1
00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:02,880
Speaker 1: So we're deep in the throes of planning for afro

2
00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:07,720
Speaker 1: Teche and COVID still sucks. While we still have some

3
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,240
Speaker 1: in person events, the bulk of the conference this year

4
00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,920
Speaker 1: will be a digital experience. But never fear you've never

5
00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,480
Speaker 1: seen a digital experience like an afro Tech digital experience.

6
00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:20,640
Speaker 1: Last year in the virtual world, I met people from

7
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,160
Speaker 1: all over the real world, from Cape Town to St. Louis,

8
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,560
Speaker 1: and I didn't have to wear a mask get on

9
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,040
Speaker 1: the airplane. While I do missing you all in person

10
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,200
Speaker 1: that time we'll come again. But for now, and before

11
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,680
Speaker 1: we get into today's episode from one of our highest

12
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,320
Speaker 1: view YouTube series ever, Term Sheets, I wanted to share

13
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:44,880
Speaker 1: some of my most memorable experiences from afro Techen. Backstage

14
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:46,839
Speaker 1: at the conference, I got a chance to sit down

15
00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,080
Speaker 1: with some of the biggest names in tech, media and business.

16
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:52,519
Speaker 1: I asked the things all of us want to know.

17
00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,000
Speaker 1: How do we successfully raise venture capital? Are all our

18
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,280
Speaker 1: efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion helping turning us? And

19
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,960
Speaker 1: how do we find customers or strategic partners for our businesses.

20
00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,240
Speaker 1: Marlon Nichols is managing partner in mac Venture Capital, a

21
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,640
Speaker 1: Los Angeles based VC firm. Which focuses on c stage

22
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,120
Speaker 1: companies and invest in visionary founders. Marlin is one of

23
00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,000
Speaker 1: the most genuine people I've met in this industry, always

24
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,520
Speaker 1: quick to respond to an email and always full of

25
00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,360
Speaker 1: great council it has a quiver full of strategic advice.

26
00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:38,000
Speaker 1: We're talking backstage at afro Tech. Here's the conversation, well

27
00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,000
Speaker 1: looks for afro tech here with my guy, Marlon Nichols

28
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,560
Speaker 1: of mac Venture Capital formerly Cross Culture Ventures. This is

29
00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,400
Speaker 1: not your first afro tech. Tell me about your experience

30
00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,720
Speaker 1: with afro tech and what Mexic Society. We first invested

31
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,320
Speaker 1: in Blinty maybe three years ago now, so it's been

32
00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,320
Speaker 1: since then, and every year is doubled in size. I

33
00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,680
Speaker 1: think this year might have tripled in size. So it's

34
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,200
Speaker 1: it's a amazing to see all these young black people,

35
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,320
Speaker 1: ambitious young black people running around. You gave a really

36
00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,600
Speaker 1: great talk last year about cap tables and helping people understand,

37
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,880
Speaker 1: you know, their diverse, their equity distribution, and that whole thing.

38
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,960
Speaker 1: So a lot of tips advice come out of the

39
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,520
Speaker 1: Bay Area and raising money. But if I'm raising money

40
00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,959
Speaker 1: in let's say, in Illinois or Tennessee, how do I

41
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,639
Speaker 1: apply that when my ecosystem may not be the same

42
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,360
Speaker 1: as raising money in the Silicon Valley, it's all the same,

43
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,920
Speaker 1: it's all the same games. So they're going to be

44
00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,200
Speaker 1: investors and wherever you are, right, and it's about you

45
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,799
Speaker 1: finding them, particularly at the early stages. It's just simpically

46
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,120
Speaker 1: gonna be angel investors. So people that know something about

47
00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,080
Speaker 1: the industry that you're going into that I want to

48
00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,800
Speaker 1: support you, right, So target them first, get going build something,

49
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,639
Speaker 1: and then once you have something and attraction is rolling,

50
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,480
Speaker 1: like institutional investors are gonna follow that traction. Right. So

51
00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:55,720
Speaker 1: as long as you build it right and it's doing

52
00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,120
Speaker 1: what it's supposed to do, then you can start reaching

53
00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,120
Speaker 1: out outside of your your a full ecosystem to bring

54
00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,680
Speaker 1: an additional capital. Let's start start local and find the

55
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,280
Speaker 1: people that make sense for your business. You just talked

56
00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,960
Speaker 1: about a little bit difference between angel investors and institutional investors.

57
00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:12,880
Speaker 1: Can you dig into that a little bit, because if

58
00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,760
Speaker 1: I'm looking at an angel maybe I don't have all

59
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,640
Speaker 1: the attraction and data points there yet to justify going

60
00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,760
Speaker 1: to a institutional like a BC. So angel investors they're

61
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,400
Speaker 1: investing their own personal capital, right, whereas a Uh, institutional

62
00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,320
Speaker 1: investor or a BC, someone like me. I'm investing out

63
00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,600
Speaker 1: of a fund, so capital that I've raised from different

64
00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:39,000
Speaker 1: groups of UM of investors, individuals, family offices, foundations, and downmands,

65
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,640
Speaker 1: et cetera. And I'm deploying that capital over a period

66
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,120
Speaker 1: of time, typically about five years. Right, UM, Angel investors,

67
00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,240
Speaker 1: I said, their own pocketbook, Right, what they need to

68
00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,480
Speaker 1: see from you versus what I need to see from

69
00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:52,400
Speaker 1: you is gonna be different. Also, our check sides are

70
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,880
Speaker 1: gonna be different, right, Um, they require less, They're also

71
00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,040
Speaker 1: gonna write smaller checks. Right, I'm gonna require a bit

72
00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,400
Speaker 1: more and I'm gonna right a much larger sex somewhere

73
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,920
Speaker 1: a half a million to one point five right. So

74
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,600
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's I would say that's the key difference. UM.

75
00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:11,000
Speaker 1: And they're they're usually willing to get involved at the

76
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 1: ideation stage. Right, So you've got an idea in the space.

77
00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,120
Speaker 1: I know the space really well. I think I can

78
00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,760
Speaker 1: help you. I'm a fan of what you're doing, of

79
00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:21,680
Speaker 1: you and your team. All right, let me put some

80
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,560
Speaker 1: money in here and also some sweat equity. I love that.

