Seed Money cover art

Seed Money

Seed Money

Written by: Jayla Siciliano
Listen for free

About this listen

 Seed Money is where everyday people learn how to raise capital and get the funding you need to FINALLY get your startup to the next level! If you're struggling to get people to believe in your vision (and you don't need a billion-dollar deal in Silicon Valley), Seed Money will unlock the answers you've been looking for! Hosted by Jayla Siciliano, Shark Tank Entrepreneur, MBA, real estate investor, and experienced founder/investor in markets from consumer products to short-term rentals. In this podcast, you'll get the mindset, methods, and motivation to raise early-stage seed funding from investors. You'll also hear the inspiring stories of everyday people who've walked the same path and overcome the same challenges you're facing. So you can see the next steps, make good decisions and get the funding you need to launch or grow! -- Join our FREE Facebook group to get a variety of templates, ask questions and network with other early-stage entrepreneurs raising seed money www.facebook.com/groups/seedmoney/2024 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Finance
Episodes
  • The Fundraising Advice Founders Never Hear (But Desperately Need) w/ Shefqet Avdullau

    The Fundraising Advice Founders Never Hear (But Desperately Need) w/ Shefqet Avdullau
    Jan 6 2026
    Getting an investor to fund your business isn't just about your idea, industry, team, or even your business model. What can help or tank your efforts often comes down to how you show up in the room. Your mindset, how you handle the power dynamics, and whether you actually see yourself as the one offering value, not asking for it. The truth is that many founders operate from a place of desperation, and investors can sense it immediately. You lose sight of the fact that you and your business are the prize. You treat the investor like a boss, not a peer, or you say your schedule is completely open. You come across as overly eager or grateful for the opportunity. These are all things that quietly make an investor pull back, even if the idea itself is strong. If you walk into investor conversations acting like you're asking for permission instead of offering an opportunity, getting funding is harder. This is something founder-turned-angel investor Shefqet Avdullau knows all too well. As a super-connector with deep experience on both sides of the table, he brings a rare perspective shaped by building, exiting, and now backing companies. How should founders actually show up in investor conversations? How do you know when an investor will help you build something, or quietly make things harder? In this episode, we unpack the parts of fundraising no one puts on the pitch deck: why desperation is detectable (and deadly), why treating investors like they're above you destroys leverage, and why confidence is often what really moves a round forward. Topics Covered; Why fundraising fails before the pitch even begins How to avoid looking desperate to investors The subtle signals investors read instantly, including desperation and lack of leverage How to engineer FOMO using calendar density and scarcity Why "owning the elephant in the room" builds more trust than perfect metrics ever will The soft-commit strategy founders should use before officially opening a round Why a bad investor is often 10x worse than no investor The SAFE agreement mistake that can cost you your company Why easy yeses are a red flag, not a win The "two-week vacation test" reveals if you've got a company or a stressful job How founders accidentally become bottlenecks About the Guest Shefqet Avdullau is a founder, active angel investor, board advisor, and "super connector," primarily in the tech ecosystem. He has made 17 investments in the last four years, with two successful exits. Today, he backs advisors and mentors tech startups, using his experience to help new founders navigate the challenges with strategic funding and real-world guidance. Having started his career as a software engineer and later founding, scaling, and exiting his own ventures, he brings an operator-first perspective to early-stage investing. For more of Shefqet's insights, find him on LinkedIn. About Your Host Jayla Siciliano, Shark Tank entrepreneur turned real estate investor, excels in building brands, teams, and products. CEO of a bi-coastal luxury short-term rental company, she also hosts the Seed Money Podcast, where she's on a mission to help early-stage entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality! Connect: Website: https://seedmoneypodcast.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaylasiciliano/ Subscribe and watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@seedmoneypodcast/ Subscribe, Rate, & Review Please rate, follow, and review the podcast on https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seed-money/id1740815877 and https://open.spotify.com/show/0VkQECosb1spTFsUhu6uFY?si=5417351fb73a4ea1/! Hearing your comments and questions helps me come up with the best topics for the show! Disclaimer The information in this podcast is educational and general in nature and does not take into consideration the listener's personal circumstances. Therefore, it is not intended to be a substitute for specific, individualized financial, legal, or tax advice.
    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
  • I Listened to 16 Founder Pitches: Here's What Most People Miss

    I Listened to 16 Founder Pitches: Here's What Most People Miss
    Nov 25 2025

    We spend so much time stressing about pitch decks…the formatting, the stats, and the perfect slide order. But honestly, that's not what trips most founders up.

    The real issue is way simpler: a lot of us just aren't telling investors what they actually need to hear. Not because our ideas are bad, but because the way we explain them ends up hiding the good stuff.

    Last week I listened to sixteen founder pitches in a row. Different industries, different personalities, and different business models.

    And while every single one had real potential, almost all of them shared the same 5 blind spots.

