PODCAST · business
Funded | How They Raised Millions
by Jason Yeh
The tech media loves a splashy funding announcement - millions of dollars injected into a hot startup primed to become a unicorn. But what about the work behind those headlines? Host Jason Yeh, a former VC and venture-backed startup founder, talks with entrepreneurs about how they raised the capital to launch world-changing startups. Their conversations uncover incredible stories including cautionary tales, inspirational memories, and even some insightful tips. Keep up with us on social @fundedpod to learn more.
Episodes
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TBC 157: When Cold Outreach Actually Works in Fundraising
Cold outreach fails when it makes an investor ask, “If this deal is so good, why did it reach me cold?” Jason breaks down the situations where cold outreach can work, including travel, real calendar density, and the rare company whose traction speaks for itself. He also explains why warm...
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TBC 156: How AI Is Changing the Rules of Building a Startup
AI isn't just changing how fast startups build. It's changing who can build, how companies find product-market fit, which software moats survive, whether building in public still makes sense, and what kinds of businesses are worth starting. Jason works through the implications for cofounders,...
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TBC 155: The Two Types of Founders and Why Their Fundraising Paths Are Different
Fundraising advice often assumes every founder starts with the same level of credibility. They don't. Jason breaks down two paths: the founder with a built-in credibility halo who can run a targeted process, and the first-time founder who needs volume, calendar density, and competitive dynamics…
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TBC 154: What Your Existing Investors Need to Hear Before Your Next Round
Before your next fundraise, your existing investors need to believe the next-round story too. Jason explains how to shift from purely asking for help to sharing milestones and momentum that make your current backers excited enough to introduce you, talk about you, and carry the story into rooms...
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TBC 153: Your Pitch Narrative Will Tell You What's Missing in Your Company
Working on your narrative isn't just about making a better pitch — it's about exposing the gaps in your company. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why the holes in your story are actually a roadmap for what you need to go build. If your narrative is begging for traction, go…
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TBC 152: Why Your Pitch Deck Needs a Flow, Not Just a Slide List
Most founders treat their pitch deck like a list of data points investors will absorb from start to finish. That's not how it works. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down the concept of narrative flow — why you have to constantly re-earn an investor's attention, how to know where…
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TBC 151: VCs Are Rooting for You — Here's How to Use That
Every VC you pitch wants you to be great. Not because they're generous — because your success is their success. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason shares a quote that reframes the entire investor relationship, and breaks down what it means for how you show up in pitch meetings. When a VC...
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TBC 150: Why VCs Say They Love Cold Email (And What They Actually Mean)
Venture capitalists who say they love cold email aren't lying — but they're not telling the whole story either. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down the three types of founders who reach out cold, why VC cold submission forms mostly work for the best and worst founders, and why…
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TBC 149: How to Actually Use Startup Advice You Find Online
Not all advice is created equal — and bite-sized content on Twitter or LinkedIn was never meant to be followed word for word. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason gets candid about his own content, why his takes are always directionally accurate but never fully comprehensive, and how…
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TBC 148: How Simple Is Too Simple for Your Pitch Narrative
Founders almost never cut their narrative far enough. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason shares a lesson from one of the best negotiators he’s ever seen — push all the way to the line so you know where it is. Applied to pitch narratives, that means going so simple it feels dumb, and then...
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TBC 147: Your Numbers Are Part of the Story, Not Separate From It
A lot of founders treat storytelling and hard data as two different things in a pitch — and that’s the mistake. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why your numbers mean nothing without a narrative wrapped around them, and why letting investors interpret raw data on their own is...
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TBC 146: Why VCs Only Remember the Last Thing They Heard
Venture capitalists don't have a perfectly indexed CRM in their heads. They run on recency bias — last in, first out. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down what he realized after bumping into a top VC at a cafe in San Francisco: investors share what’s freshest in their minds, not...
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TBC 145: Stop Blending Your Ask Into Your Personal Emails
Most founders make the same mistake when reaching out to their network during a fundraise, they try to combine a personal connection with a business ask in the same email, and end up doing both badly. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why blended emails feel disingenuous, and...
