#156 - Amber Atherton and Iba Masood

About this episode

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/AmberAtherton">Amber Atherton</a> is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.zyper.com/">Zyper</a> (YC W18).<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ibamasood">Iba Masood</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://tara.ai/">TARA</a> (YC W15).<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>1:16 - Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara<br><br>3:26 - Tara's pivot<br><br>4:31 - Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara<br><br>18:11 - Evaluating investors<br><br>23:46 - Meeting with associates and partners<br><br>30:35 - Raising a Series A as a female founder<br><br>39:31 - Fundraising psychology <br><br>41:46 - What not to do when fundraising <br><br>45:01 - Talking to portfolio companies about investors<br><br>46:21 - What it's like to run a Series A stage company <br><br>1:00:41 - The most important piece of advice for fundraising<br></p>