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Host Josh Muccio picks up the mic once again... with some personal news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does so little venture capital money go to women, Black, and Latinx founders? In this episode, investors Charles Hudson and Elizabeth Yin explain how VC is set up in a way that excludes many founders and businesses, and what their funds are doing to expand access to capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is getting a software patent actually a good idea? For many startups a patent is a shield meant to prevent the competition from stealing their most innovative ideas. But in this episode, investors Sarah Downey and Phil Nadel explain how software patents can be a trap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should startups get money from the Paycheck Protection Program? Investor Jillian Manus says that for some startups, the answer should be no. She even convinced one of her startup founders to send over $2 million back. But investor Elizabeth Yin says the problem with the PPP goes deeper than that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, founder Cody Candee raised $150,000 on our show. He went on to raise over a million dollars in funding that led to extraordinary growth for his startup, Bounce. But then Cody found out the hard way that to keep growing fast you have to become the boss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 has pushed many founders to attempt risky pivots with their business. Other founders are hoarding cash. And many of them are seeing VC money dry up. On today’s show, investors Sarah Downey and Phil Nadel advise four worried founders on how to keep their businesses afloat. The callers: Shannon Malkin Daniels, Encaptiv Krystin Hargrove, CoTripper Dan Brown, Up-Rite Storage Rack Chris Murphy, Brewella's Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, Pierre Laguerre worked as a truck driver. During those years he saw one of the biggest inefficiencies in the industry up-close: getting available drivers matched with trucks ready to get on the road. Barely a year after launch, his business, Fleeting, is growing fast. But he’ll have to convince the investors he has the technical savvy to make the company grow even faster. And he’ll need to tackle another problem: how to adapt to an industry transformed by COVID-19. Today’s investors are Maia Bittner, Elizabeth Yin, Sheel Mohnot, and Charles Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investors are giving founders everywhere an ultimatum: just find a way to survive the next few months. This had us concerned about the entrepreneurs who’ve been on this show. Debbie Wei Mullen pitched Copper Cow Coffee to our investors a few years ago, and in this episode Debbie tells the sequence of events that led to a few early, strategic decisions made in 2020 that set up her business to outlast the pandemic. Today's investors are Alexandra Stanton, Sheel Mohnot, Charles Hudson, and Phil Nadel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last few weeks, COVID-19 has changed just about every business in the country. Investors everywhere are scrambling to help their startups survive the pandemic. On today’s show, investors Elizabeth Yin and Charles Hudson take calls from listeners. They advise founders on how to pivot to a remote-friendly model, how to survive the losses in the hospitality industry, and how to navigate the new fundraising landscape.  If your business is in crisis because of this pandemic, and you could use sound advice from our investors, call 833-748-2448 and leave us a voicemail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year, investors woke up to the fact that the biggest ridesharing companies still struggle to make money. But today’s founder, Aparna Srinivasan, thinks she can buck that trend by introducing pets into the equation. But our investors wonder if just being pet friendly is enough to bring in the big bones. And if it is, what’s to stop Uber from offering rides for pets too… putting SpotOn in a tight spot. Today’s investors are Sarah Downey, Michael Hyatt, Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel and Charles Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Founder Ray Li says he can make you a custom suit, out of a quiz. And his company, Sene, is already making a profit. Ray wants to pursue the technology AND build up a cool brand but the investors wonder if Ray would be better off choosing one or the other. Today's investors are Maia Bittner, Elizabeth Yin, Sheel Mohnot, Charles Hudson and David Goldberg. If you'd like to support Sene’s efforts to manufacture surgical masks, head to senestudio.com/pages/masks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices