Julia Collins

there was also still such an appetite for innovation and experimentation in this space.

And so here's how I de-risked it for myself, right?

Because I've got this stable life.

I've got this beautiful tribe of friends in New York City, finally got a great apartment, cute boyfriend.

So why would I leave all of that?

I went out with my co-founder.

And we said to each other, if we can raise $5 million in one week, we should start this business.

A day and a half later, we had raised $10 million.

You are kidding me.

And it was a 15 slide pitch deck.

And we finagled the experience of it by renting out a restaurant with a pizza kitchen and doing the like, imagine if, imagine if, storytelling, vision, and a lot of charisma.

Unproven founder, good pedigree with the Danny Meyer connection.

Oh yeah, that'll help.

What I learned, especially at that time, was like how to tell the story, how to really anchor in the end state and not to be afraid to bring the emotional part of the pitch.

A lot of times when I see founders pitching, they're starting from the present state and they're giving you all of their credentials and they're giving you all the reasons why they're right, but they're not showing you how the world's going to be different.

And they're forgetting that people invest in people.

And maybe the person on the other side of the table heard 10 other pitches that day, but you want to be the one that when they go to sleep that night, they're like, I just can't stop thinking about that person.

Totally.

Yeah.

But Emma, do you think also maybe you have the gift of the gab?