Castuner

High Stakes

Paige Soya

Join seasoned investors and successful start-up founders as they weigh in on topics and trends currently dominating the venture capital space. Each episode brings together a founder and an investor to provoke a deepened understanding of the topic at hand. If you want to learn about how early-stage venture capital investing works, this show is for you.

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Episodes

78 episodes

  1. How VCs Think About PR for Startups | Paige Soya & Kate Meissner (Velocity Partners) 43:49
  2. The 6 Unit Economics VCs Use to Evaluate Startups | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & K Street Capital 43:28
  3. Zero Churn, 90% Close Rate: The Customer Journey VCs Look For | Paige Soya & Mike Desai (CEO, Truentity Health) 35:00
  4. How VCs Actually Think About Startup Valuations? | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & K Street Capital 39:03
  5. What Makes a Business VC-Backable? | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala, & Jon Sherry (Alium, Ex-CB Insights) 49:09
  6. Learn the Lingo VCs Actually Use | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala, & K Street Capital 41:40
  7. Go-to-Market Is the Moat | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala, and Mark Schacknies (NFTYDoor) 45:35
  8. How VCs Structure Venture Deals | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & Scott Stern (Partner, Origin Ventures) 52:07
  9. How VCs Evaluate Pre-Revenue Startups | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures) 34:42
  10. Venture Liquidity, Secondaries & How VCs Exit | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & Andrew (Principal at Savano Capital) 35:41
  11. VC Deal Timelines & Due Diligence | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & Matt Bressler (Lookout Ventures & Fmr TDF Ventures) 37:26
  12. Power Dynamics in VC | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala, Haley Bryant (Hustle Fund), & Ann Marie Guzzi (Dalmatian Ops, Angel Investor & Agora Initiative) 51:54
  13. How VCs Evaluate Founding Teams | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala, & Neil Shah (CEO, ThinkNimble) 41:58
  14. Angel Investors vs. VCs | Paige Soya & Dadi Akhavan (Startup-to-IPO Founder) 39:50
  15. How VCs Source Deals | Paige Soya, Nick Duafala & Taylor Margot (Partner, Lytical Ventures) 49:45
  16. Not All Capital Is Created Equal: Venture Capital vs. Other Funding | Paige Soya & Jill Ralph (Former Chemonics Capital and Motley Fool) 31:37
  17. An Introduction to Venture Capital: Meet your hosts | Paige Soya & Nick Duafala at K Street Capital: Season 4 of High Stakes 35:36
  18. Unlocking Women Investing in VC with Julie Castro Abrams 47:08
  19. What VCs and Angel Investors are seeing from Y-Combinator in 2025 47:47
  20. How Early Funding Rounds a Shape Startup's Future 37:31
  21. How Diverse Founders Drive Bigger Wins 38:55
  22. The Art and Science of Diligence in Early-Stage VC 47:06
  23. How VC success is truly measured 42:27
  24. What LPs Want from VC Fund Managers 35:56
  25. Power Law & the VC Playbook 46:01
  26. The Relationship between Check Size, Ownership Percentage and Stage in VC Investing 33:51
  27. Dual Threat CEOs 38:15
  28. Why VCs Care About Board Seats | Brian Goldsmith, Co-founder & Partner at Avenue Growth Partners 41:31
  29. The Unseen Work of Venture Capital | James Barila, Executive Director of Station, DC 37:49
  30. Habits of Highly Successful Founders | Alex Wirth, CEO of Quorum 39:33
  31. Landing a job in VC | Myrto Lalacos 36:25
  32. The Cold, Hard Truth About Startup Shutdowns | Dori Yona 42:18
  33. When Venture Deals Go South: Inside the Realities of Startup Failures, Wind Downs, Write-Offs, and Zombie Companies 38:41
  34. Why Some VCs Lead and Others Don’t | Mark Volchek 42:12
  35. Breaking Into Venture—No Straight Paths, Just Bold Moves | Ethan Austin 55:56
  36. How Government Policy Shapes VC-Backed Startups: Lessons from Softbank | Bruce Andrews 34:45
  37. Fundraising from VCs: Game Changing Insider Tips | Basel Fakhoury 42:58
  38. The End Is Not the End | Greg Vetter 35:06
  39. Why Transparency Can Make or Break a Transaction | Dimitry Gershenson 23:19
  40. How This Georgetown MBA Class Project Got Acquired by GoodBuy Gear | Alli Cavasino & Natalie Poston 29:38
  41. Leverage IP For A Winning Exit | Todd Bracher & Paige Soya 25:13
  42. What No One Tells You Before Getting Acquired | Scott Tilton 42:13
  43. The Strategic Rationale Behind Early Exits | Aaron Mendes & PrivacyHawk 45:40
  44. M&A Lessons Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know | Richard Leggett & Tom McCormick 43:00
  45. 3 Exit Strategies That Changed Everything, Featuring Zach Axelrod 25:30
  46. How This Entrepreneur Sold His Startup To Dropbox For $165M | Russ Heddleston 29:03
  47. Proactive Investment Exit Strategies: Insights from Marcus Brauchli 30:34
  48. Industry Dive's Expansion Strategy and Exit with Founder Sean Griffey 24:34
  49. Building Impactful Companies: Insights for Founders, Featuring Joe Fluet 29:40
  50. Insights on IPOs and acquisitions from both sides of the table, featuring Martin Tobias 29:44