WITTELSPOD

Mar Della Greca is the founder of TBM Capital Communications, a New York–based firm that helps early-stage founders and investment-focused organizations prepare for fundraising. Her work centers on making businesses “investable” through stronger financial models, investor materials, positioning, and communications strategy.This conversation is a practical guide for pre-seed founders navigating fundraising. Mar explains what investors look for beyond a polished pitch: honesty about risks, evidence of demand, a viable product, clear financial thinking, and a founder who can execute.Key topics include:- When a startup is ready to raise pre-seed funding- Building traction before revenue through research, waitlists, and customer interest- Creating investor-specific decks and a credible financial model- Working backward from business goals to determine the right funding ask- Typical runway and profitability expectations for online and SaaS businesses- Founder salaries, burn rate, customer acquisition costs, and planning for risk- Choosing between angel investors, venture funds, debt, and equity- How to approach investors thoughtfully through outreach- Legal considerations around public fundraising offers and investor introductions- The misconceptions founders often have about investors—and how to build more open, confident conversationsThe episode closes with Mar sharing accessible resources for founders who can’t yet afford hands-on fundraising support, along with ways to connect with her.

What if finding a commercial space started with the business looking for one—not just a landlord posting a listing? Molli Leoni, founder of Scout Marketplace, is building a tenant-first marketplace to help businesses and property owners connect. If you’re building a startup or navigating commercial real estate, this conversation is for you.Molli and her co-founder saw a disconnect firsthand as Miami commercial brokers: tenants can struggle to find the right spaces, while landlords may not know which businesses are looking. Scout flips the process. Tenants post what they need, and landlords and developers can search for concepts that fit their properties. Brokers can post on behalf of clients, too.Molli shares how the team plans to grow Scout, starting locally in Florida and focusing first on bringing tenants onto the platform. She discusses bootstrapping, the marketplace’s subscription-based model for landlords, and why the founders plan to wait until they have deals closed before raising funds. She also reflects on her first brokerage listing—a $2 million office building deal that fell out of contract several times before closing.The conversation gets personal, too. Molli talks about putting herself on camera despite being private, moving past the awkwardness of starting with a small audience, and learning not to take rejection or tough negotiations personally. Host Abhishek shares how personal branding helped him build connections and generate business.Molli’s advice to young founders is direct: make time to work on the idea you can’t stop thinking about, rather than regretting that you built someone else’s dream. Hear how she’s building Scout and what it takes to keep moving through the uncertainties of entrepreneurship.

Most D2C brands are losing money long before the sale is completed. Ishmit Mehta breaks down the hidden RTO problem eating into order margins, and the AI system her team built to fight back before customers vanish, cancel, or refuse delivery.If you sell online, work in e-commerce, or build for Indian shoppers, this conversation will change how you think about delivery failures, address confirmation, and the real cost of cash on delivery.After running a tech gadget D2C business with 20-30 lakhs in monthly revenue and a 53% RTO rate, Ishmit saw firsthand how shipping partners, incomplete addresses, OTP misuse, and language barriers were quietly destroying profitable orders. She explains why WhatsApp failed, why human follow-up was exhausting at 70-80 orders a day, and how those painful operations became the blueprint for Era, her AI-driven solution.You'll discover:Why so many orders fail before they ever reach the customerThe six to seven most common NDR reasons that trigger returnsHow incomplete addresses and OTP misuse create avoidable lossesWhy tier 2 and tier 3 customers need regional-language supportHow Era automates address confirmation calls within 60 seconds of checkoutWhy AI voice calls, Google Maps, and smart retries are making delivery verification faster and more scalableIshmit also opens up about bootstrapping from Goa, building while balancing focus and freedom, and why she believes India is still massively underserved when it comes to Shopify apps and D2C infrastructure. She shares candidly about the realities of being a founder, from failed logistics partnerships to the emotional toll of chasing product-market fit with no easy playbook.This one is essential listening if you're a D2C founder, an e-commerce operator, or anyone trying to build in India's fast-moving startup ecosystem. If you've ever wondered where revenue really disappears after checkout, this episode has the answer.

The advice most founders get about fundraising is backwards. Abhijit from Campus Fund breaks down what investors actually want at pre-seed, why chasing the perfect valuation can slow you down, and how to pitch a company that can grow into something far bigger than the round you’re raising.If you’re building in D2C, SaaS, AI, or deep tech, this conversation gives you a sharper lens on how VCs think about conviction, competition, and capital. Abhijit shares why Campus Fund backs founders as early as recent graduates and students across India, Germany, and the US, and why the youngest founders often have a structural edge over the more experienced ones.You’ll discover:Why exits should not be your pitch at pre-seed, even if every investor is thinking about themHow to think about equity, valuation, and when it makes sense to take the money and moveWhat Campus Fund looks for in pre-seed founders, from MVPs and prototypes to the signal behind a pilotHow to evaluate competition by approach, not just by the number of companies in the marketWhy deep tech in India is still early, and why that may be exactly where the opportunity isAbhijit also explains how Campus Fund thinks about sectors, from space tech and reusable rockets to D2C and enterprise AI, and why data, distribution, and customer pilots matter more than polished narratives. If you’re trying to raise smart capital without getting lost in fundraising theater, this episode is packed with practical investor-side insight.Essential listening for founders who want to understand what really gets a VC’s attention and how to raise with clarity, not guesswork.

This episode is a practical, founder-focused conversation with Dheeraj Bhatia, a veteran with 14 years of experience building D2C and fashion brands, and it centers on the realities of scaling in India’s fast-changing commerce landscape. Rather than chasing hype, Dheeraj emphasizes consistency as the foundation of long-term brand growth, arguing that strong businesses are built over years, not in the “100 crore in six months” fantasy often seen on social media. He shares the origin story of his journey, from garment manufacturing for major brands to recognizing the opportunity in online selling and launching his own brand as e-commerce platforms began to emerge.A major theme of the episode is where brands lose money across channels like Amazon, Shopify, and Blinkit. Dheeraj breaks down how inventory mismanagement hurts Amazon growth, how poor CAC discipline burns D2C brands on Meta and Google, and how quick commerce can become expensive through listing fees, advertising, and commissions. He also explains why many brands misread profitability by looking only at ROAS instead of campaign-level RTO, repeat rate, and true unit economics.The conversation then shifts to strategy: for FMCG and breakfast categories, he recommends building strong brand awareness first, then prioritizing quick commerce, and only later expanding into D2C for products that don’t require instant delivery. He also makes a strong case for WhatsApp as a future acquisition and commerce channel, and for AI-driven search and recommendations as the next big shift. Overall, the episode is packed with actionable, grounded advice for D2C founders navigating growth, distribution, and profitability.