WORK Net/Net: Always Be Closing - Work with Erika Ayers Badan

Summary

WORK Podcast: Net/Net – "Always Be Closing"
Host: Erika Ayers Badan
Release Date: February 8, 2026
Episode Theme: The Art and Fundamentals of Fundraising and Selling

Overview

In this Net/Net episode of the WORK Podcast, Erika Ayers Badan dives into the essentials of raising capital—whether for billion-dollar funds or new business ideas. Drawing on insights from investment legend David Rubenstein, her own war stories, and lessons learned, Erika distills what it really takes to "always be closing" in fundraising, sales, and partnerships. The conversation blends big-league finance perspectives with practical advice for anyone looking to pitch, persuade, and bring bold visions to life at any scale.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Foundation of Capital Raising and Selling (00:25–01:23)

Erika kicks off by summarizing David Rubenstein’s approach to raising capital at Carlyle, noting the universality of sales skills.
Rubenstein’s Core Principles:
- Build trust and credibility (“knowing what you’re talking about”).
- Be persistent and always follow up.
- Develop a strong track record – “if you don’t have a good track record, you can’t sell almost anything.”
- Create multiple products to give investors different options, leveraging a strong brand across funds.
- Expand globally and localize your pitch.

2. Translating Big Money Lessons to Everyday Deals (01:24–03:45)

Erika relates Rubenstein’s strategies to her experiences outside the world of billion-dollar funds.
Timeless Fundamentals:
- “The basics of it are really the same,” Erika says—even when pitching different types of deals (from strategic partnerships to advertising to new ventures).
- Main ingredients for any pitch or partnership:
  - Initiative—“Go sit in the room, go be with the person, go look at someone face to face.”
  - Construct a logical, compelling story that shows value for them, not just for you.
  - Shape your pitch to solve their problems.
Memorable Anecdote:
- Erika describes furiously building a pitch deck in the back of a plane, connecting the experience to “old school” hustle: “I think I will die writing a deck on an airplane...”

3. Pitching with Empathy and Vision (03:45–05:22)

Vision Building:
- “You have to create the vision in someone else’s eyes and in someone else’s image.” (Erika, 02:22)
She cautions against pitches focused only on self-interest; instead, anchor the narrative in your audience’s goals and challenges.
Give real examples: Erika outlines how after meeting a prospective partner, she created a custom deck of “10 ideas that could be great for this company”—focused on their pain points, not just a standard sales push.
Following up quickly and thoughtfully sets you apart: “Most other people in that room did not come up with a pitch the next day after they left the meeting...” (Erika, 05:01)

4. Relentlessness, Curiosity, and the Underdog Advantage (05:22–End)

Proactive Strategy:
- Be relentless, follow up persistently, and be genuinely present for opportunities.
- Dig for insight wherever possible—sometimes you need money, sometimes a new ad deal, sometimes something as simple as advice or structure.
- Erika contrasts her style (“chasing ideas and potential deals”) with a newly hired CFO/CEO’s preference for predictability and order, highlighting the need to know your strengths in fundraising and partnerships.
Personal Story:
- She shares her “harebrained idea” about building something in the Middle East for women—a pitch that hasn’t succeeded yet, “but could it, and someday will it? Yeah, probably it will.” (Erika, approx. 06:15)
Be Yourself and Use Your Niche:
- Celebrates Rubenstein’s strategy of capitalizing on unique market knowledge (the government for Carlyle) and draws comparison to her own world:
  “We get the Internet, we get communities, we get real people, we get little c creators in a way that no traditional media company is going to get.” (Erika, approx. 06:50)
- Underdogs and nimble players can win—especially in technology and new media.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

Persistence and Track Record:

“Persistence, follow up is always key. And just trying to have a good track record, too. If you don’t have a good track record, you can’t sell almost anything.”
— David Rubenstein (00:57)
Universal Fundamentals:

“The basics of it are really the same…We’re looking to tell a story and we’re looking to share a value proposition and we’re looking to set a vision for what we think could be created by acquiring capital from a company or…furthering a commercial relationship with someone.”
— Erika Ayers Badan (01:31)
Empathy in Pitching:

