Podcast
How To Raise Money
54 episodes
Get the inside scoop on what VCs are thinking and where they are investing today and tomorrow. Anne Kennedy and Gillian Muessig guide you through the opaque world of venture capital and reveal all the ways you can source capital for your company's growth. It all starts right here with Anne Kennedy and Gillian Muessig on VC Confidential.
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7th Feb 2022How to Organize Your Capital Raiseit’s January. Resolutions time. Get-organized time. Gillian and Anne talk about organizing the Fund Raising Process for raising capital. They’ve been at it for a while now at the Sybilla Masters31m
10th Jan 2022Investing in Good Corporate GovernanceFollowing the Janaury 3rd guilty verdict for Theranos Founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes in federal court, Gillian and Anne dive into the further responsibilities of investors and board directors to29m
22nd Nov 2021What’s In a VC Fund Thesis?Gillian and Anne explore how venture capital funds form, market, and express their investment theses. Founders need to know which VC to pitch for capital, just as investors want to find funds that30m
21st Oct 2021More About Functional BoardsGillian and Anne talk about Boards of Directors. They covered this topic at a high level in a 2020 episode here at VC Confidential, ‘Why Investors Need Strong Boards’. This time, they dig a bit31m
5th Oct 2021Warrants & Venture DebtGillian and Anne delve into warrants. Just one of the forms of venture debt, a warrant is such a useful investment instrument and so few people seem to understand what it does, how it’s used, who33m
27th Sep 2021LP Updates: What to Expect from Your Fund ManagerGillian and Anne delve into what LPs should expect from investor updates, and how GPs and Managing Directors can prepare valuable LP updates for both written and video-conference communications with32m
9th Aug 2021Preferential Rights & Other Easter EggsIn their continuing crusade to rip the lid off the opaque corner of private fin ace known as venture capital, Gillian and Anne drill into more of the often confusing language and clauses found in32m
26th Jul 2021The Real Cost of Operating Venture Capital FundsWhile large VC Funds seem like a lot of money to invest in entrprenuers, the expenses of running a fund over a 10-year life (on average) chip away at the sum persistently. Management fees, legal and33m
31st May 2021Defining Venture Debt with Denise Dunlap, Sage Growth CapitalGillian & Anne welcome Denis Dunlap to this episode to discuss how venture debt works, and how it differs from conventional VC equity deals. Venture debt is a an increasingly popular form of35m
24th May 2021CF Funds Help New Investors Get StartedAmid a rising clamor to become angel or venture investors, even among people who do not meet the Securities and Exchange Commission’s strict rules to qualify, new platforms and mobile apps have33m
17th May 2021Inside VC with Diane Fraiman, Voyager CapitalAnne & Gillian welcome Diane Fraiman, Managing Director at Voyager Capital, founded in 1997. With more than $520 million under management, Voyager invests in B2B software, cloud, and big data36m
10th May 2021What If There Were a VC Index Fund?Returns from conventional venture capital funds have lagged below those from public market investing consistently and stubbornly since 1997. That is more than two decades. In their continuing34m
27th Apr 2021De-Risking Venture CapitalDeservedly called the riskiest asset class, Venture Capital has underperformed public markets for decades, and since 1997 less cash has been returned to VC investors than they have invested, reports34m
19th Apr 2021What’s In a VC Fund Thesis?Gillian and Anne explore how venture capital funds form, market, and express their investment theses. Founders need to know which VC to pitch for capital, just as investors want to find funds that33m
10th Apr 2021What Goes Into A Term Sheet?Term sheets are one of the critical pieces to success in venture investing. They come after due diligence and before investment documents. Gillian & Anne dig into what term sheets usually contain,31m
15th Mar 202124 Likely Post-Pandemic WinnersGillian and Anne take a look at where venture capital investors will be looking in the coming months as the world eases out of lockdown and distancing. Digital infrastructure improvements and33m
12th Mar 2021Be an Ally to Women FundersTo celebrate International Women’s Day, Gillian and Anne talk about women funders today. Knowing the sad stats about female founders receiving a pittance of conventional venture funding, they get33m
