Speaker 1: Happy Kwanza, Merry Christmas. At least now he died. Happy Holidays.
Speaker 1: Enjoy this throwback episode of Black Tech, Green Money ovie
Speaker 1: Holiday Season Afro Tech, San Francisco, California. Such a Rogers
Speaker 1: who at the time is leading look Life and After
Speaker 1: helps you shot the favorite styles and celebrities and influences.
Speaker 1: It's on the main Stay. He's discussing the transition both
Speaker 1: mental and physical, from being a consumer to a producer
Speaker 1: to an investor. That were the last ten years, Mark
Speaker 1: Zuckerberg has made more money than every NBA player combined.
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, and I'm still at Apple. I said, who,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this wrong? So I said, you know, I
Speaker 1: want to move from being a consumer to a producer
Speaker 1: to an investor. And Paul said, you know what if
Speaker 1: you're living the same challenges as most of them, It's
Speaker 1: called the dream is dimember. See, either you can risk
Speaker 1: chasing your dreams or you can have the safety of
Speaker 1: working on someone else's. The question is which one you're
Speaker 1: gonna choose. It's easy. I went to tex Square Labs
Speaker 1: is in Atlanta, Georgia. For those you are on the
Speaker 1: East Coast that want to think about building This is
Speaker 1: a place that you can come and learn how to
Speaker 1: build something from nothing. You gotta do what you love.
Speaker 1: Prioritize your passion, but tell the world because they'll hold
Speaker 1: your accountable and from there you'll be able to make
Speaker 1: it happen. So the way I say this is listen,
Speaker 1: don't define your destiny about where you are today. If
Speaker 1: you have a plan in your heart, go after achieve.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this is Black Tech Dream Money.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna introduce you to of the biggest names, some
Speaker 1: of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. If you're black,
Speaker 1: in building or simply using tech to secure your back,
Speaker 1: this podcast is for you. Collapse Capitals and Investment fund
Speaker 1: leveraging financial, human, and social capital to help black founders
Speaker 1: build sustainable innovations in their businesses. Three managing partners, Verry Givens,
Speaker 1: Jill Bert's and Justin Dawkins, are previously operators and engineers
Speaker 1: who run innovative startups, very significant venture capital and successfully
Speaker 1: sold their companies. I asked the partners about the state
Speaker 1: of black startups. What is unique about this current moment
Speaker 1: in history that make collap capital both an opportunity and
Speaker 1: necessary step in their respective careers. It is so important
Speaker 1: right now to be supporting investing in black founders because
Speaker 1: we know that this year alone has been crazy for everyone,
Speaker 1: but in particular for black founding businesses. Um there's some
Speaker 1: scary statistics out there around the fact that of black
Speaker 1: founded companies may not recover at all from OVID, and
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that the companies that we
Speaker 1: can support actually do make it. And so even before that, though,
Speaker 1: even before this year and before you know, people became
Speaker 1: more aware of the fact that black founded companies needed
Speaker 1: more resources, we already were on this mission to invest
Speaker 1: in black founders, and it was really born out of
Speaker 1: our own journeys. All of us have built companies before,
Speaker 1: all of us have had difficulty raising money before getting
Speaker 1: access to the right networks, and so we kind of
Speaker 1: made a vow to ourselves and to each other that
Speaker 1: when we could, we would make sure that the next
Speaker 1: generation of entrepreneurs coming up behind us would not have
Speaker 1: to deal with some of the things that we had
Speaker 1: to deal with on our journeys. So that's really the
Speaker 1: why is. You know, we saw this opportunity in the
Speaker 1: market to serve black founders. We think there's a huge
Speaker 1: market opportunity, not just it's not a charity opportunity, it's
Speaker 1: really a business opportunity to support black founders. And we
Speaker 1: felt like we were the right people to do it,
Speaker 1: giving our experience and giving our backgrounds. Barry, let's talk
Speaker 1: about that. So, you know, being venture funded in your
Speaker 1: your career, trajecting your business, and what is it about
Speaker 1: the traditional VC ecosystem that may not be great for
Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs where we get you know, disproportionately affected by
Speaker 1: decisions or ways of doing business. Yeah, I'll touch you
Speaker 1: on two quick points covering that, UM, and thank you
Speaker 1: for having us today too. Well, appreciate you. UM, get
Speaker 1: that out of the way. UM. But you know, like
Speaker 1: going through this journey, you even if you look at
Speaker 1: funds you know that have you know, black managing partners
Speaker 1: right and or funds that folks so on diversity or
Speaker 1: you know marginalized people. UM, black founders still tend to
Speaker 1: be marginalized within the marginalized UM. And so it was
Speaker 1: a really big deal for us to say, like we
Speaker 1: are unapologetically black, Like we don't use words like minority,
Speaker 1: we don't use words like diversity, like we invest in
Speaker 1: black founders, because that is the issue, like when you
Speaker 1: think about diversity to sixties, we were still being left
Speaker 1: in the dust, right. And so then you take it
Speaker 1: a step further and let's say black founders do get
Speaker 1: that first check. The way that venture capitalists built now
Speaker 1: is that it's always running to the next check, it's
Speaker 1: always running to the next round. Um. And you take
Speaker 1: companies like mine that we you know, I was able
Speaker 1: to secure capital, and then when you need to get
Speaker 1: to that next level, that's typically where black founders you
Speaker 1: can't find that person that believes in you too to
Speaker 1: give you that eight new which what we were raising.
