EP#87: Founders Obsess Over the Raise. Investors Care About This More. With Carina Cunha

Carina Cunha is an investment banker, founder, and advisor who's worked with over 100 companies from pre-seed to IPO. She helped build Crimson Education into a unicorn, then landed two offers on Dragons' Den UK for her own startup, Nosy, and pulled a billion views out of less than $5,000 in ad spend. Favikon now ranks her a Top 3 LinkedIn voice for sales. Here's the tension. Founders treat a raise as the win. Carina treats capital as fuel, not proof. Fundraising is just another sale, and the real proof is traction. Capital should scale something that already works, not pay for finding out if it does. We get into running your own operating system instead of the market's default one. Why being told you're wrong feels personal, but being shown you're wrong is a gift. And what to say in a first meeting when you've got no traction and no leverage yet. Episode outline Personal systems first: you can't change rules you never stopped to see Capital as fuel: traction is the proof, capital should scale what already works Fundraising is another sale: what investors are actually buying Identity and being wrong: why it stings, and why it's a gift Compress the failure cycle: hypothesis, failure, analysis, iteration The first meeting: no traction, no leverage, and the move that still works Listen: Apple || Spotify || YouTube Carina Cunha - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carinacunha/ Carina Cunha is building an investment bank and writing a book on human consciousness. She structures capital raises across venture, debt, and private equity, work that showed her a broken system up close. She's advised over 100 companies from pre-seed to IPO. Andy Walsh Three-time founder with two exits who bootstrapped to $10M ARR, now host of Startups Decoded (top 2%, 850k+ downloads) and advising founders on growth through consulting and his podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/ Access All Areas. Listen: Apple || Spotify || YouTube Subscribe: Substack Connect: LinkedIn Web: startupsdecoded.com Socials: TikTok || Instagram || X Music Credit. “Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia) https://phondupe.bandcamp.com/album/air-conditioning-vol-2 Disclaimer The views and opinions shared on Startups Decoded are for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment or legal advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making any financial or legal decisions.