Scurry like a Swan, with Neha Govindraj (Founder of Bonside)

Today, I'm sharing three courses of conversation and food with my friend Neha Govindraj. She is the founder of Bonside, a financing platform for brick-and-mortar businesses. The way it works: if you're a physical retail business looking to expand, you get access to growth capital from Bonside that you pay back based on your business's income and performance. In other words, you share a percentage of your monthly revenue rather than paying a guaranteed interest rate.It's flexible payback, an upgrade over the traditional solutions of fixed payment loans. And for investors who want access to this asset class, Bonside is their solution: they get to invest in vetted, emerging small businesses, and get monthly payouts as if they were an owner.Beyond the literals, Neha is a huge believer in the future of brick-and-mortar, and it's one of the more interesting parts of our conversation.We also get into the tough stuff of foundership -- like building a sales muscle, dealing with competitors and comparisons, decision fatigue, and so much more.It's three courses of conversation: Neha's unique market insights, mutual founder therapy, and her strengths and weaknesses (fueled by conversations I had with her founder friends).This is Three Course Founders, Episode 003: Scurry Like a Swan, with Neha Govindraj of Bonside.Timestamps:00:00 - Intros and welcome02:15 - Bonside and adjacent businesses12:41 - Industry insight fueling Neha22:33 - Founders need a sales muscle31:26 - Selling something new with Bonside42:09 - Neha's friends give us the gossip59:40 - Goodbyes!My mission with this show is to have deeper conversations with people trying to change the way the earth spins -- to follow my own curiosity, and help me and you better understand how the world works and how to move with more intention. I'm Sherveen Mashayekhi, founder and CEO of venture-backed Free Agency, and I'm an angel investor & startup super-nerd.Subscribe and stay tuned for the next episode! Weekly on Thursdays.Inspired by Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and all of the bad startup podcasts out there.Follow:Sherveen Mashayekhi: https://x.com/sherveenNeha Govindraj: https://x.com/nehagov Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.