    What stood out wasn't the mistakes themselves, but how shockingly easy they are to fix. The founders who nailed just a few simple things immediately came across clearer, more confident, and honestly… way more fun to listen to.

    The difference between a forgettable pitch and a memorable one usually isn't a full overhaul. It's tiny tweaks, and once those clicks happen, the whole pitch lands differently.

    In this episode, I go through the 5 common mistakes I see in founder pitches, and why correcting them will get (and keep) the attention of investors.

    Topics Covered;

    • Why most founders bury the most important part of the pitch

    • How jargon kills investor confidence, even when the idea is great.

    • The "single-takeaway rule" that instantly makes your deck clearer and more persuasive

    • What investors actually want to know about your funding ask

    • Invisible deal-breakers: lack of passion, weak projection, and low energy

    • How to present traction even when you don't have revenue yet

    • How to communicate a credible 18-month plan investors can believe in

    • Verbal, visual, and emotional signals that matter far more than data points

    About Your Host

    Jayla Siciliano, Shark Tank entrepreneur turned real estate investor, excels in building brands, teams, and products. CEO of a bi-coastal luxury short-term rental company, she also hosts the Seed Money Podcast, where she's on a mission to help early-stage entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality!

    Connect:

    Website: https://seedmoneypodcast.com/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaylasiciliano/

    Subscribe and watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@seedmoneypodcast/

    Show More Show Less
    13 mins
  • Pitch Battles, Warm Intros and Demo Days Are Dead: The New Way to Raise Capital w/ Robert Harary

    Pitch Battles, Warm Intros and Demo Days Are Dead: The New Way to Raise Capital w/ Robert Harary
    Nov 24 2025
    For years, there was a formula for raising money from VC's: perfect your pitch deck, polish your twelve slides, practice the elevator pitch, and hope someone in the limited VC circle gives you a shot. But that formula worked in a different era, when venture capital was still a close knit club and the same 1,200 people decided which ideas got funded. Those limited rules don't apply anymore. And this shift is not only relevant in VC but also when pitching angel investors. What Robert Harary has lived firsthand is that the investors who matter today aren't looking for perfect companies. They're looking for founders who are honest, self-aware, and willing to build in the open. The people who win now aren't necessarily the most connected; they're the ones who are real, transparent, and building relationships instead of performances. Robert's story is a perfect example of that shift. He raised his first million at 17 with zero network, went on to back more than 300 startups as a VC, and is now building Raisi.ai, a platform that automatically connects founders and investors, no warm intros required. In this conversation, we talk about why the old "pitch-only based" era of fundraising is over, what he sees as a new partnership-driven model, and how authenticity has quietly replaced access as the most valuable currency in venture capital. Topics Covered; Why the old fundraising playbook stopped working, and what replaced it How to raise capital without a network, connections, or pedigree What investors now value most in founders (and why "perfect" is a red flag) How to shift from perfect pitch-based to partnership-based fundraising The rise of platforms like Raisi.ai and what they signal about the future of venture How transparency and imperfection can actually strengthen investor trust What the post-2021 "venture reset" means for early-stage founders How founders can build investor relationships months before raising a round The subtle red flags that turn investors off before a single slide is shown Guest Bio Robert Harary is an early-stage VC investor, founder, and lifelong believer that access to capital shouldn't depend on who you know. He found his first deal while sitting in high school detention and has spent the decade since working to make fundraising more transparent, efficient, and equitable. Today, Robert is the #2 at Evolution VC Partners, a leading firm with 300+ portfolio companies in the Culture Tech space. Robert co-founded Raisi, a platform that automatically connects founders and investors, matching great ideas with the right capital every eight minutes. Raisi is built on a simple belief: founders shouldn't have to rely on elite networks or endless introductions to get funded. The company is redefining how startups raise money by making investor access smarter, faster, and more inclusive. Collectively, the companies Robert has worked with have raised more than $1.2 billion from firms like Sequoia, a16z, Accel, YC, and Village Global. Sign up for https://raisi.ai/ and mention The Seed Money Podcast to get a discount. Connect with Robert on LinkedIn. About Your Host Jayla Siciliano, Shark Tank entrepreneur turned real estate investor, excels in building brands, teams, and products. CEO of a bi-coastal luxury short-term rental company, she also hosts the Seed Money Podcast, where she's on a mission to help early-stage entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality! Connect: Website: https://seedmoneypodcast.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaylasiciliano/ Subscribe and watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@seedmoneypodcast/ Please rate, follow, and review the podcast on https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seed-money/id1740815877 and https://open.spotify.com/show/0VkQECosb1spTFsUhu6uFY?si=5417351fb73a4ea1/! Hearing your comments and questions helps me come up with the best topics for the show! Disclaimer The information in this podcast is educational and general in nature and does not take into consideration the listener's personal circumstances. Therefore, it is not intended to be a substitute for specific, individualized financial, legal, or tax advice.
    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
No reviews yet