Sasha Rabkin, Chief of Program Strategy & Innovation for the Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), speaks plainly about what it takes to build trust.

He shares what makes early-stage funding possible, why–when he was a fundraiser–he resisted sending a deck, and how power and credibility get negotiated in the early stages of a relationship.

This is a conversation about timing, posture, and what it really means to invest in people—not just projects.