81
00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,880
Speaker 1: So if I'm thinking about UM raising money and how

82
00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,480
Speaker 1: do I know how to price it? So if am

83
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:33,719
Speaker 1: I just trying to get enough money to get myself

84
00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:35,640
Speaker 1: off the ground, or am I trying to raise enough

85
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 1: to build a war chest to not only get off

86
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,880
Speaker 1: the ground, but get far enough out to where I

87
00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:41,800
Speaker 1: can keep competitors off? How do you think about that?

88
00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,839
Speaker 1: Companies can get in a lot of trouble have gotten

89
00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,839
Speaker 1: in a lot of trouble historically when they raise more

90
00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,200
Speaker 1: money than they need. If you take on five ten

91
00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,680
Speaker 1: percent more than what you actually need to hit your milestones,

92
00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,280
Speaker 1: you're probably okay, right, But if you just pile on

93
00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,600
Speaker 1: this capital and you don't have a you don't have

94
00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,920
Speaker 1: a use for it, it usually gets wasted and um

95
00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,800
Speaker 1: it gets wasted in the um in the form of resources.

96
00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:05,880
Speaker 1: So now you're hiring a bunch of people that you

97
00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,600
Speaker 1: don't need. You're probably pursuing a lot of different avenues

98
00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,080
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't be pursuing right now, right because the

99
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,960
Speaker 1: name of the game is his focus and just laser

100
00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,720
Speaker 1: in on something, uh, find success with that, conquer it,

101
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,920
Speaker 1: and then start to add, you know, layers to it.

102
00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:24,480
Speaker 1: If you have all that money, you probably you gonna

103
00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:26,960
Speaker 1: skip the stage of making sure that the thing works

104
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,719
Speaker 1: and jump right into step two and step three, and

105
00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,039
Speaker 1: a lot of times failures happen as a result of that.

106
00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,440
Speaker 1: So I always tell um entrepreneurs, you want to raise

107
00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,400
Speaker 1: for investment cycle, which is eighteen and twenty four months

108
00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,120
Speaker 1: at tashed to that is a certain number of milestones

109
00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,560
Speaker 1: that you want to achieve, right, So how much do

110
00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,920
Speaker 1: I need to raise in order to achieve these milestones

111
00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,000
Speaker 1: within that within that time frame? Right? And let's say

112
00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,479
Speaker 1: I'm giving myself twenty four months, Well, realistically I want

113
00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,680
Speaker 1: to be I should have hit those milestones by the

114
00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,440
Speaker 1: eighteen months um point, giving me time to raise raise

115
00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 1: money when I'm not running out of capital. And so

116
00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,440
Speaker 1: it maybe an interesting question to ask a VC, but

117
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:08,760
Speaker 1: being somebody who's seen a lot of cap tables, has

118
00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,160
Speaker 1: seen a lot of heartbreak, you know at the end

119
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,600
Speaker 1: of at the end of companies, talk to me about

120
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,680
Speaker 1: how you think about what entrepreneurs should be thinking about

121
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 1: in the early stages of giving out equity to not

122
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,560
Speaker 1: only co founders but also to them early investors. What

123
00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,480
Speaker 1: kind of things that they be thinking about. Keep as

124
00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,160
Speaker 1: much of your company early as you as you possibly can.

125
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,000
Speaker 1: So I always tell entrepreneurs. There are only two reasons

126
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,480
Speaker 1: that I think that you should be raising capital right.

127
00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,360
Speaker 1: One is that you absolutely have to hire the resources

128
00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:39,440
Speaker 1: to build a product. There's no other way for you

129
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,760
Speaker 1: to build this product and get it to market other

130
00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,640
Speaker 1: than raising venture capital to do that. The other is,

131
00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,160
Speaker 1: you're at a point where you've built something and the

132
00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,520
Speaker 1: only way that you're gonna scale this thing, and and

133
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,000
Speaker 1: let's say it's uh, it's a competitive space. There will

134
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,160
Speaker 1: be a competitive space. You gotta scale and scale quick, right,

135
00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:57,400
Speaker 1: So now now you need the capital in order to

136
00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: do that. Scaling organically just gonna eg too long. Those are,

137
00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,680
Speaker 1: in my opinion, the only two reasons why brounds should

138
00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,040
Speaker 1: be looking to take on venture funding. In terms of

139
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,760
Speaker 1: like employees, you want to be fair their their their reports,

140
00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,960
Speaker 1: in terms of like compensation reports um that you can

141
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,559
Speaker 1: get from recruiting agencies and law firms and all that stuff.

142
00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,360
Speaker 1: So I'd say, get ahold of that and see what,

143
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,160
Speaker 1: um what what the average payout in terms of equity

144
00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,320
Speaker 1: and salary, etcetera for companies at your stage is and

145
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,520
Speaker 1: just kind of stay as closer that as possible. You

146
00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:32,800
Speaker 1: want to be competitive, but you also don't want to

147
00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,440
Speaker 1: give a giveaway to farm We'll look ut here for

148
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,920
Speaker 1: afro Tech. Marlin Eckles mac Venture Capital formerly Cross Culture Ventures.

149
00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,160
Speaker 1: You know afro Tech eighteen. I also spoke with Angela Right,

150
00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,559
Speaker 1: a political and social commentator in fire Brand who takes

151
00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,840
Speaker 1: no prisoners. She took to the main stage at the

152
00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,600
Speaker 1: afro Tech that year to discuss the black opportunity in

153
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,520
Speaker 1: cannabis with some prolific black innovators in the marijuana space.

154
00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,360
Speaker 1: We say talking about social justice, how legislation impacts the

155
00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 1: black opportunity in tech, and demanding seas at the table

156
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:17,560
Speaker 1: versus building well Lucas afro Tech twenty nineteen, I am

157
00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:19,640
Speaker 1: here with the world famous angel La Right. How are you?

158
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,320
Speaker 1: I'm great, famous, but happy to be here. When we

159
00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,440
Speaker 1: talk about tech, there is this I call Jesse Jackson

160
00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:28,280
Speaker 1: approach that says, you know, we need to see that

161
00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,000
Speaker 1: the table Facebook, Google and etcetera. And there's also this

162
00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,360
Speaker 1: approach of we're gonna build our own table. Right, Can

163
00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,720
Speaker 1: you talk to me about how you see that argument

164
00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,160
Speaker 1: playing out with ten thousand black people here who are

165
00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,160
Speaker 1: trying to build their dreams and what position we should

166
00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,960
Speaker 1: be thinking about walking into the building into this just

167
00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:49,600
Speaker 1: the greater surrounding area. It felt so good and felt

168
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 1: so free. And I think that one of the most

169
00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,040
Speaker 1: incredible things about Reverend Jackson's approach so far with the

170
00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,319
Speaker 1: tech community, what he did with Wall Street has been

171
00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,320
Speaker 1: UM that it's not just one way, you know, to

172
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,840
Speaker 1: go about this. There are several We need people who own,

173
00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,240
Speaker 1: but we also need people with seats at the table.

