Running a startup is stressful. Fundraising, in particular, is an inflection point in the journey that can amplify your anxiety. This is a workshop on how to master your emotions during a fundraise and learn how you can embody feelings of calm, confidence, and resilience to perform at your best. Aaron Harris (former Partner @ YC) and Amy Buechler (psychotherapist and YC's former in-house Founder Coach) talk about what to expect while fundraising and share best practices on how to regulate your emotions before, during, and after a fundraise.

​Collectively, Aaron and Amy have worked with thousands of founders and have helped them navigate the fundraising rollercoaster across seed rounds, Series As, Series Bs, and Series Cs.

We talk about:

• ​Why fundraising is emotionally difficult and what to expect

• ​Tips & tricks for monitoring and managing your psychology

• ​How to handle the inevitable rejections you'll get

• ​The dangers of comparison and optimization

Here’s v1 of the Google sheet Amy references - please don’t share: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Pv7yRVdQ9cWJqzwoff2Cm5An9CPn4Yy-gZxLblEoDmE/edit?usp=sharing

​Who are we?

​Aaron Harris runs Magid & Company, an un-conflicted source of advice to help founders navigate fundraising after their seed round. Previously, Aaron was a partner at YC for 7+ years where he built the Series A program and advised on 200+ Series A/Bs that raised over $3 billion. As a YC Partner he funded companies like Deel, Scale, Rappi, Groww, and Equipment Share.

​Amy is a licensed psychotherapist who was hired as Y Combinator’s first Batch Director and became YC’s in-house Founder Coach. While running and scaling the YC batches, she coached nearly 1000 early-stage founders at YC, and has coached nearly 1000 later-stage founders since opening her own coaching practice, The Founder Coach, in 2019.