Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast

Raising millions at record speed is often portrayed as luck, but for serial founders, it’s a calculated play of leverage, unit economics, and deep-tech infrastructure.In this episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers), Niclas Schlopsna sits down with Kirk to break down the transition from corporate leadership at Mastercard to navigating the Death Valley of fintech startups.Kirk shares his journey of leveraging a $45M exit to bypass the standard fundraising cycle, closing a $5M round in a single weekend.He also shared why he believes your unit economics matter infinitely more than a flashy UI.What you’ll learn in this episode:* The $5M Weekend: How to leverage a previous exit to bypass the standard 6-month fundraising grind.* Fintech Economics: Why today’s investors are pivoting away from “shiny” apps toward deep-tech infrastructure.* Stealth Mode vs. Hype: When (and why) to keep your billion-dollar ideas quiet to protect your competitive advantage.* Corporate to Founder: The raw reality of moving from a C-suite office to the startup trenches.If you’re a founder building in fintech, navigating regulatory compliance, or trying to master the art of the fast raise, this episode reveals the strategic blueprint behind the capital.Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Who is Kirk Donohoe?Kirk is a serial entrepreneur and former Mastercard executive with a track record of high-stakes exits. He is currently focused on Grand, solving the deep-seated inefficiencies in global financial infrastructure.He previously founded WhenThen (acquired by Mangopay) and held leadership roles at Mastercard. He is a veteran of the fintech space, specializing in global payment infrastructure.About the podcast:Deal Makers (& Fakers) is a spectup podcast where founders and operators reveal what actually works in fundraising, investor outreach, and building companies, plus the fakers moments nobody posts about on LinkedIn.Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! This post is public so feel free to share it.Who should listen?* Fintech founders looking to scale beyond the “app” layer.* Serial entrepreneurs planning their next big exit.* Investors tracking the shift from B2C to B2B infrastructure.Visit spectup.com for more insights on fundraising strategy and startup growth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

🚀 Episode 8 of Deal Makers (& Fakers) - with Armon Sharei, Founder of Portal Bio and SQZ Biotech.Biotech startup IPO success and raising $400M in venture capital is a dream for many founders, but what happens after you go public? In this episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers), Niclas Schlopsna sits down with Armon Sharei, former founder of SQZ Biotech and current founder of Portal Bio, to discuss scaling cell therapy and the reality of the biotech industry.Armon Sharei shares his journey from a PhD at MIT under Robert Langer to closing a massive deal with Roche and leading a publicly traded company. Learn about the "Squeeze" technology, the biotech nuclear winter, and the death spiral that led him to start his second venture, Portal Bio.How did Armon Sharei start his journey?It began at MIT, where he developed a "cell-squeezing" technology that caught the attention of the scientific community and led him to launch:SQZ Biotech with little more than "napkin maths" and a $100,000 initial investment from professors and family. As he transitioned from a PhD student to a full-time CEO, he successfully navigated the venture capital landscape by leveraging the following:* Early academic validation* A prestigious partnership with Roche to secure a $5 million Series A. This momentum eventually snowballed into raising over $400 million, including a massive IPO in 2020, proving that a targeted, platform-focused strategy can bridge the gap between complex deep-tech research and large-scale public market success.What you’ll learn in this episode:- How to raise a Seed Round with no track record.- The secret to closing a partnership with Big Pharma (Roche & Pfizer).- Why the public market might be better than private equity for biotech.- How to identify red flags in venture capital investors.The future of cell therapy and global healthcare innovation.If you’re a founder navigating the complexities of deep tech, big pharma partnerships, or the pressures of the public market, this episode reveals what it takes to build, lose, and rebuild a world-changing company.Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.👉 Who is Armon Sharei?Armon is the founder of Portal Bio and the former CEO of SQZ Biotech. With a PhD from MIT, his work in cell therapy has been recognised as one of the "10 World Changing Ideas" by Scientific American. He is now focused on making cell therapy more accessible through his latest venture.👉 About the podcast: Deal Makers (& Fakers)Deal Makers (& Fakers) is a spectup podcast where founders and operators reveal what actually works in fundraising, investor outreach, and building companies, plus the “fakers” moments nobody posts about on LinkedIn.Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! This post is public so feel free to share it.👉 Who should listen?- Deep tech & biotech founders looking to scale.- Entrepreneurs interested in the transition from scientist to CEO.- Investors wanting to understand the future of cell therapy.👉 Visit spectup.com for more insights on fundraising strategy and startup growth.🔔 Subscribe for more deep dives with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

