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Capital Calling

Capital Calling

By: Coeus Collective
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 Welcome to Capital Calling: a video podcast where founders pitch live, and investors decide. Our show features leading early-stage founders pitching their startups directly to leading venture capitalists, including investors from iconic firms like Draper Associates, Initialized Capital, Pioneer Fund, and SOSV. Produced by Coeus Collective Ventures in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, the show offers an unfiltered look at how venture decisions are actually made. This is a show that takes you "behind the curtain" of venture investing: viewers see how investors evaluate teams, markets, and traction in real time, and how founders respond when the stakes are real and outcomes are uncertain. Filmed in New York City and distributed across the @CoeusCollective YouTube channel and all podcast platforms, Capital Calling sits at the intersection of media, entrepreneurship, and capital. Do these founders have what it takes to answer the calls of the investors? Find out on the first season of our show.© 2026 Circle Promotions, LLC Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Finance
Episodes
  • WeFit Labs: Why You Can’t Stay Consistent

    WeFit Labs: Why You Can’t Stay Consistent
    May 1 2026
    Fitness apps are everywhere. But can a platform built around community, competition, and real-world accountability convince investors it belongs at the center of how people stay healthy? In this episode of Capital Calling, Ethan Noblesala, Founder of WeFit Labs, pitches a social fitness platform designed to make movement more engaging, consistent, and communal. WeFit turns everyday activity into a game which combines wearable tracking, challenges, and leaderboards to help users stay accountable, compete with friends, and build lasting habits. The company is built on a simple but powerful insight: most people don’t fail fitness because of knowledge. They fail because of consistency. WeFit is betting that gamification, social pressure, and community-driven experiences can transform fitness from an individual task into a shared, habit-forming system. The platform blends digital tracking with real-world events, from pickleball to group runs, aiming to make movement both social and rewarding. Ethan’s journey is deeply personal. After a period of burnout and declining health, he rebuilt his life through small, consistent habits and community-driven fitness. That experience became the foundation for WeFit, a product designed to reward consistency over intensity and make health something people pursue together, not alone. Across the table, investors Jennifer Wolf (Former Managing Partner at Initialized Capital), Jeremy Kagan of Textbook Ventures, and Neel Murthy of Rippling engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They examine user behavior in fitness apps, retention and engagement dynamics, the role of community as a moat, and whether a gamified social platform can scale into a venture-backed consumer product. Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder then enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective before final verdicts are delivered. Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies. Founders pitch live. Investors decide.
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    37 mins
  • Gaian: The Bet on Human-Powered Energy, Step by Step

    Gaian: The Bet on Human-Powered Energy, Step by Step
    Apr 23 2026
    What if your body could generate power? But can a company built on turning everyday human movement into energy convince investors it belongs in the future of climate and infrastructure? In this episode of Capital Calling, Yasha Gruben, Founder and CEO of Gaian, pitches a hardware company building energy-generating wearables that convert human motion into clean, usable electricity. Gaian is developing human-scale energy infrastructure designed to reduce reliance on centralized grids, cables, and finite batteries by turning movement — walking, running, and everyday activity — into a source of power. The company sits at the intersection of climate technology, hardware, and wearable design, with a vision of making energy generation more distributed, personal, and embedded into daily life. Rather than relying solely on large-scale systems, Gaian is betting that micro-generation at the individual level can become a meaningful layer of future energy infrastructure. Before founding Gaian, Yasha worked across film, design, and technology, leading complex creative and technical projects from concept through execution. That interdisciplinary background shapes Gaian’s approach to building products that are not only functional, but culturally resonant and designed for real-world adoption. Across the table, investors Zac Geinzer of Commonweal Ventures, Ella Molony Cook of DFX, and Max Rivera of GHOST Angels engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They evaluate the feasibility of human-generated energy as a scalable solution, the technical constraints of wearable power generation, potential use cases, and whether Gaian can evolve from a compelling concept into a venture-backed infrastructure play. Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder then enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective before final verdicts are delivered. Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen — and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies. Founders pitch live. Investors decide.
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    31 mins
  • DEFI Snacks: 25g of Protein…in Chocolate?

    DEFI Snacks: 25g of Protein…in Chocolate?
    Apr 16 2026
    Protein snacks are everywhere. But can a chocolate brand built on buckwheat, high protein, and indulgence convince investors it has what it takes to break through in a brutally crowded category? In this episode of Capital Calling, Tatyana Jones, Founder of DEFI Snacks, pitches a better-for-you snack brand built around what she calls “Delicious Energizing Fitness Indulgence.” DEFI makes chocolate-covered crispy superfood bites using sprouted buckwheat, whey, and casein protein, delivering 25g+ of protein per bag while remaining naturally gluten-free and grain-free. The company is betting that consumers no longer want to choose between indulgence and function — and that snacks can be both nutritionally dense and genuinely craveable. Rooted in Tatyana’s Ukrainian background, where buckwheat is a staple ingredient, DEFI is positioning itself at the intersection of functional nutrition, premium snacking, and cultural authenticity. With over 15 years of experience across companies like Mars Wrigley, Johnson & Johnson, and Bausch + Lomb, Tatyana brings a deep understanding of product innovation, brand building, and consumer behavior into a category dominated by legacy players. Across the table, investors Johnnie Yu of Listen Ventures, Christian McKenzie of Lofty Ventures, and Horace Madison of The Haven engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess DEFI’s differentiation in the crowded protein snack market, pricing power, consumer demand for indulgent functional foods, and whether a buckwheat-based product can scale into a venture-backed consumer brand. Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder then enters the On-Call Room for a one-on-one conversation from their perspective before final verdicts are delivered. Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen — and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies. Founders pitch live. Investors decide.
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    26 mins
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