Ask any Black founder how they funded their business, and you rarely get a simple answer. Grants pieced together with angel investment, a bank loan that took months to land, a VC round that meant pitching twice as hard, or building slowly with no outside capital. This session brings the founder and funder perspectives together to talk honestly about the path to funding a scaling business, how to make the right choices at the right time, and what improves your odds. Whether you’re bootstrapped, backed, or somewhere in between, if you’ve been weighing up how to access funding to reach your next level of scale, this session offers practical guidance to sharpen your approach.