Welcome to Founder Real Talk, a podcast for founders, by founders.
We explore the real journey of building and growing a company. Each episode, we go beyond the highlight reel to unpack the strategies, decisions, and hard lessons that shaped successful businesses, revealing the good, the bad, and the ugly behind the growth.
In this episode of Founder Real Talk, host Josh Broward interviews Rachel Stern, founder and managing partner of GovTech Ventures. They discuss the unique challenges and opportunities in the GovTech space, the importance of capital and expertise for early-stage startups, and Rachel's extensive experience working with state and local governments. Rachel shares her journey of fundraising, the lessons learned from failures, and the significance of having a personal advisory board. The conversation also touches on the transition from founder-led sales to scalable processes and the value of engaging with the GovTech community.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to GovTech Ventures and Rachel Stern
02:58 The Need for Capital in GovTech
06:06 Rachel's Background and Experience in Government
08:58 The Journey of Fundraising and Building a Network
12:05 Learning from Mistakes and Embracing Failure
17:52 The Importance of Personal Advisory Boards
20:53 Investing in Professional Development
25:01 Challenges in Fundraising and Building a Fund
28:45 Advice for Seed Stage Founders
31:55 The Transition from Founder-Led Sales to Scalable Processes
36:00 Engaging with the GovTech Community
Links & Resources
Keywords
GovTech, venture capital, fundraising, startups, personal development, advisory board, failure, seed stage, founder-led sales, networking