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TBC 144: Why You Don't Need Money to Start Moving
Too many founders think they need capital before they can make real progress — but that's exactly the mindset that keeps them stuck. In this episode, Jason breaks down the "parked car" trap: why waiting for funding before moving forward is the wrong approach, and how to start building momentum…
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Mohak Nahta – How Atlys Raised a $36M Series C from Susquehanna After 11x Growth | Ep 62
On this episode of Funded, Mohak Nahta, founder and CEO of Atlys, returns three years after his first appearance to share what building a real business actually looks like after the Series A. He talks about pivoting hard from B2B to B2C, navigating investor skepticism in the age of AI, and why…
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Jackson Schultz – How an Angel Army of CISOs Unlocked a Lead Investor for ArgusEye | Ep 61
On this episode of Funded, Jackson Schultz, co-founder and CEO of ArgusEye, shares how he left Google right after the birth of his second son, with no VC network and no hardware background, to build a cybersecurity platform for connected devices. He talks about getting passed on by VCs who…
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TBC 143: Stop Using Fancy Words in Your Fundraising Pitch
If your pitch deck or investor emails are full of words like "tremendous latent potential," "highly efficacious," or "flywheels of growth" — this episode is for you. In this Backchannel episode, Jason breaks down why flowery language and SAT words are one of the biggest red flags for investors…
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TBC 142: Why Cold Outreach Fails (and the 4 Tactics That Actually Work)
Most founders treat cold outreach like a numbers game — blast enough investors and something will stick. It doesn't work that way. In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason breaks down why cold outreach is inherently at a disadvantage, why it should only ever be 5% of your fundraising strategy,...
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Alex Bazzell – How Bessemer Found Unrivaled & Wrote a $35M Term Sheet Overnight | Ep 60
On this episode of Funded, Alex Bazzell, co-founder of Unrivaled, shares how he went from training NBA players to building one of the most talked-about new sports leagues in the country — and convincing investors to bet on it before a single game was played. He talks about getting passed on by…
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Emilė Radytė – How a Cold LinkedIn DM Led to $5M from In Venture & Fortify | Ep 59
On this episode of Funded, Emilė Radytė, co-founder and CEO of Samphire Neuro, shares how she went from academic neuroscientist to building a regulated neurotechnology company for women's hormonal health — a category most investors didn't even recognize. She talks about raising with no VC…
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TBC 141: Why Investors Tune Out Before You Get Started
A lot of founders jump straight to trying to sound impressive in a pitch. That usually backfires. In this episode of Back Channel, I break down the step most people skip, getting the investor to actually care before you show them anything clever. I talk through why context matters more than...
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TBC 140: How to Actually Get to Calendar Density
I want to walk through a real example of a founder who is doing the fundraising work the right way. Not theory. Not vibes. Actual behavior that leads to calendar density. I talk a lot about calendar density as the punchline, and I’ve realized that for a lot of founders the obvious follow-up is,...
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TBC 139: Hitting the Resonant Frequency With Investors
I’ve been thinking about a fundraising idea that keeps showing up once you’ve pitched enough rooms. I call it the resonant frequency of investors. It’s that moment in a pitch when someone stops evaluating you and starts dreaming alongside you. In this episode, I break down what that state…
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TBC 138: Do SAFE investors need to be accredited? (Interview with Aaron Ginsburg @ Fenwick)
I finally brought a guest onto The Back Channel, and it’s for a good reason. A founder hit me with a question about SAFEs that made me pause a bit longer than I’d like to admit. The topic: whether a startup can accept money from someone who isn’t accredited in the US, and what that even means…
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Ariana Thacker – From “Too Niche” to $8M for Mold Co from Cantos and Collab Fund | Ep 58
On this episode of Funded, Ariana Thacker, founder and CEO of Mold Co., shares how she went from running a successful VC fund to building a company most investors initially dismissed. She talks about pushing through early rejections, why so many people doubted the market, and what finally flipped...
