Deal Makers (& Fakers)

Deal Makers (& Fakers)

Niclas Schlopsna

Episodes 9
Avg. Duration 34m
Activity Highly Active
Since Jan 2026
Latest Episode Mar 2026

Publishing Details

Schedule
Every Few Days
Format
Episodic
Consistency
32%
Hosting
anchor.fm

About This Podcast

Deal Makers (& Fakers) is spectup’s no-BS fundraising podcast. Founders, investors, and operators who actually closed the round break down how it really happened—and what nearly blew up the deal. You’ll get founder-grade playbooks on investor outreach, storytelling, traction, term sheets, and the awkward moments nobody posts on LinkedIn. Each episode unpacks the moves, mistakes, and mental models behind real raises—from startups to funds to private and public companies.

Explore Statistics

Recent Episodes

S1E7 €75 MRR and 3 Customers, and then Figma Pivoted Him to €1.2M.

Mar 27, 2026 40m

€75 MRR, 3 paying customers and 15,000 signups going nowhere. Then a startup pivot changed everything.I sat down with Florian, co-founder of Weavely, on the latest episode of Deal Makers (&…

S1E7 Building with 3 customers changed everything

Mar 26, 2026 1m Trailer

€75 MRR. 3 paying customers. A product that wasn't working. Then one startup pivot flipped everything. Full startup fundraising story of raising capital drops soon. Startup advice every entrepreneur…

S1E6 A Cold DM that Booked the Ex-Philips CEO

Mar 20, 2026 41m

One cold DM changed everything.Marnix Stokvis messaged Frans van Houten—former CEO of a $20B company. Most founders wouldn't dare. But Marnix took the risk, and it transformed his startup.$8.19…

S1E6 He Turned Tap Water Into $8.19M

Mar 18, 2026 0m Trailer

"What Nespresso did for coffee, we're doing for water."Two university students. €7M raised. Zero traditional VCs.Marnix Stokvis and Marc van Zuylen, co-founders of Aquablu, built an Amsterdam-based…

S1E5 The AWS Insider Who Saw a $500B Inefficiency

Mar 13, 2026 30m

He spent 7 years at AWS and then left to build a cloud computing startup.This week I sat with James Marks, and he shared his startup fundraising journey, and the playbook was quite the opposite of…

S1E4 He Raised €2M at Just €70K ARR, Without Pitching a Single Investor

Feb 13, 2026 27m

2M raised at €70K ARR. Only 25 customers. And he never pitched a single investor.Juanjo Mestre, CEO & Co-Founder of Dcycle, built one of Europe's fastest-growing ESG platforms. Now serving 2,000+…

S1E3 He Raised €18.6M+ For A Deeptech Startup During Greeks Crisis

Jan 23, 2026 29m

He raised millions for deeptech hardware in the middle of a Greek financial crisis.Greece's 10-year bonds were above 18%, investors wanted software-only, and everyone told him to leave and build in…

S1E2 He Built A 24‑Person PropTech. 19% MoM. $0 VC Funding.

Jan 16, 2026 42m

🚀 Episode 2 of Deal Makers (& Fakers) — with Lars Eickhoff, Co-Founder of DeepImmo, a Munich-based PropTech startup that took a radically different route to funding. Instead of chasing VCs, Lars…

S1E1 She Raised $1M Pre-Seed in Berlin — How Jessica Liew Did It

Jan 08, 2026 31m

🚀 Episode 1 of Deal Makers (& Fakers) — with Jessica Liew (Berlin-based founder of Intriq), the AI platform helping consultants move faster by automating up to 87% of manual consulting work.In…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Deal Makers (& Fakers) have?

Deal Makers (& Fakers) has published 9 episodes since January 2026, covering topics in Business, Investing.

Is Deal Makers (& Fakers) still active?

Deal Makers (& Fakers) is currently highly active with new episodes every few days. Average episode length is 34m.

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