WEBVTT - ICYMI: The New Face of VC

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>In the month of May, Bloomberg News came out and

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<v Speaker 1>said It's never been harder to make it in venture capital.

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<v Speaker 1>This is hundreds of small VC firms struggling to raise

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<v Speaker 1>money in the current market, with the emerging managers seeing

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<v Speaker 1>their total funding in the US declined to about seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>billion dollars last year from sixty four billion in twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one. I will say that's not the case. For

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<v Speaker 1>our next guest, who recently did a fundraise.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm very excited, all right, Well to hear from her, Well,

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<v Speaker 3>let's get to a club.

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<v Speaker 1>Capital is what we're talking about. Actually, a second fund

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<v Speaker 1>was seventy five million in committed capital to invest in

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<v Speaker 1>early stage startups addressing foundational needs across work, healthcare, and

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<v Speaker 1>community infrastructure. And so we want to talk about it

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<v Speaker 1>and see what she's up to. Let's head to Atlanta, Georgia.

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<v Speaker 1>She is the co founder and managing partner of Collab

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<v Speaker 1>Capital jewel Burg Solomon. She was head of Google for

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<v Speaker 1>Startups US, where she created initiatives that deployed over forty

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<v Speaker 1>five million in non dilutive capital to Black and Latino

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<v Speaker 1>led businesses since twenty twenty. Jule, great to have you here.

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<v Speaker 1>You know a lot about getting money into areas, and

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<v Speaker 1>you know startup entrepreneurs who maybe don't find it so

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<v Speaker 1>easy to raise capital. First of all, the fundraise, let's

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<v Speaker 1>go there, because it has been hard to raise money

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<v Speaker 1>in the VC world. How did you do it?

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<v Speaker 4>Certainly, and thanks so much for having me. It was

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<v Speaker 4>not easy.

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<v Speaker 5>It was a little bit challenging, But I think it

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<v Speaker 5>came all together because of relationships and spending a lot

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<v Speaker 5>of time. We spent a lot of time on the

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<v Speaker 5>road meeting with limited partners, getting them excited about our

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<v Speaker 5>vision for shared prosperity and really telling a different story

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<v Speaker 5>about how we're finding incredible entrepreneurs who are building a

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<v Speaker 5>different type of future. And so I think that's what

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<v Speaker 5>what got our limited partners excited. We had a number

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<v Speaker 5>of LPs that were partnered with us in the first fund,

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<v Speaker 5>which was a fifty million dollar fund that we closed

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<v Speaker 5>back in twenty twenty one.

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<v Speaker 4>A number of our LPs.

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<v Speaker 5>Came back to the second fund, and then we welcomed

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<v Speaker 5>some new names as well. So we're really excited to

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<v Speaker 5>now have fresh capital to continue on our journey.

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<v Speaker 3>Because I'm here on the East coast Jewel, I talk

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<v Speaker 3>much more often with private equity people than with VC

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<v Speaker 3>people at a far earlier stage. It's more like one

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<v Speaker 3>in a thousand I know with VC than it is

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<v Speaker 3>with PE. But I'm always excited to hear from VC

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<v Speaker 3>people about their success stories. So, what are some of

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<v Speaker 3>the companies that you've invested in that have really been

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<v Speaker 3>winners for you?

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, So we're still early, so we can't call out

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<v Speaker 5>the winners quite yet because we're still waiting on those

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<v Speaker 5>exits to occur. But we do have some incredibly talented

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<v Speaker 5>and great companies that are on the right trajectory, so

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<v Speaker 5>some that I'll just call out because they're killing it

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<v Speaker 5>right now. We have a company called Reverie, which is

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<v Speaker 5>in the media space, a company called intus Care, which

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<v Speaker 5>is in the healthcare space. Pace in particular for elder

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<v Speaker 5>care technology for elder care facilities. We have a company,

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<v Speaker 5>our only consumer product company, hair Brella.

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<v Speaker 4>They're having a breakout year and all of.

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<v Speaker 5>These companies that I'm mentioning, they're beyond ten million dollars

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<v Speaker 5>in recurring revenue. They're meeting their customers and really having

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<v Speaker 5>a lot of success.

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<v Speaker 3>With hair Brella, that's something I don't have. I think.

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<v Speaker 4>It's for everybody. It's for everyone.

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<v Speaker 5>Something interesting about that business is people when they hear

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<v Speaker 5>the name, they're like, oh, it must just be for women,

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<v Speaker 5>But somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty percent.

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<v Speaker 4>Of her customers are men.

