Ep16: Quaid Walker Raises $8M From VCs & Celebrities Like Kevin Hart for Luxury Watch Marketplace

In this episode of #FundraisingDemystified, Quaid Walker, the CEO and founder of Bezel, a luxury watch marketplace shares insights into their fundraising journey, including raising $8 million in a seed round from investors like Courtside Ventures, Kevin Hart, and Steve Aoki. He discusses the decision to bring on more strategic partners before raising an A round and the importance of being intentional in their fundraising approach and touches on why they chose to delay announcing their fundraising.  HERE ARE SOME KEY POINTS IN THIS EPISODE 03:13 The intimidating process of buying luxury watches.  05:38 Co-founders and team assembly.  07:41 Building beautiful, luxury products.  15:46 Celebrities and investors' involvement.  18:41 Fundraising challenges and strategies.  24:01 The impact of strategic value.  27:18 Ownership requirements and investor partnerships.  34:07 SAFEs and founder-friendly fundraising. 40:25 Getting investors as customers. ABOUT QUAID WALKER Quaid Walker is the founder of Bezel, an authenticated luxury watch marketplace. Having spent most of his career at Google, Quaid developed a fascination for watches and their mechanical nature. His initial struggles in buying his first watch led him to create Bezel, a platform that offers a vast inventory of watches while ensuring authentication and trustworthiness. With a focus on providing a premium experience, Bezel's robust authentication team thoroughly inspects each watch before overnight delivery to the buyer. Quaid's goal is to ensure that every purchase meets and exceeds expectations. LINKS MENTIONED You can visit Bezel’s website at shop.getbezel.com to learn more about their platform and explore their vast inventory of watches. Get in touch with Quaid Walker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quaidwalker/ Take a peek at his designs and work: quaid.io Hosted by Jason Kirby - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrkirby/  Thunder website - https://web.thunder.vc