€75 MRR, 3 paying customers and 15,000 signups going nowhere. Then a startup pivot changed everything. I sat down with Florian, co-founder of Weavely, on the latest episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers). He walked me through the exact mechanics of raising €900K as a four-person team from Brussels and then going on to raise €1.2M total.He had no warm Silicon Valley network or unicorn hype. Instead, he was just a founder who treated fundraising the way he treated products as a researcher. Methodically.The numbers that forced the pivot: → €75 monthly recurring revenue → 3 paying customers → 15,000 signups, but only 400 monthly actives → Years of building a product that wasn’t working Florian knew he had to kill the product he’d spent years buildingWhat happened when Weavely pivoted?→ 30% of users were using a Figma design tool for forms → Nobody asked for a form builder, but users were building one anyway → Florian followed the signal instead of ignoring it → That wrong usage became the entire company. They pivoted, rebuilt and raised €1.2M total.What was the capital raising grind that happened behind the scenes?→ 60 investor conversations → 15 actual pitches → 3 angels committed → 1 accelerator joined → 1 VC said yes → Team of 4, that’s itThe secret of investors’ updates that pushed his raise:→ Florian sends quarterly updates to EVERY VC he’s spoken with → Even the ones who said no → Even when the numbers are bad, especially when the numbers are bad His logic: if you only share wins, investors don’t trust you. You need to share the full picture. Pivots, near-shutdowns, ugly months, so when you raise the next round, they already know who you are. It’s like building warm intros who’ve watched you survive.The rejection story that made him close the deal:One VC said the market was too competitive and he had no moat. Florian’s response: “You’re right. The moat is thin. But this team built a product-led growth engine that works. And we’re still here.” That closed the deal.We also went deep into:* How €75 MRR and 3 customers forced Florian to kill the product he’d spent years building, and why that was the best decision he ever made. * How a single Figma conference killed their original direction overnight and the signal hidden in wrong usage that saved the company. * Why 15,000 signups meant nothing when only 400 actually used the product and how vanity metrics almost destroyed them.* The quarterly investor update strategy that pre-warms every future round, even sharing bad numbers, builds more trust than only sharing wins.* Why Florian thinks his own product interface will disappear within 3 years and what that means for every AI-native startup building today.* His take on building in a crowded niche: hundreds of competitors don’t matter if you solve what users actually do, not what you think they should do. * Why a PhD founder deliberately chose speed over perfection: because overthinking is the real startup killer.The market most founders are overlooking: → $700M–$800M in 2026 → Expected to grow to $1.9B by 2035 → AI-native forms and workflows; massive and still earlyIf you’re building in a crowded niche or still trying to educate users instead of listening to them, this episode will change how you think.About Weavely: Weavely is an AI-native platform born from a Figma-based prototyping tool that pivoted after discovering users wanted outcomes, not tools. Now serving users globally with €1.2M raised from European VCs.About Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast: Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. No polished success stories, just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work.I’m Niclas, building spectup into a new kind of capital advisory. As VC scouts and private placement deal makers, we connect high-potential companies with the right investors.Reach out → spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

He had just 3 paying customers. It looked like a product that wasn’t working. Then one startup pivot flipped everything. Full startup fundraising story of raising capital drops soon. This is honestly the startup advice that every entrepreneur needs.* 15,000 people signed up* Only 400 showed up* 3 actually paid.Most founders would keep pushing. Florian killed it.Then something unexpected happened inside his own product. Users were doing something he never designed them for. That signal changed everything.In the full episode he revealed→ The moment he knew the product had to die → The user behavior nobody expected → How a 4-person team from Brussels raised €1.2M → The rejection that turned into a check → Why he shares bad numbers with investors on purposeSubscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Full episode dropping tomorrow.🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss it.🎙️ Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast: raw, unfiltered founder conversations about raising capital. No polished success stories. Just brutal truth.I'm Niclas, building spectup into a new kind of capital advisory. As VC scouts and private placement deal makers, we connect high-potential companies with the right investors.Reach out → spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

