Kristian Marquez is the founder and CEO of FinStrat Management. In our chat, Kristian shares lessons learned on his journey from starting a telemedicine startup, experiencing startup failure and an IPO, to founding FinStrat. He discusses the importance of validating your idea with customers through market feedback before building a product. He dives more into FinStrat’s unique approach, and also offers practical guidance into fundraising challenges, highlighting the need for accurate financials and metrics and financial transparency for a truly healthy investor and founder relationship.

Key Takeaways

[2:48] Kristian’s background.

[4:22] Co-founding a telemedicine startup and raising $2.5 million.

[5:58] Starting FinStrat.

[9:55] The importance of understanding investors' perspectives.

[10:14] The importance of transparency between founders and investors.

[13:02] Technology improves accounting processes but expertise is still fundamentally required.

[14:10] Healthy founder-investor relationships are built on trust and transparency.

[18:50] Raising capital for FinStrat.

[20:10] Pros and cons of debt financing.

[22:30] Fundraising from a position of strength.

[26:55] Remembering “the ask” in a meeting.

[32:16] What investors and founders shouldn’t do.

[36:47] Lessons learned from his telemedicine startup.

[38:08] The market must demonstrate demand.

[41:15] What has surprised Kristian along his journey.

[43:24] Kristian’s positive experience with Novel.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin

Novel Capital

Kristian: FinStrat | LinkedIn

Shaily Baranwal is the Founder and CEO of Elevate K-12. She’s an incredible entrepreneur and CEO, and I can attest to her ability to rapidly scale a company. Elevate K-12 provides engaging virtual classroom instruction from certified live teachers to ensure every student receives a high-quality education regardless of zip code. In the episode, Shaily shares the inspiring journey from her childhood in India as a special education student, to becoming a classroom teacher. She discusses founding two other companies before Elevate K-12, including a chain of preschools for low-income students in rural India. Shaily also talks about her fundraising experiences starting Elevate K-12, scaling the business, and her passion for problem-solving and rule-breaking in entrepreneurship.

Key Takeaways

[2:32] Shaily’s background.

[6:00] Shaily embraces both her scientific and artistic side.

[8:09] Solving problems is Shaily’s motivation.

[11:00] “Principles” by Ray Dalio.

[12:22] Learning from advisors and leaders. And choosing them wisely.

[14:05] Creating an ecosystem of success.

[18:01] Shaily’s past in teaching.

[18:33] Elevate - the fundraising journey.

[20:56] Why fundraising was a nightmare.

[22:08] Getting the first million from a hedge fund founder.

[26:04] The importance of a great investor.

[26:48] Discovering non-dilutive funding.

[29:27] Screening potential investors and choosing Novel.

[32:18] Asymmetry in the power and information dynamic.

[36:31] Advice for entrepreneurs and investors.

[39:35] Why did fundraising almost break Shaily?

[41:18] What surprised Shaily throughout the journey.

[43:05] The impact Shaily’s dad had on her career.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin

Shaily: Website | LinkedIn

Marshall Lebovits is an advisor at Asset Based Funding Solutions with almost 35 years of experience in the secured financing and alternative capital industry. In the episode, Marshall shares more about his passion for helping grow companies that typically lack access to capital with non-dilutive asset-backed financing solutions. Marshall discusses how he built a network of connections around the world, the importance of carefully evaluating your lending partners to make informed decisions, and the importance of accuracy in financial reporting.

Key Takeaways

[3:05] Marshall’s career background.

[[9:51] Asset-Based Funding.

[10:07] Sourcing deals.

[14:25] Case Study: A healthcare staffing company Marshall helped during the pandemic.

[22:15] Investing in the right types of relationships.

[29:35] Case Study: A protein drink client that stood out in the Better for You CPG space.

[34:58] What Marshall is both advising entrepreneurs on and warning them to be vigilant about.

[38:13] The importance of accurate financial reporting.

[47:21] Building Asset-Based Funding Solutions.

[47:38] Relationships matter. Make sure you trust who you work with.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter
Keith’s Linkedin

Marshall: LinkedIn | X

This week features Brendan Cosgrove, Co-Founder and Director of Catalyze, a unique national nonprofit dedicated to democratizing access to LP and institutional capital networks and resources for underserved investors and GPs. With his extensive experience guiding LPs at Cambridge Associates, and as Investment Director at the Kauffman Foundation's Capital Access Lab, Brendan brings a unique perspective to the table. In our conversation, Brendan shares insights into the challenges of introducing innovative funding methods like RBF and the importance of supporting diverse fund managers. He talks about Catalyze's Fund Fellowship program, aimed at empowering capital entrepreneurs to build investment solutions for underserved businesses. Brendan also sheds light on the long-term commitment needed to build institutional-quality investment firms and provides valuable insights into funding vehicles for impact investors. He also demystifies MRI vs PRI for foundation investors.

Key Takeaways

[3:13] What led Brendan to Catalyze.

[7:15] Brendan’s interest in alternative capital.

[13:43] The importance of underwritable track records and the ability to benchmark.

[17:33] Getting more institutional LPs to write those anchor checks.

[20:45] The opportunity for big foundations to step into alternative capital.

[25:00] Capital Access Lab.

[27:12] Catalyze’s approach of being an anchor for underrepresented founders.

[30:25] MRI vs. PRI.

[33:22] How Catalyze helps capital entrepreneurs.

[35:46] Catalyze’s Fund Fellowship Program.

[37:46] GP Runway fund.

[39:34] What managers learn at the Fellowship Program.

[53:09] What Brendan sees in the emerging space.

