
Alex Salazar on Taking Arcade from Zero to a $12M Round (Alex Salazar / Arcade - Ep 56)
Alex Salazar didn’t need to prove he could build a company. He’d already done that and sold it, then spent time as a VC, and had the kind of background that usually makes raising money the easy part. But when he started Arcade, he decided to do things differently. In this episode, we talk about what it means to go back to zero even when you don’t have to. Alex shares why he and his co-founder stayed in stealth, how they tested product ideas without writing a single line of code, and what it took to get real traction in a category moving as fast as AI. We get into opportunity selection, investor conviction, and what it actually looks like when someone gets preempted before they’re even out fundraising. Arcade eventually closed a $12M round... but the process behind that raise had very little to do with pattern-matching or momentum. It was all about building something that hit a nerve.
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TBC: Likability vs. Brilliance
In this episode of The Backchannel, we're dropping a quick but essential take on balancing brilliance and likability and how both play into the fundraising game. We revisit a core concept from a past episode: time given – time to interest. If your brilliance gets investors hooked fast, you don’t need as much relationship-building. But if it takes longer to spark that interest, likability becomes your best tool for buying more time. We also talk about how being difficult, even if you’re brilliant, can close doors.

How Curtis Northcutt Closed a $25M Series A for Cleanlab (Curtis Northcutt / Cleanlab)
In this episode, Curtis Northcutt, MIT PhD and founder of Cleanlab, shares his compelling journey from rural Kentucky to raising $25 million from Menlo Ventures and Bain Capital. Curtis reflects on the challenges of growing up with limited opportunities, the loneliness of dreaming big in a small town, and how those experiences ignited his drive to build something meaningful. He also dives into the complexities of raising capital during a downturn, balancing investor relationships, and making tough decisions about dilution. With a mix of personal stories, sharp insights, and practical advice, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build a startup from scratch and scale it with purpose.

TBC: How Anxiety Ruins Warm Intros
In this episode of The Backchannel, we're diving into the role anxiety plays in fundraising, especially when it comes to warm introductions with investors. If you’ve ever hesitated to reach out to old contacts or second-guessed your follow-ups, this one's for you.

TBC: GPs Have Trouble Raising Too
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TBC: How to Build Awareness as a Founder the Right Way
In this episode, we dive into the concept of awareness for founders, focusing on how to effectively create it.

TBC: How to Handle the Heat of an Investor Pitch
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How Teasha Cable Closed a $1M Seed Round for CModel (Teasha Cable / CModel)
After bootstrapping her company for months, Teasha Cable, founder and CEO of CModel decided it was time to raise. But early on, the rejections came in hard. Instead of giving up or getting offended, she learned from each rejection, tweaked her approach, and started executing on what investors wanted to see. After a lot of trial and error, she locked down a lead investor in the Alabama Futures Fund that ended up leading her to close a $1M seed round in a not-so-easy market. But even then, it took six more months of grinding to fully close the round. That persistence, though, wasn’t something new for her. In this episode you'll hear the story behind how she became the entpreneur we see today, and how she closed her $1M seed round for CModel.

TBC: Types & Motivations of Angel Investors
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