Speaker 1: You can't find that, you know, seven eight million dollars
Speaker 1: for your Series A uh um. And we needed to
Speaker 1: create a model that allowed for founders to not depend
Speaker 1: on that system, right like you eat. So even when
Speaker 1: we get them to building the sustainable businesses, you run
Speaker 1: your business and you decide if you go ask somebody,
Speaker 1: you decide if you give somebody the opportunity to invest
Speaker 1: in your business, um. And that's how we allow black
Speaker 1: founder to be more successful because honestly, we're not going
Speaker 1: to change that system overnight. And in this world, if
Speaker 1: you can't get the series B, you know, and keep
Speaker 1: raising and keep raising UM. A lot of times you
Speaker 1: don't reach that level of success. And so those are
Speaker 1: two things, you know, why we found it so important
Speaker 1: to develop this new model. And and justin when I
Speaker 1: think about UM in Bury and Jules just talked about it,
Speaker 1: you know, having that access to capital, and you know
Speaker 1: this as well as anybody, it's often more than just
Speaker 1: capital that we need. All of the capital is important.
Speaker 1: There's just you know, tweet going around talks about we're
Speaker 1: over mentored and underfunded right into too often. And but
Speaker 1: other things beyond the capital is also important too. So
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about I want to talk
Speaker 1: about this a couple of times during this conversation, like
Speaker 1: what other things do entrepreneurs need that particularly black entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: don't get in traditional VC relationships that you guys made
Speaker 1: it a priority to focus on. Yeah, that's that's a
Speaker 1: great question, Will um and and really appreciate that question
Speaker 1: because it really points to the purpose of collab I mean,
Speaker 1: it's short for collaboration UM. One of the things that
Speaker 1: is often just one of many things that is often
Speaker 1: missing UM is usually promised, which is, oh, we're going
Speaker 1: to be your partners. We're going to do the things
Speaker 1: that we need to do to UM sidecar the capital
Speaker 1: right that's going into the business, But the level of
Speaker 1: intentionality is not always there, which is the commitment, the
Speaker 1: willingness to get into the weeds. UM and as experienced operators,
Speaker 1: all three of us having built different types of businesses
Speaker 1: and helped to create other types of businesses, we recognize
Speaker 1: and understand that sometimes the best investors are experienced operators,
Speaker 1: folks who understand how they kind of get into the weeds,
Speaker 1: how to identify business models and opportunities and then build
Speaker 1: out of build out of that experience as opposed to
Speaker 1: just bringing capital U. And then the other thing is
Speaker 1: access to networks. Right, so business is still relationships entered.
Speaker 1: And so no matter how many machines and artificial intelligence
Speaker 1: we put in place, we need relationships. And you know,
Speaker 1: two notches above warm intros. We need highly intentional relationships
Speaker 1: that are developed, nurtured, and so there's there's lines of
Speaker 1: trust so that our founders can get into the doors,
Speaker 1: secure the conversations that they need to have, and get
Speaker 1: the deals actually done. And so those are the things
Speaker 1: that we are actually focused on. The collab through our
Speaker 1: non capital contributions and investments U and very because you know,
Speaker 1: we're working towards building more inclusion and economic opportunity for
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs who typically haven't seen these opportunities historically. Um, how
Speaker 1: do you approach them differently and meet their knees? And
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is, is there a difference
Speaker 1: in the term sheet structure like that you would give
Speaker 1: a black entrepreneur versus one that a VC and a
Speaker 1: traditional firm might give. And we don't have to just
Speaker 1: tick the term sheets, but how is it, Um, how
Speaker 1: are the structures set up with that capital infusion different
Speaker 1: if they are for black founders versus the typical ones
Speaker 1: they might receive. So I mean we can dive into
Speaker 1: that super deep. You talk about just traditional term sheets
Speaker 1: that uh, I would even get into the term sheets,
Speaker 1: but I got the terms just typically aren't there. And
Speaker 1: so typically what you're here is, you know, as a
Speaker 1: black founder, you need to have you know, Series A
Speaker 1: level progress to get sea level terms. You gotta have
Speaker 1: speries B level progress to get Series A level terms. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, you take businesses like you know a part
