The Retail X Series Podcast
Are you an early stage founder revolutionizing the future of retail? Then you’re in the right place. My name is Sapna Shah and I’m an angel investor investing at the preseed stage in retail tech, ecommerce, marketplaces and consumer. I’m also the founder of Retail X Series, an ecosystem to help early-stage founders in the retail sector. Retail X Series includes events, a YouTube channel, a Slack community, resources for founders, and this podcast. In this podcast, I interview founders, investors and experts in the retail space, and we dig deep into the tactics around key topics that early-stage founders want to hear about. Welcome to the Retail X podcast.
The Retail X Series Podcast
Should All Startups Raise Venture Capital? Featuring Leigh Sevin of Endear
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Sapna Shah
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Episode 33
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For many founders, raising outside capital, including venture capital, is the accepted path. But is this always the case? This episode features Leigh Sevin, co-founder of Endear, a retail clienteling software startup. Leigh and I talk about her fundraising journey, choices they’ve made and how to think about VC versus other fundraising options.
- Raising early-stage funding for a tech startup with a profitability-first mindset
- The difference between pre-seed angels and VCs and how they think about investing at the early stage
- The concept of “portfolio of one” and potential alignment or misalignment with VCs
- Finding your own right path for fundraising
- What alternatives exist to VC, because you still probably need to raise at least some outside capital
- When different kinds of debt make sense for startups
- Exit considerations for founders, and the importance of cap tables
- Use your founder network to get help throughout the process
Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com
Edited by Deven Shah
Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.