[55:09] Embracing the learning curve with innovative models.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin

Brendan: Catalyze | LinkedIn | Blueprint Local | Capital Access Lab

It’s a fun conversation this week with Justin Renfro, Director of Revenue-Based Financing at Wefunder. Justin shares his journey from a boat mogul with his company Chill Charters to working with thousands of entrepreneurs at Wefunder. Justin discusses his passion for building a diverse range of mission-driven companies, Wefunder’s community-based approach to drive value for founders and capital into businesses, and iterating the platform experience. He shares optimism for the next generation of impact investors and also touches upon the challenges of educating founders about alternative financing.

Key Takeaways

[2:29] Justin’s trajectory

[6:15] Wefunder overview and Justin’s role.

[12:10] Wefunder’s guidance to entrepreneurs.

[15:23] The challenge of explaining alternative finance to founders.

[18:17] The Wefunder founder experience.

[28:12] Overcoming educational challenges in alternative financing.

[33:20] The importance of patience and consistency.

[41:24] Mission-focused investing.

[44:11] Justin’s biggest takeaways from Wefunder.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter
Keith’s Linkedin

Justin: Wefunder | LinkedIn | Chill Carters

Other links: Elephants, Not Unicorns | Peter Harris

Our guest this week brings enthusiasm and excitement to RBF which sets the stage for a great conversation. We welcome Manolo Atala, Co-Founder and CEO of Fairplay, a LatAm-focused revenue-based financing platform headquartered in Mexico. Since launching in 2019, Fairplay has originated $220M in revenue-based loans, built a team of 127 people, and made a huge impact in Latin America. Manolo shares how they’ve done that, and covers his diverse career journey before Fairplay, spanning advertising, entertainment, and the successful establishment of high-impact companies. He explains Fairplay's spin-out of Nazca Ventures and the company’s impact on financing and funding in Latin America. Manolo and I discuss balancing growth with responsible underwriting, and the beauty of transparency in strategic partnerships, and Manolo shares his vision of building Fairplay into a $1 billion company to improve access to capital in Latin America.

Key Takeaways

[1:45] Manolo’s path to entrepreneurship.

[5:38] Being a musician.

[10:19] Launching Fairplay in 2019 and expanding geographically.

[11:12] What happened to Clearco?

[13:21] Lending is hard to do well and easy to screw up.

[18:02] The embedded lending space.

[19:02] What we can learn from Metallica.

[24:14] The importance of straightforward dialog with investors.

[32:46] How not to pitch equity investors.

[40:15] Automating underwriting.

[47:05] Originating more than $220 million.

[48:54] The future of Fairplay.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin

Manolo: Fairplay | X | LinkedIn |

This week, we welcome Elliot Begoun, a 30-year industry veteran, author, podcast host, and founder of TIG brands, and developer of the CARE funding structure. Elliot focuses on empowering entrepreneurs to be nimble and capital-efficient change-makers throughout their journey. He shares insights on building tardigrades, not unicorns (and why that’s a thing), and lessons from developing and deploying alternative funding structures that support tardigrades. We talk about why investors can be slow to adopt new funding structures asd well. Elliot also shares more about TIG's commitment to fostering a supportive community for entrepreneurs through a holistic approach and a constellation of services.

Key Takeaways

[1:45] Elliot’s background.

[2:13] Why Elliot started TIG Brands.

[3:49] How TIG developed its capital structures.

[6:39] Definition of a tardigrade and how it represents the brands TIG works with.

[8:37] Building a holistic ecosystem for entrepreneurs.

[10:53] Giving entrepreneurs optionality.

[13:29] The different funding structures TIG experimented with.

[21:38] The CARE agreement.

[22:44] Variable based redeemable equity.

[28:29] Alignment funding.

[33:59] Starting a rolling fund and TIG’s mindset of being a venture community.

[41:25] What has surprised Elliot throughout the journey.

[47:05] The future: building allyship.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin
Speaker Series

Elliot: Tig Brands | LinkedIn | X | Tig Talks Podcast | Documents

We welcome the dynamic Melissa Withers, Founder and Managing Partner of RevUp, an early mover and innovator in the RBF market. Melissa shares her unconventional journey into professional investing, emphasizing her commitment to remaining founder-aligned throughout. She sheds light on RevUp's founder-focused and non-dilutive model, empowering founders to have more control over their destinies. In the conversation, Melissa reflects on her early foray into entrepreneurship, embodying a "if you want it, build it yourself" ethos from a young age. She talks about her desire to provide entrepreneurs with the transparency and tools they need to build the businesses they envision.

At the end of the chat, Melissa shares a few of her favorite lessons from taking up boxing, revealing how it has aided her both inside and outside the ring.

Key Takeaways

[2:35] Melissa’s background

[3:58] What led Melissa to create RevUp.

[4:45] RevUp’s progress and journey.

[5:49] Melissa’s early background working in Cambridge during the dawn of biotech.

[9:38] Melissa’s Northstar.

[10:27] The opportunity to innovate the capital toolkit.

[11:37] Is capital innovation slow?

[20:20] How building RevUp has been similar to Melissa’s founder journey.

[24:16] An honest dialogue about what equity ownership really means.

[30:29] At RevUp, 60% of the portfolio is female-led companies and 30% are led by black or brown founders.

[39:43] How RevUp helps its portfolio companies.

[42:09] Melissa’s history in entrepreneurship.

[48:06] What taking up boxing has done for Melissa.

[52:40] The pros of Melissa’s unconventional path.

[55:24] Why RevUp would not exist if they tried to start it today.

[57:40] What’s next for Melissa and RevUp?

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin
Speaker Series

Guest: LinkedIn | RevUp Capital | | X | (Un)Founded podcast