2nd Mar 2021Accredited Investor Rules -- What’s New?The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US Federal government in 1982 set minimum qualifications for people to make private investments, to “protect investors from themselves”, according to one32m
2nd Mar 2021Safes & Convertible Notes: What’s the Difference?It’s back to basics with a review of investment vehicles commonly used in Venture Capital, starting the Convertible Notes and Safes (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). Functionally, convertible32m
23rd Feb 2021What it Means to Lead a DealWhat does leading a deal mean? What does a Deal Lead do? Why is it important to have one? Why don’t entrepreneurs lead their own deals as capital raises get larger? Gillian and Anne break it down and36m
15th Feb 2021Inside VC Minds: What Appeals, Really?Gillian and Anne talk about how conventional VCs think. Debunking some conventional wisdom commonly said by VCs versus what actually goes on in VC funding, and what gets funded. To be fair, funders32m
26th Jan 2021Do’s and Don'ts of Deal RoomsGillian & Anne take a look at DEAL or DATA rooms and share some information about when to create them, what to put inside, how to share them. Broadly, deal rooms are created to share sensitive34m
25th Jan 2021Profitable Portfolio ConstructionBriefly put, a portfolio construction model is a method of determining whether and how a Venture Capital fund is going to make enough money to return a reasonable ROI (return on investment) to its30m
19th Jan 2021SPVs, Sidecars & Other Fast-moving VehiclesGillian & Anne are back with more on basic Venture Capital investing methods, this time explaining sidecars and what they are generally used for (beside motorcycle passengers in old movies). Here’30m
5th Jan 2021What to Expect in 2021Gillian and Anne review trends emerging from the tumult of 2020 that are not going back in the genie’s lamp, especially increased investing in diverse founders and women with better ways to fund37m
15th Dec 2020What Happened in 2020?Anne and Gillian take a look back at 2020, the year we are all really glad to see come to an end. Oh, what a year it was! A global pandemic, a worldwide recession, and a highly contentious US37m
8th Dec 2020All About SPAC’sLaunching IPO’s using Special Purpose Acquisition Companys has shot upward in 2020. With both the number of SPAC’s and dollars invested m ore than tripling since 2019, and raising nearly half of all33m
1st Dec 2020Series A ChecklistIn venture capital, Series A sits somewhere between startup seed capital and Series B fuel for significant growth. Following on from a previous episode ‘How to Get top Series A’, Gillian and Anne get34m
23rd Nov 2020All About SPV’sAnne and Gillian talk about Special Purpose Vehicles, funding mechanisms used often by VC funds to invest in companies they might not be able to otherwise, or on a different timeline from their33m
16th Nov 2020Women VC’s Rise UpVC firms that increased their number of female partners by just 10% saw a 1.5% increase in ROI, plus 9.7% more profitable exits. So says a new report from Women in VC by founders Jessica Peltz and29m
9th Nov 2020The Social Responsibilities of Venture CapitalVenture Capital is just .2% of America’s invested dollars but generates 20% of GDP. Yet, our US economy is frayed and brittle as those dollars go mostly to white-men founded tech companies, while29m
2nd Nov 2020The Social Responsibilities of Venture CapitalConventional VC has produced 20% of US GDP, on invested capital of less than a quarter percent of all investing. Yet, wealth gaps increased, while a global pandemic has invaded us and set the economy33m
13th Oct 2020Impact Investing & Global WealthAnne and Gillian continue their conversation about the effect of the Covid19 global pandemic on venture funding and the rise of ‘stakeholder capitalism’. The real movement they note is in ESG30m
5th Oct 2020Impact & Diversity Portfolios Trending UpGillian and Anne discuss reporting in Forbes magazine, Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan that impact portfolios and diverse leadership get better returns than conventional ones. Impact investing34m
28th Sep 2020Changing Tides for VC’s & WomenJenn Leblanc, the author of “Changing Tides: Powerful Strategies for Female Founders” and founder herself of the Changing Tides Movement, joins Gillian and Anne to talk about launching both the book32m
