While VC news often dominates the headlines, more often than not, the VC route isn’t the best fit for a business.

So, what do you do if venture capital isn’t the right path for your start-up?

In today’s Making The Grade episode, we’re unpacking the evolving world of start-up funding and why VC might not be the best fit for every founder or business.

To help us do that, we’re joined by Eyal Malinger and Oren Peleg, the co-founders of Resurge Growth Partners - a new kind of investment firm pioneering a model they call venture equity, blending the best of venture capital and private equity to better serve ambitious, capital-efficient founders.

From investor dynamics and growth expectations to exit strategies and go-to-market missteps, we’ll be challenging the traditional narrative and exploring what alternative paths to scale could look like in 2025 and beyond.

Episode Chapters:

01:30 - From PE & Consulting to building a new investment model

03:30 - The gap between VC expectations and real-world business performance

05:10 - Introducing Venture Equity & the huge opportunity it presents

10:30 - Funding beyond VC & the silent deal killers

18:10 - Lazy marketing, broken models & other founder mistakes

21:30 - The metrics that really matter

30:00 - What it takes to be a successful early-stage founder & what’s really at stake

34:15 - Where to start if you want a successful exit in 2025

Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade?

If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to...

✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform.
✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com
✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

See you again next week!

What does it really take to graduate from seed to exit in today’s start-up climate?

In our first episode of our Making the Grade Podcast, we’re joined by serial founder and currently CEO of ESG Book, Justin Fitzpatrick, to unpack the real story behind startup growth.

From the messy pivots, M&A strategies, co-founder dynamics, and what it really looks like when you fall off the VC track, Justin shares his first-hand experience of growing and exiting multiple businesses, and leaves us with plenty of practical advice to help you scale more wisely.

Episode Chapters:

02:04 - Justin’s career journey as a serial entrepreneur

04:55 - From scaling pains to pivoting and product-market-fit reality checks

09:42 - Finding the right co-founder

15:15 - Why poor win rates aren’t always a sales problem

17:34 - Building resilience as a CEO

21:41 - M&A lessons from the trenches & what makes an acquisition work

28:40 - Falling off the VC Track & finding alternatives

31:42 - What founders actually need to graduate to the next round

33:54 - Why sustainable growth is smarter growth

Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade?

If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to...

✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform.
✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com
✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

See you again next week!

Investors typically expect 8 out of 10 of the businesses they invest in to fail.

Less than 1 in 100 start-ups manage to achieve funding beyond Series D or an exit.

These humbling stats often leave founders less than optimistic. 😩

So, how can building a successful business feel less like an uphill battle?

And how can you scale a business with actual options to exit in 2025, and beyond?

💥 To help us get answers to all of the above questions, and more, we’re excited to share the upcoming launch of our brand new podcast: Making The Grade.

Every Thursday, you’ll be able to tune in and hear first-hand experiences from Founders, Investors and senior Go-To-Market Leaders as we explore the factors driving the decline in graduation rates.

But we won’t just be discussing the obvious problems at hand.

You’ll be leaving every episode with actionable insights, expert advice and hopefully, feeling a little bit more optimistic about thriving in a competitive market and scaling more wisely.

Our first episode will launch next Thursday, July 31st. But until then, make sure you tune into our season trailer to get a preview of some of the fascinating conversations we had.

Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade?

If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to...

✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform.
✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at podcast@scalewise.com
✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

See you again next week!