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<v Speaker 5>There's a ton of different products, and it's really reimagining

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<v Speaker 5>headware and rainwear and swim caps.

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<v Speaker 4>And they have all types of products for just about anyone.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and even for kids when it comes to swim caps.

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<v Speaker 1>I am curious how you pick and choose and what

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<v Speaker 1>do you think in terms of the runway to ultimately

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<v Speaker 1>some kind of liquidity event, whether it's an IPO or

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<v Speaker 1>selling it off, Like how long do you foresee that

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<v Speaker 1>you need to be funding Because we do find whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's because of private credit, private equity, there's like a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of money that's been slashing around that it enables

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<v Speaker 1>companies to stay private longer. But having said that, it

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<v Speaker 1>also means you've got to make sure that investors can

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<v Speaker 1>be patient and write it out. So I'm looking at

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what is your runway for us a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of these companies is three to five years? Or how

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<v Speaker 1>are you thinking about it?

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, when we meet companies and underwrite those investments, we're

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<v Speaker 5>typically looking at a ten year time horizon because we're

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<v Speaker 5>investing at the seed stage primarily, and so we're going

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<v Speaker 5>to be with these companies for a long time.

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<v Speaker 4>We're ready for that long haul.

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<v Speaker 5>But we are seeing companies that are really moving quickly

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<v Speaker 5>towards revenues that we think will be will equip them

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<v Speaker 5>to sell. So some of those companies I just mentioned,

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<v Speaker 5>they're well on their way and we expect exits within

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<v Speaker 5>the next three to five years out of majority of

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<v Speaker 5>the portfolio.

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<v Speaker 3>What's the ideal exit look like to you, because again

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<v Speaker 3>in private equity, it's a tough time for exits. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 3>you have ample time to get there since you're looking

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<v Speaker 3>out so far, But what do you want to be doing?

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<v Speaker 3>Do you want to be selling something do you want

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<v Speaker 3>to have an IPO? Has it changed?

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<v Speaker 5>I think because the IPO markets have not been as

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<v Speaker 5>open as we like, you know we are. We are

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<v Speaker 5>really underwriting a number of different potentialities in terms of

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<v Speaker 5>private equity purchasing, strategics purchasing. But for us, we're looking

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<v Speaker 5>at every deal that we do, we want it to

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<v Speaker 5>be capable of returning the fund. So our first fund

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<v Speaker 5>was fifty million, so that means that you know, we're

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<v Speaker 5>investing in companies with the hopes that they will return

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<v Speaker 5>at least fifty million back to the fund. Second fund

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<v Speaker 5>is seventy five million, so that means the bar is

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<v Speaker 5>raised a bit in terms of the deals that we

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<v Speaker 5>will do in that fund. But across the board, we're

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<v Speaker 5>very open to what makes sense for the business and

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<v Speaker 5>really making those strategic partnerships so that we can introduce

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<v Speaker 5>our portfolio companies to the right buyer at the right time.

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<v Speaker 3>You've emphasized that experience on the ground lead to the

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<v Speaker 3>most powerful innovations, and I'm just wondering if you could,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, share an example from your portfolio or from

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<v Speaker 3>your experience where you've seen a mar get kind of

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<v Speaker 3>unlocked or opened.

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<v Speaker 5>Up absolutely one of my favorite examples from the portfolio.

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<v Speaker 5>Another star in the portfolio is a company called Kueleina Health.

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<v Speaker 5>It's founded by a woman who was a registered dietitian,

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<v Speaker 5>Vanessa Rosetto, and she was so close to this problem

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<v Speaker 5>of the fact that your everyday person hasn't historically had

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<v Speaker 5>access to a registered dietitian or nutrition help to help

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<v Speaker 5>them along on their healthcare journey. And so having her

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<v Speaker 5>experience working with patients, she's been able to build an

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<v Speaker 5>incredible company in Kuleina Health, where they are really focused

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<v Speaker 5>on patient outcomes and delivering incredible care to folks along

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<v Speaker 5>their nutrition journey.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, an interesting portfolio of companies. Juli, We've got a run,

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<v Speaker 1>but hopefully we can check in with you soon in

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<v Speaker 1>the future Again. Jul Burke Solomon. She's co founder and

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<v Speaker 1>managing partner of Collab Capital, joining us. I love the

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<v Speaker 1>VC world. I love the idea in terms of you

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<v Speaker 1>get kind of clues of what's to come. Maybe me too.

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<v Speaker 3>I think it's and also your bets that are winners

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<v Speaker 3>pay off big.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, right, but you got to make a lot of bets.

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