Speaker 1: Kick or Masnew like these businesses that we were growing,
Speaker 1: and you know, you have seven figure revenues and you
Speaker 1: still can't get over you know, you still can't raise five, seven,
Speaker 1: eight million dollars and you have companies out here. You know,
Speaker 1: not to throw names out there, but I appreciate people
Speaker 1: know it. But people with you know, two thousand users
Speaker 1: get a hundred million dollar valuations. It's you know, how
Speaker 1: do you compete in that world? And so basically what
Speaker 1: we said, it's like, let's break that world down. And
Speaker 1: something that I tend to like to brag about is that,
Speaker 1: you know, we we tore that model down, not in
Speaker 1: a negative way, but just literally layer by layer by
Speaker 1: layer and pull it back to find out, why are
Speaker 1: these inequalities here? How was this system built? When you
Speaker 1: tear it all the way back? We justin wrote a
Speaker 1: piece and when he sent it over to us to read.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the um things in the peace
Speaker 1: was that, you know, venture capital started when black people
Speaker 1: still couldn't vote. Yeah, like, this was constructed at a
Speaker 1: time we had no power, and so obviously it wasn't
Speaker 1: built for us. And so now when we when we
Speaker 1: stripped back layer by air by layer, one of the
Speaker 1: big things that we wanted to focus on. Our model
Speaker 1: was ownership and flexibility as black founders. How many times
Speaker 1: have we seen the founder build a company and get
Speaker 1: removed as CEO. We told they had to go in
Speaker 1: this direction. And so what we did was we built
Speaker 1: a model from scratch UM Like, we're not using a
Speaker 1: traditional we're not using a safe note or a convertible
Speaker 1: note or traditional series a turn sheet. UM. We built
Speaker 1: and spent a year and a half of eighteen months
Speaker 1: building an entirely new investment vehicle UM that allowed us
Speaker 1: to give the founders that ownership and that flexibility to
Speaker 1: run the company the way they think it needs to
Speaker 1: be ran obviously with us as advisors and with our
Speaker 1: LP network and that human capital justin talked about. But
Speaker 1: for us, like that is the important thing that we
Speaker 1: want these founders to build generational wealth. And you don't
Speaker 1: build generational wealth by not owning the thing that that
Speaker 1: you built. And so that's where a lot of our
Speaker 1: focus is in our model. That's really really, really good.
Speaker 1: I think about not only do you have the differences
Speaker 1: in focusing on black entrepreneurs specifically in our needs, but
Speaker 1: you also have a geographical difference, Like what is the
Speaker 1: difference Jewel, if you can speak to this, what is
Speaker 1: the difference between raising money in the traditional network like ecosystem,
Speaker 1: like a Silicon Valley versus like a Georgia or in
Speaker 1: the South period, Like what are those critical differences that
Speaker 1: you're gonna get when you're having those conversations with angels
Speaker 1: and vcs. Yeah, term sheets and the terms in general
Speaker 1: look very different in Silicon Valley than they look in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things that we really wanted
Speaker 1: to focus in on as well, is that you shouldn't
Speaker 1: have to be in Silicon Valley or in New York
Speaker 1: or in Boston to build a great business. You should
Speaker 1: be able to build wherever you have the right network
Speaker 1: and you have the customer base and you have the
Speaker 1: talent um. Wherever is is it works for your particular business.
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the things that we've built
Speaker 1: into the model is how do we leverage what's strong
Speaker 1: about the cities that we're in talking about Black people
Speaker 1: were in Atlanta, So how do we leverage what's great
Speaker 1: about Atlanta? The influence, the culture, uh right, you know,
Speaker 1: the access to fortunate five companies. How do we leverage
Speaker 1: all of those things to make startups successful here and
Speaker 1: so everywhere that we want to be Think about Detroit,
Speaker 1: think about Atlanta, think about Baltimore. Um, how do we
Speaker 1: go into those cities and really tap into what's already
Speaker 1: there instead of trying to recreate what has been was
Speaker 1: worked arguably work for Secon Valley. Let's not try to
Speaker 1: make you know these little mini silicon valleys. Let's try
Speaker 1: to make ecosystems that work for the people there and
Speaker 1: then allow those people to stay there, build their companies there,
Speaker 1: impact the communities there. That's what we want to be
Speaker 1: a part of and what we think our model helps facilitate.
