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Speaker 1: Afro Tech twenty nineteen, Oakland, California. Charles Susson is managing

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Speaker 1: partner at Precursor Ventures, and he and I are talking

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Speaker 1: in an afro tech lounge about investing at early stages.

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Speaker 1: He dropped some knowledge about startup geography. In essence to

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Speaker 1: find success as a startup, where did you need to

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Speaker 1: be located? I think the landscape is changing a lot.

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Speaker 1: One of the hardest questions I could ask, because my

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Speaker 1: investors say, well, how many of your companies are in

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Speaker 1: Silicon Valley? And I go, what depends on what you mean.

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Speaker 1: We have companies where the management team and the senior

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Speaker 1: executives lives in Silicon Valley. But engineering has done in Russia,

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Speaker 1: Engineering has done in Denver, engineering has done in Mexico.

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Speaker 1: Is that a Mexican company? Is that a Silicon Valley company?

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Speaker 1: Is that an international company? We have a couple of

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Speaker 1: fully remote companies. I don't know how to classify those.

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Speaker 1: What I will say is, if you're a company that's

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Speaker 1: looking for specialty talent like AI mL search, the valley

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Speaker 1: is a great place to be. If you're one of

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Speaker 1: the most prominent companies in the world, the valley is

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Speaker 1: a great place to be, and if you really need

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Speaker 1: to be close to Capital Valley is a great place

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Speaker 1: to be. Otherwise, there's many many other places you can

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Speaker 1: work right now. Precursor about of our portfolio companies are

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Speaker 1: in New York City, which I think is the other

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Speaker 1: hub where you can really build something amazing. Today I'm

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Speaker 1: Will Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green Money. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna insw this you to some of the biggest names,

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Speaker 1: some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. If you're

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Speaker 1: black in building or simply using tech to secure your bag,

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Speaker 1: this podcast is for you. Harold uses founder and CEO

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Speaker 1: at Bandwagon, in analytics company that uses data and proprietary

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Speaker 1: blockchain technology to help teams and event organizers eliminate ticket

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Speaker 1: fraud and increase fan engagement. As Harold about the idea

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Speaker 1: that while there are in a whole lot of black

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Speaker 1: people in Silicon Valley, there's a ton of us working

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Speaker 1: to build tech startups wherever we at. So if you're

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Speaker 1: black and looking to the tech company, should you be

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Speaker 1: looking to move to the Bay Area, I wouldn't think so.

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Speaker 1: Whatever I'm in Silicon Valley, I'm normally meeting up with

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Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs who came from somewhere else, right, And so

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Speaker 1: I think that when you look at it that way,

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Speaker 1: black founders maybe tourists in Silicon Valley, but the places

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Speaker 1: that we're building, the places that we're really taking the

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Speaker 1: resources that we have and pushing them back into our

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Speaker 1: community is outside of Silicon Valley. So I would definitely

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Speaker 1: think that, uh, there are a lot of other places

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Speaker 1: for black founders to be building, and I'm decited that

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Speaker 1: you know, we're seeing more of that today. So let's

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Speaker 1: let's talk about that. Because for startups building in communities

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Speaker 1: that don't have huge you know, tech ecosystems, which are

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Speaker 1: a lot of the places we come from. You know,

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Speaker 1: not all of us are in Miami, not all of

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Speaker 1: us are in Austin, not all of us are in Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: How do we as black founders engage uh those resources

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Speaker 1: to be able to build our startups when we were

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Speaker 1: not in those dense places for technology startups particularly, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think that it's really important to realize what resources

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Speaker 1: and tools we have. I started my company in Greenville,

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Speaker 1: South Carolina, and I could do the whole like what

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Speaker 1: was me? There's no one here with money or um

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Speaker 1: the challenges that exist for black founders raising, but instead

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Speaker 1: I leaned into the resources that I had. I was

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Speaker 1: fortunate to be able to have access to Twitter. I

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Speaker 1: was able to leverage my LinkedIn network. From the social

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Speaker 1: capital standpoint, as, I do think that you know, while

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Speaker 1: physical communities still look different than they do and some

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Speaker 1: of these more capital intensive or even the talent ecosystems

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Speaker 1: and hubs that we see in Austin in the Valley,

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Speaker 1: I do think that the Internet has allowed more of

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Speaker 1: us to be connected and sharing of resources. And so today,

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Speaker 1: if you're a black entrepreneur, I would encourage you to

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Speaker 1: think about how you can build your team wherever you

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Speaker 1: find that talent, and how you can get capital wherever

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Speaker 1: that investor is. And I think the smart investors will

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Speaker 1: recognize what makes more sense for you to have a

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Speaker 1: office in Detroit or St. Louis or another city than

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Speaker 1: paying two and three and four times rent in Silicon

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Speaker 1: Valley or Austin and New York City. So I do

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Speaker 1: think that there's a new move and a doing way

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Speaker 1: for the black founders building. So when I really got

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Speaker 1: into technology UM several years ago, it was people like

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Speaker 1: Paul Graham who were the people who disseminated you know,

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Speaker 1: technological education, right and and as you know, and as

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Speaker 1: many people know, at least more today than they did

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Speaker 1: eight years ago, the way Silicon Valley does investing is

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Speaker 1: not the way investing is done in South Carolina, and

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Speaker 1: it's not the way investing is done in Detroit. However,

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Speaker 1: most of the education we've gotten has come out of

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Speaker 1: Silicon Valley. And so how do black startups and black investors,

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Speaker 1: because black investors have to be trained in how to

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Speaker 1: invest in technology? Also, how do where do we go

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Speaker 1: to get the best investment advice and how to invest

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Speaker 1: in black startups? Because you know, I can imagine that

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Speaker 1: we would get this way this way by investing in

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Speaker 1: black starticules when the failure rate is incredible no matter

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Speaker 1: whether you're investing in a black startup or a white startup.

