About this episode

Elena Levine discusses effective communication strategies for founders seeking investment in the US.

In this episode, we sit down with Elena Levine, Founder and CEO of Forcoda and the newly launched Forcoda Ventures. Elena has spent over a decade building a US-based product and engineering agency from the ground up as an immigrant founder, shipping more than 200 projects for enterprise clients including M&T Bank, Shake Shack, Oral-B, and the University at Buffalo — while also helping startup clients collectively raise over $100m. Today, she runs curated investor luncheons in major US cities, sits on the founder side and the investor side of the table, and has rare 360-degree visibility into what actually moves a fundraising conversation forward. In this conversation, we get into: Why clarity of thought is the single biggest differentiator Elena looks for in early-stage founders — and how investors read it in the first 30 seconds of an email or meeting. How to research investors properly before reaching out, including the underrated move of talking to founders already in their portfolio. What “smart money” actually means in practice, and how to spot the investors who will pick up the phone at 10pm on a Saturday — versus the ones you’ll regret bringing onto your cap table. Why…

People in this episode

Guest: Elena Levine

Topics covered

• fundraising
• investor relations
• entrepreneurship
• communication
• startup advice

Keywords

• fundraising
• investors
• communication
• startup
• entrepreneur
• clarity of thought
• smart money

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Forcoda, Forcoda Ventures, M&T Bank, Shake Shack, Oral-B, University at Buffalo

Places: US, Russia

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