💰 Get Funded! Office Hours by Serac Ventures w/ Christian Karrer & Steve Bernard 🚀
- Date
- 2024-08-30
- Host
- The Good News - Investor Office Hours
About this event
If you’re raising capital, thinking seriously about it, or trying to understand how investors evaluate early-stage opportunities, this is a room worth being in. Get Funded! Office Hours by Serac Ventures brings founders and builders face-to-face with Christian Karrer and Steve Bernard for a practical, direct conversation about funding, investor readiness, and what it actually takes to move from interest to momentum. This is not a broad, vague networking event. It’s a focused in-person session designed to help you ask sharper questions, get clearer feedback, and better understand how to position your company when capital is on the line. About the Event Office hours are one of the most useful formats for founders because they create space for real dialogue. Instead of listening passively to a polished panel, attendees get access to a more candid environment where fundraising questions, startup challenges, and investor expectations can be discussed in a grounded way. Hosted by Serac Ventures, this event centers on the funding journey: how founders think about timing, what makes a company investable, and where many startups lose traction when telling their story. With Christian Karrer and Steve Bernard in the room, you can expect the conversation to stay practical and anchored in real-world decision-making. The tone is likely to be conversational, but the value is serious. Whether you are actively fundraising or preparing for a future round, this is a chance to better understand the mindset behind early-stage investing and the signals that matter most. Because this is an in-person event, there is also a meaningful community element. The people who show up are likely to include founders, operators, and startup-minded professionals who are navigating similar questions around growth, capital, and next steps. What to Expect Expect a format that blends direct access, discussion, and peer connection. While the exact flow may vary, office hours typically create room for both shared insights and more targeted questions from attendees. You can likely expect elements such as: Investor-focused conversation around fundraising, pitch clarity, and readiness Open Q&A where attendees can bring real questions about raising capital Founder-to-founder networking with others building companies or exploring venture-backed growth Practical discussion about common mistakes, investor expectations, and how to stand out This kind of event is especially valuable because the discussion often gets specific quickly. Questions about pitch decks, traction, timing, investor fit, and outreach strategy tend to surface naturally when founders have direct access to experienced venture voices. There is also strong value in listening to what other attendees ask. Often, the questions you did not think to bring are the ones that sharpen your perspective the most. Hearing how others frame their businesses, challenges, and fundraising goals can help you benchmark your own readiness. Why Attend If you are building a company, fundraising can feel opaque until you hear directly from people who evaluate opportunities every day. Events like this reduce that ambiguity. They help you replace guesswork with a clearer sense of how investors think, what they notice first, and where founders can improve before stepping into a formal raise. You should attend if you want to: Get closer to the investor perspective without the pressure of a formal pitch meeting Pressure-test your fundraising assumptions before making avoidable mistakes Ask candid questions in a setting designed for practical conversation Improve how you talk about your company to people who care about clarity, traction, and potential Meet other founders and startup operators who are working through similar milestones Even if you are not raising capital today, this can still be a smart use of time. Understanding how investors assess opportunities can make you better at prioritizing growth, refining your story, and preparing for future conversations long before you need to have them. For community-minded attendees, the networking aspect matters too. Good startup events are not only about who is speaking; they are also about who is in the room. The relationships you start here can lead to future introductions, feedback loops, and collaborations. Practical Details This is an in-person event, which means you should come ready to engage, ask questions, and meet people. Face-to-face events tend to create better follow-up conversations, more natural introductions, and stronger signal than purely online sessions. When: Friday, August 30 at 12:00 PM CDT Location type: In person To get the most from the session, it helps to arrive with a few concrete questions in mind. If you are a founder, think about the part of fundraising or investor communication where you need the most clarity. If you are earlier in your journey, come ready to learn from the patterns, questions, and feedback that emerge in the room. This event is especially well suited to attendees who value direct insight over theory. If you want a clearer understanding of funding conversations and a stronger feel for how to navigate them, this office hours session offers a timely reason to show up.
Who should attend
This is for people who want sharper, more informed fundraising conversations and value being in the room with investors and other startup builders. - **You’re an early-stage founder** who is raising now, planning to raise soon, or trying to understand whether your company is ready for outside capital. - **You’re refining your pitch** and want better insight into how investors hear your story, evaluate traction, and decide what deserves a second meeting. - **You have specific fundraising questions** about timing, positioning, outreach, or investor fit and would benefit from a more direct, practical setting than a large conference or generic panel. - **You’re a startup operator or builder** who wants to better understand the venture landscape, especially if funding strategy affects your company’s growth plans. - **You value real startup community** and want to meet founders, operators, and ambitious people who are actively working through company-building challenges. - **You learn well by listening to live questions and feedback**, even if you are not ready to speak up first or formally present your company. If you want polished inspiration, this may not be the right fit. If you want clearer thinking, stronger investor context, and useful conversations, you’ll likely get a lot out of it.