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Speaker 1: But how do you first education and you know, build

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Speaker 1: that risk appetite that you're gonna lose a little bit

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Speaker 1: before you might find that when unless you find it

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Speaker 1: super early. Yeah, I think that these days you lose

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Speaker 1: and learn a lot faster. And I say lose and

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Speaker 1: learns and lose money and learn faster. Uh. We think

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Speaker 1: about the changes that have happened with equity crowdfunding. You

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Speaker 1: can be a person who says I want to start

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Speaker 1: investing in early stage startups and go on a platform

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Speaker 1: like Republic and be able to see the financials, the vision,

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Speaker 1: the product roadmap, the team of a company. You see,

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Speaker 1: the cap, you see all these different things. You can

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Speaker 1: decide is this company worth a hundred dollars a thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars of my hard earned money? And I think that

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Speaker 1: the democratization and access of um those types of deals

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Speaker 1: for investors is a great learning and on ramp part.

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Speaker 1: So I'll definitely start there and saying that some of

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Speaker 1: the best education that I've had, whether it's my you know,

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Speaker 1: traditional education like college or in this startup world, and

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Speaker 1: what I'm doing now, if you when I put my

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Speaker 1: money out there and committed it to the process done

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Speaker 1: on top of it. I do think that there is

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Speaker 1: a huge I guess we'd call it a gap in

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Speaker 1: the willingness to learn, in the comfort in being vulnerable.

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Speaker 1: And I think that it's really important for us as

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Speaker 1: black people to make sure that we're okay saying that

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Speaker 1: we don't know something and we're okay with the person

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Speaker 1: willing to treat, you know, teach us. And I think

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Speaker 1: the challenge there's, you know, that you've got to figure

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Speaker 1: out the pride side of it. I'm really really comfortable

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Speaker 1: telling people who what I don't know, and that helps

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Speaker 1: people want to help me. Some people aren't really interested

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Speaker 1: in that, and that makes a little bit harder for

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Speaker 1: people who want to help them. And so I think

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Speaker 1: that from a knowledge standpoint, everyone who wants to learn

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Speaker 1: this stuff is able to in these ways, but we've

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Speaker 1: got to find out where the resources are. I think

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Speaker 1: that equity crowd funding platforms have found a way to

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Speaker 1: allow people to learn, uh, making smaller, smaller and smaller

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Speaker 1: bets these days. But also, you know, I tell everyone,

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Speaker 1: if you haven't read Venture Deals and you're playing to

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Speaker 1: either raise money or write a check, you should read it.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a great start. I think Jason Calacanis

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Speaker 1: is a good book called Angels. It's on angel investing.

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Speaker 1: So those are two there. But even to that point,

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Speaker 1: and it's something that I've been thinking about a lot,

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Speaker 1: is that there's this concept where the rules that those

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Speaker 1: guys are writing about aren't really easy for us to apply, uh.

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Speaker 1: And so I think it's really one of the things

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Speaker 1: where on top of those great resources, I kind of

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Speaker 1: pointed out, we do also have to have conversations with

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Speaker 1: other people who are a step ahead of us on

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Speaker 1: how we get there, and those of us who have

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Speaker 1: made that you know, you know, modicum of success have

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Speaker 1: to be willing to share how we got there with

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Speaker 1: other people to help them also get there and find

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Speaker 1: their way. So so that was from the investive perspective.

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Speaker 1: From the startup perspective, you talk you had a blog

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Speaker 1: post where you talked about, um, you had a hundred

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Speaker 1: forty one knows before you got an investor who who

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Speaker 1: said yes? And I wonder, you know, not being in

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Speaker 1: a place like Silicon Valley, not being in the dense

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Speaker 1: startup ecosystems, particularly a startup capital ecosystem, how come you

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Speaker 1: didn't you know, been to the way and saying, you

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Speaker 1: know what, maybe I'm in the wrong place geographically, maybe

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Speaker 1: I need to move. But instead you did something else

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Speaker 1: Like number one, how did you not get into that,

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Speaker 1: you know, thinking pitfall? But number two like what did

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Speaker 1: you do to in order to to get a hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty two and not give up? Yeah? For me,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing was understanding you know what I was

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Speaker 1: trying to build, and part of my journey was letting

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Speaker 1: people know you can build wherever you are with what

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Speaker 1: you have. And so, yes, it probably would have been

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Speaker 1: easier to pick up and go to one of these

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Speaker 1: more dense cities, and that would have probably changed the

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Speaker 1: impact or at least the trajectory in the early rounds.

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Speaker 1: But I think that there's a lot of people who

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Speaker 1: are still in that situation wherever they are, and they

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Speaker 1: don't have the mobility, and I think it's unfortunate for

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Speaker 1: the one playbook to be well, if you just leave

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Speaker 1: that situation, then you can have better success. I think that, um,

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Speaker 1: I'm incredibly privileged. I've got several college degrees, married to

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Speaker 1: a great and supportive partner that has helped provide for

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Speaker 1: our households. We're able to take some risks that a

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Speaker 1: lot of folks don't have those types of privileges and

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Speaker 1: benefits to acknowledge that. And I think that when you

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Speaker 1: were in a position of privilege and you have that

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Speaker 1: amount of power and that opportunity, it is your responsibility

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you try the harder way so

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Speaker 1: that other people can see how they can do it.

