← The Pitch
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- [00:01]
A
My name is Kavita. I am the co founder and CEO at Nectar, and we are building the classroom of the future.
- [00:07]
B
This was one of the most iconic pitches we've ever had on the show.
- [00:11]
A
Well, I think the best place to start is why I'm here. I am autistic and I have adhd, so no classroom that I've ever been in before has felt comfortable for me or my brain to be in. And then I got to college and I started paying $40,000 to be really uncomfortable. And that's when it became enough of a pain point that I said, either I'm going to drop out or I'm going to do something about it.
- [00:32]
B
The fundraising market was so tough when Kavita Guy pitched in 2024 that she thought she would have to raise at the same valuation as her previous round.
- [00:42]
A
I know it might be foolish to say, but in this market, I'm willing to do a flat round.
- [00:46]
B
But the investors didn't want to take that deal. They felt like she was selling herself short.
- [00:52]
A
Well, a lot of investors will just take it. You should definitely not negotiate with yourself.
- [00:56]
B
Yes, and they meant it. Kavita blew the investors away.
- [01:01]
A
I'm sold. Kavita, I would like to take a run at doing 1 million and lead your round.
- [01:06]
B
She ended up setting a pitch record, raising more money than any other startup on the show ever. Of her $4 million round, 1.45 million was raised in the pitch room.
- [01:18]
A
I don't think that I could have raised that much money in 30 minutes anywhere else in the world that we got a lead in 30 minutes on a pitch show. Like, how does that even happen?
- [01:32]
B
I'm Josh Muccio, and this is the pitch where Startup founders raise 1.45 million in 30 minutes. Today on the show, Kavita Guy sets her sights on a massive deal and risks the entire company in the process. What happened after her pitch? After this? Support for the pitch comes from Adobe. Life is unpredictable. So is your work. You need a system that adapts with whatever gets thrown at you. That means mastering the ability to pivot and collaborate with others to reach your goals. Adobe gets that, which is why they made a tool that's just as flexible as you are. PDF spaces. In Acrobat, your PDF files are no longer static. Instead, they're living documents that flex with you and your project's needs. Learn more@adobe.com dothatwithacrobat. Welcome back. It's 2024. Kavita had just raised $4 million. She had a few small pilots with individual schools totaling $80,000 in annual revenue. But she wanted to go after a whale of a contract. The entire California community colleges system, CCC for short. 116 schools, 2.1 million students, 40,000 faculty. And she wanted them all using Nectar's new product, an AI course assistant. She told Lisa about it at the end of 2024 on one of their quarterly check in calls for the pitch fund.
- [03:05]
A
Three years ago, I told Jordan and the team, I want this deal with the California Community College System. It is the largest school system in the world. I'm going to make it happen. And our board was like, please don't chase this large deal. Like they've never done it before. It's so hard to get, like, just focus on the smaller schools. And I did. I focused on the smaller schools. But in my free time, I was like, I'm going to get this deal. I just know I am. And when I say I'm going to do something, you know I will do the thing.
- [03:34]
C
Yeah.
- [03:34]
A
And so I got the deal.
- [03:37]
B
And by got the deal, she means she got the pilot with the ccc. Her pitch to them went like this. California should be the first state to safely adopt AI for all its students. And community colleges, not Ivy Leagues, should get the technology first. The CCC said, let's do it.
- [03:57]
A
We're doing about 10 to 15 schools, about 50 to 60 classes, and we're going to measure, does it have the same 20% boost of GPA, 36% boost of intrinsic motivation to learn? If we can show the same results that we've been getting at other schools, then we'd be looking at the first statewide deal that we'd get done. And that would be just a complete game changer. California would essentially set precedent for every other state in the US to start adopting AI technology in the classroom at a really widespread immediate scale.
- [04:35]
C
Okay, what is the thing that scares you right now or is like feels like the biggest hurdle or challenge that you have to get over?