174
00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,400
Speaker 1: We need the people who haven't had seats yet, but

175
00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:13,600
Speaker 1: we need someone to plus that door open, and Reverend

176
00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,080
Speaker 1: Jackson has done a tremendous job of doing that through

177
00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,640
Speaker 1: RABO Push Check twenties. So has the Congressional Black Caucus

178
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:24,120
Speaker 1: through UM their Tech Initiative, to ensure that we're not

179
00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,439
Speaker 1: only UM hiring companies to be diversity and inclusion officers,

180
00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,240
Speaker 1: but to ensure there's real equity at the at these companies.

181
00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,560
Speaker 1: And while we have miles to go, I think that's

182
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:38,080
Speaker 1: where ownership UM, an opportunity to have access to capital

183
00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:42,160
Speaker 1: to create our own comes comes into play. UM. There

184
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,440
Speaker 1: is no innovator like a black mind, and I think

185
00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,840
Speaker 1: that is the unique space that Afrotech creates and reminds

186
00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,120
Speaker 1: us of. Right, I think that we can't hear that enough, UM,

187
00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,040
Speaker 1: and so I think it's wonderful that what you all

188
00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:56,000
Speaker 1: are doing. So thank you for letting me be apart.

189
00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,000
Speaker 1: And so you just came off and talked about cannabis.

190
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,720
Speaker 1: And when you look at the landscape of cannabis in

191
00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,160
Speaker 1: the industry, I guess I should say, is what has

192
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,200
Speaker 1: been characteristic of the black companies who have found success

193
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,880
Speaker 1: in your view in this field where all the hurdles are,

194
00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,920
Speaker 1: you know, placed for us to not be successful. Yeah, well,

195
00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:14,400
Speaker 1: I have to be honest with you, I don't know.

196
00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,319
Speaker 1: Of many, UM, the one that I am the most

197
00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,840
Speaker 1: impressed with and do a lot of work with is

198
00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,000
Speaker 1: forth Movement UM Kaream Webb, who was just on the

199
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,560
Speaker 1: panel UM talks about it and it's just this revolutionary concept.

200
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,400
Speaker 1: I say all the time that it's like, UM, if

201
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,880
Speaker 1: we were to create our ideal program for what reparation

202
00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,640
Speaker 1: should look like, that's it. And what they've done for

203
00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,439
Speaker 1: us by us is say, UM, there are these brilliant

204
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 1: people who have been hamstrung in life by the fact

205
00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,320
Speaker 1: that they were born in the families where they weren't rich,

206
00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,000
Speaker 1: or they made one bad move and ended up incarcerated,

207
00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,320
Speaker 1: or they had a sibling or a cent or a

208
00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,040
Speaker 1: daughter who was incarcerated due to the War on drugs.

209
00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,800
Speaker 1: We want to find that person, that UM person who

210
00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:00,320
Speaker 1: has this great potential and train them for a year

211
00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,199
Speaker 1: to equip them to be their own retail operator. It

212
00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:06,880
Speaker 1: is an incredible concept and to me, it is exactly

213
00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:09,439
Speaker 1: what social equity should look like. When we talk about

214
00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,880
Speaker 1: opportunities in cannabis. It shouldn't be about a level playing field.

215
00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,800
Speaker 1: It should be giving us what we deserve and what

216
00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 1: we have earned in part because we were punished. Do

217
00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:20,560
Speaker 1: no no fault of our own to ensure that we

218
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,840
Speaker 1: absolutely and actually have viable businesses in the long run.

219
00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,000
Speaker 1: You mentioned this and that there's not just one way

220
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,600
Speaker 1: to be successful in any of these industries. How important

221
00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 1: is it for our black voices to be in the boardroom,

222
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,280
Speaker 1: and not just with regards to diversity and inclusion, immensely important.

223
00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 1: One thing that we know right now is there's not

224
00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,680
Speaker 1: a single black woman of a fortune five company, UM,

225
00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,200
Speaker 1: not a single black woman's CEO. And uh, it's twenty nineteen, right,

226
00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:48,840
Speaker 1: this is our four hundred year of being here. I've

227
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,200
Speaker 1: been saying it all year long. I'm continue saying it

228
00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,400
Speaker 1: um since the first documented enslave person arrived on these shores,

229
00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,760
Speaker 1: and for four hundred years, we have been building up

230
00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:03,160
Speaker 1: the companies of everyone else, consuming their products, consuming their services.

231
00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:07,360
Speaker 1: And we know that our culture is so often appropriate.

232
00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,600
Speaker 1: We know that our neighborhoods are so often gentrified. We

233
00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,839
Speaker 1: know that we're so often um at the cutting edge

234
00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,520
Speaker 1: of whatever is the coolest and next best, greatest thing.

235
00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:19,480
Speaker 1: Of course we should have a board seat. That's the

236
00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:21,319
Speaker 1: least we should have as a board seat. When you

237
00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:25,920
Speaker 1: think about anything from funding to access to consumers, look

238
00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:30,880
Speaker 1: like neutrality and etcetera. How important is legislation with regards

239
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,800
Speaker 1: to finding success and each of either of these avenues,

240
00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,040
Speaker 1: You know, it's key. I think about often, UM for

241
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:39,440
Speaker 1: the people who are watching this who haven't seen the

242
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:44,600
Speaker 1: documentary about Maynard Jackson, thinking about what he did as

243
00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:48,439
Speaker 1: and it wasn't legislation, but it was through his executive

244
00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,560
Speaker 1: powers as the mayor of the City of Atlanta when

245
00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:53,520
Speaker 1: the airport project came up and said, no, let me

246
00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:55,600
Speaker 1: tell you, how many people who look like me are

247
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,439
Speaker 1: gonna be working on this airport? Is thirty three and

248
00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,680
Speaker 1: a third percent. No, we don't always have to rely

249
00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,640
Speaker 1: on and set asides or goals or quotas. But what

250
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,520
Speaker 1: we know happens as a result of that is that

251
00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:09,359
Speaker 1: we finally get our say, we finally get our opportunities.

