Why Discipline Wins When Capital Is Hard to Raise

In this episode, Andrejka Bernatova shares why her team was able to complete one of the largest equity raises since 2021 while many others struggled. She explains how disciplined decision-making, operator-level experience, and surrounding the table with seasoned investors and advisors create guardrails that prevent chasing hype and inflated valuations.

This conversation offers a candid look at what it really takes to raise capital in challenging markets and why saying “no” is often the most important part of long-term success.

Disclaimer: Michael J. Blankenship is a licensed attorney and partner at Winston & Strawn LLP. Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The content of this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, financial, or compliance advice. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of any regulatory agency, law firm, organization, or employer. Listeners should consult their own legal counsel, compliance teams, or financial advisors to ensure adherence to applicable regulations, including SEC, FINRA, and other industry-specific requirements. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services. Let's 

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Transcript

Mike B: You, you've been very successful in your career, and you've recently announced one of the largest equity raises since 2021. Um, what do you think allowed you to succeed in a market where many, and we've certainly seen as many have struggled, uh, to raise. 

Andrejka B: We, um, so myself and the team behind us, we're, we're structured in a very, uh, different way.

So our risk capital is raised from. Um, you know, who is who? Family offices and high net worth folks who are former CEOs, chairmans of public boards, who built public companies, rent public companies before coming from the industries that we generally target. Um, and so that's, that's very unique. Uh, and it's unique from a perspective.

Mike. You know, sometimes you see SPACs, that's a sort of a one man show. Uh, it what's, what's the most important piece? Um, of the SPAC management team thought process is to remain highly disciplined and it's sometimes not easy, right? Because you're tempted, uh, by shiny companies and cool, you know, industries.

Um, having so many people around who are investors, advisors, and are actively involved allows us to. I have guard guardrails where our investors board and advisors tell us, don't do it. Or hey, this is an area you need to investigate farther. Uh, this is the piece of due diligence we really need to spend, you know, next couple of weeks really digging into.

So, um, discipline is really important and the only way we feel discipline comes is having the right people around the table and enough people around the table from the industries that you are, you know, targeting or tangential industries. Um, so that's number one. Number two is we. We've built companies before.

We've taken companies before as operators via public, via IPOs. We've ran recently public companies, so we know what the transition looks like. So when we talk to companies, major vast majority of companies, and Mike, you've known me for a while, so you know it's true. I tell them, don't do it. There is gonna be APAC that's gonna tell you you are worth a billion dollars.

You are not, you should not be public, and you should wait for a few more years. So, um, really having a, you know, really a disciplined, uh, screening process. Um, and, you know, looking at it as an operator and not, you know, sort of as, as a transaction, but really long term operator or slash investor. And, you know, we run rigorous, uh, due diligence process.

Uh, you know, we have three people who do this full time. Who are ex investors, operators and bankers. Uh, we do a lot of the analysis in house and, um, and that's a, a, a really important piece of the, of the equation.