Startup Grind panel on overcoming bias while fundraising as an underrepresented founder, with firsthand accounts of coded feedback and the workarounds that got checks written.
Honest treatment of bias with tactics, not just testimony.
This video was created by Startup Grind and features underrepresented founders, VCs. We summarize and link with attribution; all rights belong to the creator.
Watch on YouTube →
1h 6m
Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins recounts pitching for three years and being rejected by more than 100 investors before closing Canva's first round, including how she reworked the pitch around each objection. She details the kitesurfing-with-investors period in Silicon Valley and how rejection shaped the company's strategy.
1h 9m
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky talks with Jason Calacanis about the company's early days: living off credit cards, the cereal-box hustle, and the wave of investor rejections at a $1.5M valuation before YC and Sequoia came in. Strong sections on what rejection taught him about conviction.
1h 0m
Backstage Capital's Arlan Hamilton on going from homeless to VC, her $5M crowdfunding raise for her own firm, and educating underestimated founders on how capital actually works.