Speaker 1: Sticking with you, like, there are people who come to
Speaker 1: this conference and are looking to invest, and maybe they're
Speaker 1: not sophisticated investors, but they they got a little bit
Speaker 1: of money, you know, put away, or maybe they have
Speaker 1: high incomes or etcetera. They're looking for deals. And how
Speaker 1: should people who have that makeup, Um, dip there? Either
Speaker 1: I don't even know if it's would say, dip their
Speaker 1: toe in the water, because you are in you know,
Speaker 1: once you write that check, you just married somebody, Like
Speaker 1: how do you learn to do this? Like, you guys
Speaker 1: aren't you know, you don't have historical VC. You know
Speaker 1: d n A right, but how do you how do
Speaker 1: you learn how to do this? And um do it
Speaker 1: in a way where you understand that you're gonna make
Speaker 1: some bad calls. Well, we would argue that you should
Speaker 1: invest in Collapse, so we can there you go. But
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that that that I
Speaker 1: did and in Burying just and have done as well, is,
Speaker 1: um we got out there, we started making writing checks
Speaker 1: and putting our own capital UM at risk to see
Speaker 1: what is this thing all about? So before we started Collapse,
Speaker 1: I was experiment seeing with different ways to put together
Speaker 1: deals with my angel investments and then also learning from
Speaker 1: other funds through LP investments. And so the best way
Speaker 1: to learn is really to put some money out there
Speaker 1: and see what happens. And I don't I always tell
Speaker 1: new investors you should invest like this money is not
Speaker 1: coming back. It's very risky to invest in early stage companies.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, one of the ways is just
Speaker 1: to start, even if you're starting small with you know, thousands,
Speaker 1: five thousand, ten thousand dollar checks. That's one way. And
Speaker 1: then I made a joke at the beginning about just
Speaker 1: invest in collab, But really we did build a model
Speaker 1: to get more particularly black investors activated and get them
Speaker 1: more comfortable with the idea of investing in early stage
Speaker 1: technology scalable companies. And one of the unique things about
Speaker 1: our model is that in a typical VC funds structure,
Speaker 1: if you invest, you're expecting that you're not gonna see
Speaker 1: that money in the next seven to ten years because
Speaker 1: you're waiting on exits. But in our model, given that
Speaker 1: we have we have this profit share model, we expect
Speaker 1: to be returning capital to our LPs within three years
Speaker 1: of their investment. So just a little different, but it
Speaker 1: was really built to help activate people that are a
Speaker 1: little timid to put their capital to work in this way.
Speaker 1: Justin let's not even into that profit sharing my life,
Speaker 1: how does that functionally work? So when you get when
Speaker 1: you find somebody, you run into somebody at you know,
Speaker 1: the gathering spot or wherever you at, and they're like, yo,
Speaker 1: I gotta fit the grand you know, just put away
Speaker 1: to do something with like and you're explaining to me,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make money faster or potentially make some money
Speaker 1: back faster than that seven to ten. You know, you're
Speaker 1: spending jewel talks about how does that functionally work. That's
Speaker 1: a great question, will Um. It's something that we actually
Speaker 1: enjoy talking about. When we're talking to LPs, particularly of
Speaker 1: the more experienced VC path they understand that a little
Speaker 1: bit more So, it's always great to kind of unearth
Speaker 1: and peel back the layers of what we what we
Speaker 1: work to do UM for for that that investor, for
Speaker 1: that potential limited partner in our company, that LP. What
Speaker 1: we focus on is kind of two key things. One,
Speaker 1: we still need you to be an active limited partner, right,
Speaker 1: We still want you to activate those networks to help
Speaker 1: you know, UM open doors provide pathways for revenue and
Speaker 1: profitability for our companies UM, and so that's kind of
Speaker 1: the very first thing we want to do is we
Speaker 1: want relationships and we want collaboration. And then on the
Speaker 1: actual fund mechanics side of it, what we do is
Speaker 1: we focus on profit sharing and so UM instead of
Speaker 1: waiting that the seven to ten years, as Jewel described UM,
Speaker 1: when there's an when we make an investment, we set
Speaker 1: terms with our target investment with the portfolio company UM,
Speaker 1: and we we set out a time frame of when
Speaker 1: they will actually start to return profits. And as those
Speaker 1: profits return through our investment vehicle, we then distribute directly
Speaker 1: back to the LPs. And one of the really cool
Speaker 1: features of our our investment model is we also have
Speaker 1: partners um and that those growth partners are largely made
Speaker 1: up of our LPs. So again we get to activate them,
Speaker 1: get them really involved in a in a high touch way,
Speaker 1: which also gives them kind of like an angel investor
Speaker 1: level access as far as being on the cap table
Speaker 1: where they can actually take direct profits. So as the
Speaker 1: returns to come into um the return to the fund,
Speaker 1: they actually will get a portion of their profit share
Speaker 1: directly to them, which again increases their potential upside um
Speaker 1: and gets again makes that that that access they have,
Speaker 1: the work they're willing to do, and actually can compensate
Speaker 1: them much sooner than seventy teen years out. Barry, Let's
Speaker 1: back up, like on the how this building a fund
Speaker 1: actually works. I would imagine there's people here who are
Speaker 1: not like sophisticated, you know in an investment only on
Speaker 1: the investor side of the table, but maybe just dope founders.