252
00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,880
Speaker 1: That does not happen if it's not forced, because unfortunately, historically,

253
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,120
Speaker 1: we haven't been in decision making seats. So that's why

254
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,680
Speaker 1: Maynard Jackson, whether he's a mayor or Keisha Lance Bottoms

255
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:23,920
Speaker 1: now as the mayor of the City of of Atlanta,

256
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,480
Speaker 1: or a state legislator, or a Maxie Waters who's the

257
00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:30,760
Speaker 1: chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, and said, let me

258
00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:32,720
Speaker 1: tell you what we're gonna do. In order for this

259
00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,559
Speaker 1: legislation of past, You're gonna have to have offices of

260
00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,240
Speaker 1: minority and women inclusion in every financial service agency in

261
00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:41,880
Speaker 1: the federal government. That's how this is gonna work. So

262
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,000
Speaker 1: if there's not someone there that's like, I'm gonna be

263
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,400
Speaker 1: the elbows and the mouth and I'm ensure that you

264
00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,080
Speaker 1: do us right by my people, it doesn't change. So

265
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,319
Speaker 1: we need it. You're ten thousand people here for AFRO

266
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,960
Speaker 1: Tech this year. How important is this conference? Major? It's

267
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,080
Speaker 1: major for our mental health, it's major for us to

268
00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,559
Speaker 1: see each other um in this space. I think it's

269
00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,400
Speaker 1: major for partnership opportunities. You might come here and meet

270
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,560
Speaker 1: your next business partner, and if nothing else, you leave

271
00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,320
Speaker 1: encouraged knowing that you're not in this space alone and

272
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:13,000
Speaker 1: you have the ability to keep going. So if I

273
00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,680
Speaker 1: don't think we even have to say we shall overcome today,

274
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,240
Speaker 1: I feel like I'll overcame something. I feel like a

275
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,360
Speaker 1: conqueror in this speech. Shout out to Kirk Franklin for conquerors.

276
00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,800
Speaker 1: By the way, I'm Will Lucas. This is black tech,

277
00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:29,240
Speaker 1: green money. I'm gonna introduce you to some of the

278
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,560
Speaker 1: biggest names, some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas.

279
00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:35,560
Speaker 1: I feel black and building simply using tech to secure

280
00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:43,080
Speaker 1: your bag. This podcast is for you. Richard Kirby is

281
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,160
Speaker 1: general partner on Equal Ventures. We're sitting on the set

282
00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:49,160
Speaker 1: of term Sheets, afro Tech series about venture capital in

283
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:51,880
Speaker 1: New York City, discussing what it takes not only to

284
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,880
Speaker 1: be a VC, but what are the characteristics of a

285
00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,320
Speaker 1: good VC. What is the makeup of a successful VC

286
00:14:58,360 --> 00:14:59,720
Speaker 1: and how do I know if the gig is a

287
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,000
Speaker 1: fit of my personality and profile? Yeah, venture capital is

288
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,400
Speaker 1: about investing and supporting early stage entrepreneurs, and so that

289
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,400
Speaker 1: means you're you're finding companies that are hopefully diamonds in

290
00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:12,840
Speaker 1: the rough. You're doing diligence and so you're trying to

291
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:14,560
Speaker 1: figure out if that investment is a good fit for

292
00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:18,480
Speaker 1: your invested profile. And then you're making the investment. You

293
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,320
Speaker 1: may or may not be taking a board seat, but

294
00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,640
Speaker 1: then you're also finding ways to be supporting on those

295
00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,080
Speaker 1: companies and so what do they need to get done

296
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,720
Speaker 1: to make their chance of success much higher? You'll do

297
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,800
Speaker 1: So that means recruiting, happening with fundraising, strategy, business development,

298
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,240
Speaker 1: even maybe sales, and so those components make up a

299
00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,440
Speaker 1: lot of different pieces of ventric capital. On top of that, obviously,

300
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,480
Speaker 1: if you're running a fund, you have to fundraise for

301
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,040
Speaker 1: your fund, and that's another kind of um back off

302
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:44,600
Speaker 1: of something that we try to focus on as well.

303
00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,720
Speaker 1: So you you mentioned a couple of different disciplines, and

304
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,360
Speaker 1: I would think about if I was, you know, a

305
00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:52,840
Speaker 1: person coming out of college and I wanted to do

306
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:56,920
Speaker 1: venture capital, you added other things other than just giving

307
00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 1: money to startups, and what are those the things that

308
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:05,160
Speaker 1: make a VC partner a good partner instead of just

309
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,760
Speaker 1: a checkbook. Yeah, yeah, I think it's um hard to

310
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,880
Speaker 1: add value because you never know what's happening in the

311
00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:12,720
Speaker 1: day to day of a business and or startup, which

312
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:13,960
Speaker 1: is why you have to try your best to be

313
00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,480
Speaker 1: as hands on as possible and be as intimate and

314
00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:18,640
Speaker 1: closely as now as possible. And so the things that

315
00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,680
Speaker 1: we work on is, you know, with our portfolio company CEOs,

316
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,120
Speaker 1: we talk to our CEOs every two weeks. We've got

317
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,120
Speaker 1: scheduled sessions so that we can ask them, you know,

318
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:28,880
Speaker 1: how things going on, how you how could be helpful

319
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,280
Speaker 1: Because when you're running a company, you're too busy. You

320
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,160
Speaker 1: can't think of like how can will help me? Or

321
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 1: which help me? You need to have scheduled time for

322
00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:37,800
Speaker 1: them to ask where your needs right now and how

323
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,200
Speaker 1: can I be helpful? Sometimes that maybe you know, I

324
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:42,120
Speaker 1: need to hire a VP of engineering, Can you help me?

325
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,040
Speaker 1: Sometimes that means I'm getting ready the fundraise, I need

326
00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,000
Speaker 1: to practice, I need to get my story right, I

327
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:48,960
Speaker 1: need to figure out which investor I should be targeting.

