Sarah's Journey into VC
002:58 The VC Mindset
04:06 Using AI as a VC
06:02AI Workflows in Practice
10:09 Building a Brand Presence
12:02 Green Flags in Founders
14:55 The NDA Problem
17:25 Research & Outreach
19:27 Building Real Relationships
23:25 What's Next for Sarah
25:05 How to Reach Sarah

Chris sits down with Marcos Gonzalez, founding partner of Vamos Ventures, to pull back the curtain on what it's really like to run a venture capital fund. Marcos shares why being a VC is less about writing checks and more about building a business — from fundraising and compliance to team development and strategy. He breaks down exactly what separates the 5% of founders who get a yes from the 95% who don't, the green flags and red flags he looks for during diligence, and why curiosity might be the most underrated trait in a founder.

They also dig into how content creation can be a "cheat code" for founders to get discovered by investors, the origin story of Vamos Ventures as the first Latinx-led VC fund, and Marcos's most recent investment in Arbor Energy — a company founded by SpaceX alumni that he believes could return the entire fund.

If you're a founder raising capital or an investor looking to build with more empathy and intentionality, this one's for you.

Join the Next Round community.

Get Taku now!

00:00 Intro

00:34 Running a Fund is Running a Business

04:29 The 5% That Get a Yes: How Marcos Evaluates Founders

08:52 Green Flags & Red Flags in Founders

10:34 Content as a Cheat Code for Founder Discover

13:01 The Origin Story: Building the First Latinx-Led VC Fund

17:53 Anti-Portfolios, Arbor Energy and SpaceX Alumni

22:35 How Founders Can Reach Vamos Ventures