Speaker 1: But when you are starting a phone like you're you're
Speaker 1: starting your startup, You're you're pitching the people to give
Speaker 1: you money so you can pick so you can give
Speaker 1: the money away. Right you talk to me about how this,
Speaker 1: how this works as starting a startup, which is your
Speaker 1: fund in this respect, Yeah, it's it's super different than
Speaker 1: selling the widget, right Like, Uh, you know, we were
Speaker 1: raising the raising for ma Sria. You know, I walk in,
Speaker 1: I would make people drink that touch the technology. You know,
Speaker 1: they're and all and they're like, oh this thing really works, um,
Speaker 1: you know. And so you have that excitement. And now
Speaker 1: you walk into a room and or I guess nobody's
Speaker 1: walking the room right now, but you have into a
Speaker 1: zoom um and you say, hey, I need you to
Speaker 1: give me money for some stuff that I don't even
Speaker 1: know it's come out yet, right like, because I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make investments. This money in you Like, I don't even
Speaker 1: know if this entrepreneurs entree normal. I still be sitting
Speaker 1: you know, in you know, North Carolina. A and T
Speaker 1: is a student right now. We don't know what they're
Speaker 1: gonna do, right, And so that's one of the more
Speaker 1: difficult parts. But I think just as far as getting
Speaker 1: a fund off the ground, one of the things I
Speaker 1: love about our team is that we're operators right, Like,
Speaker 1: this is what we do. We go into systems or
Speaker 1: you know, industries, and we say, hey, there is a
Speaker 1: gap here, there is a problem. And so if you
Speaker 1: even combed through our website, we don't even mentor mentioned
Speaker 1: ourselves venture capitalists. We call ourselves capital entrepreneurs. Like, we
Speaker 1: saw a gap, but there's this big economic gap between
Speaker 1: people that get funded by bank loans and people that
Speaker 1: get venture capital. And it's eighty three cough, And put
Speaker 1: out this report a couple of years ago that ad
Speaker 1: three percent of businesses don't fit those two ways of
Speaker 1: getting capital. So as an entrepreneur, you look at it
Speaker 1: and you say, man, that's a big economic gap that
Speaker 1: nobody's looking at right now. And so like, we can
Speaker 1: go build something that takes advantage of that. And not
Speaker 1: only could we do that, but a lot of black
Speaker 1: companies fit in that gap as well. So not only
Speaker 1: could we take advantage of this economic opportunity, we can
Speaker 1: also do it in a way that's really good for
Speaker 1: our community and build some wealth and start printing black
Speaker 1: millionaires through this model. And so when you look at
Speaker 1: it that way from entrepreneurial perspective, we've basically put ourselves
Speaker 1: in a position that when we walk into investor rooms,
Speaker 1: now we're not competing with the same funds that are
Speaker 1: have the same exact traditional model they're coming in and
Speaker 1: now it's just like, hey, will you have model A
Speaker 1: and such and such you have from a point in
Speaker 1: one right like if you're you're going out to the
Speaker 1: same people with the same model. We becut ourselves in
Speaker 1: a position as entrepreneurs that we're pitching a widget now
Speaker 1: like we're coming into and we have this new shiny thing.
Speaker 1: You should be investing in this model like and and
Speaker 1: then you should be investing in this dope as team
Speaker 1: of operators that has proven themselves. And so we're really
Speaker 1: we're now we've we've gotten ourselves comfortable because we're pitching
Speaker 1: like founders. Now we were walking in and so we're
Speaker 1: not pitching like a traditional VC will walk in to
Speaker 1: go raise capital for funds, and as you can see
Speaker 1: them getting excited because now we're we're like, we've put
Speaker 1: ourselves in the zone to make ourselves successful. Every investor
Speaker 1: is looking for specific things when they think about putting
Speaker 1: money in the startup. Maybe when they're vetting an opportunity,
Speaker 1: they're looking at I found a pedigree. Maybe considering the
Speaker 1: viability of the tech. Maybe they have a fear of
Speaker 1: missing out on the next Google. Who knows for collapse capital,
Speaker 1: what sparks they're interested enough to take a meeting with
Speaker 1: the start of the founder, particularly at the earliest stage
Speaker 1: when there isn't a ton of proof of concept. Justin
Speaker 1: Dawkins speaks on it. Yeah, that's a great question, and
Speaker 1: this is definitely the sweet spot. This is because this
Speaker 1: is where I love to operate. Um just personally, I
Speaker 1: think we look for two key things. Where I look
Speaker 1: for two key things. One is great, right, so tenacity,
Speaker 1: how do you your ability to solve problems and take
Speaker 1: any advice and guidance and being able to discern and
Speaker 1: that that will take some work and some getting used to,
Speaker 1: especially for early stas companies, but I do look for that.