- [04:43]
A
I think it's on the flip side of that, the blind faith that you have to have that all of these things are just going to work out. Like, if this deal does come to fruition, how the hell am I going to hire like 100 people overnight to make this come to life? What is that going to look like when the time comes? Yeah. Will the time come? Is everything going to work out the way that I want it to? Yeah. I don't want to sell a pipe dream to my investors. I want to be honest with you guys about what's happening. And also the fact that this all sounds great, but a lot of things have to come to life for the entire picture to appear. I have had all of the odds stacked against me in every way, shape and form. Like, why would someone trust a 27 year old who started this company and has never done anything else in their life to be able to put an AI tool across the entire state of California? But I believe in myself and I believe in my team and I know that we have gotten here one way or another, and we will get to where we need to be the same way we did this. So it'll all work out, but you just sometimes have to have like an insane, a truly delusional amount of faith.
- [05:58]
B
While Kavita was having existential dread about the future, the pilot ended up going even better than they hoped. Instead of the 50 to 60 faculty they had planned for, 300 faculty and 8,000 students signed up. And a few months later, they got the results.
- [06:15]
A
We got pretty the same standard 13% increase in GPA in the class that used Nectar AI versus the one that didn't. But what I think is even crazier is we raised the number of students passing the class by 17%. Wow. There's 17% more students who will not have to pay to retake that class. That happened just because we gave them an AI course assistant.
- [06:42]
B
Those results were good enough to land them a meeting with the CCC in February 2025, where they talked about potentially converting to a full blown contract for the the fall semester, which would be unprecedented. School systems signed deals with Google and Adobe, not with startups.
- [07:00]
A
So we were getting all the good positive signals. And they said, our intent is to make this go to a full contract. Of course we would love that. And I asked them point blank, you're not pulling my leg, right? Like this actually could happen? And they said, yeah, it could happen. There's a chance that this happens, right? We can't guarantee it, but yeah, there's a chance.
- [07:25]
B
So you're telling me there's a chance? Kind of. Kavita was in the right meetings with the right people at the ccc, but the best she could get was a commitment to one day commit. Maybe it's not like Nectar was the only edtech company they could choose from. The California State University system had just signed a deal with OpenAI, a deal that would give their 460,000 students access to chatgpt.edu. but that didn't faze Kavita. The sort of verbal commitment from the CCC was enough for Kavita to bet the farm and go all in on this deal. Which is kind of crazy because if it didn't work, Nectar would be out of money with no contract to show for it. But if it did, it would be the largest deployment of AI in education in the United States.
- [08:16]
A
116 schools, 2 million students. I can't even wrap my mind around it. I won't say it because we're recording, so I won't say what I think the deal size is going to be, but it would really catapult us to a completely new level. I don't even Part of me is like, how the hell do we hire enough people to manage that? And how do we onboard 2 million students? And then the other part of me is like, oh my God, we would become a billion dollar company overnight.
- [08:53]
B
Will Kavita Guy land the deal or will she run out of Runway and have to raise a flat round for real this time? That's coming up. Support for the pitch comes from Adobe. We all know what a stellar pitch sounds and looks like, but what we don't know are all the rough Dr. That took place behind the scenes. To go from idea to perfect pitch. You don't see all the iterations or how many pairs of hands helped mold the polished product in front of you. But that's where the real work happens and you need a tool that's flexible and can adapt to what works for you. That's where PDF spaces from Adobe Acrobat can help. With Acrobat, you can do so much more with a PDF file than you ever thought possible. PDF Spaces takes those documents and turns them into a living project that you can engage with, get insights from, and collaborate with others on. You can even put all your docs into one workspace and have a whole conversation with your AI assistant about it, asking questions and getting real answers pulled directly from your files. You can also invite people to your PDF space, let them add files, comments, notes, and more. You can brainstorm through sketches or even turn those files into podcasts. Yes, Acrobat lets you generate an audio overview of your project in just one click. How can Adobe fit with your workflow? Find out@adobe.com dothat with Acrobat. Welcome back. In November 2025, Lisa and I sat down with Kavita to get the rest of the story.
- [10:33]
C
Hey Kavita.
- [10:35]
A
Hello. It's so good to see you.
- [10:38]
B
It's so good to see you back on mic.
- [10:40]
A
I know, I love it. My favorite place to be.
- [10:45]
B
So, Kavita, spring of this year you got verbal commitment that the pilot was going great and the California Community Colleges system was going to sign a contract with you.
