A few weeks ago I dropped a new episode on Funded with Joanna Strober - a 2x founder, CEO, and previous managing director and partner in the venture world. Needless to say, she's super impressive and understands the space well.

I had her on to talk about her most recent raise for Midi Health, a $25M Series A led by Google Ventures - but we also dove into her experience raising Midi's Seed Round and what it's been like for her to watch the VC industry transform into what it is today.

Overall, it was such an interesting interview and I highly recommend you guys go give it a listen.

In the meantime, here are my two biggest takeaways from the episode:

1. Relationships Matter

"We spent a lot of time cultivating investors from the first fundraise who said no and keeping them up to date on what we were doing and bringing them along with our story.

By the time we needed to fundraise, people knew what we were doing, and they saw that we were outperforming on our numbers... We told people in the seed, here's what we're gonna do. And we were doing better than that on pretty much every metric."

I mean... talk about putting in the work before! I say this all the time but I'll say it again - a true fundraise starts way before you actually go out to raise.

The best advice I could give around this is to set milestones you know you will hit. Hit them, update your network of investors, and repeat! Investors need more than knowing your company is a big opportunity, they need to understand that you are the team that is going to be able to scale it there.

Google Ventures turned down Midi Health during their Seed, and a year later they were leading Midi’s Series A. Things change, you just have to show them that change on your end too.

2. The Process Stays the Same

"I'm gonna have to go do it again... I cannot tell you that there's any crazy confidence. It's like, ‘Okay, how do I tell the right story? How do I write the right deck? How do I convince people of what I am seeing?’

I know what I'm seeing, but convincing other people of that and why it's such a big opportunity is a challenge."

To give you some background on this quote, I asked Joanna to share if she feels crazy confident about going out to raise in the future now that she has a few rounds of capital behind her. From what you read above - her answer was no.

It's important that I call this out because often times people see founders who have raised capital before going out to raise again and assume two different things:

1. It will be easier to close investors the second time around
2. They no longer have any stress surrounding fundraising

While this can be the case, it isn't always - especially during times like now when VCs are being extra cautious. On top of all this, it's important to highlight that there will always be room for improvement in your pitch, your deck, your people skills, your outreach skills, and so on.

Don't think after you've raised you’re suddenly above any of that. You're still susceptible to rejection, so it's best to continue improving your process even after closing your first major round. If anything, it's more important since more eyes will be on you next time you go out.

Alright, those were the two takeaways I wanted to touch on but there are a ton more in the actual episode itself. If you want to:

• Hear Joanna's experience of being a part of the changing VC landscape throughout her career
• Learn the story behind Midi Health's $14M Seed
• Learn the story behind Midi Health's $25M Series A led by Google Ventures
• Hear a bit of her experience raising for her previous company Kurbo (later acquired by Weight Watchers)

Make sure to listen to the full episode. I'll leave the links below!

Be chased,
Jason