Dr. Andreas Schmidt: The Biggest Problem in Fundraising Isn't Money
Key points: Said at the table.
Dr. Andreas Schmidt
Investor, Springboard Health Ventures
- ▲Fundraising's biggest problem
Show notes.
There is money in the market. What’s actually missing is someone willing to lead the round.
That’s the argument Dr. Andreas Schmidt makes in this episode of Deal Makers (& Fakers), and interestingly, it flips the usual fundraising story on its head. Founders assume the problem is a shortage of capital.
Andreas, a serial biotech founder, investor, and venture builder who has built and funded companies across the US, Singapore, and Europe, says the real gap sits earlier: not enough investors are willing to write the first check and set the terms.
Niclas Schlopsna, partner at spectup, discussed with him a lot of things surrounding the capital raising. Andreas has been on both sides of the table & being the one who knew things as a founder and also being the one writing checks, he walked through the insider signals that mostly investors look for before writing a check:
- Customer validation
- A team that understands its market
- Real technology
- Evidence that someone out there will pay for what you’re building.
He explained why “Great team, come back in two years” is such a common response from investors, and why that usually means the capital raising process is broken, not the company.
He also made a case that surprised us:
Get early revenue if you can, because it can matter more than almost anything else in a pitch. VC isn’t automatically the right financing model for every company, and founders who treat it as the default often miss better paths, including non-dilutive funding.
The most different part of the episode is how Andreas’s own investment process works.
His team uses a swarm of AI agents, with experts in the loop, to route pitch decks to the right specialists and support due diligence.
It’s a different way to think about how funding decisions get made, worth hearing even if biotech isn’t your world.
If you’re a founder raising capital, an investor evaluating deals, or just curious how funding actually happens behind the scenes, this one is for you.
In this episode:
- Why early lead investors are the real bottleneck in startup fundraising
- What investors look for before writing a check
- Pitch decks, customer validation, and what makes a company investable
- Non-dilutive funding and why revenue can beat a term sheet
- How AI agents are being used in venture capital due diligence
- Building outside the US: lessons from Singapore and Europe