Speaker 1: And the founders were they able to solve a problem
Speaker 1: or how far they were able to get and trying
Speaker 1: to solve their problem before they look for outside help.
Speaker 1: So that's one thing, right, That's that creativity. And then
Speaker 1: the other thing is you know, as as now a
Speaker 1: partner in an investment firm, we're looking for kind of
Speaker 1: similar personality traits and characteristics as it relates to our
Speaker 1: community and the impact that we're trying to to have.
Speaker 1: So one of the things, one of the signals for
Speaker 1: us is you know, yes, wealth comes with a lot
Speaker 1: of benefits, right, so, yes, you can go and buy
Speaker 1: homes and nicer cars and you know things. But more importantly,
Speaker 1: what is it that why are you doing this work
Speaker 1: and what is it that you ultimately want to do
Speaker 1: with the wealth that you're generating for you, your company,
Speaker 1: in the community. That's important to me as well. Um,
Speaker 1: and that's why I started with social impact with you know,
Speaker 1: when I did the work with Good Nation was I
Speaker 1: really really wanted to focus on folks who wanted to
Speaker 1: solve tough problems. And if we made money along the way,
Speaker 1: that's wonderful because we can do things with that. But
Speaker 1: more importantly, what is the impact in the long term
Speaker 1: impact of the work that we're doing. So it's more
Speaker 1: about legacy. So so Jule, I think about you know,
Speaker 1: when I hear an answer like justice, like how do
Speaker 1: I show you that grit? When I'm standing I'm walking
Speaker 1: in the hall during afro Tech conference and I see
Speaker 1: you're walking by, Like how do I how do I
Speaker 1: get your attention in that moment where you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know what we should talk after this? How do
Speaker 1: how do you do that? You know, it's it's hard
Speaker 1: to do, especially at a conference like AFRO Tech. I'm
Speaker 1: you know, given that we're now all online, I'm assuming
Speaker 1: there will be new and innovative ways that people can
Speaker 1: kind of get that that attention. But to me, it's
Speaker 1: not about that initial meeting. I mean, that's great. You
Speaker 1: need to be able to make yourself known and tell
Speaker 1: somebody in a split second what you're working on and
Speaker 1: why they should care. But it's really about the follow up.
Speaker 1: I think that is the critical point that people need
Speaker 1: to pay attention to is Okay, you've gotten my you
Speaker 1: met me, you know how to touch with me. But
Speaker 1: then are what are you doing after and are you
Speaker 1: showcasing over time that you're you're on this, you're making
Speaker 1: progress with me or without me, you're still making it happen.
Speaker 1: That's the big thing I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: miss because they're waiting on somebody to show them the
Speaker 1: way or to give them something and and being stagnant.
Speaker 1: But the people that really impressed me and the people
Speaker 1: that we've invested in so far are the ones who
Speaker 1: are able to showcase over time. This is this is
Speaker 1: where you met me. Now it's a month later, and
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit further. I'm a little bit further.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit further, and I'm telling you I'm
Speaker 1: dictating that progress over time. That to me is what
Speaker 1: gets me excited and makes me like, Okay, well you're
Speaker 1: on it. Let me get let me get on your
Speaker 1: train because you're going somewhere. Um, so that's I think
Speaker 1: that's what we look for as well. You know, um
Speaker 1: you also had security walking around affort security six six
Speaker 1: to nine. Indeed, yes, you gotta get passing boys and
Speaker 1: just just I think about, um, you know this is
Speaker 1: Reid Hoffman Court says. You know, if you're not embarrassed
Speaker 1: by the first launch of your your first person of
Speaker 1: your product and you launched too late, and you know
Speaker 1: when you think about, you know, your full stack entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: full stack engineer, what what are your thoughts on when
Speaker 1: you're evaluating, you know, some tech that somebody is pitching
Speaker 1: you to invest in the technical viability of this thing,
Speaker 1: Like what are you looking for in that that stack,
Speaker 1: that code, that whatever that you know, its ability to
Speaker 1: actually make it in the world, because I imagine if
Speaker 1: I'm buried, you know what I'm and I had that machine,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm taking this to to this to
Speaker 1: sweet I'm going to go show some people. I'm nervous,
Speaker 1: armed printons sweating, and I'm like, please work today, right
Speaker 1: because you just it's just it's tech, right and and
Speaker 1: so and you haven't and you haven't always mastered it,
Speaker 1: especially in those early stages when you're building technology, justin like,
Speaker 1: how are you, as an as an engineer looking at
Speaker 1: that that that stack to make sure that what they
Speaker 1: say they can do they can actually do. Yeah, great question.
