Improving Your Chances of Getting a ‘Yes’ from Investors with Ethan Austin of Gig Wage
Ethan Austin is a two-time founder, Angel Investor and currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Gig Wage. 
Prior to joining Gig Wage, Ethan pioneered the medical crowdfunding space as a co-founder of GiveForward, the world's first medical crowdfunding platform. After going through the TechStars program himself in 2010, GiveForward raised $7 million in funding.
The GiveForward platform went on to help families raise 200 million for their loved ones out of pocket medical expenses, and help change the way people care for each other during life's most difficult times. The company was acquired in 2017 and is now part of GoFundMe private acquisition.
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Stephanie welcomes and introduces her guest, Ethan Austin
- Ethan talks about the offer he couldn’t refuse
- Why was the offer hard for Ethan to refuse?
- Ethan talks about how he determines which ask is viable
- What investors look out for in founders
- Ever been turned down by an investor? Ethan shares his thoughts on what you can do to get better
- The importance of keeping investors informed when things go well and when they don’t
- When things aren’t going as planned, Ethan talks about how you can ask your investor for help
- How Ethan makes the decision on who to say yes to
- Ethan talks about what you should never do when you ask
In this episode…
Founders often want to know what investors want and how they determine which companies are viable to receive funding. With investors choosing less than 3% of the thousands of pitches they receive yearly, getting a yes is increasingly more difficult. Nonetheless, this week’s guest, Ethan Austin says for you to stand a chance you have to have a blend of the right idea and the perfect team.
And if you don’t get the yes, what next? On this episode of What’s Your Ask?, you’ll hear from Ethan Austin, the Managing Director of the Western Union Accelerator Powered by TechStars about how you can get better at asking. He also talks about the things you should never do when asking, and how he makes his decision to say yes to an ask.
If you are a payment or fintech startup, applications for the Western Union Accelerator, Powered by Techstars are now open until April 5. Click on the link below to learn more and apply.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
- Ethan Austin LinkedIn
- Email Ethan ([email protected])
- Western Union Accelerator, Powered by Techstars
- Finance-Ability
- Stephanie Sims LinkedIn
Sponsor for this episode...
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