How should founders approach their fundraising during this turbulent time? The prevailing economic downturn of the last couple years has indicated that in many cases, founders can no longer rely on business as usual. Money is tighter, and investors are going to be more selective.  To discuss this in more detail, in this podcast, Cassandra Harris talks to Mark Cupta, Managing Director at Prelude Ventures, a venture capital fund with $1.6bn under management, partnering with entrepreneurs to address climate change. The two discuss Mark's perspective on the state of the market and what it means for valuations, resource allocation, and fundraising during a precarious time. Mark also explains why in the current economic context, striking a balance between standing out from the crowd and conserving capital and runway is crucial. Impact is one thing, he notes, but being able to convey where a startup is, how it’s going to scale to be a multi-billion dollar company, and what it’ll look like 1, maybe even 2 funding rounds in the future, is infinitely more powerful. Potential founders take note! Listen to the full podcast for more advice from Mark.  Outside of providing some timely advice for entrepreneurs looking to enter the clean tech/climate tech space, which Prelude specialises in, Mark also tells us a bit about Prelude’s philosophy, which is centred around investing in early stage companies that are able to have both a positive impact on the world itself as well as prove themselves capable of scaling and becoming profitable. Adding some additional context, Mark discusses a couple of the startups they’re involved with, including Pivot Bio, a biological fertiliser company whose technology enables plants to create their own fertiliser using nitrogen in the air, and Boston Metal, whose method of steel production is cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and suitable for small-scale local steel production.

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