328
00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,800
Speaker 1: And sometimes that means, hey, we're thinking about changing our

329
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,240
Speaker 1: business like we were doing this today, we think it

330
00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,520
Speaker 1: makes more sense to pivot in other direction. Can we

331
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,360
Speaker 1: run our strategy and our vision value to get a

332
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,360
Speaker 1: sense of like is this the right path us? And

333
00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,360
Speaker 1: so it's a variety of things. But we try and

334
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,200
Speaker 1: do is be proactive and being helpful and make those

335
00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,639
Speaker 1: conversations happen because it's really hard to elicit how a

336
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,720
Speaker 1: founder can need help without asking that question the first place.

337
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 1: So at what stage should have started to be talking

338
00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,000
Speaker 1: to a VC versus like an angel or just you know,

339
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,440
Speaker 1: family and friends. Talk to me about the different stages

340
00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,600
Speaker 1: of the progression of the types of investors I should

341
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,199
Speaker 1: be talking to. Sure, sure, Um, you know, angel investors

342
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,399
Speaker 1: and family friends are just folks that kind of invest

343
00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:32,840
Speaker 1: in a person, right, Um, you know, site unseen what

344
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:34,840
Speaker 1: your idea is. I'm a believer in Will. I want

345
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:36,639
Speaker 1: to support whatever Will is doing. And so those are

346
00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,359
Speaker 1: they hopefully the first dollars you can get. Those dollars

347
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,160
Speaker 1: aren't easy. You know, as an undergrad to come out

348
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:43,960
Speaker 1: of college, I did not know folks that could give

349
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,399
Speaker 1: me a million bucks or half million dollars to get started.

350
00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,679
Speaker 1: So it's very hard to find family and friends. Um,

351
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:51,879
Speaker 1: But they do exist, and I think that they exist

352
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,720
Speaker 1: for a reason. But that said, though, um, it actually

353
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,679
Speaker 1: can be easier to access. Sometimes actual METROC capitalists they

354
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,520
Speaker 1: have websites, their profile files, they build own personal brands.

355
00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 1: It's really hard to know who is an angel, who

356
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,640
Speaker 1: has capital as an individual or not. Now, the timing

357
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:09,840
Speaker 1: for targeting a venture investor versus an angel is tricky

358
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,320
Speaker 1: because some investors at a venture fund will invest in

359
00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,720
Speaker 1: a company before it's even begun, before it started, before

360
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,040
Speaker 1: it's incorporated, before it's a product in place, and someone

361
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:20,120
Speaker 1: want to see traction and data, and so it's important

362
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:23,199
Speaker 1: to figure out what's the right fit investor profile for

363
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,720
Speaker 1: you as a company. Um So, if you're just starting out,

364
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:27,960
Speaker 1: maybe it's you and your co founder, you probably want

365
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,920
Speaker 1: to focus on what is now called precede funds. These

366
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,120
Speaker 1: are funds that will help you raise capital before they're

367
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,560
Speaker 1: actually built a product. The capital, you know, whether it's

368
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,520
Speaker 1: half a million dollars maybe less anymore, the soul folks,

369
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:41,520
Speaker 1: that capital is for you to get the product in market,

370
00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:43,000
Speaker 1: so you can get to a spot where a c

371
00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,080
Speaker 1: invest like myself will be more comfortable taking risk on

372
00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:50,640
Speaker 1: you as a seed. Correct, there's there's been this new

373
00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:55,080
Speaker 1: bifurcation amongst preceding seed where precede is no product. Let's

374
00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,520
Speaker 1: give you capital build something, and seed is there may

375
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,960
Speaker 1: not be a product in place, but up what we

376
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,080
Speaker 1: think about it is you're about twelve months away from

377
00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,040
Speaker 1: demonstrating product market fit. And when we try and work

378
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,400
Speaker 1: out founders, just to figure out what is proper market

379
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,760
Speaker 1: fit for your company and how can we help you

380
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,680
Speaker 1: get there beyond just the capital that we're hope we

381
00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:17,160
Speaker 1: gonna provide to you. How do vcs make money? Yeah, so,

382
00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:21,600
Speaker 1: so vcs make income in two ways UM one salary

383
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,240
Speaker 1: and the second piece carry and so um. You know,

384
00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,040
Speaker 1: just to make the math easier, let's save a hundred

385
00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,640
Speaker 1: million dollar venture fund UM. The GPS generally will take

386
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,439
Speaker 1: tent of the carry, which is twenty percent of the profits.

387
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,680
Speaker 1: So let's say hunter million dollar fund, we've returned two

388
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,720
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars of capital back to our LP I

389
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,760
Speaker 1: E have made a hundred million dollars of value for

390
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,680
Speaker 1: my investors UM eight sent that money will go back

391
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,920
Speaker 1: to your LPs as their profit will go to the

392
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,159
Speaker 1: partners of the fund, So twenty million dollars will go

393
00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:55,120
Speaker 1: spread out. However, you guys agreed to amongst your partnership

394
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,840
Speaker 1: and that's kind of the the profit slash carry that

395
00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,639
Speaker 1: you'll take UM at the early stage to the C stage.

396
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,240
Speaker 1: It takes a while to reach that because our companies

397
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,919
Speaker 1: are very very early. They may not exit for five, seven,

398
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,040
Speaker 1: ten years, and so it takes time to get to

399
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,600
Speaker 1: carry the early stage. It's it's a much short time

400
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 1: frame at the leader stage and the last pieces. UH

401
00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,399
Speaker 1: funds generally take two percent of those fees of of

402
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,439
Speaker 1: the capitol, sorry for managic few to run their business,

403
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:24,399
Speaker 1: and so human fun generally manage these two percent. So

404
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,360
Speaker 1: you have two million dollars in that example each year

405
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,320
Speaker 1: to run your business, and that two million dollars goes

406
00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 1: to pay your salary, your employees salary, rent, travel, entertainment,

407
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,080
Speaker 1: you know, if you feed your team. All these things

408
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,880
Speaker 1: go into that that that budget. You have to kind

409
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,920
Speaker 1: of manage that with that capital. So in your opinion,

410
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,879
Speaker 1: what makes a good VC? What are the characteristics of

411
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 1: somebody who could be good at this? Yeah, I think

412
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 1: the um the traits for an individual are just inherent

413
00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,679
Speaker 1: in somebody else. It's not really about like what you

414
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:56,879
Speaker 1: studied in school. It's much more about like who you

415
00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:01,399
Speaker 1: are as an individual. Are you intellectually curious? Are you um,

416
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 1: do you enjoy learning about different things? And I guess lastly,

417
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:08,720
Speaker 1: do you enjoy helping others? Those are really three points

