Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital.

This episode is with with Stephan Schenk of Stapelstein, a Berlin-based creator of colorful stacking stones and balance boards for open-ended play that encourages movement, balance, and creativity. Learn more at https://stapelstein.com/

In this episode, we explore how the Company has built a successful business in a high-cost market (Germany) while adhering to high eco standards, why Stephan decided to buyout his early investors and convert the company into a "steward-owned" business (similar to Patagonia) to better align with its mission, how he deals with cheap knockoffs, copycats and clones, the unique ROI attributes of raising capital for a steward-owned business, and more. 

How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016.

If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com.

If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com

Ep. 311 How I Raised It with Stephen Schenk of Stapelstein

CyberJali empowers African fintech startups with practical guidance on AI Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC). Tune in for expert insights, tips, and discussions to help your startup stay compliant, build trust, and scale confidently.

FreeAIAudit_ForAfricanFintechStartups

🎙️ Desde Georgia Tech, un estudiante peruano crea la primera Hacker House dentro de un campus universitario: un espacio que combina vivienda, innovación y emprendimiento tecnológico. Con ambiente colaborativo, hackathones y visión global, esta iniciativa busca expandirse a Latinoamérica, empezando por el Perú.

¿Qué es la Hacker House? Conoce la residencia en Georgia Tech fundada por Yamil Quispe

Episode 400 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Rylan Hamilton, CEO & Co-Founder of Blue Water Autonomy.

Episode 400!  It’s another milestone episode.  

On November 2, 2017, I published the first episode of The VentureFizz Podcast.  My first 11 episodes were an experiment where I interviewed talent acquisition leaders. Christina Luconi was my first guest.  Thank you Christina!

After seeing the potential, I pivoted to interviewing mainly founders & investors in Boston and NYC.  I want to send out shout-out to all the people who have taken the time to share their stories with me and the VentureFizz audience.  It has been a pleasure to interview all of you.

For Episode 400, I wanted to interview someone who not only has had extraordinary background but someone who is also still building.  Interviewing Rylan for this milestone episode was a no-brainer.

Rylan’s professional career has been one of exploration and not just one linear path.  From graduating from Harvard to enlisting in the Navy as an Engineering Officer for surface warfair, to Harvard Business School, to being the first employee at RunMyErrand which later became TaskRabbit, to learning warehouse robotics at Kiva Systems which ended up being the 2nd largest acquisition by Amazon at the time, to starting his own warehouse robotics company called 6 River Systems which was acquired by Shopify for $450M… to now… working on his latest startup, which no doubt is his biggest swing which is Blue Water Automony… a startup building autonomous ships for the open ocean.

The company recently announced a $50M Series A round of funding led GV.  This is shortly after announcing a $14M seed round of funding earlier this year back in April.

In this interview, we cover how Rylan’s service in the armed forces helped shape his career, his full background story, plus all the chapters along the way, to all the details about Blue Water Authonomy and how this company is disrupting and re-energizing the ship industry in the United States, and so much more.

Episode Sponsor:

As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.


Episode 400: Rylan Hamilton - CEO & Co-Founder, Blue Water Autonomy

Muchos equipos simplemente no usan el CRM, y no es por falta de herramientas, sino por errores estratégicos. 
Aquí te comparto un resumen en audio de los errores más comunes al implementar un CRM y cómo evitarlos desde el primer día.

Hablaremos de:

- Falta de capacitación real al equipo
- CRM que no se adapta a los procesos del negocio
- Elegir herramientas solo por precio
- Poca integración con canales clave
- Usabilidad y experiencia del usuario final

Este contenido está diseñado para líderes, marketers, fundadores y equipos comerciales que quieren dejar de improvisar y convertir su CRM en una plataforma real de crecimiento.

¿Quieres acompañamiento para tomar mejores decisiones en marketing y ventas? Agenda una consultoría estratégica conmigo, puedes seguirme en Instagram y Linkedin como Geraldine Perez Digital

Este episodio hace parte de Shots de Marketing, un espacio para decisiones inteligentes, tácticas accionables y crecimiento sostenible.

Cómo evitar que el CRM se convierta en otra herramienta inútil

Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital.

This episode is with with Rando Rannus of Siena Secondary Fund, a firm that empowers early employees and founders by providing liquidity for high-growth startups. Learn more at https://siena.ee/

This episode goes deep into secondaries… essentially, Siena is a fund that buys shares of pre-IPO companies from early investors, founders and employees.  It’s an interesting model, so we talk about why the secondary market has exploded recently, and why it’s created an opportunity for a new type of fund.  He also shares his strategies for raising the fund from family offices, angel networks, institutional LPs and even sovereign wealth funds.  

