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Raiser's Edge
Some entrepreneurs fly through fundraising; sailing through VC meetings, converting at high rates, getting to term sheets quickly and successfully. Other founders struggle; wading through hundreds of meetings and calls, reading thousands of online pitch guides, and still only producing a mediocre fundraising round. The very best founders seem to know cheat codes that the rest of the herd just lack, and this quickly creates capital advantage for their companies, allowing them to own their markets and achieve dominance in their industries. So what are these secrets that separate the best from the rest?
It turns out a lot of what these top raisers do is replicable - it’s just not easy to find on the internet or by asking advice from average peers. Raiser’s Edge bridges that very gap, sharing the strategies and philosophies that have separated industry leaders from the pack in order to transform mediocre raisers to excellent ones. Through interviews with outstanding founders who have themselves succeeded in the VC fundraising process, not only will listeners learn how to successfully fund their start-ups, but they will also learn how to raise strong rounds even in down markets, take advantage of VC funding and tailwinds, and impress investors in order to earn outsize capital. Most importantly, listeners will find out how the most skillful CEOs make it through the biggest challenges so that they can increase their own chances of surviving the challenges to come.
Each episode of Raiser’s Edge will interview a founder about the critical fundraising junctures in their company’s growth stage, highlighting stories in which they navigated investor concerns, challenging timelines, and emerging obstacles to raise and deploy funds successfully. By taking a closer look at these entrepreneurs’ paths to success, we’ll also shed a light on their moments of near-failure, self-doubt, and tough calls, and the way these challenges have transformed them into stronger leaders and fundraisers along the way. Through an entertaining, easy-to-follow interview format, this podcast hopes to demystify the fundraising process and serve as an intimate glimpse into the secrets of today’s business all-stars in order to inspire and teach the all-stars to come.
Raiser's Edge
Building Yourself a Trust Dividend with Kevin Bennett
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Kevin Bennett raised $200M in an unloved categories — no hot pitch, just a "trust dividend." Here's how it works.
In this conversation with Ben Elowitz, Kevin breaks down the trust dividend: the idea that small, consistent, low-stakes acts of honesty and vulnerability compound into the confidence investors need to fund something unproven. It's the framework he credits for closing rounds in a category VCs initially overlooked, and for raising his current company's first round before writing a line of code.
In this episode:
- What a trust dividend actually is, and why it beats bravado
- Why naming your business's risks pays into the trust dividend, not against it
- How a trust dividend from one company carries forward into the next raise
- Why fundraising is a relationship first, a transaction second
- The personal story Kevin credits with shaping how he leads
About Kevin Bennett: Kevin is a multi-time founder who has raised over $200 million across his companies. After HomeZen, he co-founded Caribou, an online auto refinance business he grew into a unicorn over five and a half years. He's now the founder and CEO of Further, an AI company building tools to make homeownership more achievable for the next generation.
About Raiser's Edge: Raiser's Edge is a podcast about venture capital fundraising for startups, hosted by Ben Elowitz. Each episode goes deep with founders and investors on what actually works when raising capital — not the conventional wisdom, but the real tactics and relationships behind successful rounds.
Subscribe to Raiser's Edge for more conversations on startup fundraising with the founders who've managed to truly excel.
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@raisersedgepod?si=9KB5Z2scXJrE2uAc
Substack: https://substack.com/@elowitz
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jUhW3Yq0ZnvBFZnWngnzj?si=982aa2c361544dd6
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raisers-edge/id1850622699
Connect with Ben Elowitz:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elowitz/
Next Level Strategic Partners: https://www.nextlevelpartners.co/
Connect with Kevin Bennett:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinspencerbennett/
Further: https://withfurther.com/