In Magic 8 Ball with Melissa and Micaela, RevUp Capital’s Melissa Withers and Micaela Kamp dig into the messy reality of early-stage investing and biz building when the rules are changing faster than the playbooks. These quick-fire convos are an honest window into the decisions, tradeoffs, and hard truths they’ve learned after a decade working across 70+ companies. There are no easy answers, and when they can’t figure it out, the Magic 8 Ball has the final say. More About RevUp Capital RevUp Capital invests in B2B and B2C companies that are revenue-driven and ready to double down on growth. We deploy cash and capacity to help companies grow from $1-3M to $10-30M, quickly and efficiently, using a revenue-based model. Companies enter our portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue, a strong growth rate, and a team that’s ready to scale. Our typical investment range is $300K-$500K. More at www.revupfund.com
Conventional wisdom holds that investors must choose between profit and purpose. Aim for impact or returns. We built RevUp to do both. In this episode, we riff on what impact means at RevUp and why pursuing purpose alongside profit just makes good business sense.
22 May 2026
The Job No One Wanted: Building Authenticity in the Age of AI
No one listens to a logo. Founders are under incredible pressure to build founder-forward visibility and content whether they like the spotlight or not. Thanks for nothing, AI. In this episode, M&M explore the authenticity problems that come with the advent of AI, break down why the need for trust keeps rising, and how building a founder-led brand has become a vital business function.
22 May 2026
Skimpwrecked: How Cutting the Wrong Corners Can Sink a Company
Cutting the wrong corners to save cash kills companies. In this episode, we stare into the abyss of what happens when a company "skimpwrecks" itself into oblivion. When it comes to building authenticity in the age of AI, staying genuinely close to customers, and keeping a company’s experimental muscle strong, investing isn’t optional. It is necessary.
22 May 2026
Going Fast vs. Going Forward
When founders feel stuck, their first instinct is to crave speed. But moving faster in the wrong direction will only make matters worse. In this episode, we talk about what happens when founders confuse momentum with alignment, how misalignment can become a quiet crisis, and the questions we need to ask when things feel off but we may not be sure why.
22 May 2026
Experimentation as a Strategic Weapon
Most founders think experimenting is what you do when something breaks or you don’t know which way to move. In this episode, we dive into why building an experimentation engine—one that hums with activity all the time— is one of the most important growth levers an early stage company has.
22 May 2026
Capital Is a Tool, Not a Tribe
Most founders are taught to think about capital as a single decision — raise or don't raise. In this episode, we break down why that framing is a fallacy. We riff on what a real capital strategy looks like and how a poorly designed capital stack is one ghost you don’t want to be haunted by.
22 May 2026
Being Broke ≠ Capital Efficient
"Capital efficient" gets tossed around like word salad. What does it actually mean? In this episode, M&M break down why being broke and being capital efficient are not the same thing and how getting it wrong can kill a company.
22 May 2026
More Bun than Beef: The Equity vs Non-Equity Debate
When we talk about early stage funding, the “Equity vs Non-Equity” debate comes fully loaded: choose once, choose wisely. This manufactured conflict is a false binary. Nearly all companies use multiple kinds of capital across time. Why then do we still depict capital strategy as a high noon duel, with choices bearing down on us from the barrel of a gun? Because investors benefit more from tension than from truth.
22 May 2026
Curiosity as an Early-Stage Superpower
What separates founders who skillfully navigate uncertainty from those who get stuck? Micaela Kamp knows: curiosity. Not as just a personality trait, but as a discipline. In this episode, we break down how asking better questions unlocks smarter decisions, builds stronger teams, and clears the path forward, even when you don't have all the answers.
22 May 2026
The Shrinking Half-Life of Everything
In this episode, M&M go down the rabbit hole on the shrinking half-life of everything. Change is nothing new. But never has the utility of a model or framework been so short lived. Business models, tech models, value delivery models, and buyer behaviors that work today can become obsolete tomorrow. If the half-life of everything is shrinking, what are founders and investors optimizing for? What do we believe will actually increase, rather than decrease, in value over time? What does it mean to “scale” when tactics and operating apparatus may only be useful for the blink of an eye. Maybe the magic 8 ball can help us figure it out.
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