Startup Grind London panel on the snakes and ladders of fundraising: founders trade stories of near-misses, lucky breaks, and process disasters with investor commentary.
Multiple UK founder war stories in one session with real disagreement.
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7 min
YC founders confess their actual fundraising mistakes: optimizing for valuation, taking bad money, serial meetings, and misreading investor interest.
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.