Funding is a Tool, Not the Finish Line with Jeremy Harper, ERA

Episode notes

This is the second episode in Digital Irish’s Venture Capital and Fundraising Demystified series: designed to pull back the curtain on raising capital for Irish founders and give you the confidence to walk into any funding conversation knowing exactly what’s on the other side of the table. In this episode, we sit down with Jeremy Harper, Partner and Director of Investments at ERA — the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in New York City. ERA has been running for 15 years, backing around 30 companies a year, and has a remarkable track record: roughly 80% of companies that go through the programme go on to raise follow-on capital. Jeremy has been at ERA for nearly all of that journey. He brings deep pattern recognition on what separates founders who succeed at raising from those who struggle — and a lot of it comes down to one core mindset shift: funding is a tool, not the finish line. We dive deep into: What an accelerator actually does beyond the cheque — and how ERA’s in-person, intensive model prepares founders for venture funding. Why investors don’t want to hear how you’ll spend the money — and what they actually want to hear instead.