20VC: Raising $400M for 20VC: Fundraising Lessons | Getting Marc Benioff Through 53 Cold Emails: How to Master Cold Outbound | 7 Lessons from 101 Decacorn Founders with Harry Stebbings (Simon Squibb Edition)

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How did Harry make £1.75M at 19 in just 36 hours?

Harry Stebbings 0:00
This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings. Now, I'm very often asked to reveal a little bit about my story, and I'm always quite reserved in doing so. I think you have to really return a lot of money to investors before you think you're worthy of being interviewed. And I think too many young VCs are too out there when they haven't made a lot of money for investors. And then I get a lot of people say, we want to hear more about you. We want to hear your story.

What strategies did Harry use to get Marc Benioff on 20VC?

Harry Stebbings 0:24
And so I did a show with Simon Squibb, a brilliant entrepreneur in the UK. My mother said that she loved the show and that she thought that it should be heard by our community and our fans. And so today we released a very special one where Simon interviews me. You hear a little bit behind the scenes of 20VC, the fundraising strategy for a $400 million fund, how I got Mark Benny off to come on 20VC through 53 cold emails and many many more cool stories. But before we dive into the show today, this episode is brought to you by Perk, the intelligent platform for travel and spend.

What are the secrets to raising $70M on WhatsApp?

Harry Stebbings 0:57
Every successful founder remembers their breakthroughs, those moments in the journey that changed their trajectory, whether it was going from burning cash to building leverage or from headcount growth to operational scale. Breakthroughs don't come from spending hours buried in spreadsheets, booking and rebooking travel or chasing their teams for last quarter's coffee receipts. That's shadow work, and that's what Perk was built for.

What decision-making framework does Harry recommend?

Harry Stebbings 1:18
One recent study found shadow work costs companies over $1.7 trillion every year as employees waste hour after hour on manual, time-consuming work instead of the jobs they were hired to do.

Why is chasing your first million crucial for success?

Harry Stebbings 1:31
Perk's AI is purpose-built to automate shadow work so teams can focus on real work with real impact. Don't let anything get in the way of your next breakthrough.

What advice does Harry have for young entrepreneurs?

Harry Stebbings 1:41
Leave the travel and spend to Perk. visit perk.com forward slash 20VCToday. PERK, powering real work. Just as PERK rewards your professional milestones, Daily Body Coach helps you celebrate and sustain your personal wellness wins.

How did getting kicked out of school change Harry's life?

Harry Stebbings 1:57
You know how so many founders and execs say they'll finally take care of their health once things slow down? Well, they never do. Running a business is a marathon made of high intensity sprints and taking care of yourself is what gets you through those times performing at your best, both professionally and personally. This is exactly where Daily Body Coach comes in. Daily Body Coach is a complete high touch service for busy founders and executives, combining personalized nutrition and training with psychology based coaching to help you not just follow a plan, but actually build the systems, habits and mindset to stay at the top of your game. Built by an exited founder and led by certified experts with master's and PhD-level credentials, Daily Body Coach is fully tailored to your life.
Harry Stebbings 2:42
Whether you're traveling, dining out, or in back-to-back meetings, you get daily accountability, data-driven insights from DEXA scans, and blood work and a highly certified team backing you. If you're serious about performing at your best, physically and mentally, go to dailybodycoach.com forward slash 20VC. That's dailybodycoach.com forward slash 20VC and take the next step. While Daily Body Coach helps you build healthier habits, Air Wallet helps you get paid globally without the headache. Founders, let's get real about the growth tax. You've raised VC funding and you're scaling globally and it's no longer about shipping product.

What are the seven key lessons from billionaires that Harry shares?

Harry Stebbings 3:20
It's about orchestrating operations across continents. But suddenly your payments and finance stack is choking your growth. You're logging into lots of different banking portals, waiting days for transfers and wasting hundreds of hours on manual reconciliation and reporting across entities. It's operational drag and it's at your scale. It's costing millions. That's why I'm so excited to partner with Airwallex. Airwallets are more than just a banking alternative to HSBC or Citi. Airwallets brings you an intelligent financial operating system that powers how global businesses operate and grow, allowing you to manage and automate banking, treasury, payments, and spend.

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