In this episode, Mallory Loar pulls back the curtain on her fundraising journey: raising nearly $800K for her app.

She breaks down how she leveraged her network to get in front of angel investors, why early-stage investors bet on founders over ideas, and the brutal truth about fundraising as a female founder in tech (spoiler: less than 3% of VC funding goes to women-led startups).

What you'll learn:

• How to raise capital before building anything (and when you actually should)
• The difference between pitching angels vs. VCs, and why speed matters
• How to build an investor pipeline and tailor your pitch to each person's background
• The harsh feedback loop of fundraising and how to stay resilient through rejections
• Why bootstrapping as long as possible often beats raising too early
• Gender bias in VC funding and what it takes to overcome it

Plus: The hosts dive into the rise of "vibe coding" tools in 2025, why talking to a human will become a premium experience, and predictions for OpenAI acquisitions in the year ahead.

Perfect for AI founders wondering if (and when) they should raise money, and how to actually do it without traction.

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