I make Pre-Seed to Series B founders successfully fundraise by helping you build your fundraising operating system. | $350m+ raised with founders. | Follow me for tips on fundraising.

I have spent the last 10 years trying to find the "secret" sauce to making you fundraise for your company.

And you know what?

There's no secret. 

It’s just a matter of having: 

- The right preparation & processes
- A clear and concise narrative & storytelling
- Structured relationships built over a long period 

The real "secret", if there's any at all, is that you need to build a system around your fundraise to make sure you do the proper work.

A system means that allows you to: 

- Efficiently build the right relationships with investors and connectors
- Influence investors that YOU are a good bet
- Take them through your process in an efficient manner 

All the while keeping accountability of you doing the boring but important stuff.

During the $400m+ in venture funding I have been a part of, I was able to meet best-in-class  entrepreneurs. 

Some of these entrepreneurs have gone on to raise $100M+ in fundraising each. ​

All of them possessed operating systems for the fundraises. 

I’ve built such a system for fundraising founders. 

And I can help you build yours. 

But as with all things, getting started, maintaining consistency and keeping accountability is easier said than done.

The founders I have helped with their fundraises have gone on to raise $250M+. 

...And I'm doing all of this with a 100% MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE.

Now, are you serious about building fundraising for your startup? 

Let's make it happen.

(I CAN'T HELP YOU IF YOU HAVE ALREADY STARTED YOUR FUNDRAISE). 

👉🏼 Shoot me a DM, or head over to my featured section & check out our offer.

I'll see you at the top!

Gian Seehra

4 Custom GPTs for fundraising for your startup. 

→ How to get them:

1. Like this post
2. Comment “AI” so I know you're serious

It’s taken me 2 years to structure this the way real fundraises are done. 

To make your fundraise 10x more efficient. 

You’ll get:

1 - GPT that writes your origin story
(Trained on the exact narrative arcs that get investors bought in around your own experiences.)

2 - GPT that builds your pitch deck
(Not just the slides but a story-driven structure that you can use to create an investable deck)

3 - GPT that finds the right investors
(Sourced from hand-built lists, and online so you can find and meet the right investors for you. Bonus: includes warm intro scripts.)

4 - GPT that maps your investor network 
(So you don’t just pitch random people. You build network leverage before you ever ask for a dollar.)

These are for the founders who want to actually prep their fundraise correctly. 

So they don't waste precious time and can actually get the funding they need to successfully build their business.

Raise $1M+ in 90 days with my proven fundraising system. | VC-Backed Founder ($16M) & Tier-1 VC | $400M+ raised with founders. | DM “RAISE” to chat how I can help.

A founder told me to f*ck off when I rejected his Seed startup as a VC. 

(All because I was actually being honest). 

This is what went down. 

I met this founder and we had an intro call. 
At the end of the call I felt it in my gut it was a NO. 

Now here is where I'd do the usual VC thing of: 

"We'll think about it" 
"Sorry we need more traction" 
"You're too early" 

But instead, I decided to be honest. 

I told him that I didn't think he was good enough. 
I tried to be as nice as possible about it. 

(EDIT: I didn't say he 'was not good enough' directly, theres a lot more nuance to what I said, and it was much nicer!)

But he went APESH*T at me. 

Shouting... 
Many swear words... 

Telling me I'm just an idiot. 

He started telling everyone I sucked as a VC. It was going around for a long time. 

I wasn't rude to him at all, just thought I'd be honest. 

Now... 

Here's the problem. 

Every VC who rejects you felt the same way I did about that founder. 

But if they told everyone the truth they'd get a constant line of angry, aggressive founders. 

Just like this founder did to me. 

And I get it... 

And why wouldn't you? 

You are building something every day and know so much about the topic. 

Then: 

• Some random suit spends 30 minutes with you. 
• Doesn't know anything about your industry. 
• Asks stupid questions... 

Only to tell you they think you aren't good enough? 

The optics just don't work. 
So investors resort to fake reasons for why they said no. 

That is the reason you get generic rejections from investors. 

I'm not saying its good. 
But I'm telling you the truth. 

So when you are fundraising make sure investors never feel that. 

Whats the most annoying rejection you got from an investor?

Can I be honest about why those Pre-Seed investors are rejecting you?
 
It’s not traction. No matter how much they say it is.
 
