Orane Carby

I’ve spent my career on both sides of the table; building companies and investing in founders. I’ve co-founded three companies from scratch, achieved multiple seven-figure exits, and today I’m a General Partner at TFD Ventures, where I back pre-idea founders with zero product and zero revenue. Earlier in my career in investment banking, I was also involved in helping founders raise more than $1B in capital. Today, I’m still building. I’m the founder of TraderClear and the owner of TFD Media (Stealth), a media company focused on founders and investors. Through TFD Media, I spend a lot of time thinking about how founders build credibility, create distribution, tell their story to get in front of investors and the customers they need. That combination has given me a pretty unusual perspective where I know what it’s like to build from zero, raise capital, and sit across the table as an investor deciding whether an opportunity is worth backing. Most of my conversations with founders revolve around those early, messy questions… How do I build a personal brand as a founder? How can I use a founder-led marketing to attract investors and customers? What questions will investors ask, and why? How do I find right investors that will invest? What are investors actually looking for and why? Is my Deck Investor ready? And ultimately, what's the investor perspective on what I am building? I’m still in the arena myself, so my approach is practical and direct. I’ll give you the perspective I would want from someone sitting across the table from me; candid, transparent feedback, context on how an investor may see your business, and actionable direction on what to do next.