Aquablu Aquablu CEO Marnix Stokvis reveals his startup fundraising journey of raising capital without venture capital firms. Startup advice every entrepreneur needs.One cold message. To Frans van Houten, former CEO of a $20B company. Most founders wouldn't dare, but Marnix took the risk, and it changed his whole startup valuation. Aquablu CEO Marnix Stokvis shares his startup fundraising playbook for raising capital from operators. Hardware startup building is always tricky, & he proved that you can raise capital if your direction is clear.I spoke with Marnix Stokvis, CEO & co-founder of Aquablu, the Amsterdam-based startup that's doing for water what Nespresso did for coffee. Marnix started Aquablu while still at university with his co-founder Marc van Zuylen. Now they've raised $8.19 million, hit 300% year-over-year growth three years running, and reached profitability in 2025.But here's what makes this episode different from every fundraising story you've heard. Marnix didn't raise a single euro from traditional venture capital. He built a curated round of operators, industry leaders, and believers who move fast and skip six-week board meetings.Here is his background:→ Founded 2018 by Marnix Stokvis and Marc van Zuylen while at university→ Amsterdam-based smart water dispenser company→ Flagship product: REFILL+ chilled, sparkling, or still water with functional flavors, vitamins, and electrolytes→ Serves corporate offices, hotels, and hospitality→ Over 120 partnerships→ Red Dot Design Award certified→ Targeting €100M revenue by 2028 with fewer than 100 employeesThe fundraising story flips all the previous playbooks:→ $8.19 million, zero traditional VCs→ Friends of Aquablu raise and curate operators and investors who share their speed-and-execution mindset→ Former Philips CEO Frans van Houten led the round→ €750K committed LIVE on the Dutch Dragons podcast, grew to €1.1M after it aired→ Pieter Schoen, Michel Perridon, and Bas Witvoet also joinedHe picked people who have built businesses that stood out.Mostly hardware startups don't have funds and revenue while raising capital. He had both. He proved the PMF, and these numbers made people say yes.→ 300% year-over-year growth for 3 consecutive years→ Profitable since April 2025→ Expanding internationally across corporate and hospitality sectors→ Mission to save 1 billion plastic bottles by 2030→ Clients include Schiphol Airport, Adyen, and major hotel chainsWe discussed in detail:✅ How two university students went from zero to $8.19 million and profitability, without ever pitching a traditional VC firm.✅ Why Marnix chose operators over institutional investors and how Friends of Aquablu became the fundraising model that attracted serious capital initiative.✅ How Aquablu hit 300% growth three years in a row ✅ Why they're targeting €100M revenue with fewer than 100 employees, and the operational model that makes that realistic.About Aquablu:Aquablu is an Amsterdam-based smart water startup transforming workplace and hospitality hydration. Their REFILL+ system delivers chilled, sparkling, or still functional water infused with natural flavours, electrolytes, and B vitamins, eliminating single-use plastic bottles. Learn more → aquablu.comAbout Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast:Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. Just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work.I'm Niclas, building spectup into a neo-investment bank. As VC scouts and private placement, we connect high-potential companies with the right investors, from Seed through Series B and beyond.Reach out → spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

He spent 7 years at AWS and then left to build a cloud computing startup.This week I sat with James Marks, and he shared his startup fundraising journey, and the playbook was quite the opposite of everything I had seen so far.James is a cloud and IT infrastructure broker helping companies cut 20-40% off their cloud spend. He became the youngest senior manager in AWS history, then sold his house, quit his job, and bet everything on building Canopy."Don't spend time on your deck. Spend 100% of your time on the business."His Approach:→ Sent monthly 3-4 page investor memos for months before raising→ No pitching, just transparent updates showing real traction→ Closed round with institutional investors in 48 hours (30% Monday, finished Tuesday)Current Traction:→ Clients from worldwide→ 74+ customers and growing→ £400k investment raised in pre-seed round→ Institutional fundraising round coming soonWe Went Deep Into:✓ How he built investor relations via monthly memos and saved significant time✓ Why cloud is a trillions-dollar market at ~50% efficiency & how Canopy solves it✓ How companies overspend due to lack of vendor pricing visibility✓ Why execution speed beats everything in cloud computing✓ Smart work over hard work: scattered 10-hour days don't compete✓ The strategic WHY behind fundraising decisionsKey Insight: 90-95% of Canopy's revenue comes from network referrals and warm introductions.For Founders: If you're building in cloud infrastructure or raising your first round, this episode is for you.About Deal Makers & Fakers: Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. No polished success stories. Just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work.Host: I'm Niclas, building Spectup into a new kind of capital advisory. Follow along if you're raising, investing, or just curious how the game really works.LinksReach out → spectup.comCheck out Canopy Cloud → https://www.canopycloud.io/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