418
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,679
Speaker 1: that are you know, inherent to anybody that could make

419
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,359
Speaker 1: them inefficient or sorry, excess of ventric capitalists because the

420
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,959
Speaker 1: day sourcing is a big piece, so finding companies and

421
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,200
Speaker 1: that means do you get excited by finding new things? Like? UM,

422
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:21,920
Speaker 1: you can see that in any industry you could get

423
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,320
Speaker 1: excited by finding the rare sneaker that you haven't seen

424
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,760
Speaker 1: him out yet, or that new track on spot but

425
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,159
Speaker 1: you ever heard yet? That excites people, and finding a

426
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,159
Speaker 1: new company excites venture capitalists. UM. Doing diligence, so you know,

427
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: diving deep to figure out, you know, what does company do,

428
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,080
Speaker 1: what space they in? How can this company get very

429
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 1: very large? That's just learning. If you enjoy learning, you'll

430
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,639
Speaker 1: enjoy diving deep on the company understand how it works

431
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,479
Speaker 1: or the industry that operates in. And lastly, you know,

432
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 1: when you're on a board of a company or an investor,

433
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,439
Speaker 1: you're trying to do everything possible to help that company.

434
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:53,480
Speaker 1: You know, try to get them as many unfair bandages

435
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,480
Speaker 1: as possible that the founder has less on their play

436
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:57,199
Speaker 1: and they tebeles listen to their play. That's all that

437
00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 1: is really is helping people. So if you enjoy helping people,

438
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 1: that's a great way to have manifest that inherent trade

439
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:09,560
Speaker 1: yours to, you know, do good for a company. So

440
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,880
Speaker 1: let's talk about New York and particularly doing venture capital

441
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 1: here in New York. Um finance capital of the world. Um,

442
00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 1: some would argue, How many would argue, and what is

443
00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,119
Speaker 1: the difference between doing venture capital here versus doing it

444
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,119
Speaker 1: in the Bay Area or in other smaller markets that

445
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,920
Speaker 1: you think yeah? I think, um yeah, the Bay Era

446
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,399
Speaker 1: is the tech capital of the world, period full stop.

447
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,720
Speaker 1: We're not. I don't think we can lainly claim to that,

448
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:38,960
Speaker 1: but I think New York has you mentioned finance, New

449
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,840
Speaker 1: York has an epicenter of many different other industries, whether

450
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,800
Speaker 1: it be finance, media, advertising, lots of e commerce, and

451
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 1: so we touch many many different fields. And so we

452
00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: may not be the technology capital of the world, but

453
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:53,480
Speaker 1: I think we're like the industry capital world because there's

454
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,600
Speaker 1: so many industries that are called New York their home

455
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,480
Speaker 1: and their HQ, and we think that allows us to

456
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,520
Speaker 1: kind of see and better n then different kinds of businesses,

457
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,720
Speaker 1: and so we don't have to just look at a

458
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,080
Speaker 1: pure software businesses. We can look at companies that maybe

459
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,920
Speaker 1: have a little software but actually still many other moving

460
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,800
Speaker 1: parts that aren't really suffer related. And because the nuances

461
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: of these verticals that are based in New York, we

462
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,360
Speaker 1: have context networks that have a better understanding of these

463
00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:21,720
Speaker 1: other verticals that maybe aren't just considered tech only. You

464
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 1: had done a study, I don't know if you want

465
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:26,120
Speaker 1: to call it a study, but you did some research

466
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,679
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago on why there is not

467
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 1: a lot of black people in venture capital across the country. UM.

468
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: I want to say it was three or four years ago.

469
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,760
Speaker 1: Now the original post went up on your website. What

470
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,119
Speaker 1: did you learn then and what has not changed or

471
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 1: what has changed? Yeah, I guess what I've learned is that, UM,

472
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 1: I guess look at the data I learn anything, which

473
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,399
Speaker 1: is that I already knew there were very few black

474
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: folk in venture capital. Um just I could probably count

475
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: on one hand when I was back in the Bear

476
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: in twin time I first started UH and so the

477
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,359
Speaker 1: data didn't surprise me. Um. I wrote the data. I

478
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,440
Speaker 1: wrote the report and the data because I wanted folks

479
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 1: to have a voice. I wanted to kind of shine

480
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 1: a light on the problem because I feel like when

481
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 1: you discuss problems without data, people are like, I don't

482
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 1: see it. I can't really, it's not tangible to me.

483
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:14,880
Speaker 1: I can't grasp it. And so I thought I put

484
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,600
Speaker 1: data around the issue, people would understand how bad it

485
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 1: is and then think through how can we think about

486
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: those changes. What I have seen positively though, is that

487
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,880
Speaker 1: there's now more and more African American as a black

488
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 1: folk in the kind of junior ranks of venture capitals

489
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: to the associate role, the principal role, which generally is

490
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 1: you know, the stepping stone to become a part of

491
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:36,399
Speaker 1: the fund, which I think is great to kind of

492
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,240
Speaker 1: build that pipeline of folks. It's still not near enough

493
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 1: to kind of replace the qual called the old guarden

494
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: ventric capital, but there's more to do there. I think.

495
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 1: The other thing that I'm seeing positively is that um,

496
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 1: there's more and more funds started by black gps UM.

497
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: I think the problem with trying to create or I

498
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: should say correct the lack of diversity of venture capitals

499
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,400
Speaker 1: that most venture funds don't hire anyone in the year,

500
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,120
Speaker 1: Like the average venture fund hires zero people per year,

501
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: is a small group of group of people with small teams,

502
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 1: and so if you're not hiring every year, you really

503
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 1: can't change the dynamics of your team. And so one

504
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 1: way to actually change it is to just create newer funds.

505
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: And I think as we create more funds, those funds

506
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 1: themselves be more diverse, and then we'll see more progress.

