Funded | How They Raised Millions

Hosted by Jason Yeh

Business Investing EducationInterviews guests

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Episodes

216

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

The tech media loves a splashy funding announcement - millions of dollars injected into a hot startup primed to become a unicorn. But what about the work behind those headlines? Host Jason Yeh, a former VC and venture-backed startup founder, talks with entrepreneurs about how they raised the capital to launch world-changing startups. Their conversations uncover incredible stories including cautionary tales, inspirational memories, and even some insightful tips. Keep up with us on social @fundedpod to learn more.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 15, 2026Episode 1478 min

TBC 149: How to Actually Use Startup Advice You Find Online

Not all advice is created equal — and bite-sized content on Twitter or LinkedIn was never meant to be followed word for word. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason gets candid about his own content, why his takes are always directionally accurate but never fully comprehensive, and how founders should be filtering and applying advice they find online. He also shares why leaving a kind comment for a creator you follow might matter more than you think.

June 6, 2026Episode 1485 min

TBC 148: How Simple Is Too Simple for Your Pitch Narrative

Founders almost never cut their narrative far enough. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason shares a lesson from one of the best negotiators he’s ever seen — push all the way to the line so you know where it is. Applied to pitch narratives, that means going so simple it feels dumb, and then layering complexity back in from there. If you’ve been gradually trimming your story and wondering if you’ve cut enough, this episode will change how you approach it.

June 2, 2026Episode 1474 min

TBC 147: Your Numbers Are Part of the Story, Not Separate From It

A lot of founders treat storytelling and hard data as two different things in a pitch — and that’s the mistake. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why your numbers mean nothing without a narrative wrapped around them, and why letting investors interpret raw data on their own is one of the most common pitching errors he sees. If you’ve ever wondered how much to lean on story vs. facts, this episode reframes the question entirely.

May 29, 2026Episode 14611 min

TBC 146: Why VCs Only Remember the Last Thing They Heard

Venture capitalists don't have a perfectly indexed CRM in their heads. They run on recency bias — last in, first out. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down what he realized after bumping into a top VC at a cafe in San Francisco: investors share what’s freshest in their minds, not what’s most relevant. He explains what that means for how founders should think about messaging, surface area, and staying top of mind — without being manipulative about it.

May 23, 2026Episode 1458 min

TBC 145: Stop Blending Your Ask Into Your Personal Emails

Most founders make the same mistake when reaching out to their network during a fundraise, they try to combine a personal connection with a business ask in the same email, and end up doing both badly. In this episode of The Backchannel, Jason breaks down why blended emails feel disingenuous, and introduces his email appendix format: a simple structural shift that separates the personal from the functional so both actually land. If you’ve ever sent an awkward “hey, how’s your summer going, by the way I need a favor” email, this one’s for you.

April 21, 20266 min

TBC 144: Why You Don't Need Money to Start Moving

Too many founders think they need capital before they can make real progress — but that's exactly the mindset that keeps them stuck. In this episode, Jason breaks down the "parked car" trap: why waiting for funding before moving forward is the wrong approach, and how to start building momentum now so investors see a moving train, not a standstill. If you're preparing to raise your first round, this one's for you.

April 16, 2026Episode 6255 min

Mohak Nahta – How Atlys Raised a $36M Series C from Susquehanna After 11x Growth | Ep 62

On this episode of Funded, Mohak Nahta, founder and CEO of Atlys, returns three years after his first appearance to share what building a real business actually looks like after the Series A. He talks about pivoting hard from B2B to B2C, navigating investor skepticism in the age of AI, and why the TAM slide he thought was airtight kept working against him. He also gets brutally honest about the mistakes most founders never admit — the soft signals he ignored, the wrong investors he kept engaging, and the weak spots he defended instead of owned. It's a rare look at what it takes to raise at scale when the stakes — and the scrutiny — are much higher.

April 14, 2026Episode 6143 min

Jackson Schultz – How an Angel Army of CISOs Unlocked a Lead Investor for ArgusEye | Ep 61

On this episode of Funded, Jackson Schultz, co-founder and CEO of ArgusEye, shares how he left Google right after the birth of his second son, with no VC network and no hardware background, to build a cybersecurity platform for connected devices. He talks about getting passed on by VCs who couldn't see the market size, pivoting his fundraising strategy mid-process, and how assembling an angel army of CISOs and supply chain executives investing out of their own pockets became the credibility signal that finally moved the needle. It's a real look at what it takes to build momentum from scratch, and how sometimes the best thing you can do is stop trying to raise the round you planned.

April 5, 20266 min

TBC 143: Stop Using Fancy Words in Your Fundraising Pitch

If your pitch deck or investor emails are full of words like "tremendous latent potential," "highly efficacious," or "flywheels of growth" — this episode is for you. In this Backchannel episode, Jason breaks down why flowery language and SAT words are one of the biggest red flags for investors, and why stripping it all back to simple, clear language will almost always get you further. He reads a real (anonymized) founder blurb as an example, breaks down exactly what's wrong with it, and shares a simple fix you can apply to your own pitch today.

April 3, 20267 min

TBC 142: Why Cold Outreach Fails (and the 4 Tactics That Actually Work)

Most founders treat cold outreach like a numbers game — blast enough investors and something will stick. It doesn't work that way. In this episode of The Back Channel, Jason breaks down why cold outreach is inherently at a disadvantage, why it should only ever be 5% of your fundraising strategy, and the specific tactics that can actually make a cold email land. From the traveling founder trick to warming up relationships on social before you ever hit send, this is a practical guide to using cold outreach the right way — without wasting your most valuable resource: time.