Melissa Widner of Lighter Capital on the Emergence of Non-Dilutive Funding and Identifying "Sharky" VCs

This week I am speaking to Melissa Widner, CEO of Lighter Capital.  She has an incredible story of going from operator to capital allocator.  Now she takes the helm of the largest brands in revenue based financing in the world. You can watch/listen to the podcast on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify.

Melissa Widner is the CEO of Lighter Capital, the pioneer and leader in revenue-based financing for tech startups, founders, and companies. Seattle-based Lighter Capital is backed by National Australia Bank and Silicon Valley Bank as well as US VCs.

Previously, Melissa was the Managing Director of NAB Ventures, the VC arm of the National Australia Bank, and a General Partner at Seattle based SeaPoint Ventures. She was the founder and CEO of 7Software, a Silicon Valley based enterprise software company acquired by Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR, acquired by SAP). She was also the CEO of Northwest Industrial Supply. Under her leadership, both companies generated over a 10X return to investors.

She is the co-founder and Chairperson of Sydney-based Heads Over Heels, an organization that supports women entrepreneurs running companies with high growth potential.

What You Will Learn:

- Alternatives to Equity

- Identifying Shark VCs

- Debt vs. Revenue Based Financing