507
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 1: As in terms of diversifying the metricpol industry, have you

508
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:26,880
Speaker 1: seen a lot of progress with regards to black founders

509
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,240
Speaker 1: being able to raise money successfully and black women particularly

510
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,880
Speaker 1: being able to raise money successfully. There is some progress,

511
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 1: not nearly enough though, I mean, I think the numbers

512
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:40,199
Speaker 1: are still very anemic on black female founders that are

513
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,440
Speaker 1: able to raise meaning amounts of capital. And I think

514
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: it's um a couple of reasons why. One the initial

515
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,040
Speaker 1: dynamics when there aren't investors that look like you, they're

516
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,560
Speaker 1: less likely to trust you, believe in you, want to

517
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,680
Speaker 1: invest in, you want to support you, and that makes

518
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 1: it challenging for anyone who's a person of color to

519
00:25:58,200 --> 00:25:59,959
Speaker 1: be able to kind of raise capital. In the end,

520
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: ironman Um similarly, it's hard to get in the venture

521
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 1: industry as well as a junior member or not, because

522
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: people aren't looking for that. I think the other piece

523
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,400
Speaker 1: two is accessibility, and so if the venture investors don't

524
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 1: look like you, the chance that you're in their orbit

525
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:16,520
Speaker 1: or someone you know is in the orbit is very

526
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 1: very limiting. Now on the positive side, though, we are

527
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 1: seeing more and more funds pop up that are focused

528
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:25,120
Speaker 1: on women, people of color, African American founders. I think

529
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 1: that's great. We need more and more of that, and

530
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 1: I think as we see more of that, the legacy

531
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: venture funds will realize they're missing things and spend more

532
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: and more time on that dimension. And so I think

533
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: the biggest challenge right now for a person of color

534
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 1: woman founder is that seed stage. I think it's really

535
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 1: hard to get that round done. Once you're prox and market,

536
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: you've got traction, it makes it easier for a investor

537
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 1: who doesn't look like you to get there because they

538
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: can like put you aside and look at your numbers. UM. Now,

539
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: with that said, it's hard to get to that point,

540
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 1: and if your box stop from actually even having a

541
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,679
Speaker 1: chance of building in the first place, it's very very

542
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,239
Speaker 1: limiting pipeline. So I think there's a lot more work

543
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 1: to be done there. I don't have all the answers,

544
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 1: but they need see more done, more work to be

545
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: done to thought thinks of that as well. Yeah, and

546
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,479
Speaker 1: again you just said I don't have all the answers,

547
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 1: but I think about even if you know, with the

548
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,920
Speaker 1: amount of black investors we have today, black female investors

549
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: and people like you, black man investors, there's so many

550
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: amazing companies or potentially amazing companies, and there's just not

551
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: enough of those investors to go around that are you know,

552
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: tendable to being able to write them a check. But

553
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,200
Speaker 1: there's also a conversation about by enemies necessary, I gotta

554
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: make this company happen. What do you say to those

555
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:52,080
Speaker 1: companies that are listening and watching this too, and who

556
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 1: may run into you at Afro Tech or may see

557
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 1: you in the street down in New York. Because what

558
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,239
Speaker 1: happens in my experience, I see so many and you

559
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: guys become like the savior. So you're the only ones.

560
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 1: So everybody's out to come see Richard. So if you

561
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 1: can't fund everybody, and you can't listen to every pitch

562
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 1: and you and so I see you at Apple Tech

563
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:13,280
Speaker 1: and you've got a line of a hundred people. A

564
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 1: hundred people are pitching you. I may have the best idea,

565
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: but I'm a number six five and you you're desensitized

566
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: by that point. So what do you say to those

567
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: folks who are, you know, trying to make it happen

568
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: at the seed stage and even in precede stage, he

569
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,440
Speaker 1: didn't get to you. What do you say to encourage him? Yeah?

570
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 1: I think, um, you said the best by any means necessary.

571
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 1: And so it may be a cold email and maybe

572
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 1: you know they know Will, and they know Will knows Kirby,

573
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,240
Speaker 1: and so they can use Will as as a conduit

574
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: to get to Kirby. I think the challenge with having

575
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 1: so few investors that are black in the space that

576
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 1: wants support black founders is that, um, the legacy venture

577
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: funds assume that, like Kirby, has seen every deal of

578
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: every black founder, and so you know this, this founder

579
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: came to me, I gotta ask what do you think

580
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,960
Speaker 1: about Will? And if I'm not investing in Will's company,

581
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,720
Speaker 1: that's like a negative signal to them, which which shouldn't

582
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: be the case. As you said before, there's thousands of

583
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,959
Speaker 1: companies they can't all be a good fit for what

584
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 1: I do. It equal ventures or what we do equal ventures,

585
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: and so it's fine the right fit. And I think

586
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: that is a dynamic that's bad for the industry and

587
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 1: we need to find ways to improve that. And so

588
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 1: I think that means having more people of color adventure

589
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: and then that helps pursue or open the doors for

590
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: more founders that can say, hey, I don't have to

591
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: only come to Kirby or you know, folks are Home

592
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,520
Speaker 1: Capital or Charles a precursor or anyone else. It's you know,

593
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 1: my officers are actually limitless, and we need to get

594
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 1: to that point to enable as many founders of color

595
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 1: as possible to raise capital at the early stage, because

596
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: at the point in time right now, like founders aren't succeeding,

597
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 1: not because their business sucks, the idea sucks. Not getting

598
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 1: a chance, you're not even giving giving the capital to

599
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 1: give you a shot to go kind of test out

600
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: your idea, whereas our counterparts can have nothing to show

601
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: for it, raise millions of dollars and go test it out.

602
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 1: We need to get to that level of paralysm to

603
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 1: make the inferent more equitable. When you think about taking

604
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 1: that twenty million dollars and running versus You know, when

605
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 1: founders come to you, everybody believes they have a billion

606
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 1: dollar business. I would assume you know, in the in

607
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: the macro sure, everybody thinks everybody wants to buy their product.

608
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 1: How do you bring founders back down to earth in

609
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: some respect, but also encourage them to think bigger than

610
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 1: they may be thinking about the opportunity for their products

611
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 1: or service. Yes, so we focus on the seat stage

612
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 1: for us at Equal Ventures and so for us, most

613
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 1: companies are coming to us with like an initial product

614
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: in place. They haven't built out their full vision yet,

615
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: but they have a larger vision for what they want

616
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: to accomplish. And we call that initial product like their wedge.

