The Story VCs Actually Want to Hear (And How to Tell It) with Sean Byrnes

Sean Byrnes raised over $100M across two dozen rounds. His edge wasn’t charisma or connections — it was understanding exactly how investors think before walking into the room.Sean is the founder of Flurry (sold to Yahoo, 98% market share at exit) and Outlier.ai (exited 2022), a CEO coach, and the author of the Breaking Point newsletter. In this conversation, he makes the case that fundraising is sales — and that most founders lose not because their pitch is weak, but because they’re pitching the wrong investors and telling the story the wrong way.In this episode:• How to research investor bias before your first meeting — who’s predisposed to say yes, who’s already been burned by something adjacent, and who you should skip entirely• Why you have two minutes at the top of every pitch to earn the room — and what happens if you don’t• How to end a pitch so investors are still thinking about it at the end of the week• The friction filter: why making it hard for investors to meet you actually improves your odds• What makes VCs more risk-averse than they appear — and how to use that to your advantage• Why fundraising is a full-time 3–6 month commitment, and what happens to founders who treat it as a side projectAbout Raiser's Edge: Raiser's Edge is the podcast where you get the chance to open top fundraisers' playbooks, and get a capital advantage for you and your company. Host Ben Elowitz talks to world-class founders, investors, and operators about what actually works when you’re pitching, closing, and building a venture-backed company. New episodes every other week. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.Connect with Sean Byrnes:The Breaking Point: https://breakingpoint.techThe Startup Help Desk: https://thestartuphelpdesk.comFind Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbyrnes/ Follow Raiser’s Edge:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raisers-edge/id1850622699Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jUhW3Yq0ZnvBFZnWngnzj?si=5b902a95261e47daSubstack: https://substack.com/@elowitzFind Ben on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elowitz