How do you go from zero to 20,000 founders, investors & builders in just 2 years — without raising a cent? In this episode of Startup Scaleup People, we speak with Vasily Alekseenko, founder of Rare Founders — one of London’s largest and most consistent in-person startup and investor communities. From Christmas parties with 1,500+ people to demo days where 40+ startups raised funds, Vasily shares how he scaled by creating real value, staying consistent, saying no to distractions, and building deep partnerships that actually work. He also opens up about the challenge of moving from investment banking into entrepreneurship, the broken investor-founder dynamic, building a tech platform to surface overlooked founders, and why failure is the best teacher. Hosted by Mario Rivas Real stories from startup, scaleup & enterprise leaders. From boardrooms to founder garages — we bring you insights on growth, leadership, funding, exits, and everything in between. New episodes every Sunday at 4PM UK time. 00:00 Welcome & Founder Intro01:50 How Rare Founders Began (By Accident)05:00 Staying Focused & Avoiding Shiny Objects08:00 Breaking the Transactional Culture in VC14:00 Building from Community > Raising Capital19:00 Leaving Investment Banking22:00 Hosting London’s Largest Startup Events30:00 Building a Tool to Identify Founder Outliers40:00 Final Advice: Learn How to Fail ▸ Built a 20,000+ member founder/investor community in London ▸ Hosted 1,500+ attendee Christmas party & 2,000+ person demo days ▸ Created open mic formats with water guns & zero chairs to rebel against corporate stuffiness ▸ Shares behind-the-scenes of startup fundraising bias and platform inefficiencies ▸ Building tech to identify "founder outliers" and level the playing field in early-stage investing ▸ Left a lucrative investment banking career to build community-led ventures ▸ Real talk on sponsorships, partnerships & surviving risky calls Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupscaleuppeople/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@square.circle.podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3804Om0XrGG1gNRsev6DlUApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/startup-scaleup-people/id1847157416LinkedIn (Page): https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarecirclecommunity/LinkedIn (Mario): https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariorivassanchez/ startup, scaleup, entrepreneurship, business podcast, leadership, business growth, founder mindset, startup stories, scaleup journey, entrepreneur advice, business strategy, innovation, venture capital, startup founders, startup funding, executive leadership, enterprise leadership, enterprise strategy, business transformation, board of directors, fractional leadership, NEDs, startup scaleup people, community building, investor-founder dynamics, tech platform, VC culture, inclusive innovation #startupleadership #businessgrowth #scaleups #enterprise #boardleadership #venturecapital #startup #founderstories #innovation #businesspodcast #careergrowth #operationalexcellence #leadershipdevelopment #startupstrategy #funding #exitstrategies #teambuilding #corporategovernance #techfounders #startupscaleuppeople #startupfunding #vc #podcast #shorts #leadership #entrepreneurship #investing #governance #peoplestories #experience #leadershipskills #leadershiplessons #businessleadership #businessstrategy #businessideas #businesssuccessstories #businesssuccess #biotech #saas #failure #fail #entrepreneur #howtoinvest #hiring #digitaltransformation #expansion #businessexpansion #technology #successmindset #motivation #mindset #perseverance #resilience #Emprendimiento #Empreendedorismo #Entrepreneuriat #Unternehmertum #Imprenditorialità #Ondernemerschap #उद्यमिता #ريادة_الأعمال #Girişimcilik #Kewirausahaan #Pagnenegosyo #创业 #起業家精神 #기업가정심
