Scott Roberts

Founders are often optimistic about growth. Sometimes, that confidence leads to funding ideas that don't fully pan out. Royalty-based growth capital is structured to limit downside risk compared to traditional venture-backed paths. Vik Thapar of Cypress Growth Capital explains that, even if outcomes fall short of early expectations, founders often still exit with meaningful results because they retain the majority of ownership. 🎙️ Tune into the Private Equity Value Creation Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gxkEsH3Z 👇🏽 Find Us Here https://lnkd.in/gTdPMk8P #privateequity #privateequitypodcast #privateequityvaluecreation

8

Plaid is built to make it easier for businesses to build and scale financial products that people trust. That trust starts with knowing who you’re working with. As Plaid helps platforms onboard and support millions of businesses, verifying business identity accurately and efficiently is foundational. That’s why Plaid partners with Middesk to automate business verification during onboarding — confirming core business details, reducing manual review, and helping teams make confident risk decisions without slowing down the customer experience. Together, we help Plaid deliver faster onboarding, stronger compliance, and a more durable foundation for growth across the financial ecosystem they power. We’re proud to support Plaid as they help teams move fast while maintaining trust at scale. #KYB #KYC #AML #BEV #businessverification #financialservices #onboarding #compliance #smallbusiness #SMBs

30

ESOPs are a retention tool that most startups design too loosely at the start. Vesting schedules, cliff periods, exercise prices, pool size relative to the cap table each of these decisions has downstream implications for hiring, fundraising, and eventual exits. Founders who build their ESOP policy before they need it rarely have to undo a bad one mid-round. The best time to get the structure right is before the first grant goes out. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gKcsbPNM #ESOPStructuring #StartupEquity #EmployeeStock #AbhijithPremanAndCo #APCALLP

3

Fundraising Is a Sales Funnel Takeaway: Treat investors like prospects. Context: Too many founders pitch randomly. Fundraising works when you build structure. Advice: Create a lightweight investor CRM (Airtable, Notion, HubSpot). Track stage: intro, 1st call, due diligence, soft commit. Follow up weekly—investors invest in the founders who stay top of mind. Closing thought: Your investor funnel is just like your customer funnel—build it, track it, close it. At SKIN STUDIOS, we help founders cut through the noise, launch scrappy, and evolve fast. Because in the startup game, speed of learning is your greatest edge. → sitg.studio | dom@sitg.studio | DMs open #foundertips #fundraising #venturecapital #startupadvice #skinstudios

3

Scaling isn’t just about growth tactics. It's about how willing founders are to learn, adapt and surround themselves with the right champions. -- Jason Kraus In this episode of Beyond One Million, host Parna Sarkar-Basu sits down with Jason Kraus, founder of Prepare 4 VC and investor as they unpack what separates founders who stall from those who scale and why capital is often the last piece of the puzzle needed to be successful. Why Coachable Founders Scale Companies Faster: https://lnkd.in/egcDDiXG #VentureCapital #startupadvice #entrepreneur #BeyondOneMillion #Podcast Boston New Technology (BNT) Startup Grind

6

2 Comments

It is incredible what care.fi has built - an OS for healthcare players —unifying RCM, claims intelligence, and embedded finance into a single execution layer. Welcome to July Family, Care.fi

8

Nassir Criss from Sixty8 Capital breaks down why lived experience matters in venture. Pitching customers. Pivoting under pressure. Leading when everything feels like it’s breaking. These aren’t case studies. They’re battle scars. And they’re exactly why founders need investors who’ve been in the trenches. #OperatorVC #Sixty8Capital #FounderFirst #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #HelloAdvisr #StartupAdvice #RealExperienceMatters #InvestorInsight

7

1 Comment

The funding environment in 2026 isn’t frozen it’s more disciplined than ever. Investors are still deploying capital, but they’re looking for startups that combine clarity, traction, and structure. What investors are prioritizing now: 🟢 Clear revenue logic and a realistic growth plan  story alone isn’t enough. 🟢 Disciplined use of funds demonstrating how every pound drives measurable impact. 🟢 Transparent cap tables and well-sized option pools  messy ownership slows decisions. 🟢 Founders who are investor-ready  data room, projections, and compliance in order before the first meeting. Rounds are smaller than the wild days of 2021, but more predictable, with typical UK seed rounds in 2026 ranging around £1.5–3m and ~20% dilution. International investors are increasingly active, and policy stability continues to support fundraising. Undo Capital helps founders stay ahead of these expectations by automating eligibility checks, share issues, and compliance, so founders can focus on scaling their business rather than paperwork. #InvestorReady #StartupFunding #CapTable #Fundraising2026 #UKStartups #Founders

4