“You have to set the vision of what this could be, but you have to create the vision in someone else’s eyes and in someone else’s image…You really have to create a vision that works for someone else. It solves a problem that someone else has.”
— Erika Ayers Badan (02:22)
Action and Initiative:

“Go sit in the room, go be with the person, go look at someone face to face. Like, get on the plane, pick up the phone, take the initiative.”
— Erika Ayers Badan (03:00)
Creative Follow-up:

“…It wasn’t a sales pitch…It was more about, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about your business, I’m thinking about what your marketing challenges are. I have a huge amount of passion for your product. I know how to do something…that’s relevant. Let me just put it out there and let’s see where it goes.’”
— Erika Ayers Badan (04:35)
Underdog Advantage:

“…There’s so many rooms for an underdog and an underdog looking to build something I think is the most exciting place to work.”
— Erika Ayers Badan (07:10)

Segment Timestamps

Introduction & Episode Setup – 00:00–00:24
David Rubenstein on Capital Raising – 00:25–01:24
Erika’s Take: Fundamentals of Fundraising & Selling – 01:24–03:45
Vision and Empathy in the Pitch – 03:45–05:22
Persistence, Initiative, and Underdog Energy – 05:22–End

Summary Takeaway

Whether you’re raising billions, selling a partnership, or trying to land your next job, Erika and her guest remind us that the art of the deal is rooted in timeless fundamentals: proactive outreach, authentic storytelling, putting yourself in others’ shoes, relentless follow-up, and leveraging your unique perspective. The episode is a funny, direct, and practical masterclass in "always be closing"—with a strong underdog spirit and more than a little airplane hustle.

For more, follow Erika at erikaayersbadan.substack.com and join the "Work like a Girl" community for idea sharing and networking.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Welcome back to work. I have the tireds. I just got off a red eye and I just feel like I've been running around nonstop. Anyways, here we are. This is a net Net episode. We're excited for you to listen to it. Net Net is where we talk about topics related to work in the news. And this one is about fundraising. So let's get into it. Network.

B (0:25)

What makes you such a great capital raiser? 1 and 2, what gave you the idea to be a visionary, to go across the pond and RA for Carlyle? Well, you could argue that maybe I couldn't get any investors in the United States. I had to go overseas. Now what happened was I came up with an idea that wasn't going to win a Nobel Prize, but the idea was we could build a private equity firm based in Washington, which was not seen as a capital center. And I could do it by saying we understand companies heavily affected by the federal government better than the guys in New York. But if you were in the mutual fund business, for example, you could have mutual fund A or B or C or D under fidelity, you have 90 different opportunities. I thought I could do the same in private equity. Have a buyout fund, a venture fund, a growth capital fund, a real estate fund. And the theory was if you liked our brand name, you give us a chance and all these other things. And then I decided to globalize it by setting up partnerships in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and so forth. And the key is being polite, knowing what you're talking about. Persistence, follow up is always key. And just trying to have a good track record too. If you don't have a good track record, you can't sell almost anything.

A (1:24)

