Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast

Niclas Schlopsna
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Deal Makers (& Fakers) is my podcast where fundraising gets real. No polished success stories. No fake LinkedIn wins. dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

  1. From a €15M market operator to a €30M VC – Secrets of a Venture Capitalist

    May 29

    From a €15M market operator to a €30M VC – Secrets of a Venture Capitalist

    In this episode of Deal Makers, Niclas Schlopsna sits down with Vlad Sarca, General Partner at Sparking Capital, to unlock the raw, behind-the-scenes mechanics of early-stage venture capital. What actually goes through a venture capitalist's mind when they review your pitch deck? Vlad breaks down the exact framework he uses to evaluate founders, moving past the superficial "AI" buzzwords that often ruin otherwise strong pitches. For founders navigating capital advisory and venture capital, understanding these dynamics is crucial for improving your startup’s quality of life and survival rate in a competitive market. We also dive deep into the Eastern European tech ecosystem, deconstructing the secret price arbitrage giving regional startups a massive edge and how the "EU-Inc" initiative could stop founders from fleeing to Delaware. This perspective is essential for driving regional economic development and building a sustainable legacy in global tech. What You’ll Learn in This Video Podcast? - The 10% Pass Rate: Why the vast majority of pitch decks are immediately rejected during the initial screening process. - The "AI" Trap: Why forcing tech buzzwords into your deck is killing your credibility with experienced investors. - Cap Table Death Traps: The specific equity splits, unengaged academic mentors, and broken ownership structures that make your startup completely uninvestable. - VC Syndicates & Partnerships: How venture capitalists simultaneously compete and collaborate behind the scenes to close high-quality deals. - The Price Arbitrage Advantage: How Eastern European startups leverage lower operational costs to achieve massive scalability with less capital. - Term Sheet Realities: The exact founder behaviours, unrealistic projections, and lack of responsibility that cause VCs to pull out of a deal. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. About spectup: At spectup, we provide high-stakes capital advisory for founders looking to scale their impact. Capital advisory for companies raising from institutional investors (family office, VC, private equity) and for GPs raising a new fund and need intros to Limited partners Check out www.spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    31 min
  2. From academic research to raising €4.5M Capital for AI-powered Scent Tech

    May 15

    From academic research to raising €4.5M Capital for AI-powered Scent Tech

    The wellness industry is growing rapidly, with unique sensory innovations now leading the way in sleep health. In this episode, Niclas Schlöpsna, Managing Partner at spectup, sits down with Dr. Emanuela Maggioni, CEO of Hynt Labs, to discuss how a sophisticated lab project secured €4.5M in total capital. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! This post is public so feel free to share it. Emanuela, an expert with 20 years of experience in olfactory science and neuroscience, shares her journey from researching at Sussex and University College London (UCL) to leading a high-growth deep-tech company. We explore how Hynt Labs utilises real-time scent interventions to optimise sleep stages by integrating via APIs with established wearables like: Oura, Samsung Watch, and WHOOP. What You Will Learn? - The €4.5M Funding Strategy: How Hynt Labs combined €3.5M in equity and €1 M (£1M) in research grants. - The Pivot to Sleep Tech: Why moving from general sensory widgets to targeted sleep intervention was the key to commercial success. - Davos & Global Marketing: How demonstrating technology at the World Economic Forum acted as a massive growth multiplier. - Lab to Boardroom: Overcoming the academic mindset to embrace B2B licensing and business clarity. -Deep Tech Landscape: Navigating the differences between European and US investment risks Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. About spectup: Capital advisory for comapnies raising from institutional investors (family office, VC, private equity) and for GPs raising a new fund and need intros to Limited partners Check out: www.spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    43 min

  3. Season 1, Episode 10 Trailer

    She raised €4.5M without giving equity.

