The Pitch

In VC, investors want to win big — that’s why they love highly scalable tech companies so much. But today’s founder, Jaclyn Fu, is selling actual things. Her startup, Pepper, makes real bras in a very real factory. There’s no tech except that you can buy her company’s stuff on the internet. So how do you convince investors that the opportunity is massive, when there’s nothing scalable about your startup? Today's investors are Maia Bittner, Elizabeth Yin, Sheel Mohnot and Charles Hudson. Here is Elizabeth's Twitter thread about debt vs VC financing for startups.

This is how much of a go-getter Bobbie Racette is: when she got laid off, she started a business to help thousands of other people who were out of work. Now, she has so many customers, she can’t keep up. And Michael Hyatt, our most ruthless investor, was like putty in her hands. Today’s investors are Sarah Downey, Michael Hyatt, Phil Nadel and Charles Hudson.

During our last call-in show, Thor Wood wowed us with his 30-second elevator pitch for SnapShyft, a company that matches workers with open shifts at restaurants. Now Thor will have to convince a much tougher crowd, the investors. Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Michael Hyatt, Sarah Downey, Phil Nadel and Charles Hudson.

Ben Trenda thinks he can stop the trolls on Twitter and other social spaces. He’s building Goodtalk, where famous people can have public one-on-one conversations without interruption. But if you strip away the bad, will you also lose the things that people really like about social? And if you don’t have enough people, your social network is worth nothing. Today's investors are Soraya Dorabi, Phil Nadel, Sarah Downey, Charles Hudson, and Michael Hyatt.

“Move fast and break things” is a mantra for a lot of startup founders — but what if the federal government is slowing you down? That’s the situation that Josh Israel is in with his startup, Hava Health. Josh needs to wait for FDA approval before he can even think about making money on his new smoking cessation vape, a process that could take three years or more. But Josh has a plan to extinguish investor’s fears. Today's investors are Nimi Katragadda, Al Doan, Sheel Mohnot and Charles Hudson.