21st Sep 2020Gender Lens Investing On the RiseAnne & Gillian return to their root focus, gender lens investing, with an encouraging update based on Project Sage 3.0 from Wharton’s Social Impact Initiative, authored by its Managing Director Sandi32m
8th Sep 2020Radical Collaboration Needed to Heal Black Wealth GapIn their July 27 show, Anne & Gillian examined the role that venture capital can and should take in building Black wealth. Conventional VC has woefully underperformed -- Black entrepreneurs36m
31st Aug 2020Why Investors Need Strong BoardsA strong board is votal, and weak or ineffectual board is a disaster for investors and entrepreneurs alike, says Julianne Zimmerman, Managing Director of Reinventure Capital. A veteran of many board33m
24th Aug 2020Transparency & Due Diligence -- Where’s the Link?This week Anne and Gillian talk with Joe Milam of Angelspan to track startup performance for better context for investor reporting, with less hyperbole and metrics that really matter. Angelspan32m
17th Aug 2020Structured Exit vs Venture Debt - What’s the Difference?Continuing the discussion of Structured Exit funding vehicles, Gillian and Anne dive deeper into how this relatively new funding vehicle works for both investors and entrepreneurs, and how it differs33m
10th Aug 2020Why Are Structured Exits Good for Founders, and Investors, too?Structured exits mitigate investor risk for investors, while at the same time allowing access to upside results, says David Gitlin, an attorney at Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld. He has been31m
3rd Aug 2020Matching Startups to the Right VCsFinding the right VC for a startup is critical to building a lasting and productive relationship. Gillian and Anne detail how to determine your short list with highly focused research to discover34m
27th Jul 2020Leveling the VC Playing Field for Black FoundersAnne and Gillian talk about Equity. Not the kind of equity that VCs purchase when they invest capital in a startup. The kind of LACK of equity in the field of venture capital and in society at large33m
20th Jul 2020Even More VC 101 - Venture Capital Firm Org ChartsGillian and Annee take a deep dive into the leadership structure of venture capital firms, starting with the most common organization charts. A confusing landscape for sure, because funds can write35m
13th Jul 2020More VC 101 for AngelsGillian and Anne continue with explaining what angel investors can expect when they level up to investing in venture capital funds. It’s different, and there is lots of legal paperwork. Anne and36m
6th Jul 2020VC 101 for Angels Leveling UpWhat do first-time venture fund investors need to know? Investing in a VC fund is quite different from investing as an angel. Gillian and Anne discuss how VC works for investors, and what to expect.35m
29th Jun 2020How to Get to Series AThere are three critical parts to success in getting to Series A funding from conventional VC’s. Gillian and Anne talk about finding the right VC for your growing company, how to prepare for talking33m
22nd Jun 2020Rethinking Startup CapitalizationAfter the past few episodes on equity funding, venture debt and structured exits, Gillian and Anne tie it all together by explaining how to use varied funding vehicles to build a better35m
15th Jun 2020What are Structured Exits?Structured exits were promoted as long ago as 2015 to angel investors as a path to earlier liquidity. What exactly does the term mean? Gillian and Anne explain how this not quite new concept could34m
8th Jun 2020IRR - What’s That?Do you find terms like ‘discounted cash flows’ and ‘net present value’ confusing, even mysterious? This episode is for you as Gillian helps Anne understand Internal Rate of Return, aka IRR, a term33m
1st Jun 2020Valuation: Who Cares & Why?In their continuing mission to clarify everything investors and entrepreneurs need to know about venture capital and how it works, Gillian and Anne unsnarl the confusing ways valuations are35m
25th May 2020What is Venture Debt?Continuing their new podcast about everything you -- an investor, advisor or entrepreneur -- need to know to best fund a startup, Anne and Gillian talk about venture debt, and why it makes a wiser36m
18th May 2020The Real Cost of Equity FundingBack for week two of their new VC Confidential, Gillian and Anne lay bare the pros and cons of funding your startup with conventional VC equity. For most entrepreneurs, there are more cons than pros.33m
11th May 2020VC Confidential Premier EpisodeAnne Kennedy & Gillian Muessig return to WMR with a new show all about everything they -- and you -- need to know about venture capital: what it’s best for, who gets it (and who should) and how it35m