How To Fund Startups with Elizabeth Yin (Co-founder And GP Of Hustle Fund)

“This world is small, the more you pitch, the more you'll get to those with a pool of money.”

The Afropolitan Podcast spotlights Afropolitans who aren’t afraid to step into the unknown and walk in purpose. With this podcast we hope to empower Africans in the Diaspora to harness their full potential and contribute to the development of a bold and progressive black community.

Our guests will share their working formulas, the hard facts about leaving familiar terrain, embracing the unknown, and staying relevant afterwards.

This episode features Elizabeth Yin,co-founder and general partner at hustle fund, a venture firm that invests in early-stage startups.

Elizabeth Yin and her co-founders created the venture capital firm hustle fund to help level the playing field at the pre-seed funding stage.

After reviewing about 20,000 pitch decks while working as a partner at 500 startups, Elizabeth came up with the idea of an early stage fund to help founding teams that struggle to attract investors attention.

A two time founder, Elizabeth has always had a drive for business, technology and investing.

Listen and enjoy as Elizabeth talks to us about her journey to becoming a VC and advises startups entering the bear market.

Elizabeth’s reading list

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898

Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross
https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Phil-Knight/dp/1508211809


Show Notes
1:33 Journey to becoming a partner at hustle fund.
4:04 Misconceptions about being a VC
5:57 Most successful exit.

7:29 Different fundraising process
10:26 Advice to founders on recruiting and retaining talent longterm
14:11 Advice to aspiring venture capitalists
16:47 Elizabeth’s fundraising experience
20:57 Thoughts on sky high valuations for startups
22:09 Advice to startups coming into the bear market and what the market potentially holds
23:57 Vc that has had a major impact on Elizabeth's growth
25:44 Most significant encounter with failure and lessons learned
30:09 Elizabeths’s introduction into crypto and web3
32:19 The hustle verse/ crypto shift initiative
34:13 Downside to web3
35:42 Elizabeths’s reading list
37:49 What does being Afropolitan mean to you?



The Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.
Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to learn more about Afropolitan?

Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitan
Website - https://www.afropolitan.io/
Afropolitan Community - https://linktr.ee/afropolitangroup