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How to Stop Living in Fundraising Mode with Steven Zausner, WhiteLabel
by
Wed, Aug 5, 2026
4 PM – 6 PM EDT (GMT-4)
Private Location (sign in to display)
Details
Raising capital is an important milestone but it shouldn't become your full-time job. Join Columbia alumnus Steven Zausner at the Columbia Startup Lab on August 5 for a special startup happy hour and conversation on how founders can build a thoughtful funding strategy that supports long-term growth instead of constant fundraising.
Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and startup advisor, Steven will share practical insights on when to raise capital, how much to raise, and how to align your financing strategy with your company's milestones. Learn how to make smarter funding decisions, avoid common fundraising pitfalls, and create a capital strategy that allows you to spend more time building your company.
Following the discussion, stick around for a happy hour and networking opportunity with fellow founders, I-Corps Bootcamp teams, and members of the broader Columbia entrepreneurship community. Come meet other entrepreneurs, exchange ideas, build connections, and expand your startup network.
This is a great opportunity to learn from a Columbia alum and connect with the innovators building the next generation of companies.
Speakers
Steven Zausner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenzausner
Drawing on over 30 years of finance experience gained at some of the world's premier financial institutions, Steve works with clients to ensure their financial decisions powerfully support their mission, no matter the complexity of the landscape.
During his career on “Wall Street,” Steve helped to launch and grow four asset management firms, built and led four research departments on three different continents, and helped turnaround a major division of a major bank post a major scandal.
Post-big-finance, Steve worked in international development, leading assignments for the alphabet-soup of development agencies, foundations and NGOs. During that time, he helped develop and led the structuring of some of the benchmark initiatives in “innovative” finance and taught classes in Financing Social Impact at Georgetown’s Walsh Graduate School of Foreign Service and Impact Investing and Social Entrepreneurship at University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Public Policy and Leadership.
Along the way, he also was a portfolio manager and founder of a couple of venture capital firms, with a unicorn, or two, to his credit.
By the numbers: Steve has sourced, raised, or exited more than $10 billion across the spectrum of capital, all asset classes, most industries and in more than 65 countries; He has advised numerous companies on M&A/strategic sales; He is a highly sought after fractional and interim executive, having supported over 50 firms, and, a senior executive at two of the leading innovation consulting firms (from Creative Destruction to Disruptive Innovation, he is obsessed with the topic).
Steve started WhiteLabel Impact to create a firm that is the premier operating partner to mission-driven enterprises doing the world’s most important work.
Hosted By
Innovation, Design & Entrepreneurship
Contact the organizers