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Speaker 1: And and that's where I think one of the biggest

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Speaker 1: things isn't into your point to keeping going. It was

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Speaker 1: really just understanding that I knew what we were doing.

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Speaker 1: I just knew there was a numbers game. This is

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Speaker 1: just math, and I know that everyone every you know,

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Speaker 1: great company we hear of today, lots of people have

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Speaker 1: said no to lots of people thought it wouldn't work.

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Speaker 1: And I think that that's part of the nuance um

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Speaker 1: and startup is that, uh, it may seem obvious once

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Speaker 1: you get going, but it's harder to seem obviously in

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Speaker 1: the beginning. And that when you're making an investment as

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Speaker 1: an investor, oftentimes you don't have a bunch of revenue

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Speaker 1: or a bunch of customers to evaluate your betting on

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Speaker 1: the grit of that founder, of their passion, how dogged

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Speaker 1: they're going to be about trying to solve this problem

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Speaker 1: and the market and seeing the direction of it. And

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Speaker 1: so I think that as an investor you can look

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Speaker 1: at those things. But for me, as a founder, I

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Speaker 1: was really just understanding that this is a numbers game,

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Speaker 1: that knows are part of the process, and I can

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Speaker 1: learn on how to iterate my story to better prepare

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Speaker 1: myself for that opportunity when it came, you know. But

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Speaker 1: then sometimes it's the wrong founder matched to the wrong idea.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the bad a bad you know, growth trajectory

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Speaker 1: so far, and sometimes it is other things. And I

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Speaker 1: wonder your perspective on I start a validation and how

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Speaker 1: how to do this? Because you've been UM and you've

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Speaker 1: been enrolled and graduated from or come through certain programs

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Speaker 1: like and I have a list here like Founder Institute, Greenville,

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Speaker 1: UM Capital Factory UH in Augue where one of the

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Speaker 1: inaugural companies in Google for startups, Black Founders, Exchange, IBM S,

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Speaker 1: Blockchain Accelerator, and UM so many And I wonder because

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Speaker 1: there's so many black startups who apply to these programs

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Speaker 1: and don't get in, and like, what have you found?

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Speaker 1: Is like one of the reasons one of the biggest

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Speaker 1: reasons why people don't get it, is it because they're

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Speaker 1: bad idea? What is it? So I'll talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit on what you started with. Is this founder market fit,

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Speaker 1: which is something I don't think most people talk about.

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Speaker 1: Everyone talks about product market fit, And it's not that

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Speaker 1: you have revenues that you've got predictable revenue, you know

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Speaker 1: how to get more of it? Founder market fit is

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Speaker 1: are you the right person to be solving this problem?

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Speaker 1: And I do think that oftentimes black founders get pitched in,

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Speaker 1: uh pigeonholed into this section where it's like, what we

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Speaker 1: want you to solve black problems. We don't want you

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Speaker 1: solving like universal problems. And I think that's part of

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Speaker 1: the challenge is that you know, naturally we as people

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Speaker 1: want to solve our own problems, and if our problems

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Speaker 1: as black people have been ignored by many, many groups,

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Speaker 1: then we said, well, dang, if they're not solving it,

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Speaker 1: we got to solve it for ourselves. Marry that with

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Speaker 1: the adoptions of Shark Tank and all these other new

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Speaker 1: um um TV shows and programming and tech crunching, all

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Speaker 1: these things that glorify entrepreneurship. You've got black people who

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Speaker 1: have seen their problems be ignored, so they start out

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Speaker 1: to solve it for themselves. And then now they're trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out how they can turn this into a

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Speaker 1: big business because they've got the entrepreneurial bug and the

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Speaker 1: challenges that sometimes that problem, you know, solution to my

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Speaker 1: problem that helps me isn't scalable to an entire market

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Speaker 1: when you're talking to a person across the table that

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Speaker 1: doesn't understand the market dynamics or doesn't understand how this

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Speaker 1: goes from being just for black folks to everyone. And

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Speaker 1: so I think when we're talking about the types of

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Speaker 1: businesses you know, I know that there was a great

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Speaker 1: sentiment last year. I think it was Tiffany bell Um

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Speaker 1: from UM the Water Company, and I really think about

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Speaker 1: as she talked about you know, hire and wire, like

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Speaker 1: we need we need less mentorship. I think Monique talked

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Speaker 1: about that we're over mentored and underfunded. But I think

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Speaker 1: that the thing is is that there's still a mentoring gap,

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Speaker 1: like please don't stop mentoring us. And I say that

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Speaker 1: to to not just you know, non black people, but

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Speaker 1: the black people continue to mentor because there is a gap,

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Speaker 1: and we do have to acknowledge that that gap exists

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Speaker 1: and that we need to find ways to to fill

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Speaker 1: it up. So I think that when you look at

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Speaker 1: some of these you know programs, you know again, I was,

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Speaker 1: I was hell is surprised. I got into the Google

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Speaker 1: for Starters program back in UM. But it's really interesting

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Speaker 1: to see like, yeah, we were building out a company

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Speaker 1: that was gonna work for everybody. And I think that

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Speaker 1: when you talk about we're gonna build a black version

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Speaker 1: of X, and it's like, well, well, what happens when

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Speaker 1: X just decides to do a better job catering to

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Speaker 1: the community. And that's where I see some of the

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Speaker 1: challenges that exists in some of these ideas. So, so

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Speaker 1: is it that you don't get excited when you see

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Speaker 1: we're building the black version of this thing or what? Definitely, Oh,

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Speaker 1: I definitely don't get excited about that because I think

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Speaker 1: that to either to knock off. So what happens if

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Speaker 1: there's a second black person that comes in and says, well,

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Speaker 1: we're building the black version of this. I think at

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Speaker 1: one point there was, um, there were two different types

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Speaker 1: of airbnbs. Uh, there were two different versions like black Airbnb,

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Speaker 1: and I remember both of them were out at the

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Speaker 1: same time, and I'm just like, there's a black Uber version.