The Fund most recently raised a Fund II totaling €50 million, including a €10 million investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Other investors were SmartCap, Isomer Capital and private investors, founders, and employees 

How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016.

If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com.

If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com

Ep. 312 How I Raised It with Rando Rannus of Siena Secondary Fund

Middle East AI News brought to you by Carrington Malin - Marketing for an AI First World. In this podcast: SehaTech raises $1.1 million to expand AI healthtech; KLIQ secures $2.25 million for AI influencer platform; Saudi innovator blends AI and archaeology for heritage tech

Sign-up for the weekly email news digest here:
https://www.middleeastainews.com

#MiddleEastAINews

SehaTech raises $1.1 million to expand AI healthtech

Watch student founders, university teams, and emerging startups pitch their ventures to top investors and industry leaders, turning ambition into action. Set to take place on October 23 as part of the Sharjah Investment Forum. Sama Al Taei from SPARK joins us on the show to share more details about the event and the expectations.

Listen to #Pulse95Radio in the UAE by tuning in on your radio (95.00 FM) or online on our website: www.pulse95radio.com

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Seal the Deal start-up pitch competition at SIF 2025 (21.10.25)

Middle East AI News brought to you by Carrington Maylin - Marketing for an AI First World. In this podcast: Khalifa University leads new telecom AI benchmarks; Lianhe Sowell to build $105m UAE robot factory; TabSense raises $5m for AI restaurant platform

Sign-up for the weekly email news digest here:
https://www.middleeastainews.com

#MiddleEastAINews

Khalifa University leads new telecom AI benchmarks

In the latest Seedcamp Deep Dive, our Managing Partner, Carlos Eduardo Espinal, discusses the complexities of investing in deeptech, dual-use and the defence sector. He's joined by two distinguished guests from defence and investment backgrounds: Nicola Sinclair, General Partner at Twin Track Ventures, and Samuel Burrell, Partner at Expeditions Fund.

Nicola begins the conversation by explaining her motivation for founding Twin Track, highlighting the need to connect startups with the defence and security sectors and detailing her approach to evaluating deep tech investments. Sam then discusses his transition from military service to venture capital and emphasizes the importance of understanding end-user needs in defense tech investments.

This insightful conversation covers a wide range of topics, including:
- The challenges of dual-use technologies
- The role of prime contractors
- The evolving geopolitical landscape
- Investment opportunities in space technology
- The future of defence tech investments

Show Notes:

Nicola Sinclair - linkedin.com/in/nicola-sinclair-

Samuel Burrell - linkedin.com/in/samuelrburrell

Carlos Eduardo Espinal - linkedin.com/in/carloseduardoespinal


Twin Track Ventures - twintrack.vc

Expeditions Fund - expeditionsfund.com

Seedcamp - seedcamp.com


Sam’s weekly newsletter This Week in Dual-Use [www.samuelburrell.com]

“Working with Defence & Security” Survey. The results will be released on 14 November 2025 

From the Forces to Investing in Deeptech, Dual-Use, and the Defence Sector

The Middle East AI News Minute gives you a daily one-minute daily briefing on the top AI-related stories coming out of the Middle East. If you are a busy technology, business or government leader who want to get a quick update, then this is the podcast for you.

This Much I Know is the podcast from Seedcamp, Europe’s seed fund.

Tune into hear the inside story from startup founders, investors and leading tech voices: the people who’ve built businesses, scaled globally, failed fantastically and learnt massively.

Seedcamp invests early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. Seedcamp provides the infrastructure to fast-track a founder’s vision and create value through immediate access to smart capital, a lifelong community of support and a global network built upon a decade’s experience backing exceptional talent.

Geral's Warehouse es mi universo en audio: marketing, tecnología, bienestar, belleza y reflexiones sobre construir una marca personal real, sin filtros. Porque somos mucho más que una profesión, y la curiosidad también merece su espacio fuera de la pantalla.

La Agencia Peruana de Noticias Andina los invita a escuchar los programas de Andina Radio y las entrevistas realizadas por nuestros periodistas en formato podcast de libre descarga. Pueden seguirnos en www.andina.pe

The VentureFizz Podcast is the flagship podcast of VentureFizz.com, the leading authority for jobs & careers in tech. In this podcast, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline interviews the top founders and investors in the tech industry.

Produced by Foundersuite.com, makers of the leading software stack for raising capital: Investor CRM + VC/Angel database + Pitch Deck Hosting + Investor Update tools. Used by startups to raise > $2.5 Billion.

On weekdays from 7 AM – 10 AM, the Morning Majlis kick-starts the day with a team of three dynamic personalities, bringing listeners the stories shaping the headlines, plus interviews with game-changers and industry experts on a variety of topics. It is hosted by Abdul Karim Hanif, Louis Denham & Rania Saadi.

New tracks tagged #StartUps