(I know how brutal this sounds, sorry. But it’s the real reason behind the surface reason.)
 
It’s because, in their eyes, you’re not strong enough 𝘺𝘦𝘵 as a founder.
 
Let’s break that down.
 
Over 99% of Pre-Seed investors have funded teams with 𝘯𝘰 traction.  If traction were the gate, most deals wouldn’t exist.
 
Yes, there’s a rare % who do need traction to move. They shouldn't be Pre-Seed investors.

But most of them are just not convinced 𝘆𝗼𝘂 are the one to bet on.
 
Investing into startups is emotions. Gut. "VIBES".

But an investor can't reject you based on "gut feel."
 
So they reach for the fallback excuse: traction.  

Because saying “I didn’t believe in you” sounds cruel.  

Especially when there isn't any evidence at all. 

So its easier to just tell you a white lie. 
 
But the truth is, that same investor who rejected you last week due to you needing "more users/revenue/traction". 

Probably met another founder that same week with 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 traction than you...  

And said yes.  

Because something about 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 felt more inevitable.
 
So please stop getting angry that investors are rejecting you because you need traction. 

And realise its a lie to make it easier on their end.

A founder has NEVER raised a round because of an investor list they got from this platform. 

Please please please stop wasting your time with these. 

You are taking these lists and expecting the world. 

But most of these investors: 

1. Don't invest in your stage or round size
2. Don't invest into your geograp hy
3. Don't invest into your industry
4. Not actively investing

And what makes it even worse... 
You take these lists and think that is "work". 

Patting yourself on the back, telling yourself you've done so much!!

As if you've materially moved your fundraise forward. 

When in fact, you have done NOTHING of benefit. 

The only way to find and meet investor properly is to: 

1. Build an ALIGNED list of investors 
2. Organise your network, then increase it 
3. Map out who are give you warm introductions 
4. Active those introductions at the right time 

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY YOU WILL MEET ENOUGH INVESTORS! 

Period.  

Those 4 steps are the only thing you should be doing everyday if you want to actually fundraise. 

So please stop commenting on someone's AI slop investor lists. 

And do the work that founders who fundraise do. 

What are you finding the hardest when it comes to finding and meeting investors?

The founder of Antrhopic (worth $350BN) setup 22 intros and 21 of them said NO. 

Think about that for a sec... 

A company that is more successful that 99.999% of founders ever will be got rejected by pretty much everyone at the earliest stages.

Yet you think it won't happen to you? 

One of the biggest unlocks for fundraising is understanding that rejection is normal and not necessarily a bad thing. 

You don't need everyone to like you. 

You just need a couple people who believe in your vision.
And you being strongly committed to that vision.

That's how you raise.

But also build something even 1% as successful as Anthropic. 

How do you deal with investor rejections?

Tomorrow, I'm going to jump on with fundraising founders to make sure they ACTUALLY fundraise. 

Wanna join? 

Then comment "WORKSHOP" and I'll send you over the details. 

What's even crazier is its completely free 🤯. 

Come join us! 

P.S. It's getting pretty full already so please sign up quick!

In 2016, I'd failed my 2nd startup due to failing to raise. 
At that point I decided to quit tech all together. 

I then decided to travel to Whistler to become a ski-bum whilst I chose what's next for a "failure like me". 

It wasn't until meeting my future-founders on a gondola did I start my next company. 

Now?

I've raised $16M for two companies I co-founded. 

Helped founders raise over $250M. 

No “manifesting.”
No fake “overnight success.”
Just relentless work.

And the pursuit of finding what makes a fundraise happen. 

People say, “Just wing it”

I call BS.

Everything good thign in life comes when you sit down and actually understand what it takes to do something correctly. 

That preparation is what moves mountains. 

Want to be normal?
Do normal things.

Want to be successful? 
Do what the successful founders do. 

Agree… or is that just insane?

As a VC, the number one question in my head when I opened your deck was simple:

“Do I understand what makes you great?”

If the answer was no, you were finished in under 60 seconds.

Not because I am evil, as much as you want VCs to be. 

In fact, it was because I couldn't build structure in my head that I SHOULD care about. 

So when your deck jumps straight into product on slide 3, it is already dead.

“What if every viewing came with the full picture…”
“What if agents had all of this data…”

Who thef*ck cares? 