Speaker 1: I think I've ever been asked this question, so I
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Um. The first thing is I'm self taught.
Speaker 1: So you know, I taught myself how to design. I
Speaker 1: taught myself how to two scripts and build databases and
Speaker 1: like everything I've I've ever learned, UM, I learned it
Speaker 1: on my own. UM. And so I give a lot
Speaker 1: of grace um to two products and to two first
Speaker 1: iterations and early versions of products, because I understand that
Speaker 1: if you piece this together with a no code or
Speaker 1: low coal solution, or you may have gone through two
Speaker 1: or three developers, and that language barrier like like sometimes
Speaker 1: figuratively and literally depending on where your development team is.
Speaker 1: I understand those things because I've dealt with those things firsthand.
Speaker 1: I've cleaned up code. I'm sure I've delivered message code.
Speaker 1: There's someone else had to come behind and clean up
Speaker 1: is well. Um And so I think that the first
Speaker 1: thing that I look for is the value that you're
Speaker 1: providing actually as the end product and more so than
Speaker 1: the actual functional parts of the product, because I understand
Speaker 1: that with the right team and the right capital, we
Speaker 1: can always re engineer. We can re factor and rebuild
Speaker 1: it um and and get it to a more stable,
Speaker 1: stable or scalable place. So the first thing I do
Speaker 1: is just how far did you get? Like? What did
Speaker 1: you learn? What were you willing to learn? What would
Speaker 1: you may be willing to do on your own um
Speaker 1: to to get you as far as you could go
Speaker 1: before you brought in that third engineer or before you
Speaker 1: committed to a CTO. I don't want that won't necessarily
Speaker 1: profounders to run around and bump their knees all the time,
Speaker 1: but I do appreciate and respect you know, being able
Speaker 1: to piece it together and ultimately provide value. And if
Speaker 1: somebody's willing to pay you for a product that is imperfect,
Speaker 1: that to me is a is a great signal that
Speaker 1: there's something really, really viable and big here Because if
Speaker 1: someone who are willing to pay you for something that
Speaker 1: that that breaks down occasionally but still provides that that
Speaker 1: means that the need is strong there and that's a
Speaker 1: great company to be working on the build. You know, Juel,
Speaker 1: I gotta follow up with that response, because I know
Speaker 1: when you build part picking the beginning, like you have
Speaker 1: contractors working on this now and being on the other
Speaker 1: side of the table now, like, what what are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on technical contractors? Do you find yourself as an investor,
Speaker 1: you know, perhaps giving preference to people who have internal teams.
Speaker 1: And here's why I ask, It's because I do believe
Speaker 1: also there's value to having somebody come to you who's
Speaker 1: been able to engage smart people and sell a team
Speaker 1: to coming along this journey with them. Right, So what
Speaker 1: do you what are your thoughts on that? You know,
Speaker 1: part of the answer is it kind of depends on
Speaker 1: what they're building. If they're building something that is where
Speaker 1: the technology is just a means to the end and
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter so much that's not the core of
Speaker 1: what they're doing. Then I don't think it's a bad
Speaker 1: for people to engage teams or contractors if it's really
Speaker 1: just a you know, part of a solution, it is
Speaker 1: something like what we were building at Part Pick, where
Speaker 1: the core of what we built was the technology. Then
Speaker 1: I'm expecting the person to be able to attract that
Speaker 1: first early core CTO or technical founder because it's it's
Speaker 1: core to what what they're building. So that's the first
Speaker 1: thing I think about, is what are you What are
Speaker 1: you building? Is it something that you can pull off
Speaker 1: the shelf, or are you trying to build a new
Speaker 1: technology that actually needs a dedicated uh engineer, you know,
Speaker 1: expert in house to build it. Um So that's one thing,
Speaker 1: and then the other piece to your point, I think
Speaker 1: that first person or a few people that you attract
Speaker 1: that says a lot about you as a founder, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna have doing that over and over again, attracting
Speaker 1: folks to join your team, you know, attracting investors if
Speaker 1: you decide to go that route, attracting customers. So I
Speaker 1: think that that early that's an early indicator of how
Speaker 1: good of a salesperson you are to bring people onto
Speaker 1: the team. And yeah, so those are the two things
Speaker 1: that I consider. Is is it crucial to the product
Speaker 1: or to the business? And then what am I able
Speaker 1: to learn about the founder as far as what they've
Speaker 1: been able to attract to them? I think people can
Speaker 1: tell a lot more about if they looked at part pick.
