Startup Fundraising in 2026: Building the Capital Path

​📌 Event Overview

​Fundraising is taking longer, and unclear investor feedback is leaving many founders trapped in the “too early, come back later” loop.

​The strongest founders don’t wait for clarity—they design for the capital strategy from day one, and it fundamentally changes how investors evaluate the business.

​In this practical session, we will cover:

• ​What investors actually care about beyond your deck

• ​How to embed exit strategy thinking from day one

• ​The unseen link between fundraising and M&A readiness

​Built for Stanford and Bay Area founders preparing for fundraising or exit, this is real, battle-tested insight from someone who’s done it, not just theory.

​🌟 Featured Speaker

​Brendan Marshall – Managing Director @ Stanford-StartX | Ex-CEO & Cofounder @ Flow (acq.) | Forbes 30U30 | Stanford MBA | Venture Expert & 2x Founder. Brendan leads StartX, the Stanford-affiliated accelerator that has supported hundreds of founders from idea to growth. As a former CEO himself, he’s navigated fundraising from both sides of the table, pitching investors, closing rounds, and now helping new founders do the same across stages and market cycles.

​Derek Yan — Author of The Toughest Sell | ex-CTO & Founder, Polarr (acq.) | Stanford Alumni. Derek Yan is Founder and former CTO of Polarr, which scaled to 100M+ devices and was acquired by Pixieset in May 2025. He raised $13.5M from Threshold, Partech, and the Stanford-StartX Fund. Drawing on 100+ investor and acquirer conversations, Derek authored The Toughest Sell, sharing practical insights on building fundable, exit-ready companies.

​Jilei (Neo) Liu - VP, American Publishing @ Tencent Games | Head of NA Publishing @ Tencent | 16+ yrs Gaming & Executive Leadership | Ex-CEO @ ZAM Network. At Tencent, he leads North American publishing, overseeing $2B+ in revenue with studios like King, Epic, Activision Blizzard, and Gungho. Neo excels in strategy, operations, micro-transaction optimization, and partnerships, and has guided post-merger integrations, turnarounds, and studio growth.

​Moderated by Jing Conan Wang, Founder at DeepVista AI & FounderCoHo (Ex-Google Brain).

​Partners

​Daytona - Infrastructure for Massively Parallel RL Rollouts.

​Community Partner

​Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Stanford (ACSSS) - Founded in 1989, ACSSS is the largest nonprofit student organization at Stanford.

​What We'll Explore

1. ​What Investors Actually Evaluate (And What They Don't Tell You) Beyond deck and metrics, learn what creates investor conviction. Derek shares readiness signals, proof of customer insight, and why founder conviction predicts fundraising success.

2. ​Building with Exit Optionality from Day One: How fundraising decisions, investor selection, cap table structure, and product positioning impact future options. Learn to balance growth ambitions with strategic flexibility for multiple exit paths.

3. ​The Fundraising-to-M&A Pipeline: Hidden Connections Drawing from 100+ conversations, Derek reveals overlaps between fundraising and exits. Learn how investor outreach translates to acquirer conversations and what makes companies acquirable.

4. ​Operating While You Raise (And After You Raise) Maintain product momentum and team velocity while fundraising. Derek shares tactical approaches to recognizing genuine investor interest and planning multiple scenarios before rushed decisions.

​You'll leave with mental models, concrete examples, and a framework you can immediately apply to your own fundraising and company-building journey.

​Event Schedule:

• ​​​​​​​​​​​6:00 PM - 6:30 PM: Networking and Dinner

• ​​​​​​​​​​​6:30 PM - 7:20 PM: Panel and Q&A

• ​​​​​​​​​​​7:20 PM onwards: Socializing, and Continued Conversations

​📅 Event Details:

• ​Date: February 23, 2026 (Monday)

• ​Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM PT

• ​Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA

​RSVP: Founder spots are limited; registration is required to join this in-person session.

​​​​​​​​​​​​We look forward to welcoming you to this unforgettable evening of connection and inspiration! 🎉

​​​​​​​​​​​​Important Note: Space is limited for this intimate gathering. While we may not be able to accommodate everyone this time, we encourage you to RSVP soon! We truly appreciate your interest and look forward to welcoming you at a future event.

​Meet your Host!

​FounderCoHo is a community and media platform for founders to share their hard-earned wisdom and connect with fellow founders in their journey.

​With 160,000+ subscribers across YouTube and Substack, we've featured industry leaders including Lyft's Co-Founder, the inventor of CRISPR, and AlphaChip's co-author, alongside many successful founders and senior executives.

​We host monthly in-person founder meetups where members exchange insights and build meaningful connections. Explore more: https://foundercoho.com/

​Where to find us:

​LinkedIn

​YouTube

​Substack