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Speaker 1: There was a black person and that there was a

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Speaker 1: black version for Uber and this and that, and I

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Speaker 1: was just like, all right, y'all. So if the if

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Speaker 1: the differentiator is just that it's just not enough, especially

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Speaker 1: if you're looking at it from an investor standpoint, it's

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Speaker 1: like that's not enough. And because I mean this may

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Speaker 1: be more controversial, is that I don't know that the consumer,

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Speaker 1: the average black consumer, is willing to change their spending

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Speaker 1: habits and their decision making to solely buy black from

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Speaker 1: some of these products and services. So they may buy

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Speaker 1: it when they can, or they may buy it prioritizing

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Speaker 1: certain things like I believe black you know, as black people,

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Speaker 1: we love black barbershops, Like, I don't think that that's

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Speaker 1: going to be disrupted, you know, in some major way.

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Speaker 1: But I think that the same reason you don't see

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Speaker 1: that there's not a black Twitter, Black Twitter likes being

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Speaker 1: as part of the entire Twitter, and we just have

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Speaker 1: our community that we rock and we roll when we

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Speaker 1: do our thing. And so I think that when you

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Speaker 1: try and segment it down into these these groups, I

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Speaker 1: think it's harder for everyone else to get involved because

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Speaker 1: at that point it's just like, well, how do you

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Speaker 1: differentiate yourself and how does this scale? And that's the

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Speaker 1: thing I think is a big challenge for any of

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Speaker 1: these businesses, and whether you're targeting any particular group, just

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Speaker 1: you've got to figure that out. Now. In the case

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Speaker 1: of like take face Book, for example, they were saying

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Speaker 1: we're going to just target college students, and that was

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Speaker 1: what they went in at. And they said, okay, and

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, we're gonna start a college

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Speaker 1: route to Harvard, that's where we started, but then we're

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Speaker 1: gonna rent and repeat this for these other groups. For

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Speaker 1: a company to start off saying we're gonna focus on

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Speaker 1: uh Airbnb for for for black people, you would need

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Speaker 1: to be able to articulate this is just the beach

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Speaker 1: at product. This is just the entry point. From there,

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Speaker 1: we're going to be able to rance, repeat and apply

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Speaker 1: this across other groups and other sectors. And I think

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Speaker 1: that's really where the differentiator is when it comes to

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Speaker 1: starting out that niche. I love that. I love that.

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Speaker 1: And when we talked about, you know, founder market fit,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about product market fit for a second. And

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Speaker 1: how important um because we think about sales often, we

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Speaker 1: think about user acquisition, but I want to talk about community.

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Speaker 1: How important is building community to a startup success. I

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Speaker 1: think it's huge. I think if you have the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to have community or distribution or a great product, it

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Speaker 1: may be a really tough decision to decide between community,

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Speaker 1: and distribution. I don't think product is the number one

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Speaker 1: thing you choose for. If you add in, you know,

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Speaker 1: funding or community, I think it's a tough decision because

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Speaker 1: when it comes to community, and we're not talking about followers,

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Speaker 1: followers is not the same as community. When you've got

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Speaker 1: communities bidirectional, you've got engagement, it's multidirectional. They're connecting with

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Speaker 1: each other. And I think that the value of community

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Speaker 1: that we're seeing across all these different types of platforms

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Speaker 1: that are popping up now and really sustaining is the

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Speaker 1: fact that you can bring community everywhere. I'm a big

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Speaker 1: sports fan. They always say, you know, defense travels if

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Speaker 1: you're a good defensive team, defense travels. When it comes

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Speaker 1: to community, community travels, and you if you build up

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Speaker 1: a trusted brand. And that's the thing I love about

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Speaker 1: product market fit when you think about it. Oftentimes founders

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Speaker 1: will go in and say, oh, we've got these seven

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Speaker 1: revenue models or these seven revenue streams, and we've got

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Speaker 1: all these different ways we can make money. And I

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Speaker 1: want to encourage them to say, start with one thing.

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Speaker 1: Start with the one thing that people are willing to

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Speaker 1: pay you for, and really understand who that group is,

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Speaker 1: it's going to pay you. And once you figure about

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Speaker 1: who that group is and you build brand equity and

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Speaker 1: trust with them, learn more about the things that are

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Speaker 1: adjacent to the product or service you're already delivering, and

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Speaker 1: then see if that group of people will trust your

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Speaker 1: brand to deliver that set of things. And so that's

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Speaker 1: where you talk about the value of community. Once you

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Speaker 1: define product market fit and achieve that, that allows you

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Speaker 1: to continue to expand. And you're seeing several different organizations

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Speaker 1: that are doing that across business sector right now. So

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Speaker 1: let's talk about how to build community because you're doing

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Speaker 1: Clubhouse a lot of really really great things on Clubhouse

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Speaker 1: right now, which is I don't know if you want

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Speaker 1: to call it a tactic or just a channel, um,

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Speaker 1: but talk about how founders what are some of the

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Speaker 1: other channels or tactics founders can use to build community

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Speaker 1: around their particular vertical. Yeah. I think that when it

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Speaker 1: comes to the channels, and I think you know Clubhouse

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Speaker 1: as a channel, Twitter as a channel, but I think

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Speaker 1: that having bidirectional opportunities for engagement has got to be

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Speaker 1: the biggest one. Um. And I'm not talking about like

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna post something on LinkedIn and people will comment.