- [10:56]
A
Yes. I offered them the entire pilot last year for free because I believed in it so much that I said, let me prove the ROI to you. I will show you that this is so worth it. You're going to have to sign a contract after. And my team thought I was absolutely insane. I had to just say to the board, please trust me on this one. And they did. And so this summer, in July, we had our first in person board meeting. The whole point of the board meeting was, is it going to happen? Because if not, we're kind of screwed.
- [11:31]
B
Yeah.
- [11:31]
A
And we were looking at, okay, we have like eight months of Runway left. We're going to have to go raise money. How do we raise money if we don't have this big contract? So it's a little bit scary. And the board meeting's at 11am and at 10am I have a call with our point of contact at the California Community Colleges. This was when he was basically going to say yes or no. And so I get on this call and you can't see me, but I have, like, my fingers crossed and under the table as I'm on the call with him and he says, we're good to go. It's happening. And I just could not process in that moment that this was real life. By the end of the call, like three separate times, I was like, so, like, yes, for sure. So, like, definitely yes. So, like, I can go tell my board right now. Yes. And he was like, yes, you can go tell your board. It's happening.
- [12:25]
C
That's awesome.
- [12:26]
B
What did you do after that call? Yeah, you're obviously on the call being professional, Kavita, but then you hang up the phone, like, what do you do?
- [12:32]
A
Oh, I immediately went and screamed into a pillow. Like, I didn't want anyone in the hotel to think that I was dying. So I, like, closed my laptop, turned around, grabbed a pillow, screamed into it.
- [12:43]
C
Oh, my gosh.
- [12:46]
A
And then I run down the street to the board meeting. I'm sweating at this point from both excitement and anxiety. And I also just have to get there on time. And I run down the street, walk into the board meeting, and no one even said hi to me. I walk in and they're like, so did it happen? I'm like, it happened. We did it. And just cheers. Exploding. It was incredible. I don't even think we could have a proper board meeting after that because we were just so excited. It was like three hours of Us just being like, oh my God, holy shit, it's happening.
- [13:21]
C
That's amazing.
- [13:22]
A
It was very cool.
- [13:24]
B
Did they give you a dollar amount for what the contract would be?
- [13:27]
A
No. Nothing was officially approved by the chancellor herself. Yes. We knew it was moving forward, but there was no contract signed. There was no official approval from the very top. And so we had to say, okay, they told us, it's happening, we have nothing signed. But we had to pretend that this whole thing was moving forward. So we spent then the entire summer preparing for this huge launch that they just said, it'll happen, so get ready for it. Oh, I know. It was a lot of practice and trust. Yep.
- [14:04]
B
So you spent the whole summer preparing for the launch that they said would happen. What were you doing to actually get the deal done?
- [14:12]
A
So we sent over a 26 page proposal to the chancellor herself. And then I had to go present to the entire board of governors and they have to say in front of all of the state of California, like, yes, we're gonna do this. This is a huge, like, this is like recorded, televised to the state of California. It's a big deal.
- [14:36]
B
Tell me you were nervous.
- [14:37]
A
Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, you guys know this. That I love doing presentations. Public speaking is my bread and butter. This one. I was nervous for sure.
- [14:46]
B
Okay, at this point in time, we'll go ahead and invite Kavita and Professor Goodaro to this board.
- [14:52]
A
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here today. My name is Kavita Guy and I am the co founder and CEO at Nectar. I'm a first generation student. And on top of that, lucky me, I'm autistic and I also have adhd. So no classroom that I've ever been in before in my life has felt comfortable for me or my brain to be in. And then I got to UCSB and I started paying $40,000 a year to be really uncomfortable. And that's finally when it became enough of a pain point for me that I said, either I'm gonna drop out or I'm gonna do something about it. And I'm very, very happy I chose the latter choice. Next slide, please. And then had to literally leave from the board of governors meeting, pick up my bags from my apartment, go straight to lax. Like I was not even in LA for a full 24 hours. Cause I had to get back to New York that night for VC meetings the next morning with a bunch of Series A investors. It was an absolutely insane time. Bah. We.
- [15:50]
C
It sounds terrible.
- [15:51]
A
Exactly. So I send over this huge proposal, like the Whole team worked on. I actually can't take credit at all for the proposal. My team spent so much time on it, and there's no time. Like, we don't know when they're going to say yes or no. Like, we have no idea. We just have to sit there and twiddle our thumbs and wait.
