The Pitch

This week, we've got a show like no other. Instead of startup founders asking for money to grow their business, we hear investors Jake Chapman and Howie Diamond pitch their new venture capital fund. And they learn right away that things on the other side of the table are a lot harder.

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In VC, before you pitch investors, you’re expected to get some initial cash from friends and family. Getting this money is a critical first step for a new startup. But what if your friends and family aren’t wealthy? Two founders tell us what that experience is like, and how it’s shaped the way VC investors view their companies.

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We're now in a business climate transformed by Covid. And founders need help figuring out how to impress investors, find new customers, and connect with potential cofounders in this uncertain time. We wanted to help out. So we got investors Elizabeth Yin from Hustle Fund and Hunter Walk from Homebrew to hop on The Pitch hotline to take your calls.

The Callers:

Rebecca Colett, Calyxeum

Graham Hawley, TRID

Shwetha Maddur, Catalyst

Bryan McGehee, GATR Coolers

Jeff Walsh, Illuminent

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Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortgage lending process simpler, but his pitch left our investors scratching their heads.

The investors on today’s show are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, Sarah Downey, Michael Hyatt and Charles Hudson.

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On Wednesday, September 30th we are opening up the phone lines for founders to call-in and ask investors for advice. Elizabeth Yin with Hustle Fund and Hunter Walk with Homebrew will be standing by, ready to give you fresh ideas on how to keep your startup going in this economy.

The number to call is 833-748-2448. We'll keep the lines open from 4-6pm Eastern on Wednesday, September 30th. ttyl

It was three years ago, when Claire Coder went in front of our investors to pitch Aunt Flow. At the time, her startup was a very risky bet. But now, in 2020, Claire’s business has stood the test of time. We find out just how far a business can go in three years.

Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, James Altucher and Daniel Gulati.

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In the spring, founders desperate for ideas about how to keep their companies afloat called in to get advice from our investors. Several months later, the economy is still far from recovering, so we called the founders back to see if the investors’ advice was working.

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When gyms closed at the start of the pandemic, Kevin Allen’s at-home fitness app, Row Vigor, went gangbusters. But there was a problem -- a few lines of code were preventing Kevin from cashing in.

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When Alon Shwartz started his parental control app, UnGlue, he thought Apple would be an ally. But then Apple decided to make their own competing product and Alon was forced to go toe-to-toe with the biggest tech company in the world.

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We talk to three startup founders who got money from the Paycheck Protection Program and try to find out, what did the PPP money actually do?

To find out why one of our investors convinced a founder to send $2 million in PPP money back, listen to our special episode called “Give the Money Back.” Available only on Spotify.

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