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You've got a product idea. Maybe you've even built the thing. But now you're stuck on the part that actually matters: getting people to give you money before you've spent a fortune building inventory, hiring a team, or raising venture capital that'll own your company before you do.
Everett Taylor is the CEO of Kickstarter, the platform that's helped creators raise over $8 billion and launch everything from billion dollar companies to side hustles that print cash. He came up through the mailroom, got stabbed working a parking lot, and built his career by learning how to sell himself before he had anything to sell. Now he runs one of the most creative funding platforms in the world and he's breaking down exactly how to raise money without giving away equity, how to pitch without sounding desperate, and why most people fail before they even start.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why selling yourself is the first skill every founder needs and how to build confidence even when you're starting from zero
The pre-order pyramid: exclusivity, urgency, value, timeliness, and trust, and why video is the number one thing that makes or breaks a campaign
How to calculate your real costs so you don't lose money on every sale and why you need a 25 to 30 percent buffer for the things you can't predict
The biggest mistakes founders make when pitching: not being concise, not building trust, and not understanding the difference between pitching VCs and pitching customers
Why raising venture capital means giving up control and how pre-orders let you test demand, keep equity, and build a real business on your terms
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(00:00:00) Introduction: How to Raise Your First 100K Without Connections
(00:00:52) The Self-Selling Framework: Marketing Yourself Before Your Product
(00:03:54) Mental Toughness and Emotional Regulation: The Two Traits You Need
(00:08:24) Pre-Orders Over Venture Capital: The Kickstarter Advantage
(00:10:21) The Pre-Order Pyramid: Exclusivity, Urgency, Value, and Trust
(00:13:41) The Video-First Rule: Why Great Campaigns Start With 30 Seconds
(00:17:11) The Biggest Pitch Mistakes: Get to the Point or Get Lost
(00:20:20) When to Bootstrap vs When to Raise Millions
(00:23:02) The Venture Capital Trap: Why a 250M Offer Got Rejected
(00:26:29) Cost Management and Buffer Strategy: The 25-30 Percent Rule
(00:32:46) Surprising Success Stories: 28M Board Games and Comic Book Empires
(00:37:49) The CEO Playbook: Mental Toughness, Humility, and Rolling Up Your Sleeves
(00:40:43) Remote Leadership: Trust, Aggressive Goals, and Performance Management
(00:43:26) The Kickstarter Turnaround: Rejecting Mediocrity and Rebuilding Culture
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