- [16:10]
B
You're assuming that you're onboarding how many staff at this point?
- [16:14]
A
They asked us, even after seeing our proposal, of, like, here's how many people we think we can onboard. It was about, like, a thousand instructors in the first year. And then they said, can we just open the floodgates and see how many people are interested? Because we want to get this out as fast as we can, and faculty are really demanding this, so would you mind? And we said, yeah, let's do it. Absolutely. We'll be able to handle it all
- [16:48]
B
while, like, you still aren't collecting a dime because you don't have a contract.
- [16:52]
A
Exactly. Oh, my gosh. And so the chancellor's office sends out an email blast to everyone first week of school and says, you now have access to Nectar AI. Bear in mind, we're supposed to onboard 1,000 instructors over the first year. Yeah, we did that in the first week.
- [17:12]
B
What did anyone. Cause you are so far out over your skis this summer. I'm searching for a better metaphor. That's all I've got. Did anyone on your team say, kavita, this is crazy. Rein it back in, or the VCs, the people on your board?
- [17:32]
C
Yes.
- [17:32]
B
At some point, like, hey, yeah, can we talk?
- [17:36]
A
Totally. Every single person on our cap table
- [17:39]
B
that I talked to, what were they saying to you?
- [17:43]
A
Every VC was like, are you sure you can do this? Because this is make or break. Right? It's. We've got to make the best first impression possible because it's. The whole world is watching us right now. This is truly the first time that AI has been deployed at this level with the leading state.
- [18:06]
B
Yeah.
- [18:06]
A
If we screwed this up, this was not just going to affect us. It was going to affect students everywhere and how quickly they get access to this technology. And so there was a lot riding on this.
- [18:18]
B
So you had the verbal commit, but then you started going to actually pitch VCs to raise your Series A, even though you didn't have a contract. No revenue yet.
- [18:28]
A
Yep.
- [18:29]
B
Tell me about that decision. Like, how much Runway did you have left?
- [18:33]
A
Yeah. We basically said, there's going to be two scenarios that happen. Either I go and start raising this round and we don't get the contract. And we'll probably have to do, you know, a seat extension or just an emergency bridge, right. To get us to the next milestone to be able to raise around or everything works out in the best way possible and we're able to go raise the most kick ass Series A ever. Either way, I've got to go start doing it because time is of the essence and I can't start raising the round in September, October, once the contract maybe gets signed.
- [19:14]
B
Okay, but those conversations had to be so strange because you're talking about theoretical round.
- [19:19]
C
Right?
- [19:19]
B
Because they're not going to. They can't give you a term sheet because they need to know what's happening with the ccc. But like, you went out to New York, so like, there's a disconnect there. Like, how are you actually pitching VCs?
- [19:30]
A
Yeah, it was a leap of faith for sure. And I think the key here is I am really good at raising money and I know how to craft the narrative and I also know how long it's going to take.
- [19:45]
B
And so this is not the same Kavita guy that was on our show that thought she was going to have to raise a flat round.
- [19:52]
A
Yep, exactly. I went into it just saying I believe in this. I know that we're going to get this contract signed. And I get there and start having all of these meetings with some of these folks I've been talking to for like three or four years. Like people I would dream of having on the cap table. This is the first time I'm ever raising around in person other than on the pitch show. And I've got to tell you guys, that was actually why I went to New York. Because I realized on the pitch show there is such a difference being in person. The energy that you can feel, the way that they can see and feel my authenticity. Like, oh shit, she really is gonna go do the damn thing.
- [20:38]
B
Yeah.
- [20:39]
A
I knew I needed to replicate that magic again. So I went there to basically make my own pitch show.
- [20:46]
B
And
- [20:49]
A
we had three VCs who were interested in leading and we had 12 million soft circled from smaller checks and follow ons.
- [21:02]
B
Is it signed or just like, is this another verbal commit of the term sheet?
- [21:07]
A
Yeah, it's another verbal commit.
- [21:09]
B
Okay.