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Speaker 1: I think it's really reaching out and hosting conversations, allowing

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Speaker 1: your customers and part and and and community members to

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Speaker 1: truly feel like they're part of the products. One of

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Speaker 1: the things I do love about Clubhouse is how much

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Speaker 1: Paul and Rohan, the founders, are willing to be on

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Speaker 1: the platform and talk to people. Uh, you don't see

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Speaker 1: that with Zuckerberg. You don't see that with Twitter or

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Speaker 1: all these other folks, and that there's a reason, like

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Speaker 1: they built it in their way in that way, but

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Speaker 1: now you're seeing this is that I think that the

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Speaker 1: closer you can put your product, your stuff to your product,

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Speaker 1: to your community, the better you're going to be not

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Speaker 1: only getting user feedback and being able to iterate faster,

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Speaker 1: but also be by being able to build a little

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Speaker 1: bit of brand loyalty and that those community members are

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Speaker 1: gonna feel like they contributed to the building of the product.

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Speaker 1: I remember when we first started our company, one of

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Speaker 1: the first things I did was tell everyone on Facebook, Hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm building this company. I said, my day job, but

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Speaker 1: I'm building this company on the side. And this is

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Speaker 1: why our goal is and this is what we're trying

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Speaker 1: to solve, and it did two things that were really important.

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Speaker 1: Number one is that it personally held me accountable to

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Speaker 1: many people. So anytime someone would run into me if

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Speaker 1: they knew nothing else to say, hey, how's that a

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Speaker 1: ticketing then you're working on? And I was like, oh, well,

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Speaker 1: you know it would it would feel awful if I

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Speaker 1: was like, oh man, I stopped doing that now I'm

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Speaker 1: doing this other thing. So I wanted to make sure

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Speaker 1: it's like, okay, i'n have people hold me accountable. But

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Speaker 1: the more important thing, the more important reason I did

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Speaker 1: it was was to create a sense of community around learning.

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Speaker 1: So what ended up happening was a week or two later,

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Speaker 1: someone would say, hey, Harold It, send me an email.

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Speaker 1: Did you see this note about stubbub they're doing this thing?

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Speaker 1: And someone else said, hey, do you say this thing

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Speaker 1: about Ticketmaster? They announcing this, And that happens all the time,

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Speaker 1: and every time I get one, I say, no, I

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Speaker 1: didn't see it. Thanks so much for sending it to me,

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Speaker 1: even if I received it five times that day, because

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Speaker 1: I want that person to know that the mental capacity

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Speaker 1: that they leveraged and used to reach out to me

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Speaker 1: thinking about me in this massive space relative to these

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Speaker 1: billion dollar companies was useful. And so when we you know,

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Speaker 1: we're putting out a release for a new product next week,

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Speaker 1: we're thanking some of our customers who have been really

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Speaker 1: helpful in development. I think that creating community allows you

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Speaker 1: to do a lot of that stuff a lot better.

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Speaker 1: We will talk about the pivot in the second that

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Speaker 1: bandwagon took and you actually just changed the handle, which

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Speaker 1: I which would you? I would love if you just

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Speaker 1: kind of go in on that in your responsiveness, because

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Speaker 1: you know, you took a little guidance from Google and

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Speaker 1: alphabet which was so add a little sprinkle that into

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Speaker 1: this answer. Um, but talk about building SAS community around

432
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,040
Speaker 1: SAS because now instead of you know, what you were

433
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,080
Speaker 1: doing previously with around ticketing direct to consumer in a way, UM,

434
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 1: now you're helping businesses in that data collection. So talk

435
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:39,560
Speaker 1: about how you build community around SAS sells as a surface.

436
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,520
Speaker 1: How do you do that? Yeah, So in the beginning,

437
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 1: when we started our company, we really cared a lot

438
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:46,879
Speaker 1: about live of inexperience. As a person who grew up

439
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: in the South and Columbia, South Carolina, I understand how

440
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 1: segregated the country is on Sunday mornings, from race to religion,

441
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,199
Speaker 1: to socio economic status to geography. But then I know

442
00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 1: what a melting pot it looks like. On a Saturday

443
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 1: afternoon to the tailgate, or at a sporting event, at

444
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,840
Speaker 1: a Clemson game, or on a Sunday afternoon at a

445
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:06,720
Speaker 1: baseball game, you've got a high school dropout, handshaking and

446
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,680
Speaker 1: high fiving with the PhD and every type of walk

447
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,080
Speaker 1: of life gathering around those affinity groups. And so we

448
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,560
Speaker 1: love the idea of bringing fans to live event uh

449
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,840
Speaker 1: live events, because we knew that would get people outside

450
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,359
Speaker 1: and mixing up and and really engaging with other folks.

451
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: And so our thought was, if we can help create

452
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: better experiences for fans, then they'll come out, you know,

453
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: better than what you'll get at home. And so as

454
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 1: we were building in the beginning, that was really important.

