Hate Your Deck Michael Lightman

In this week's Hate Your Deck episode, I spoke with Rich Maloy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/richmaloy/], who is a fellow podcaster at The VC Minute and Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures. SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech, logistics, and marketplace businesses. They look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with truly transformative technology, and only invest in software-based businesses in the USA.



Tune in to hear: 

* Rich's career journey and move to Colorado 
* The fundraising mindset
* When you should not mention exits 
* The one thing never to leave out of a fundraising deck 

In this week's Hate Your Deck episode, I spoke with Rahul [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-bhansali/]Bhansali, a former risk analyst turned serial entrepreneur. Based in California, he invests in and builds game-changing life sciences technology, pre-planning acquisitions for optimal outcomes that serve founders, investors, and the world.

Rahul is currently a Partner / Co-founder at Formation Venture Engineering, an accelerated, hands-on investing method that builds companies around game-changing technologies as well as on the board of a Re-Nuble. He has founded / co-founded 4 companies in organic food home delivery, physical commodity trade consulting, industrial safety technology, and accelerated-exit venture investing. 

Tune in to hear: 

* His journey into entrepreneurship (including how he helped his mom start an organic food company!) 
* What venture engineering is and how this approach will change the game 
* Tips for getting the most out of interview research 
* The two non-negotiable things Rahul looks for in founders 

In this week's Hate Your Deck episode, I spoke with Sarah Applebaum [https://ca.linkedin.com/in/sarahapplebaum], a former head hunter turned badass VC. Based in Vancouver, she regularly partners with Hate Your Deck to provide deck reviews with incredible speed and efficacy. 



Currently a Partner at Pangea Ventures, which focuses on investing in companies with world-class advanced materials innovation with a focus on Energy, Electronics, Health, and Sustainability. She previously worked at RenewableTech Ventures, an early-stage VC investing in climate teach and cleantech companies in Canada and the US. 



Sarah has also fundraised multiple times going to her own investors, so she has experience on both sides of the table. She speaks about how incredibly humbling it is to have to dial for dollars to raise money for a fund and how it helps build empathy in her role as a VC. 



Tune in to hear: 

* Considerations when raising money for a fund
* How VC's determine valuation pricing
* How VC's assess deep tech pitches without subject matter expertise
* How to make your pitch stand out & what not to do

In this week's Hate Your Deck episode, I spoke with Vlad Cazacu [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladcazacu]. Listen in to hear Vlad's journey from humble university student to a principal investor in one of the largest angel networks in a short span of time. 

Hailing from Romania, Vlad has always had an entrepreneurial spirit starting with small businesses ranging from tobacco to bitcoin mining in his early school years. Going into college, he started consulting work and received an acquisition offer that he turned down, but used that experience to head into venture capital. He started helping angels with the processes and systemizing their deal flow management. 

Vlad is currently at Assure Syndicates, an angel network that provides innovative, industry-unique matchmaking services for the benefit of both venture investors and entrepreneurial founders.  Assure is the pioneering leader in providing comprehensive structuring and administrative management services to the private investment ecosystem. Their mission is to connect the right investors with the right businesses.  Assure Syndicates is a one-of-a-kind hybrid between an aligned co-investor and a founder's advocate.