    In this exclusive trailer for Episode 10 of Deal Makers (& Fakers), Niclas Schlöpsna, Managing Partner at spectup, sits down with Dr. Emanuela Maggioni, the founder of Hynt Labs. Dr. Emanuela Maggioni reveals how she is transforming wearable data from devices like Oura, Samsung Watch, and WHOOP into real-time sensory interventions to improve sleep performance. This perspective highlights the bridge between complex neuroscience and the consumer wellness market, illustrating how economic development in the deep tech sector is set to improve the quality of life for millions. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Key takeaways of the session: - The Power of Sensory Science: How Hynt Labs uses scent as a superpower to deconstruct and optimise human rest. - A Multi-Million Euro Strategy: The breakdown of securing €2.9M in equity and €1M in grants to fuel global scaling. - Wearable Integration: How Hint's software solutions leverage the APIs of top trackers to deliver personalised interventions. - Why major global corporations are actively seeking partnerships with Dr. Maggioni's team. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! This post is public so feel free to share it. About spectup: At spectup, we provide high-stakes capital advisory for founders looking to scale their impact. We believe in building a future where innovation and responsibility go hand-in-hand For more details, visit: www.spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    1 min
  4. From Mastercard to Raising $5M from 20VC on a Weekend

    Apr 24

    From Mastercard to Raising $5M from 20VC on a Weekend

    Raising millions at record speed is often portrayed as luck, but for serial founders, it’s a calculated play of leverage, unit economics, and deep-tech infrastructure. In this episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers), Niclas Schlopsna sits down with Kirk to break down the transition from corporate leadership at Mastercard to navigating the Death Valley of fintech startups. Kirk shares his journey of leveraging a $45M exit to bypass the standard fundraising cycle, closing a $5M round in a single weekend. He also shared why he believes your unit economics matter infinitely more than a flashy UI. What you’ll learn in this episode: * The $5M Weekend: How to leverage a previous exit to bypass the standard 6-month fundraising grind. * Fintech Economics: Why today’s investors are pivoting away from “shiny” apps toward deep-tech infrastructure. * Stealth Mode vs. Hype: When (and why) to keep your billion-dollar ideas quiet to protect your competitive advantage. * Corporate to Founder: The raw reality of moving from a C-suite office to the startup trenches. If you’re a founder building in fintech, navigating regulatory compliance, or trying to master the art of the fast raise, this episode reveals the strategic blueprint behind the capital. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Who is Kirk Donohoe? Kirk is a serial entrepreneur and former Mastercard executive with a track record of high-stakes exits. He is currently focused on Grand, solving the deep-seated inefficiencies in global financial infrastructure. He previously founded WhenThen (acquired by Mangopay) and held leadership roles at Mastercard. He is a veteran of the fintech space, specializing in global payment infrastructure. About the podcast: Deal Makers (& Fakers) is a spectup podcast where founders and operators reveal what actually works in fundraising, investor outreach, and building companies, plus the fakers moments nobody posts about on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! This post is public so feel free to share it. Who should listen? * Fintech founders looking to scale beyond the “app” layer. * Serial entrepreneurs planning their next big exit. * Investors tracking the shift from B2C to B2B infrastructure. Visit spectup.com for more insights on fundraising strategy and startup growth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    43 min
  5. He raised $400M for Biotech, an MIT PhD and a secret to the Roche deal.

    Apr 10

    He raised $400M for Biotech, an MIT PhD and a secret to the Roche deal.

    🚀 Episode 8 of Deal Makers (& Fakers) - with Armon Sharei, Founder of Portal Bio and SQZ Biotech. Biotech startup IPO success and raising $400M in venture capital is a dream for many founders, but what happens after you go public? In this episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers), Niclas Schlopsna sits down with Armon Sharei, former founder of SQZ Biotech and current founder of Portal Bio, to discuss scaling cell therapy and the reality of the biotech industry. Armon Sharei shares his journey from a PhD at MIT under Robert Langer to closing a massive deal with Roche and leading a publicly traded company. Learn about the "Squeeze" technology, the biotech nuclear winter, and the death spiral that led him to start his second venture, Portal Bio. How did Armon Sharei start his journey? It began at MIT, where he developed a "cell-squeezing" technology that caught the attention of the scientific community and led him to launch: SQZ Biotech with little more than "napkin maths" and a $100,000 initial investment from professors and family. As he transitioned from a PhD student to a full-time CEO, he successfully navigated the venture capital landscape by leveraging the following: * Early academic validation * A prestigious partnership with Roche to secure a $5 million Series A. This momentum eventually snowballed into raising over $400 million, including a massive IPO in 2020, proving that a targeted, platform-focused strategy can bridge the gap between complex deep-tech research and large-scale public market success. What you’ll learn in this episode: - How to raise a Seed Round with no track record.- The secret to closing a partnership with Big Pharma (Roche & Pfizer).- Why the public market might be better than private equity for biotech.- How to identify red flags in venture capital investors. The future of cell therapy and global healthcare innovation. If you’re a founder navigating the complexities of deep tech, big pharma partnerships, or the pressures of the public market, this episode reveals what it takes to build, lose, and rebuild a world-changing company. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. 👉 Who is Armon Sharei? Armon is the founder of Portal Bio and the former CEO of SQZ Biotech. With a PhD from MIT, his work in cell therapy has been recognised as one of the "10 World Changing Ideas" by Scientific American. He is now focused on making cell therapy more accessible through his latest venture. 👉 About the podcast: Deal Makers (& Fakers) Deal Makers (& Fakers) is a spectup podcast where founders and operators reveal what actually works in fundraising, investor outreach, and building companies, plus the “fakers” moments nobody posts about on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading Deal Makers (& Fakers)! This post is public so feel free to share it. 👉 Who should listen? - Deep tech & biotech founders looking to scale.- Entrepreneurs interested in the transition from scientist to CEO.- Investors wanting to understand the future of cell therapy. 👉 Visit spectup.com for more insights on fundraising strategy and startup growth.🔔 Subscribe for more deep dives with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    37 min
  6. €75 MRR and 3 Customers, and then Figma Pivoted Him to €1.2M.

