Fundraising feels chaotic for a reason. Most founders are navigating it with spreadsheets, half-remembered intros, and gut instinct.
In this episode of Zero to Umm…, I talk with Vlad Cazacu, Founder and CEO of Flowlie, about how his path through venture capital, family offices, and early startup failures led him to build a system that removes unnecessary friction from fundraising.
Vlad shares what it was like growing up in Romania, coming to the US for college, building and walking away from his first startup, and eventually spending years on the investor side seeing how deals actually happen. Flowlie did not start as a founder product. It began as an internal VC tool and only pivoted when founders started asking better questions than investors ever did.
We also talk about the shoebox office days, the first Stripe sales, why founders should spend less time “doing fundraising” and more time building relationships, and where AI fits into the future of capital formation.
This is a conversation about clarity, systems, and building tools that actually help founders breathe.
Chapters
00:00 Early curiosity and immigrant beginnings
04:05 Building a college startup and turning down an acquisition
09:49 Why naivety is a founder advantage
15:56 Writing a book and breaking into venture
18:20 Organizing investor chaos at a VC firm
21:33 The first version of Flowlie and the pivot
25:35 The shoebox office and first Stripe sales
30:54 Going full-time and building the team
34:58 Fundraising the company itself
38:39 The future of AI-driven fundraising