- [21:10]
A
I'm riding on hopes and dreams. At this point,
- [21:16]
B
Everything hinged on landing the contract with the ccc. After the break. Did betting her entire company on a single deal pay off and pay out? We'll see. Support for the pitch comes from Adobe. For every big idea, your documents folder tells a story. Let's Just say you've finished pulling together a script for a podcast episode. So you hit export on the best podcast ever Final Draft PDF, but then you open the file and immediately notice a typo. Several versions later, you're exporting the best podcast ever final v4 actual final draft. Use this one. Old one was bad PDF. Well, Adobe Acrobat can save you the digital clutter with PDF spaces. It takes your documents and turns them into a living project that you can engage with, get insights from, and collaborate with others on. You can gather all your files into one workspace and have a whole conversation with your AI assistant about it, getting deep insights about your project. You can even invite people to your PDF space and let them add files, comments, notes, and more. You can doodle in the margins or even turn your project into your own permission. Personal podcast episode Acrobat lets you generate an audio overview of your project with just one click. Who knows, it might just be the best podcast ever. Learn more@adobe.com do that with Acrobat. Here we are. It's November 2025. Do you have a contract?
- [22:56]
A
I do. I have a signed contract with the largest school system in the world, the California colleges. 116 schools, 2.1 million students, 40,000 faculty, and I am just so, so pumped. This is like the craziest thing that I could have ever dreamed of. And I can't believe we're here.
- [23:19]
C
Yeah.
- [23:20]
B
Oh, my word.
- [23:21]
C
I love it.
- [23:21]
B
Congratulations.
- [23:23]
A
Thank you so much. It has been a long, long time coming.
- [23:28]
C
When was the contract signed?
- [23:31]
A
It is November 7th. It was signed, I want to say, about two weeks ago. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Wow.
- [23:42]
B
Can you say how big the contract is?
- [23:46]
A
How can I hint at this?
- [23:48]
B
I mean, it's 2.1 million students.
- [23:51]
A
Yeah.
- [23:51]
B
It's not free.
- [23:53]
A
It is certainly not free. I'll give you this. My VP of Business Development has 20 years of enterprise sales experience. This is the largest deal she's ever seen. It's in the high eight figures.
- [24:13]
C
There you go.
- [24:14]
A
Yeah.
- [24:14]
B
Brilliant.
- [24:15]
A
Perfect.
- [24:19]
B
Has the contract started paying out?
- [24:21]
A
Yes, I'm getting revenue from customers. If we didn't have the contract, we would do 3x year over year growth in revenue, which that's okay, but it's certainly not enough to go raise a Series A with the contract. We did 18x year over year growth.
- [24:41]
B
Oh, geez.
- [24:42]
A
And that is enough to go raise a Series A?
- [24:44]
B
Where do you go from here? You just got the biggest contract you could get. You're the person who's going to go after the Biggest, craziest contract.
- [24:52]
D
Yep.
- [24:52]
B
What do you do now?
- [24:55]
A
One state down, 49 to go. I'm gonna go get the entire nation using Nectar AI and you guys are gonna have a fun time watching me do it. Awesome.
- [25:08]
B
You are the outlier. How do you feel like this is the outlier all these VCs are hunting for? It is you.
- [25:14]
A
Amazing. Oh my God. It is the best goddamn feeling I've ever had in my life. Holy shit. A 28 year old, first time founder, woman of color, didn't even go to business school. I have no idea how the I'm sitting here doing this right now, not a goddamn clue.
- [25:31]
B
I'm gonna go bench press £400. Let's go.
- [25:33]
A
Exactly. That is literally. That is exactly what it feels like. This is why I don't need coffee, you guys. Because every single day is an adrenaline rush all day long. Oh my gosh.
- [25:46]
C
That's hilarious.
- [25:48]
B
Just so happy to be on this journey with you. I do have one regret though, which is I wish we would have invested more in your company.
- [26:00]
A
Well, series a is still open. I saw this on the calendar and I was like, what are the chances that we would have our check in the day after Series A closes? Yay. Yay. We did it. Oh my God. I can't believe that.
- [26:23]
C
Congratulations.
- [26:24]
A
Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a crazy feeling.
- [26:27]
C
I bet. Tell me plainly, how much did you raise and at what terms?
- [26:32]
A
We raised $12.5 million. We are bringing on three new investors on top of all the follow ons, Gingerbread, vc, Strada and ecmc, all of the people that we brought in. These are relationships that I've been building for years. Truly, that's what it takes.