I love it. Look, I've never worked at a VC or private equity company, so I think that, you know, the type of money he's talking about raising is, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars or billions of dollars from really, really big places. But what I like about what David Rubenstein has to say is like, it's just the basics of selling. The fundamentals are always the same. Like if you look, I spent two weeks ago in the middle seat in the back of a plane writing a PowerPoint deck or Google Slides deck. And I was like, oh my God, I'm back to like 1998 right now. Like, this is literally been doing this for 100 years. Like, I think I will die writing a deck of an airplane to like the middle of some country somewhere. But anyways, I hope not. But anyways, I think the basics of it are really the same. So, you know, in our case, we're looking to tell a story and we're looking to share a value proposition and we're looking to set a vision for what we think could be created by acquiring capital from a company or developing a street strategic partnership or furthering a commercial relationship with someone. And I think, I think the thing that people miss sometimes is that you have to set the vision of what this could be, but you have to create the vision in someone else's eyes and in someone else's image. It can't just be your vision of why it's good for you or why it helps your company or why it's in your self interest. You really have to create a vision that works for someone else. It solves a problem that someone else has. Whether I'm meeting 3M in Minnesota, I'm having a conversation at a conference in Toronto, or I'm having a discussion in Los Angeles with a strategic partner, it's really all the same thing, which is one, it's the initiative to like, go sit in the room, go be with the person, go look at someone face to face. Like, get on the plane, pick up the phone, take the initiative. Like, that's the first biggest piece. I think the second biggest piece is constructing a story that's logical and compelling. It's not like a bunch of buzzwordy strategery vapid. Like it's actually valuable, it's actually insightful, it's actually relevant and then shaping it in a way where you are creating value for someone else. Like you're provoking a conversation in the case of a conference, or you are providing insight into what the creator economy looks like, which is what was happening in Minnesota. Or you're explaining why digital is going to be the future and how social media is a monetization tool as much as it is a marketing tool and how companies need to think about that differently and how your company, in this case, our company, has expertise in doing that. I think those things are just really foundational and fundamental. You got to follow up. The funny thing that happened after I went to the company in the Midwest is I was like, you know what? I'm motivated by this company. I liked the people I met there. I loved what they were about. I'm a personal fan of their products. And I went home and was like, I'm going to write a presentation about 10 ideas that could be great for this company. I'm going to get a meeting six days after I was there, like, hey, next week let's sit down. Let me show you my ideas. I positioned the ideas based on what I had heard. Their challenges were it wasn't a sales pitch. It wasn't like, you gotta buy this right now and there's X amount of impressions or Y amount of cost. It was more about, hey, I'm thinking about your business, I'm thinking about what your marketing challenges are. I have a huge amount of passion for your product. I know how to do something, or we know how to do something that's relevant. Let me just put it out there and let's see where it goes. And I think a lot of fundraising and sales and partnership development is like that. It's going out on a limb with a big idea or a concept and just making it happen and being persistent. He's exactly right. Like, being persistent, being proactive with the follow up to get it to a place where I know something is going to happen. Maybe it's not one my crazy ideas, maybe it's something else altogether. But I know that most other people in that room did not come up with a pitch the next day after they left the meeting and show it to them a week later and push to get something, a further conversation beyond that. And I think that's part of strategy. It's just like, how do you glean insights from every place you can? Maybe you need money, maybe you need ad deals, maybe you need resources, maybe you need structure. And one of the things that's taken me a lot of time to learn here is that, like, that's what I want to be doing. Like, we just brought on a CFO CEO. Like, that lady wants to just like, be in the numbers. She wants to be predictable. She wants to look at the same thing every day. She wants it done a certain way. She wants it the trains on time. She wants no frills. Like, I love that. I'm like, I need that. I don't want to do that. I want to go see what all these other things can look like. And the other thing I think you heard in the Carlisle piece is just the curiosity, you know, Like, I had a harebrained idea with TCG like 6 months ago where I'm like, God, I could build like something really interesting in the Middle East. Like, I'd love to do that. Maybe I'll move to the Middle east for a year and see what I could create and do something for women. And, you know, like, and we created the pitch and, you know, I think it hasn't gone anywhere, but could it and someday will It, Yeah, probably it will. And I think that's the big piece of it is put yourself out there, put yourself in other people's shoes, create something of value and something compelling. Follow up, be proactive, be relentless on it, like be present to it and then follow the paths where they lead you. And I think that's a big secret to fundraising, which is you have to want to do that and you can be yourself, you can be human in the process. I loved how he said he built a capital company in D.C. cause he's like, we get the government and the New York guys don't get the government. Say shit like that all day long. I'm like, we get the Internet, we get communities, we get real people, we get little C creators in a way that no traditional media company is going to get. They said the same, different pitch, but same concept at Barstool. And that's what's, I think really exciting about this time and space and just technology and the Internet in general, which is there's so many rooms for an underdog and an underdog looking to build something I think is the most exciting place to work. That's it for Net Net. Thank you for listening to work. We have all sorts of different chapters that you can listen to. You can find me on substack, you can find me Erica on Instagram, orika underscore on TikTok. You can follow the great ones, Play Hurt on substack. And I think that's enough. Work like a girl. You can join Work like a girl if you want to create a community of people thinking about ideas and celebrating people and doing a lot, a lot, a lot of events.