Welcome to our very first LIVE PODCAST, where you, the listeners, get to ask your questions live to our podcast guest and enjoy listening back later! As part of our series of resources to help founders on the fundraise during the Covid-19 crisis, we are delighted to be joined by Laura Connell, Principal at Europe's Leading Tech VC - Balderton Capital - to share her take on the impact the pandemic is having on fundraising now, and what founders can do to keep going and navigate this black swan event. Seize the opportunities available to you now! Learn more from Laura in this episode and if you like what you hear, please leave a review here!

About our Guest:
Laura joined Balderton's investment team in 2018. She spent the previous three years advising early stage technology startups across sectors on topics ranging from fundraising to product launch strategies. She was also CFO of a D2C womenswear brand. Prior to this, Laura was an Assistant Researcher at Imperial College undertaking neuroscience research in the Brain Sciences Department of Imperial College's Faculty of Medicine. She started her career at Goldman Sachs for five years, first in the Investment Management Division and subsequently the Financial Institutions Group in M&A. She was a Fulbright Scholar and gained her MBA from Harvard, and she studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford. She speaks fluent English and French.

Learn more about Laura here and Read her Medium Blog

How should you network with potential investors? What are the key don'ts you absolutely must avoid, if you want to successfully build your dream network to help your business and raise money?
Look no further! In this episode, you'll hear all the great truths on the matter from J. Kelly Hoey. Author of "Build Your Dream Network", Speaker, Networking expert and LP in a few funds, former lawyer and startup accelerator leader - you bet she's seen networking from all angles. We'll get you from hating 'schmoozing' with investors, to knowing exactly what to do and how, thanks to this episode. 

Learn more about J. Kelly Hoey here:

How to raise capital in the U.S. during the Covid-19 Crisis? What are the key current trends coming out of New York when it comes to Angel and Venture Capital investing?  What do entrepreneurs need to know, to navigate these uncertain times in how they should approach investors? 

​You will learn all of this and more, from our first male investor guest, Ed Zimmerman who is a Partner/Chair of the Tech Group at the law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP, an angel investor in roughly 130 startups, LP in dozens of venture funds, and for the last 15 years, also an Adjunct Professor of Venture Capital at Columbia Business School. Get ready for some great advice and tips!

Learn more about Ed Zimmerman Here

​In this episode, recorded during Covid-19 lockdown, you'll hear from Delphine Remy-Boutang, founder of Digital Women's Day and The Bureau, is a key influencer in the European Women in Tech Ecosystem. An entrepreneur herself since 2012, Delphine founded the Bureau, a digital & communication group for digital trends, influence, social media and creative services in London and Paris. In 2013 she co-founded and directed Digital Women’s Day, an annual event dedicated to entrepreneurship and women, and a European and African community to inspire women to dare, innovate, undertake actions through digital technology, and to create a more just and creative world.
Delphine brings together thousands of participants, thought leaders, renowned digital entrepreneurs, through many initiatives: Les Margaret Award an annual prize that pays tribute to Margaret Hamilton, rewarding digital women entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from Europe and Africa, committed to a better world.
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Hear her advice to women entrepreneurs to network, network, network, especially during challenging times, her key tips for funding and how to continue to have fun and be resilient, through it all! Check out full show notes and links to her resources here below!

Learn more about our guest Delphine Remy-Boutang here.

In 2018, Shelly Porges successfully created a global consortium to build the Billion Dollar Fund for Women - getting investors to pledge over $1 Billion of investment in female founders. Now she's going even further, with her new initiative - Beyond the Billion. In this episode, you'll learn why and how Shelly created Beyond the Billion as a movement and a new way to mobilise key funding stakeholders to truly shift the funding landscape for women entrepreneurs. Get ready to be inspired by this 7 time women entrepreneur, who as a former Senior Advisor, set up the Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) at the U.S. State Department, a program she expanded to almost 150 countries, under Secretary Hillary Clinton. Get ready to be inspired!

Learn more about our guest Shelly Porges here.

​Women are behind some of the most crucial roles in emerging companies, even when these companies were founded by all-male teams. The weight of vital growth areas such as client sales, marketing, customer services and other strategic areas are entrusted to females and some VCs are beginning to back the new diverse and inclusive fabric of entrepreneurship. Could this be the catalyst for more female-founded business in the 2020 decade?

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What can the Venture Capital world learn from Corporates when it comes to increasing gender diversity? What needs to change at an organizational/systemic level, so that more women become venture partners, get funded or start new businesses?

In this episode, you'll get the latest research insights from Siri Chilazi, Gender and Organizations Researcher at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. She is a recognized expert in advancing women and promoting gender equality within organizations and shares key recommendations from her research, so that VC funds and entrepreneurs alike can be part of making the change. If ever you thought that research was boring, prepare to be surprised by her findings! You may even find yourself compelled to take your first steps to change things in venture capital - that's what we're aiming for here! 

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In this episode, you'll hear from trailblazing founder Vivian Nwakah, a Nigerian entrepreneur born and raised in the United States. Her career spans the US, Europe, South America and Africa. Her areas of specialty are sales, marketing, fundraising, strategic planning, and entrepreneurship. Vivian has started 3 companies, home health care agencies in Illinois and Indiana, Hybrid solar diesel renewable energy company in Nigeria, and now Medsaf, a one stop shop for health care stakeholders to purchase, manage and track medications in complicated supply chains. Learn why she started Medsaf, how they got first funding and how they are transforming access to healthcare in developing markets. Vivian also shares he key tips to founders and investors and how to put the fun into funding! See show notes here: ​

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​In this episode, you'll hear from Haus Co-founder and CEO, Helena Price Hambrecht, about why she decided to disrupt the dinosaur drinks industry, with the launch of the uber cool aperitif - Haus. Although her funding journey was not all plain sailing, she has successfully raised a pre-seed round, giving the big drinks companies a run for their money. Listen now, to how she did it!

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​Have our prayers been answered? Our cohosts, Anne Ravanona and Inma Martinez sit down to review the resurgence of European venture funds raising large €100 million + funds to kick off 2020, as pedigree American venture firms set up European teams in light of the recent shift in investments towards businesses that show earnings and net income, which is traditionally the European way to build businesses. Om Shanti, we shall all rejoice.