The Capital Flex Podcast
We’re codifying the capital playbook—because no founder should have to learn the hard way.
Hosted by Naseem Sayani, VC and unapologetic truth-teller, The Capital Flex unpacks what really happens when female founders raise money inside systems not built for them. From bias in the room to predatory term sheets, these are the stories we usually hear in DMs not headlines.
Each episode offers unfiltered insight, real strategies, and a new playbook where we write the rules. Because the system won’t fix itself. But we will.
The Capital Flex Podcast
S1EP07 - Bias Isn't Personal with Annie Brown
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What happens when your technology is solid, your traction is real, and the problem is not your company, but the system deciding whether to trust you?
In this episode of The Capital Flex, I sit down with Annie Brown, Founder and CEO of Reliabl, an AI infrastructure company helping companies improve accuracy and reduce bias in machine learning by fixing what most people ignore: the data labeling layer. Annie is a bias researcher, former UC San Diego AI scholar, and repeat founder whose work has been featured in Forbes and Fast Company.
Annie has built and scaled in public, from founding a creative platform for women and LGBTQIA+ creators to growing Reliabl to $600K ARR in 10 months. She shares what it felt like to raise for an LGBTQIA+ focused product, then raise again for an AI infrastructure product, only to get stuck in the middle, where highly technical funds question the founder and underrepresented funds struggle with technical diligence.
Together, we unpack the uncomfortable realities of raising capital at the intersection of deep tech, identity, and pattern recognition.
This conversation covers vice clauses, LP pressure, technical diligence gaps and why women founders are often forced to navigate both credibility and capital at the same time.
Key Takeaways:
- Why bias in AI starts at the data labeling layer, not just in the language model
- How vice clauses and conservative LPs quietly restrict what gets funded
- The double bind for women building deep technical infrastructure
- How to use “reflection questions” to disarm biased investor comments
- Why trusting your gut is data and not emotion
- Why AI-based tools for VC sourcing and diligence risk reinforcing existing bias
My Reflection & Challenge:
What struck me most in this conversation is how often women founders are asked to contort themselves or strip out the very value proposition of their business just to be considered fundable. Annie’s story is not about traction or capability, but about structural misalignment between belief, trust, and technical understanding.
Too often, founders are told to edit themselves instead of being evaluated on the business, and scarcity makes bad opportunities look like lifelines. Your job is not to survive every room, it is to choose the ones that can fund you without rewriting you.
This Week’s Challenge:
Pay attention to the feeling in your body during meetings. If something feels off, don’t override it with scarcity thinking.
Before your next investor conversation, write down:
- What support you actually need from capital
- What behavior would be a dealbreaker pre-check and post-check
- One sentence you’ll use to calmly redirect biased commentary
Capital is not just money, it’s a long-term relationship.
Links and Resources:
http://reliabl.ai
http:/linkedin.com/in/andreafrancesb
If you enjoyed this conversation, follow The Capital Flex, leave a rating and share this episode with a founder who needs it.
And if you’re looking for a more candid space to talk fundraising, power and building inside systems not designed for you, stay close. The conversation continues.
Production and Administration work completed by Smart Podcast Solutions and Elevate Virtual Business Solutions.
.png){kind=avatar}