455
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: As we learned a little bit more about the market,

456
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,919
Speaker 1: we realized, man, this is a not great margins. It's

457
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 1: a blood bath and competitive. We should actually go try

458
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,240
Speaker 1: and solve this. Other part of the ecosystem now was

459
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 1: from learning and listening to customers, and so when we

460
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 1: pivoted to being a B two B sas company, software

461
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,439
Speaker 1: as a service company are. Our strategy was really that, well,

462
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,680
Speaker 1: no one really cares who Bandwagon is. You care about

463
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,439
Speaker 1: who the Dallas Cowboys are, or you care about who

464
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 1: the Clemson Tigers were, And so if we could equip

465
00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,959
Speaker 1: those types of brands and organizations with tools they needed

466
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,359
Speaker 1: to deliver high quality products and services for their fans,

467
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,960
Speaker 1: then that's all the better. I liken it to some

468
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,200
Speaker 1: of these commercials you've seen um lately with a WUS

469
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: showing you like, oh, we help you get your Domino's pizza,

470
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: we help you book your trip on Airbnb, and they're

471
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,199
Speaker 1: all behind the scenes. The average person doesn't know or

472
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:20,560
Speaker 1: care that's a w S server. They just know they

473
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 1: needed a Domino's pizza delivered in twenty minutes. And so

474
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,360
Speaker 1: that's really what we decided to build. And so when

475
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 1: we looked at what Alphabet did um and restructuring and

476
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:30,840
Speaker 1: saying well we're not gonna be Google anymore, We're gonna

477
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,919
Speaker 1: be Alphabet, and Alphabet is going to be a suite

478
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,440
Speaker 1: of products, we looked at that and said, Bandwagon, that's

479
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,439
Speaker 1: our direction. So instead of us putting Bandwagon, big and

480
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:41,840
Speaker 1: bold in front of everything, as you noted, we change

481
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,280
Speaker 1: our social media handle. Everything is at built by Bandwagon.

482
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 1: So as we built our first product, Aura, Aura is

483
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,159
Speaker 1: built by Bandwagon or a a fan identity and a

484
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 1: Tandy analytics tool that helps live of an organizers, sports teams, festivals,

485
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,239
Speaker 1: etcetera better understand who their audience is on the day

486
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 1: of the event so they can deliver products, services, and

487
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:03,680
Speaker 1: experiences that are curated. And that is it and behind

488
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 1: the scenes is built by Bandwagon. Our second product after

489
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 1: we acquire this company, Ideal see last year Ideal see

490
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,760
Speaker 1: its ideal c dot com. You'll see a little logo

491
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 1: down the bottom corner and say it's built by Bandwagon.

492
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:16,880
Speaker 1: Because I think the vision of what we're seeing here

493
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,119
Speaker 1: is that as long as we're touching all the different

494
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 1: parts of that fans experience, that we're gonna be able

495
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: to impact how they go about their day and go

496
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: about their life. And that is really huge for us.

497
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,439
Speaker 1: And if Bandwagon can help build on that, that's going

498
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,440
Speaker 1: to be the vision for us. And so we want

499
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 1: to continue to build down that line and we're excited

500
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,399
Speaker 1: about that. But I think that when we think about software,

501
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,919
Speaker 1: no one cares, right, Like no one cares, you just

502
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,520
Speaker 1: want to know what it does to make your life better.

503
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 1: You don't know how it does it. You just want

504
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,240
Speaker 1: to know that it helps and make your life better.

505
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 1: And that's something that when we talk to founders, you know,

506
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,919
Speaker 1: we do pitch practice weekly on Clubhouse, and you know,

507
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: they want to get into the speeds and feeds and

508
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,399
Speaker 1: the details and the nuance. It's like, ma'am, sir, just

509
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,320
Speaker 1: tell us what it does for or me. And that's

510
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: something that we're super excited about as we are positioning

511
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,160
Speaker 1: ourselves as a software company that cares about that um.

512
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 1: Over the last year or so, it's probably even longer,

513
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 1: I've recognized in your social media usage that you're talking

514
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 1: more and more about data and the importance of data

515
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 1: and helping us understand the value of our data. Angela

516
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 1: Benton is also somebody who talks about this a lot

517
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 1: um number one, so to help break down the actual

518
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,000
Speaker 1: value of consumer data. So if I'm a person who

519
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: uses these things, I buy tickets, I tweet, you know,

520
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: a buy a pair of jeans, there's a whole lot

521
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 1: of things that go into that. On the other side

522
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:41,959
Speaker 1: that gets pulled out right, and so talk about the

523
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,720
Speaker 1: value of that. Yeah, So it's it's interesting. My wife

524
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 1: and I watched i think it was like a documentary

525
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 1: called The Social Dilemma on Netflix, and for those of us,

526
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,160
Speaker 1: I'm sure Angela saw it and had the same thoughts

527
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 1: that I did. It was just like, yeah, obviously, like

528
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 1: this is what's happening. But for a lot of people

529
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 1: they know idea that the ad that they see on

530
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 1: Facebook and then they see that same ad on Instagram,

531
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 1: and then they see the same ad when they're on

532
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, Like they don't understand like how

533
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 1: this is working and all of the different pieces that

534
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,280
Speaker 1: go into making that happen. And so for me, I

535
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 1: think it's incredibly important to make sure that people understand,

536
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,119
Speaker 1: you know, the saying that if you aren't paying for

537
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: the product, you are the product. Right off the products

538
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 1: free you are the product and you means the data.

539
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 1: And so the concept of that really is and something

540
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,119
Speaker 1: we talked about even with our investor meetings in these

541
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 1: different conversations today is that gone are the days of

542
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: you exchanging your email for candy crush points. Consumers care

543
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,240
Speaker 1: a lot about their data, right, and so it's so

544
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 1: much so that you've got folks who were going to

545
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,919
Speaker 1: costco and instead of me saying, Harold Hughes is my

546
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: name and my address my email, I'll say Harold Hughes Costco.