€2M raised at €70K ARR. Only 25 customers. And he never pitched a single investor.Juanjo Mestre, CEO & Co-Founder of Dcycle, built one of Europe's fastest-growing ESG platforms, now serving 2,000+ companies across Madrid, London, and Munich with 65+ employees and ~€10M in total funding raised.His fundraising approach? The opposite of every playbook out there.No cold emails. No 100-deck grind. Just 5 investor relationships built over a year, until two of them came to him and said: "It's time to raise."Background: Juanjo co-founded Dcycle to solve a massive problem, companies drowning in scattered environmental data across teams, systems, and silos. Dcycle built one centralized platform where every department feeds data in and stakeholders pull reports out. Carbon footprint, compliance, ESG disclosures; all in one place.Every founder objection he overcame:- "ESG is a nice-to-have, not a must-have"- "You're too early with only €70K ARR"- "The sustainability market is too uncertain"Juanjo's fundraising journey:→ Step 1: Joined Lanzadera accelerator in Spain; connected with early investors→ Step 2: €1M first round from 4 Spanish pre-seed VCs (September 2021)→ Step 3: €2M pre-seed round; closed with just 25 happy customers and €70K ARR→ Step 4: €6M Series A; scaling across Europe→ Step 5: Now preparing for Series B in the next 6–8 monthsCurrent traction:→ 2,000+ companies served worldwide→ 65+ employees across Madrid, London, and Munich→ ~€10M total capital raised→ Expanding into UK and Germany markets→ Series B fundraising starting within 6–8 monthsWe go deep into:✅ How Juanjo built investor relationships for a year without ever "pitching" and why two VCs eventually came to him when the timing was right.✅ Why ESG data is becoming non-negotiable for companies — driven by regulation in the EU, UK, California, and New York and how Dcycle positioned itself at the center of that wave.✅ His take on product-market fit: why €100K ARR is just starting, €1M ARR is validation, and €5M ARR is when things get real.✅ The three forces driving the sustainability data market regulation, investor pressure, and market demand and how they compound globally.✅ Why he believes Series A is about validation but Series B is about scalable playbooks and what investors expect at each stage.✅ The honest truth about European vs. US fundraising: why the biggest exits still happen in America and what that means for European founders planning Series B and beyond.✅ The one pitch deck slide investors cared about most during his Series A — and it wasn't revenue or team.✅ How a favorable market (ESG boom in early 2022) combined with genuine relationships turned a €70K ARR company into a €2M raise — and what founders can learn from that timing.About Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast:Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. No polished success stories, just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work.I'm Niclas, building ⁠spectup⁠ into a new kind of capital advisory. Follow along if you're raising, investing, or just curious how the game really works.Reach out → spectup.comCheck out Dcycle → https://dcycle.io/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

