In Episode 4 of Deal Flow Diaries, we sit down with Sarah Nesheim, co-founder of Crafted, to unpack the pivots, mistakes, and mindset shifts that transformed a pandemic side project into a data-driven platform connecting social media to real world retail sales. 

Sarah’s journey did not begin with a polished product. It began with investing her life savings into a recipe-sharing app during lockdown, pivoting to live streaming commerce, and ultimately discovering the real problem brands were desperate to solve: how to prove that digital content actually drives in-store purchases. 

Crafted now operates at the intersection of creators, paid media, and brick-and-mortar retail, using trackable campaigns and digital rebates to measure real checkout behavior, not vanity metrics. What started as influencer campaigns evolved into a platform built around measurable retail conversion, first-party data, and disciplined execution. 

Join us as we talk about: 

• Turning an ego-driven idea into a validated business by identifying and solving a real problem that customers will actually pay for 
• Founder-led sales, running effective discovery calls, and the BANT framework for closing deals 
• Preparing for VC pitches like a data-driven sales process, recording every call, and improving analytically 
• The emotional swings of startup life, impostor syndrome, and developing unshakeable confidence over time 
• Why unsexy businesses often win 
• This episode is a reminder that real businesses are rarely built in a straight line. They are built through pivots, humility, discipline, and a willingness to abandon the wrong idea in pursuit of the right one. 
• Deal Flow Diaries continues to take you inside the real decisions, inflection points, and mindset shifts behind founders who are building systems that compound. 

Follow Sarah & Crafted: 

LinkedIn

Crafted 

Instagram

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Recorded at The Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center.

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