I do not know the problem you are really solving.
I do not know why you're better than the rest.
I do not know why you win.

So if you have not made me care before the product, all I see is noise.

And every VC is the same. 

This is a snippet of a roast of a deck I did with a founder. 

Want to get your own deck roasted? 

Comment "ROAST" and I'll send you how to send me your deck to roast myself. 

AND the full video of me roasting this pitch deck.

The biggest problem with pitch decks are that I never know what makes a founder of company great. 

They are generic, one dimensional and lack story. 

So they get put onto the "generic" pile. 

To never be looked at again. 

Below is a snippet of a pitch deck roast I did with a founder last month. 

If you want to get your pitch deck roasted by me, FOR FREE. 

Then comment down below "ROAST" and I'll send you the details. 

P.S. I go very detailed and am VERY direct.

If you uploaded your deck to a VC website and heard nothing back, this is the part no one tells you.

Right now you’re probably telling yourself it’s: 

• The market
• The timing
• That VCs are slow

Maybe they’ll “get to it eventually.” 

That story feels comforting. It’s also wrong.

When you upload a deck into a VC portal, you are not being evaluated neutrally. 

You are walking into the lowest-trust inbox ever. 

When I was a VC, those portals were where the worst decks lived. 

• Wrong stage. 
• Wrong sector. 
• Unfundable ideas. 

Endless nonsense that after opening dozens of those a week, your brain gets trained to expect garbage before you even click.

So when a genuinely good company shows up...
They never got a fair read. 

They inherit the fatigue, the cynicism, and the negative bias created by the last fifty decks.

That’s the part founders don’t want to accept when they upload their deck online. 

You’re not starting from zero.
You’re starting from negative.

And here’s the uncomfortable implication most people avoid saying out loud. 

If your deck is coming through a portal, a VC can immediately tell you don’t have a real network yet.

That signal matters more than your slides.

Uploading a deck to a VC website is not outreach. 

It’s what people do when they don’t know how to access the actual game. 

And once you’ve done it, you’ve already damaged your position without realizing it.

So my blunt advice to you fundraising in 2026.... 

Stop doing it. 

If you’re mid-raise and relying on portals right now, you don’t have a deck problem. 

You have a network and process problem, and pretending otherwise is why you’re stuck.

If this hit a nerve, DM me “NETWORK” and I’ll tell you how to solve this properly.

Most AI tools for fundraising miss the point.

They’re built by people who’ve never actually raised money.

So they focus on surface problems:

• Finding investors
• Writing emails
• Scraping data.

Useful in parts for sure. 
But that's not where fundraises fail. 

The hardest part of fundraising isn’t sourcing names.
Or spamming more investors via cold email. 

It’s building trust in real time.

It’s learning how to: 

1. Lead investor conversations
2. Read subtle signals, and
3. Manage momentum.

And that’s where AI is quietly about to change everything.

For the first time, founders can:

• Practise their pitch against a simulated investor
• Get contextual feedback on tone, pacing and clarity
• Map their structure before a single meeting happens

It’s like running 100 fundraise reps before your first call.

My own AIs are already hitting 80 % of my live sessions. 

Which means founders can now use them between sessions: 

1. To rehearse
2. To refine
3. To rebuild confidence daily

This isn’t about replacing experience.
It’s about compressing it.

The tedious, messy, high-friction parts of fundraising are about to become fast, structured, and learnable.

The human part (trust, emotion, narrative) becomes the main event again.

Would you use this type of AI for your own fundraise if let you use it?

The top 1 hardest part about raising startup funding: 

As a founder you are most likely a domain expert about your industry. 

1. Speaking to customers may seem easy. 
2. Understanding your problem is a given. 
3. Knowing what to do is systemised. 
   
Your founder life is organised and structured to succeed. 

But when it comes to fundraising its the complete opposite. 

And there's a major reason for that. 

You've got to where you are in your founder journey. 
BECAUSE YOU COULD FAIL. 

Those failures made you. 
Sculpted you. 

But with fundraising you don't have that ability. 

You only have one shot at each investor... 
If you fail that shot you fail your raise. 

And because you don't have the ability to fail. 
You have ZERO clue on what you need to do. 

So fundraising feels: 

• Slow 
• Chaotic 
• Unfocused 

You don't have an understand of what matters. 
And what doesn't.