He raised millions for deeptech hardware in the middle of a Greek financial crisis. Greece’s 10-year bonds were above 18%, investors wanted software-only, and everyone told him to leave and build in the US instead. In this episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers), Niclas talks with Dr. Nick Kanopoulos, founder & CEO of Brite Solar, about how he still built a solar factory in Patras and closed an €8.6M Series A plus more than €10M in grants and R&D funding.We go deep into:How a Duke-trained engineer went from semiconductors in the US to launching Brite Solar back in Greece for family reasons – right when the macro looked worst.Why agrivoltaics and semi-transparent solar glass can boost crop yields, save water, and generate energy on the same land.How he self-funded ~€1.2M, survived years of R&D, and then convinced the ultra-selective EU EIC Fund (sub-5% acceptance) to lead his €8.6M Series A.The brutal reality of raising capital-intensive hardware money in Europe when local VCs mostly want software, platforms, and “asset-light”.How he defends against Chinese competition on price, IP, and manufacturing flexibility – and why their line was designed from day one for agrivoltaics, not generic PV.What investors really asked in the final EIC panel, including patents, China, gender balance, governance, and scaling risk.His metric founders forget to show in their pitch decks – the valuation-to-investment multiples of comparable companies – and how he uses it to shut down “your valuation is too high”.His unfiltered advice to hardware & deeptech founders: OEM vs. your own factory, when to pull the Series A trigger, and why “the name of the game is: don’t give up”.If you want to learn how to raise serious money for real-world, capex-heavy tech when basically everything is stacked against you, this is the episode.Learn more about Brite Solar:https://www.britesolar.com/About spectup / your host: I’m Niclas, building spectup into a new kind of capital advisory. Follow along if you’re raising, investing, or just curious how the game really works. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

🚀 Episode 2 of Deal Makers (& Fakers) — with Lars Eickhoff, Co-Founder of DeepImmo, a Munich-based PropTech startup that took a radically different route to funding. Instead of chasing VCs, Lars raised from a family office aligned with his vision, unlocking ongoing capital and growth without the classic VC drama.In this raw, honest conversation, Lars shares:Why he turned away from the classic VC path.The near-failure moments and struggles he faced.The challenges he solved to secure long-term, flexible funding.Why he believes this “VC-free” route is a massive advantage for founders.If you’re tired of endless pitch decks, term sheet negotiations, and investor pressure, this episode reveals how one founder found a smarter, less stressful way to fund and scale his company.Who is Lars Eickhoff?Lars is the Co-Founder of DeepImmo, a fast-growing PropTech startup building solutions for the real estate industry. His journey shows how founders can break the mold and find funding that truly fits their ambitions.About the podcast: Deal Makers (& Fakers)Deal Makers (&fakers) is a spectup podcast where founders and operators reveal what actually works in fundraising, investor outreach, and building companies—plus the “fakers” moments nobody posts about on LinkedIn.Who should listen?Founders tired of the classic VC treadmill.Anyone considering alternative funding routes.Operators who want to scale without losing control.🔗 Learn more about spectup🔗 Check out DeepImmo This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

🚀 Episode 1 of Deal Makers (& Fakers) — with Jessica Liew (Berlin-based founder of Intriq), the AI platform helping consultants move faster by automating up to 87% of manual consulting work.In this episode, we go deep on what it really takes to raise a pre-seed round (Jessica raised >$1M), how to approach investor outreach without burning your network, and the real differences between fundraising in the US vs. Europe.If you’re tired of slow data requests, endless spreadsheets, and “can you send me that by EOD?” chaos—Intriq’s vision is simple: get answers on demand so you can spend your time on strategy, impact, and results.What you’ll learn How Jessica approached investor outreach and built momentum for a pre-seed round US vs Europe: what changes in investor expectations, speed, and storytelling What it’s like fundraising as a female founder (and what should change) What Intriq actually does: from document analysis to report drafting—without the grunt workAbout Jessica + IntriqJessica Liew is the CEO & Founder of Intriq, an AI startup transforming how advisory teams and consultants work with complex data.Intriq positions itself as an “AI-powered toolkit” for corporate finance advisors and consultants—built to speed up research, data collection, insight extraction, and report drafting.About the podcast: Deal Makers (& Fakers)Deal Makers (& Fakers) is a spectup podcast where founders and operators share what actually works in fundraising, investor outreach, and building companies—plus the “fakers” moments nobody posts about on LinkedIn.Who we arespectup is a capital advisory firm helping founders and growth-stage teams raise capital through investor readiness, outreach systems, and a global investor network. We run structured fundraising processes designed to create real investor conversations—not just “nice intros.”Links Learn more about spectup: https://www.spectup.com Check out Intriq: https://intriq.aiSubscribe + connectIf this helped, subscribe for weekly episodes on fundraising, outreach, and building real companies. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com