    Mar 27

    €75 MRR and 3 Customers, and then Figma Pivoted Him to €1.2M.

    €75 MRR, 3 paying customers and 15,000 signups going nowhere. Then a startup pivot changed everything. I sat down with Florian, co-founder of Weavely, on the latest episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers). He walked me through the exact mechanics of raising €900K as a four-person team from Brussels and then going on to raise €1.2M total. He had no warm Silicon Valley network or unicorn hype. Instead, he was just a founder who treated fundraising the way he treated products as a researcher. Methodically. The numbers that forced the pivot: → €75 monthly recurring revenue → 3 paying customers → 15,000 signups, but only 400 monthly actives → Years of building a product that wasn’t working Florian knew he had to kill the product he’d spent years building What happened when Weavely pivoted? → 30% of users were using a Figma design tool for forms → Nobody asked for a form builder, but users were building one anyway → Florian followed the signal instead of ignoring it → That wrong usage became the entire company. They pivoted, rebuilt and raised €1.2M total. What was the capital raising grind that happened behind the scenes? → 60 investor conversations → 15 actual pitches → 3 angels committed → 1 accelerator joined → 1 VC said yes → Team of 4, that’s it The secret of investors’ updates that pushed his raise: → Florian sends quarterly updates to EVERY VC he’s spoken with → Even the ones who said no → Even when the numbers are bad, especially when the numbers are bad His logic: if you only share wins, investors don’t trust you. You need to share the full picture. Pivots, near-shutdowns, ugly months, so when you raise the next round, they already know who you are. It’s like building warm intros who’ve watched you survive. The rejection story that made him close the deal: One VC said the market was too competitive and he had no moat. Florian’s response: “You’re right. The moat is thin. But this team built a product-led growth engine that works. And we’re still here.” That closed the deal. We also went deep into: * How €75 MRR and 3 customers forced Florian to kill the product he’d spent years building, and why that was the best decision he ever made. * How a single Figma conference killed their original direction overnight and the signal hidden in wrong usage that saved the company. * Why 15,000 signups meant nothing when only 400 actually used the product and how vanity metrics almost destroyed them. * The quarterly investor update strategy that pre-warms every future round, even sharing bad numbers, builds more trust than only sharing wins. * Why Florian thinks his own product interface will disappear within 3 years and what that means for every AI-native startup building today. * His take on building in a crowded niche: hundreds of competitors don’t matter if you solve what users actually do, not what you think they should do. * Why a PhD founder deliberately chose speed over perfection: because overthinking is the real startup killer. The market most founders are overlooking: → $700M–$800M in 2026 → Expected to grow to $1.9B by 2035 → AI-native forms and workflows; massive and still early If you’re building in a crowded niche or still trying to educate users instead of listening to them, this episode will change how you think. About Weavely: Weavely is an AI-native platform born from a Figma-based prototyping tool that pivoted after discovering users wanted outcomes, not tools. Now serving users globally with €1.2M raised from European VCs. About Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast: Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. No polished success stories, just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work. I’m Niclas, building spectup into a new kind of capital advisory. As VC scouts and private placement deal makers, we connect high-potential companies with the right investors. Reach out → spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    41 min
  7. €75 MRR and 3 Customers that changed everything