- [26:48]
C
Congratulations.
- [26:50]
A
Thank you. I'm so excited. Everyone keeps texting me and asking, how are you celebrating? What are you gonna do? And I'm like, I haven't even processed that this has even happened. I have no idea.
- [27:06]
C
That's awesome.
- [27:08]
A
Yeah. Just feels really good to be at this place where we know that we have a product that really works. It really helps students. It's increasing their gpa, it's getting them to stay in class longer. It's actually boosting their motivation to learn. So instead of all this that you hear about AI taking away your critical thinking skills, for us, we have proof that it's doing the exact opposite, which is amazing. Love that. And it just makes me feel really good that at this time where I think the world is pretty afraid of AI and what it's gonna do to us and our Humanity. We found a way to really harness this for good and create the product that students and teachers really need. So I'm excited for the future. I'm really excited for where AI takes all of us. And seeing companies like Nectar who are doing the right thing and building this technology in the right way gives me hope that it's not just us.
- [28:06]
B
I forgot how dynamic of a founder she is.
- [28:10]
C
How could you forget that?
- [28:12]
B
I don't know. It's been a while since I've listened to her episode.
- [28:15]
C
Yeah.
- [28:16]
B
But even then, when she, like, came on the show, it was like she was coming into her own.
- [28:20]
C
Yeah.
- [28:21]
B
But it feels like now she's in her own. It's definitely infectious.
- [28:25]
C
I'm just reminded on how impactful her pitch episode was. People wrote in about, you know, my kid's neurodivergent, and this means so much to me. And as parents of a neurodivergent kid makes me. Makes me want to cry, because the world feels like such a difficult place for someone who's neurodivergent. And I think Kavita represents hope, and I think what she's built really does help level the playing field. And when it feels like you or your kid is, like, constantly hitting a brick wall or being told, like, you don't fit here. You don't belong here, like, hope is really powerful.
- [29:23]
B
Yeah, it is.
- [29:25]
C
It's not just the product that she's built that is so amazing for someone who's neurodivergent, but also, it's her.
- [29:34]
B
Yeah. I heard Cyan, the team at Long Journey talk about how, like, there are people who are, like, on this earth to do a thing. Like, it is their life's calling to build this company. Whenever I hear that concept, I think of Kavita.
- [29:46]
C
Yeah.
- [29:47]
B
I think I'm really starting to believe Kavita, like, fully. You know what I mean? You have to believe it as a founder, but everyone else has to kind of take it with a grain of salt.
- [29:55]
C
You get it?
- [29:56]
B
Yeah. I don't need a grain of salt anymore.
- [29:58]
C
You're drinking the Kool Aid, too.
- [29:59]
B
Drinking the Kool. Oh, gosh. So many metaphors. Kool Aid and salt.
- [30:04]
C
Ew.
- [30:04]
B
It's an electrolyte. That's what it is, anyway. Holy crap. Could that be our outlier in fund one?
- [30:14]
C
Yeah, it really could.
- [30:17]
B
We decided to follow on and wrote another check out of the pitch fund 1 for 218k alongside long journey and Precursor Ventures. It's our first follow on Check in a Series A round. But to be clear, the round is now closed. No offer to invest in Nectar AI is being made to the listening audience on today's show, but you can invest in the next Kavita by becoming an LP in the Pitch Fund or raising Fund 2 now. Learn more at the Pitch Fund.
- [30:54]
D
This episode was made by josh muccio, lisa muccio, anna ladd and enoch kim with deal sourcing by peter liu, john alvarez and phoebe sun. Music in this episode is by breakmaster cylinder, the muse maker, boxwood orchestra, joya our many stars, carrie haines, memory fields and kevin j. Simon. The pitch is made in partnership with the vox media podcast network.
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Support for the pitch comes from Adobe. For a long time, turning something into a PDF kind of felt like creating a digitized fossil, like you were encasing all your grammar errors in resin for your whole team to see in perpetuity. But what if your PDF was alive? You could engage with it, collaborate through it, and ask it questions with the help of an AI assistant. You could even let your PDF talk to you by turning it into a podcast. With PDF Spaces, your PDFs stay dynamic and alive, letting you do more than you ever thought was possible. Learn more@adobe.com Dothat with Acrobat.