547
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:50,399
Speaker 1: And it's like, well, why would you put Costco in

548
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: your name? Because when I go and get a mailer

549
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,439
Speaker 1: or email from Dick Sporting Goods and it says good morning,

550
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: Harold Hughes Costco, I said cost Coat on my data

551
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,159
Speaker 1: the dig Sporting good whoever it is, right, And so

552
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,400
Speaker 1: you understand really clearly what wow, Well the cost come

553
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 1: membership was only this much and I get all this value.

554
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: Why would how did Dicks get it? Well, Dicks probably

555
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: pay them for it. And you want to do this

556
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 1: whole thing. And so consumers are not only getting smarter

557
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,440
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to track it, but also

558
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 1: you see these regulations with g DPR in Europe. You've

559
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 1: got c c p A here, the California Consumer Privacy At,

560
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: which I personally believe will be one of the guide

561
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:31,160
Speaker 1: posts for federal regulations around how organizations manage consumer data.

562
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 1: It's really important for consumers understand that their data is

563
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 1: being used in this way and for organizations understand how

564
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 1: to best manage it. And so what bandwagon is looking

565
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: at and being positioning ourselves to think through is how

566
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,880
Speaker 1: do we help these organizations be better stewards of customers,

567
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,479
Speaker 1: inform data, customers, information and data. So we've seen, you know,

568
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 1: Google misuse our information. We've seen um Facebook flat out

569
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,600
Speaker 1: weaponize our data against us, and there's really opportunities for

570
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 1: us to do a better job of saying, how much

571
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: of my data do you actually need? And let me

572
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 1: just give you that and if you're going to use it,

573
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 1: tell me how you're going to use it. And so

574
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,160
Speaker 1: long as you use in the way that I ask

575
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 1: you to or gave it to you to use, I'm

576
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 1: good with it. But the moment you do, I need

577
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,439
Speaker 1: to have revocable access to that. And I think that

578
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,920
Speaker 1: the work that Angela Betton and her team are doing

579
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 1: extreme Lytics is really thinking about not only being aware

580
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,360
Speaker 1: that your data has value, but in her case, they're

581
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: actually getting you paid for it. And so really that's

582
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that we see is the future

583
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: of this is helping folks understand that they are valuable

584
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: inherently and these brands need to participate in that value

585
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 1: chain with that with that fan or that customer. So

586
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: so let's talk about the the unique value opportunity there

587
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,640
Speaker 1: may be for black technologists who want to build around

588
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,640
Speaker 1: data because so often we think about the surface level

589
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 1: of what of what a product does, but ofttimes it's

590
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,480
Speaker 1: just very creative ways to gathering that data. And so,

591
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: um again you talked about you know, if I ask

592
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,760
Speaker 1: Alexa for such a song, she's starting to understand more

593
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 1: about me, right, And um, so from an opportunity from

594
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: a market opportunity perspective, because this is happening, this is

595
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: the world we live in. Where is the opportunities, particularly

596
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 1: for black founders. What should we be thinking about when

597
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 1: we're building companies and startups that positions us in the

598
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 1: marketplace to be able to capitalize and do good for

599
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: our communities in this way. Yeah, I think one of

600
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 1: the biggest opportunities that we have, especially in the black communities,

601
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 1: figuring out places where data is not currently being gathered

602
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: and actually leveraged. I'm a Jamaican American and I can't

603
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: tell you how many times I would go into my

604
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 1: local Jamaican spot and say, hey, let me get a

605
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 1: curry goat or something like that, and they'll say, oh,

606
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:39,280
Speaker 1: we're out of curry goat. This is how are you

607
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: out of curry goat? It's one of six entrees on

608
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 1: this resom, on this a menue, And I think about it.

609
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: They're taking pen and paper here. Yeah, maybe now they

610
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: got to square POS system, but they're not using data

611
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 1: in their inventory. And so I'll look and say like, hey,

612
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: how many curry goats did you sell last week? We

613
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:57,960
Speaker 1: sold all the curry goes? We at? Well, how many

614
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: was that? Was that more than the week? Or what

615
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: percentage of of your orders was curry goat? And I

616
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 1: think about those things where we're saying there are plenty

617
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 1: of organizations and businesses in our community that do not

618
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: necessarily do a great job of using data. And it's

619
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,440
Speaker 1: not normally that they're like afraid of it, they just

620
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 1: don't know what to do with it. And so I

621
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: think the opportunity for the technologists in the black community

622
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: to think through the low touch ways, an easy ways

623
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: to get in here, to help the businesses and in

624
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 1: our communities to understand what you do with the data

625
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: and how can impact your business in a positive way.

626
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: And that I think is where we have the opportunity

627
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 1: to really not only help our community but also generates

628
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: significant dollars. So that is definitely I think one of

629
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:40,720
Speaker 1: the biggest things we think about on ramping and no

630
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: code solutions being able to help folks understand who aren't

631
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 1: super techy this is how this works in your business

632
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: and it can impact your bottom line. Like, that's the

633
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 1: kind of thing I think we need more of in

634
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 1: our community. With almost every start off founder I've spoken

635
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: to over the last year says COVID started specifically in

636
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 1: the social uprisings, you know, post George Floyd, and even

637
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 1: was trickling before then. Um, we've talked about how important

638
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 1: this moment is for black founders, and by and large,

639
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: I think every single one is said, you know, this

640
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 1: is the most important moment of our lifetimes because there

641
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: are number one, there are vcs who genuinely want to

642
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: do good stuff who maybe two years ago didn't realize

643
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: that the issue was as big as it is. There

644
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: are companies who want to partner with black founders, and

645
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 1: black companies who previously didn't realize that they should have

646
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,360
Speaker 1: gave us more shelf space, on and on and on

647
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,800
Speaker 1: and on. But at this moment um, this COVID moment,

648
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: this social social uprising moment, is important. What would you

649
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: say in that respect of how important is this particular

650
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 1: moment that we're living in versus what may be different

651
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 1: two years from now. Yeah, I mean I think that

652
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: regardless of what happened last year, Brianna Taylor and am

653
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 1: At Liberty and George Floyd, like, if it doesn't make dollars,

654
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense, Like that is consistent free time.