    Season 1, Episode 7 Trailer

    €75 MRR and 3 Customers that changed everything

    He had just 3 paying customers. It looked like a product that wasn’t working. Then one startup pivot flipped everything. Full startup fundraising story of raising capital drops soon. This is honestly the startup advice that every entrepreneur needs. * 15,000 people signed up * Only 400 showed up * 3 actually paid. Most founders would keep pushing. Florian killed it. Then something unexpected happened inside his own product. Users were doing something he never designed them for. That signal changed everything. In the full episode he revealed → The moment he knew the product had to die → The user behavior nobody expected → How a 4-person team from Brussels raised €1.2M → The rejection that turned into a check → Why he shares bad numbers with investors on purpose Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Full episode dropping tomorrow. 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss it. 🎙️ Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast: raw, unfiltered founder conversations about raising capital. No polished success stories. Just brutal truth. I'm Niclas, building spectup into a new kind of capital advisory. As VC scouts and private placement deal makers, we connect high-potential companies with the right investors. Reach out → spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    1 min

  8. Mar 20

    A Cold DM Booked the Ex-Philips CEO

    Aquablu Aquablu CEO Marnix Stokvis reveals his startup fundraising journey of raising capital without venture capital firms. Startup advice every entrepreneur needs. One cold message. To Frans van Houten, former CEO of a $20B company. Most founders wouldn't dare, but Marnix took the risk, and it changed his whole startup valuation. Aquablu CEO Marnix Stokvis shares his startup fundraising playbook for raising capital from operators. Hardware startup building is always tricky, & he proved that you can raise capital if your direction is clear.I spoke with Marnix Stokvis, CEO & co-founder of Aquablu, the Amsterdam-based startup that's doing for water what Nespresso did for coffee. Marnix started Aquablu while still at university with his co-founder Marc van Zuylen. Now they've raised $8.19 million, hit 300% year-over-year growth three years running, and reached profitability in 2025. But here's what makes this episode different from every fundraising story you've heard. Marnix didn't raise a single euro from traditional venture capital. He built a curated round of operators, industry leaders, and believers who move fast and skip six-week board meetings. Here is his background:→ Founded 2018 by Marnix Stokvis and Marc van Zuylen while at university→ Amsterdam-based smart water dispenser company→ Flagship product: REFILL+ chilled, sparkling, or still water with functional flavors, vitamins, and electrolytes→ Serves corporate offices, hotels, and hospitality→ Over 120 partnerships→ Red Dot Design Award certified→ Targeting €100M revenue by 2028 with fewer than 100 employees The fundraising story flips all the previous playbooks:→ $8.19 million, zero traditional VCs→ Friends of Aquablu raise and curate operators and investors who share their speed-and-execution mindset→ Former Philips CEO Frans van Houten led the round→ €750K committed LIVE on the Dutch Dragons podcast, grew to €1.1M after it aired→ Pieter Schoen, Michel Perridon, and Bas Witvoet also joinedHe picked people who have built businesses that stood out. Mostly hardware startups don't have funds and revenue while raising capital. He had both. He proved the PMF, and these numbers made people say yes.→ 300% year-over-year growth for 3 consecutive years→ Profitable since April 2025→ Expanding internationally across corporate and hospitality sectors→ Mission to save 1 billion plastic bottles by 2030→ Clients include Schiphol Airport, Adyen, and major hotel chainsWe discussed in detail:✅ How two university students went from zero to $8.19 million and profitability, without ever pitching a traditional VC firm.✅ Why Marnix chose operators over institutional investors and how Friends of Aquablu became the fundraising model that attracted serious capital initiative.✅ How Aquablu hit 300% growth three years in a row ✅ Why they're targeting €100M revenue with fewer than 100 employees, and the operational model that makes that realistic.About Aquablu:Aquablu is an Amsterdam-based smart water startup transforming workplace and hospitality hydration. Their REFILL+ system delivers chilled, sparkling, or still functional water infused with natural flavours, electrolytes, and B vitamins, eliminating single-use plastic bottles. Learn more → aquablu.comAbout Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast:Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. Just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work.I'm Niclas, building spectup into a neo-investment bank. As VC scouts and private placement, we connect high-potential companies with the right investors, from Seed through Series B and beyond.Reach out → spectup.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

    27 min
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Deal Makers (& Fakers) is my podcast where fundraising gets real. No polished success stories. No fake LinkedIn wins. dealmakersandfakers.substack.com

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