So everything breaks. 

You barely get more than 5-10 investor meetings. 
Those rarely get past the first meetings. 
Your round gets dragged along. 

And suddenly your 6+ months gone... 

Having wasted all this time fundraising with nothing to show for it. 

This is why you need to ACTUALLY understand what you are doing right or wrong in a raise. 

That way you become structured like everything else. 

It's the only way to increase your chances to raise. 

What do you think you're missing in a round?

How many more random people are gonna start posting about how to grow on Linkedin in 2026? 

2025 was crazy how many randos with 2000 followers are doing it. 

For some reason they think they can just copy others and everything will be fine? 

Where's your expertise? 
Where's your love of doing something? 

You just see someone else getting likes so may as well do it as well? 

The scary thing is that I truly think 2026 may just beat it. 

What's your thoughts?

Most software projects fail not because of bad code, but because of a lack of alignment. They drift in scope, bleed budget, or worst of all, deliver a product that doesn’t actually solve the business problem.

I am here to change that.

At Tappable, we do not do "monkey say, monkey do." We do not just take a brief and start billing. We partner with founders and business leaders to dig into the "why." We specialise in uncovering the hidden friction in your business and building bespoke software. Whether it is mission-critical MVPs for startups or complex automation for global brands, our work is engineered to last.

The Tappable Partnership is:

Outcome-Driven, Not Output-Led: We do not sell "bums on seats." We deliver on fixed scopes and rigorous budgets. Success for us is not a finished sprint; it is a solved problem.

Discovery First: We are experts at finding the pain points you might have missed. Before we write a single line of code, we ensure we are building the right solution for the right outcome.

Software Built to Last: We are not a "quick fix" agency. We build robust, scalable architecture designed for long-term growth rather than a temporary patch.

Professional, Friendly, and UK-Based: We believe that the best products come from high-trust relationships. We are approachable, honest, and we act as your dedicated "Department-as-a-Service."

Whether you are a startup looking to launch your first product or an established brand needing to modernise a legacy process, let’s talk about the outcome you are looking for and how we can help you hit it.

John Radford

"I am so sorry for that—you are absolutely right." 

Is something I hope hear a lot less in 2026.....

Especially from AI!

AI can generate code, text, even ideas. But it’s often wrong.

And someone has to catch it and make sure it actually works.

At The Codest, our engineers use AI to speed up work and remove grunt tasks. 

👌 But their focus is always on outcomes

Delivering product value and results that matter. 

That’s the real value they bring.

🎉 𝗦𝗼 𝗮 𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿!

If you’re looking to scale your engineering team in 2026 with product-minded devs who get results, we should talk. 📥

#AI #devs #outsourcing #software #productmindset

Senior Client Partner at Tappable | Building High-Impact Software | Uncovering Friction, Delivering Outcomes, Engineering for Longevity

Ever wondered why some AI projects fail even with top engineers?

It’s rarely about the code......

𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁.

Here’s what separates AI projects that deliver real value:

1️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴
Start with the business question: What decision will this AI support?
Define success metrics upfront: false positive tolerance, revenue lift, conversion impact, regulatory compliance.
Identify edge cases early: What happens when data is missing or input is anomalous?

2️⃣ 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲
AI is only as good as the data it sees.
Standardize transaction data, normalize categorical fields, enrich with external market signals.
Ensure features align with regulatory constraints and risk policies.

3️⃣ 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿
Accuracy alone rarely matters in fintech. Focus on precision, recall, F1, and business impact metrics.
Example: For fraud detection, high recall reduces missed fraud but increases operational cost. Balancing these trade-offs is product work, not just modeling.

4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀
Model performance in development is rarely performance in production.
Monitor drift, track input distribution, set automated alerts when metrics degrade.
Establish human-in-the-loop checks for critical decisions.

5️⃣ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴
Integrate AI outputs into workflows where users can validate or override results.
Capture feedback in structured datasets for retraining.
Track improvement over time, not just initial launch performance.

6️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
Document feature selection, model assumptions, and decision thresholds.
Prepare audit logs and explainable AI outputs for regulators.

Teams that treat AI as a product problem, not just a technical challenge, deliver faster, safer, and measurable results.

Before investing in a new model, ask yourself: 

Are you solving the right problem, and do you know how success looks in the real world?

