The Psychology Driving Fundraising, VC Decisions, and Founder Failure

The Psychology Driving Fundraising, VC

Decisions and Founder Failure

Most founders assume failure comes from bad strategy, weak execution, or unlucky timing. According to Aram Attar, that’s rarely the real cause.

After 15+ years advising founders and training VCs, Aram found a pattern: people consistently fall into one of two psychological modes when making decisions under uncertainty, trying to win or trying not to lose. And those two mindsets lead to dramatically different outcomes in fundraising, board decisions, and exits.

The most dangerous part? Founders often don’t realize which mode they’re operating in. That blind spot shows up in cautious fundraising, misaligned earnouts, bad partial exits, and teams that never challenge each other’s assumptions.

In this episode, Aram explains how one founder’s 20-year journey led to a $2.2B public company, and why mindset, not genius, made the difference.

👉 Watch the full episode to hear what actually went wrong.

Here’s what you’re in for:

00:00 Introduction

00:39 A 20-year journey to a $2.2B exit

01:57 How VCs make decisions

03:50 Investing in a Mexican retail company

06:20 What mindset-based investing really means

10:04 Behavioral insights every founder should know

15:34 Research behind successful VC thinking

23:43 Missed deals and costly VC mistakes

24:20 How investment committees really work

24:51 The champion rule in venture capital

26:06 Inside the investment committee process

29:37 Why founder empathy matters

33:04 The power of honest communication

36:28 How to evaluate emerging fund managers

43:01 Advice for new fund managers

46:29 Final thoughts and key resources

Watch it Now

ABOUT Aram Attar

Aram Attar is the Founder of The VC Factory, where he works with LPs, GPs, and founders to improve decision-making under uncertainty. Having invested in, advised, and sat on boards of numerous companies, Aram focuses on applying proven psychological frameworks to venture capital, fundraising, and founder leadership.

Get in touch with Aram:

Connect with Aram on  LinkedIn

Check out The VC Factory

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