Not a Unicorn? Not a problem. Eyal Malinger & Oren Peleg on building a VC alternative

While VC news often dominates the headlines, more often than not, the VC route isn’t the best fit for a business. So, what do you do if venture capital isn’t the right path for your start-up?In today’s Making The Grade episode, we’re unpacking the evolving world of start-up funding and why VC might not be the best fit for every founder or business. To help us do that, we’re joined by Eyal Malinger and Oren Peleg, the co-founders of Resurge Growth Partners - a new kind of investment firm pioneering a model they call venture equity, blending the best of venture capital and private equity to better serve ambitious, capital-efficient founders. From investor dynamics and growth expectations to exit strategies and go-to-market missteps, we’ll be challenging the traditional narrative and exploring what alternative paths to scale could look like in 2025 and beyond. Episode Chapters: 01:30 - From PE & Consulting to building a new investment model03:30 - The gap between VC expectations and real-world business performance  05:10 - Introducing Venture Equity & the huge opportunity it presents 10:30 - Funding beyond VC & the silent deal killers 18:10 - Lazy marketing, broken models & other founder mistakes 21:30 - The metrics that really matter 30:00 - What it takes to be a successful early-stage founder & what’s really at stake 34:15 - Where to start if you want a successful exit in 2025  Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at [email protected]✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube. See you again next week!