Plausibly Interesting: One Size Fits None…and What Founders Should Know About Capital Strategy
I recently joined Mark Newburg and Urvashi Bhatnagar on their podcast Plausibly Interesting for a convo on capital strategy, early stage investing, and the not-exactly-true-truths that live rent free in our heads. The TLDR? Much of what we tell founders ends up being a gross oversimplification. We can do better.
You can grab the full episode here on Spotify or scan below to jump into some bits that capture the best of what we covered:
Venture Capital is Not a Monolith
In casual conversation we often use the word "venture" as a catch-all for every form of equity investing — from a $1M SAFE note to a $5M priced round with a governance board and preferred stockholders. These are different instruments with VERY different implications. Same goes for equity-alts and debt. The devil is genuinely in the details. My advice: stop treating capital like a monolith and start treating it like a label on a bottle — read every word, every time.
Most Companies Use a Diversified Capital Stack.
It's rare for a company to rely on a single type of capital throughout its lifecycle. Like, really rare. But most startup school curriculums suggest that “good” companies fund themselves through linear and successive rounds of equity financing. That’s not only a bad (and expensive) idea, it doesn't track with real world data. The implication: understand what goal you're building toward before deciding what capital makes sense. Become a capital navigator. Raising money without knowing what it's in service of is one of the fastest paths to getting stuck.
Find a Capital Mentor
Founders are encouraged to find product mentors, technology mentors, industry mentors. But there's a category that gets almost no attention: the capital mentor — someone with real-world exposure to different kinds of capital who can help you understand your options… before you're signing term sheets. Even a couple of hours with the right person can be transformative, especially for first-time founders.
Revenue is Just a Word
Revenue is great…if it's really great! Revenue numbers are only useful in the context of other data. How much did you spend to generate it? Is it repeatable? "Bad revenue" — the kind that isn't sustainable or was generated through deep discounting — can actually obscure a company's real story. A company with less revenue but higher-quality recurring relationships can be far more investable than one showing top-line growth built on one-off sales. Founders who let pitch competition pressure push them to celebrate revenue at all costs risk telling the wrong story.
"Capital Wars" Are Theater
Investors benefit more from tension than from truth. The narrative that capital types are at war with each other is total BS. It boosts egos and maintains the illusion that you have to pick a side once and stick with it. The reality: most companies have investors of different capital types working side by side. The messy middle is where most companies actually live — and where investors are collaborating, not competing.
"Value-Add" Can Mean Nothing
Before you accept a board seat or sign provisions based on a promised value-add, ask hard questions. Talk to founders already in that investor's portfolio — not just the ones the investor refers you to. Find out if the person you're working with will even be at the fund when you need them. At minimum, you want an investor who gives you money and doesn't hurt you. At best, the right investor can be genuinely transformative. But you have to do the work to know the difference.
Plausibly Interesting is the kind of show that earns its name — thoughtful guests, real depth, no fluff. Thanks to Mark and Urvashi for having me.
Catch the full conversation below or view Plausibly Interesting on Spotify →
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More About RevUp Capital
RevUp Capital invests in B2B and B2C companies that are revenue-driven and ready to double down on growth. We deploy cash and capacity to help companies grow from $1-3M to $10-30M, quickly and efficiently, using a revenue-based model. Companies enter our portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue, a strong growth rate, and a team that’s ready to scale. Our typical investment range is $300K-$500K.
More at www.revupfund.com