Upside Club is a private community of the most ambitious founders and CEOs in Portugal. We exist to help founders connect, grow, and succeed together.

​Focused Session #1 • The Fundraising Dilemma

​Should you actually raise? When? Why (or why not)?

​Most Founders default to fundraising because it’s often the loudest signal in the room, not because they’ve done the math on what it costs them in equity, control, and time.

​We’re putting two people in the room who’ve been on both sides of that decision:

• ​Manuel Parente – Early Stage Investor, 2x Exited Founder and current CEO & Founder of Thalur

• ​Pedro Coutinho – Managing Partner at Transatlantic Highway Ventures

​In short, we’re getting into:

• ​Bootstrap vs. raise: how to actually decide, not just default

• ​The right moment to raise (and the signs you’re too early or too late)

• ​What investors are actually looking for right now

• ​The cost of raising that nobody puts in the pitch deck

​The logistics:

• ​📅 October 1

• ​🕝 14:30

• ​📍 Online

• ​Moderation: the Upside Club.

• ​Open Q&A: bring your real questions, not the polished version.

​The invited founders belong to a new generation that doesn’t believe that the “secret is the soul of the business” but the opposite. They all see sharing their learnings, experiences, and vulnerabilities in the open as a growth mechanism.