Dan Gray, Head of Insights of Equidam, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to demystify one of the most misunderstood topics in early-stage fundraising—startup valuation. With over two decades in early-stage ventures, Dan reframes valuation not as a number but as a story that links a founder’s vision, strategy, and financial logic.
Check out Dan's practical guidance for deep tech and non-consensus founders, and the systemic issues in venture capital that create hurdles for deep tech founders, and a smarter, story-driven approach to raising capital.
Highlights include:
- Why founders must treat valuation as a story, not a number, and how the story drives belief and funding outcomes
- How “SaaS bias” skews investor expectations and hurts deep tech founders raising their first round
- The single biggest fundraising mistake deep tech founders make,and how to fix it before it costs you equity
- How to define milestones that de-risk your company and drive valuation up round after round
- The hidden logic behind dilution, and how to keep ownership while staying fundable
- What VCs really mean when they say “we don’t invest in hardware” (and how to turn that into an advantage)
- Why valuation models fail for science-based startups,and how to build credible DCF-driven stories investors believe
- The investor’s portfolio math: how fund size, timing, and follow-on strategy affect your odds of getting funded
- How to spot “consensus capital” versus “non-consensus capital”, and why the difference could decide your future
- The truth about VC markups, management fees, and why exits don’t always drive investor behavior
- The “economic energy” test: how to articulate the total value your breakthrough can unlock for the world
- The one framing shift that turns founders from fund-seekers into informed customers of capital
- How to translate a visionary story into a credible financial model investors trust
- Why financial literacy, not hype, is the real superpower for deep tech founders