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TBC 137: Grease the Friction in Fundraising
In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason Yeh unpacks the hidden friction points that often derail fundraising. He explores why investors hesitate and what founders can do to navigate those moments. Tune in to learn how to turn obstacles into momentum.
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TBC 136: Time-Saving Fundraising Strategies
In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason Yeh reveals key time-saving strategies to ensure your fundraising efforts stay on track. He emphasizes the importance of preparing ahead, alongside 2 other keys to stay in control. By adopting these approaches, you'll streamline your fundraising journey...
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Minna Song (EliseAI) — From Crazy Early in Conversational AI to $250M from A16Z | Ep 57
Raising money for AI might seem easy today, but back in 2017, it was anything but. In this episode of Funded, Jason Yeh sits down with Minna Song, co-founder and CEO of EliseAI, who shares her journey from bootstrapping a conversational AI startup before ChatGPT was even on the horizon to closing…
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TBC 135: Ask for Help: Fundraising Storytelling
In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason Yeh dives into the power of asking for help, especially when it comes to fundraising and storytelling. Drawing from an insightful conversation with Minna Song, co-founder of Elise AI, Jason explores how technical founders can benefit from expert...
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TBC 134: Building a Helpful Network Ethic
In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason Yeh explores the power of building a network rooted in small, genuine acts of helpfulness. Jason breaks down why simply being a helpful person is both fulfilling in the short term and a powerful foundation for future fundraising success.
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TBC133: How to Close an Angel Round
In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason Yeh breaks down what it really takes to close an angel round. From the mindset shift founders need to the tactics that can unlock momentum, he shares key lessons to help you move from scattered conversations to signed checks.
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TBC132: The Right Type of Investor
Not all investors are created equal. In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason Yeh explains why some businesses struggle to raise capital—not because they're bad, but because they're pitching to the wrong type of investor. Learn how to identify the asset class your startup fits into, and how to...
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TBC131: The Human Side of Investor Relationships
What is the true meaning of “relationship” in fundraising and business? Jason breaks it down in this episode and challenges the common misconception that relationships are just shortcuts or favors. He instead highlights how genuine trust and shared experiences build the foundation for meaningful...
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TBC130: The First Lesson of AI in Fundraising
In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason Yeh dives into the role of AI in our daily workflows, offering encouragement, a cautionary take, and his first practical lesson on using AI in fundraising—especially when building pitch decks. Learn how to think critically about AI's strengths and...
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TBC129: Fundraising in the Age of AI
In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down what it really means to fundraise in an AI-dominated world. If you’re not building core AI infrastructure, how should you position your startup? He explains why every founder needs an AI story—one rooted in how the tech impacts your product,...
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TBC128: Focus on What Matters
In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason reflects on a recent conversation with a robotics founder that reminded him how powerful it is to focus on what actually matters. From skipping the company name to delaying fundraising, the founder made unconventional decisions that signal discipline,...
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TBC127: Why Talking Too Much Is Killing Your Pitch
In this episode, we share a powerful lesson from a recent pitch practice session with a founder whose natural charisma backfired. While being articulate and engaging can be a superpower, it can also lead to rambling when clarity matters most. We talk about why “less is more” applies just as much…
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TBC126: When VCs Start Dreaming With You
In this episode we share the fundraising version of product market fit—what it feels like when a VC starts dreaming alongside you. We break down what that moment looks like, why it matters, and how to set up your pitch to create that kind of pull.
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TBC125: What I Learned Coaching HBS Founders on Fundraising
In this episode of The Back Channel, I reflect on a recent visit to Harvard Business School where I coached founders in Jeff Bussgang’s Launching Tech Ventures class. I break down one of the biggest fundraising mistakes I saw, how founders frame their problem space, and share advice on how to fix...
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TBC124: The Power of Helping When You Can (HBS Story)
In this episode, we explore how one small act of generosity can shape long-term relationships in venture capital. Jason shares a story from a recent trip back to Harvard Business School, where a simple coffee chat from a decade ago turned into a meaningful connection with a now-prominent VC. He...