----------------------------

🙋‍♂️ I help companies scale their product and engineering teams with experienced, hands-on engineers who start delivering immediately.

Reach out if that’s what you need.  📥

In fintech, compliance, security, and operational reliability are intwined with the code that powers your business.

It's why senior developers deliver more than functionality....

Legacy platforms in banking and payments require deep understanding to maintain, modernise, and extend. 

Our senior engineers at The Codest focus on delivering value in ways that go far beyond completing tasks:

➡️  Built-in Compliance: 

Automated audit trails, logging, and monitoring ensure systems meet regulatory requirements from day one.

➡️ Data Accuracy at Scale: 

Pipelines enforce integrity and traceability across multiple systems, reducing errors and operational risk.

➡️ Agile Regulatory Updates: 

Modular design allows rules and processes to be updated quickly without disrupting core operations.

➡️ Operational Resilience: 

Systems are designed to anticipate high-load scenarios, external audits, and regulatory scrutiny, keeping operations stable and secure.

Their work tgoes far beyond just being a support function.

Leadership gains confidence, teams work efficiently, and risk is actively managed rather than discovered after the fact.

Senior engineers shape systems that deliver business outcomes, protect value, and maintain compliance.

Make sure you invest in expertise that builds resilient technology.

#productmindset #fintech #compliance #outsourcing

More automation doesn’t always mean more efficiency.  

Here’s why over-automation can often create more risk than it solves.....

Every new workflow, AI integration, or automation script adds speed, but it also adds complexity. 

In payments, banking, and compliance-heavy environments, complexity is a regulatory risk.

At The Codest, our senior engineers focus on delivering automation that works for the business, not against it. 

They build systems that reduce work and risk simultaneously:

➡️ Controlled Automation: Scripts and bots have auditing hooks and rollback mechanisms so every process is traceable and accountable.

➡️  Regulatory Integration: Business rules, AML checks, and compliance validations are embedded directly into pipelines.

➡️  Operational Resilience: High-load simulations, exception handling, and dependency mapping keep automation from cascading into outages or errors.

➡️  Data Integrity at Scale: Pipelines enforce lineage, validation, and reconciliation across systems so outputs are auditable and trustworthy.

Automation without expertise can quietly create hidden work and expose you to risk. 

Senior engineers ensure it actually delivers value, reduces operational friction, and keeps compliance intact.

Ever seen a startup boast: “We shipped 40 features last quarter!”

And thought… did they just confuse 'busy-ness' with business?

Here’s the problem: 

Shipping features isn’t the point. 

Shipping features that create value is.

I call it the Feature Factory Trap:

➡️ Teams add bricks without checking the blueprint
➡️ Coordination overhead grows faster than value delivered
➡️ “Hero devs” become bottlenecks
➡️ Users get more clicks, not better outcomes

Scaling is about impact. 

Fewer, smarter features often drive better results than a warehouse of half-baked ones.

💡 Quick tip: Before you build, ask: “If this fails, what do we do next?” If your team can’t answer, it’s probably a feature factory in disguise.

#scaling #engineering #devteams #productmindset

A CTOs focus should NOT be on executing requests. 

The ones who rock focus on driving outcomes.

Too many tech leaders just react to requests instead of influencing strategy.

The good ones do this:

1️⃣ Understand the metrics that matter
Track leading indicators that show how engineering affects revenue, retention, and efficiency.
Connect technical initiatives to measurable business impact.

2️⃣ Diagnose constraints
Identify where workflows, systems, or tech stacks slow growth.
Evaluate bottlenecks, technical debt, and platform scalability before adding features.

3️⃣ Translate technology into value
Show how improvements in architecture or automation can reduce costs, accelerate go-to-market, or create new revenue streams.
Use measurable projections for CAC, margins, or time-to-market.

4️⃣ Shape strategy proactively
Initiate refactoring, security roadmaps, and AI/automation where they have the most impact.
Align engineering initiatives with company goals through executive collaboration.

5️⃣ Influence through clarity
Use clear assumptions, structured reasoning, and transparent trade-offs to make your proposals actionable.
This builds trust, accelerates decisions, and positions engineering as a strategic lever.

Engineering ROI comes from foresight and structure. 

Ask yourself: Are you shaping the business or just responding to it?

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