655
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,000
Speaker 1: And the reason that matters is is that, yes, all

656
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: that happened last year and all the things you know,

657
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 1: there are plenty of funds that got uh significant contributions.

658
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 1: Google got cash was able to distribute to seventy six companies.

659
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: We were one of those, and so that part is huge.

660
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:17,959
Speaker 1: But the other part of it is is the Target

661
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 1: didn't just all of a sudden start giving shelf space

662
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: to these brands because it wanted to feel good. No,

663
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: they realized, like, oh snap, if we put these brands

664
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 1: in Target, we'll have more black people coming to Target

665
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 1: who are adding. You know, if if you're if you're

666
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: listening to this or watching this, like you go to Target,

667
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: you end up buying stuff you don't need and like,

668
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 1: all right, so we've got more people coming to Target

669
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:38,960
Speaker 1: who aren't coming to target, they're coming to buy these

670
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 1: brands are they're sharing us online and then they're buying

671
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 1: all this extra stuff. It made sense because it made dollars.

672
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 1: And so when you're a business, especially when the startup founders,

673
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 1: and you're trying to figure out how you leverage this

674
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 1: pressure that's been building, make sure that your business goals

675
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 1: align with the opportunity that these large corporations are trying

676
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: to get out of you, because at the end of day,

677
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 1: that's really what it comes down to, is they're making

678
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 1: a money decision, and you need to understand that that

679
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 1: money is to be had, and you need to figure

680
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: out where you fit into it. We had a company,

681
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: a Fortune fifty company reach out to us last year

682
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: and said, hey, we'd love for you to partner with us.

683
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: We've got this idea. We think you'd be the right partner.

684
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know, that sounds really interesting.

685
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: Let's jump want a call. We did a call and

686
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, well, what's your budget. Well, we don't

687
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 1: really have a budget right now, but like, we think

688
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 1: we'll be able to put you on our podcast, We're

689
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:28,960
Speaker 1: gonna feat you on a blog, we're gonna get you

690
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 1: some marketing funds and I was just like, yeah, but

691
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: so if you want to get back to me once

692
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 1: you have a budget, then we can kind of move forward.

693
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: And they'd say, hey, have you given us any any

694
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: more thought? And I said, yeah, I'm super excited, I

695
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:42,800
Speaker 1: just need a budget. And it never came, and so

696
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 1: we never did it. And I think that that was

697
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: a position I was able to take because I knew

698
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 1: better and we fortunately weren't in a position where we

699
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:51,880
Speaker 1: were like doing anything just for you know, the tap

700
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 1: and dance. But that's one of the things we need

701
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: to make sure that our community knows is that if

702
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 1: they're reaching out to you for this, they see a

703
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 1: dollar sign too, and they want to make the dollar

704
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: designs better, like you know, good quality and doing stuff

705
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: a community great, but it's got to be a business

706
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 1: impact too, and so I think that it is important.

707
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 1: I think this is one of the most important times.

708
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 1: You see you know, funds having historic amounts of funds,

709
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: you know, shout out to collap Capital just announced you know,

710
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 1: iamillion fund, fifty million dollar inaugural fund, right, and so

711
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,720
Speaker 1: you see all the different folks who are getting money

712
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 1: and deploying it. The unique piece about Collab is they

713
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,720
Speaker 1: are black focused. They're they're talking about black founders. Is

714
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 1: not diverse founders. It's not people of color, it's not women.

715
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 1: It is black founders. And they're looking at some of

716
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,719
Speaker 1: the communities where we exist, where Atlanta, Houston, St. Louis, Detroit,

717
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,240
Speaker 1: and so I think that is huge and the spotlights

718
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: on them too, and so I think not only is

719
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,160
Speaker 1: it important for the fund allocators to make sure that

720
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: they're doing the work because everyone's looking at them, but

721
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: the same thing for the startup founders is that we've

722
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: got to make sure we stand up and stand tall

723
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 1: in this momentum when there's a lot of attention on

724
00:33:55,120 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 1: this right now. Black Tech Green Money is the production

725
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,280
Speaker 1: of black of the Afro Tech on the Black Effect

726
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: podcast Networking nine Heart Media, and it's produced by Morgan

727
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 1: Debone and me Will Lucas, with additional production support by

728
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: Love Beach and ray Vneerport. Special thank you to Michael

729
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 1: Davis and Sakasa von Jan you know like the Wine.

730
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,760
Speaker 1: Yes that's his real name. Learn more about my guests

731
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 1: and other tech disruptors and innovators at afro tech dot com.

732
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 1: Enjoy your black Tech green money. Head the iTunes of

733
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 1: Google podcasts and leave us five stars. Bonus points if

734
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 1: you ask some warm and fuzzy in the comments, but

735
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss

736
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: a thing when new episodes dropped. Gonna get your money.

737
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:48,200
Speaker 1: Peace and love,