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Alex Salazar on Taking Arcade from Zero to a $12M Round (Alex Salazar / Arcade - Ep 56)
Alex Salazar didn’t need to prove he could build a company. He’d already done that and sold it, then spent time as a VC, and had the kind of background that usually makes raising money the easy part. But when he started Arcade, he decided to do things differently. In this episode, we talk about...
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TBC123: Can You Pitch a Big Vision?
In this episode of The Back Channel, we talk about the pressure founders feel to pitch a massive vision — and what actually makes that land with investors. VCs need to believe in billion-dollar outcomes, but that doesn’t mean you should throw out the biggest idea you can think of. Credibility,...
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TBC122: Early Signals That Matter to Investors
In this episode, we'll talk about green flags—the little things founders say or do that quietly leave a strong impression on investors. I share a story about a first-time founder at one of our events who said two things that really stood out. They weren’t flashy, but they revealed a surprising...
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TBC121: The Fundraising Equation [T(G) - T(TI)]
In this episode of The Backchannel, we break down a simple but powerful equation to help founders understand why some investor meetings turn into momentum—and others fall flat. We share a personal story that sparked the idea, then introduce the concept of Time Given (TG) minus Time to Interest...
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TBC120: The LP Problem No One Talks About
In this episode of The Backchannel, we start with a tweet from Peter Walker at Carta and dig into what it means when a big chunk of LPs in smaller funds are just regular individuals. If you’re raising a sub-$100M fund—or thinking about it—there’s some stuff here that might make you pause, maybe...
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TBC119: The State of the Fundraising Market in 2025
Is pre-seed fundraising harder than ever? In this episode of The Backchannel, we break down how expectations for early-stage startups have shifted. Investors now demand more proof—traction, paying customers, and even product builds—before writing checks. Why? A mix of AI-driven productivity…
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How Brian Sheng Closed a $112M Round for Aquaria (Brian Sheng / Aquaria - Ep 55)
Raising money isn’t just about convincing investors—it’s about surviving long enough to do it. Brian Sheng, founder of Aquaria, bootstrapped millions of his own dollars, ran relentless product-market fit experiments, and faced rejection after rejection before securing a $112M round to scale his...
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TBC118: How to Create Urgency and Set Deadlines in Fundraising
Setting deadlines in fundraising can be a powerful tool—or a costly mistake. In this episode of The BackChannel, we break down how founders should think about creating urgency without scaring off investors. Learn why setting deadlines too early can backfire, how to structure a process that keeps...
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TBC117: What Are the Toughest Questions Asked When Pitching?
Investors love to test founders with tough questions—but what if you don’t know the answer? In this episode, we break down a real pitch meeting where a simple misunderstanding derailed the conversation. Learn how to handle tricky investor questions, when to ask for clarification, and why truly...
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TBC116: Finding the Perfect Blend of Data and Narrative
In this episode of the Back Channel, we explore the art of storytelling and the balance between hard facts and narrative. A founder’s question sparks a conversation about when to lean on data and when to let the story take center stage. Tune in for thought-provoking insights on crafting…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The tech media loves a splashy funding announcement - millions of dollars injected into a hot startup primed to become a unicorn. But what about the work behind those headlines? Host Jason Yeh, a former VC and venture-backed startup founder, talks with entrepreneurs about how they raised the capital to launch world-changing startups. Their conversations uncover incredible stories including cautionary tales, inspirational memories, and even some insightful tips. Keep up with us on social @fundedpod to learn more.
HOSTED BY
Jason Yeh
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Funded | How They Raised Millions have?
Funded | How They Raised Millions currently has 212 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Funded | How They Raised Millions about?
The tech media loves a splashy funding announcement - millions of dollars injected into a hot startup primed to become a unicorn. But what about the work behind those headlines? Host Jason Yeh, a former VC and venture-backed startup founder, talks with entrepreneurs about how they raised the...
How often does Funded | How They Raised Millions release new episodes?
Funded | How They Raised Millions publishes regularly with 212 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Funded | How They Raised Millions?
You can listen to Funded | How They Raised Millions on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Funded | How They Raised Millions?
Funded | How They Raised Millions is created and hosted by Jason Yeh.
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