617
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 1: So what's your wedge into the market, the initial product

618
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 1: that will get you access to your customer base of

619
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: the future. And our viewpoint there is what are you

620
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 1: building in turning your company that will allow you to

621
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: attract more data too? Then you know, go after what

622
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: your larger vision maybe whether it be a point solution

623
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 1: today in a marketplace in the future, or a point

624
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 1: solution today and building a platform for your category in

625
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 1: the future. And our viewpoint there is we want our

626
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: founders to know what that vision is. But even if

627
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: that vision ends up not becoming a billon dollar business,

628
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 1: that's still find for us. You know, we're a fifty

629
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 1: six million dollar seed fund, and we don't require our

630
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 1: founders to be able to have to build a business

631
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 1: to be a billion dollars for it to work for

632
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:33,880
Speaker 1: our model. Now do we want to happen, of course

633
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,480
Speaker 1: when every company get to that size and scale. But

634
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: given that we are a smaller fund, we take high

635
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 1: ownership and write you know, large checks for seed rounds.

636
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 1: That model can work just fine for us if our

637
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 1: company sells for less. And so when we invest the

638
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 1: seed stage, you know, call it twelve months later, we

639
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 1: have a comm with our founders and say, hey, you

640
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 1: have a point in time here where you can go

641
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 1: the kind of supercharged route of taking more capital on

642
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: and you know, putting the goal host you know, success

643
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 1: much further on the road for you, or you can

644
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 1: take a more less capital inefficient path and say, hey,

645
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna go this other route. Build

646
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 1: a great business, but don't have to have the kind

647
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 1: of bearings of having to build a build into our

648
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: company for success. In my mind. When you see people

649
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 1: who have that sort of thinking, is it something about

650
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 1: their personality that says, you know, I'm not trying to

651
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: build Google. I just want to take my eyelash, you know,

652
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 1: my eyelash product company and do a couple of million

653
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:33,600
Speaker 1: dollars a year and live a good life. Like what

654
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 1: is it about those founders that say that you found

655
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 1: that say, you know, I understand what the market is

656
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: like for this, and I'm going to be realistic about

657
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: it and just live a good life based on a

658
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: good income. Yes, so I think, Um, two kind of questions.

659
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 1: They're one is like, there's certain business that that shouldn't

660
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 1: take venture capital. And so if your business will kind

661
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: of um probably cash flow nicely out of the gate,

662
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:00,120
Speaker 1: and there really aren't scalable paths of building a off

663
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: fore enabled business, you might not need venture capital. Might

664
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,760
Speaker 1: be other ways. Yeah, yeah, so you know, there there's

665
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 1: um uh current workflows let's say across any industry that

666
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: happened manually today, Like for instance, let's say, um benefits selection.

667
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,719
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm a large company. You mentioned Google,

668
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 1: I'm Google. I may want to you know, work with

669
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 1: a benefits broker to select with benefit I don't find employees,

670
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 1: so I don't want dental or vision or what I

671
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: want to offer my employees. And then that process today

672
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 1: works with you talking to a broker, a broker talking

673
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: to a carrier and a very like manual face to

674
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 1: face email, phone call discussion. But now you think about

675
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,640
Speaker 1: how do you add software aut layers that you can

676
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: have a more fluid and efficient process for benefits selection

677
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 1: benefit discovery. And that's an example of what software navlement

678
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,080
Speaker 1: could look like in the benefit space, and that can

679
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: apply to many other verticals in our opinion at least, Um,

680
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: back to your previous question around like thinking about scale

681
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 1: and so forth, and so that first class of companies

682
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 1: you may not be a good fifermenture capital at all. Um.

683
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 1: The way we think about founders are looking for like

684
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 1: the home run or larger vision is twofold. One is

685
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 1: founder market fit and we mean by that is you know,

686
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: why are you and your team the best team to

687
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 1: go approach this model? And we think people gather it

688
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,439
Speaker 1: in one of two ways. Either you've spent your entire

689
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 1: career majority of your career in that market. So if

690
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 1: you were in the benefits space, maybe you spent you

691
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,200
Speaker 1: know ten years and benefits no inside at out and

692
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 1: you're the best person to go solve this. Or it

693
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: could be you have um a personal experience or passion

694
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,359
Speaker 1: for it that led you down this path to become

695
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 1: an expert. And so one of our companies in our

696
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 1: portfois coming called Jerry Um. They work in the senior

697
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 1: living space and the founder had an instance where his

698
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 1: father had Alzheimer's and he had to find a home

699
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:41,880
Speaker 1: to put his father in a memory care scenario so

700
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,640
Speaker 1: that he could be taken care of. And he's from Canada,

701
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 1: originally in Canada has you know, great medical benefits and

702
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 1: it was super easy for him to do so UM

703
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: fast forward, you know, a couple of months later, his

704
00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 1: wife's parents in the same issue. You live in America,

705
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,880
Speaker 1: and the process was very very different, very very painful,

706
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,319
Speaker 1: and he thought, Okay, I'm experiencing this personal experience and

707
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 1: it pains me. I want to find a way to

708
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 1: improve on this process and so you can have it

709
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 1: either from you know, your career or your personal life.

710
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,839
Speaker 1: That founder market fit that we look for. And then

711
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,800
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's hard for anyone

712
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: to turn down a great ex opportunity. Let's say a

713
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 1: company comes and says, hey, we want to buy your

714
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 1: business for a hundred million dollars and you own half

715
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 1: the business or something like that. It's a lot of

716
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,680
Speaker 1: money for you. Even though you might believe that like

717
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:26,799
Speaker 1: this could be a billion dollar business that could make

718
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,840
Speaker 1: you know, hundreds of millions of dollars, the thought process

719
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:32,160
Speaker 1: there is it might make sense to think about secondary

720
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 1: and so if you can give a founder some capital today,

721
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 1: that fills them, you know, leaves the other stress of

722
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 1: you know, paying for their home, paying for childcare, paying

723
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: for school. And if you can take that stress away

724
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 1: from them financially, they can think about, you know, envisioning

725
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 1: that larger vision of that company that they have been

726
00:35:48,239 --> 00:36:04,320
Speaker 1: succeeded in building. Black Tech Green Money is a production

727
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,760
Speaker 1: of blackty Afro Tech on the Black Effect podcast network

728
00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,759
Speaker 1: and I Hired Media. Is produced by Morgan Davon and

729
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: me Well Lucas, with additional production support by Love Beach

730
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: Him and Risus Lewis. Special thank you to Michael Davis.

731
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 1: Is the car savan Yan you know like the wine.

732
00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,800
Speaker 1: Yes that's his real name. Learn more about My Guess

733
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,759
Speaker 1: and other tech disruptors and innovative to afro tech dot com,

734
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,359
Speaker 1: joining black tech, Green Money, and it was a five

735
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 1: star rating on iTunes. Go get your money, Peace and love,