Speaker 1: They can actually say, tell a lot more about the
Speaker 1: business by looking at folks like naturally Dr nashally Sea
Speaker 1: Fist and the fact that we had five pH d
Speaker 1: s from Georgia Tech that we're on our team. If
Speaker 1: they were looking they would be like, Okay, there must
Speaker 1: be something here that all these people have decided to
Speaker 1: spend time in this way. So that's how I think
Speaker 1: about it. But I again to Justin's point, I do
Speaker 1: have grace because I had to crawl through some part
Speaker 1: time team, so I do understand in that first year,
Speaker 1: so people trying to just figure that part out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, Bury this may be um a very general
Speaker 1: question to very specific cases, but like as a rule
Speaker 1: of thumb, um, what is a good answer to what
Speaker 1: are you going to do with this capital? When I
Speaker 1: write you a check? Oh, that's a good one. Uh uh,
Speaker 1: there there are several good answers, um, And I think
Speaker 1: it's really to your points of general question, right. I
Speaker 1: think different companies need different things. From a general perspective,
Speaker 1: I think just having a clan like even if it's
Speaker 1: not a percent, right, like just showing me that you
Speaker 1: literally sought through, Like I'm gonna need to hire these
Speaker 1: four people and they're gonna cost in my region, right,
Speaker 1: the average developer costs eighty dollars a year, and the
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need to sales associates, they're gonna able commissioned
Speaker 1: for this much because I can't afford to bring in
Speaker 1: a Like the fact that you went through that exercise,
Speaker 1: the fact that you went through into my a WS
Speaker 1: costs are going to vote from here there to hear
Speaker 1: and then that's to your customer, right, like the fact
Speaker 1: that you sought through these things and you can put
Speaker 1: in front of me and show me that your mind
Speaker 1: in the right place. But at the same time, maybe
Speaker 1: your first time founder, you know you're you're early in
Speaker 1: your business that we we invest pretty early, uh you know,
Speaker 1: post product the kind of pre profit, so we want
Speaker 1: you to have the justice point like maybe one or
Speaker 1: two customers, but you don't have to have a hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month in revenue. So where we invested
Speaker 1: early too, that's up to us as good investors to
Speaker 1: come in and say there's something here and the way
Speaker 1: that they just put the work in, we can polish it.
Speaker 1: Make sure that we sit down there and say you
Speaker 1: don't need four developers, you need seven because you forgot
Speaker 1: about the testing team and you know, so like we
Speaker 1: can go in and help them model it out and
Speaker 1: polish it. But this gets back to also how you
Speaker 1: see Greek right, because now you're coming to me and
Speaker 1: you know this was me, right. I was the first
Speaker 1: time founder, never been around entrepreneurs in my life, and
Speaker 1: you know, but when I came with my dad, I
Speaker 1: had probably too much stuff right because I was just
Speaker 1: spending time like I probably need to know this and
Speaker 1: I need to have this chart, I need to have
Speaker 1: this worked out and have to do was problem ship right?
Speaker 1: I don't know it was UM. But at the same
Speaker 1: time I was up like the middle of the night,
Speaker 1: tishly research and trying to figure out what I thought
Speaker 1: I needed UM. And so I said, it's hard to
Speaker 1: just get into specific to say I need to I
Speaker 1: need you to say these three things. But the fact
Speaker 1: that you have a map and you also have a
Speaker 1: destination to show me when you give me this five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, I'm gonna do these things on this map,
Speaker 1: and my destination is over here, and I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: profitable because it's gonna get me to this and many
Speaker 1: customers and my customers tave me this much a month.
Speaker 1: The that's the way it man change that you get
Speaker 1: to it. But at least we know where we're trying
Speaker 1: to go. And it just shows me that you're a
Speaker 1: founder that I want to work with, that I can
Speaker 1: sit down and ideate with and get on the white
Speaker 1: board like that's the kind of stuff that's excites me. So, Jewel,
Speaker 1: is is it important to Bario's point that that five
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars I'm gonna take in over two years,
Speaker 1: that's gonna take me the profitability or does that five
Speaker 1: Is it okay that five five thousand dollars takes me
Speaker 1: to the next round of funding, because I think a
Speaker 1: lot of entrepreneurs have that pressure, like y'all gotta check.
Speaker 1: I have to bring a return on this round of
Speaker 1: funding and not maybe the next round. That depends on
Speaker 1: the investor. If you're talking to us that collab, are
Speaker 1: going to try to make a pathway for you to
Speaker 1: get take that five hundred thousand dollar or that first
Speaker 1: investment and get somewhere close to profitability because that's how
Speaker 1: our model works and that's what we actually think. We
Speaker 1: want to build businesses that can be profitable and sustainable
Speaker 1: so that the founders don't have to go out and
Speaker 1: raise more capital if they don't want to. That's our model.
Speaker 1: For a different investor, you're gonna get a different answer.
Speaker 1: Most traditional VC investors, profitability is not a focused area
Speaker 1: in the early first several They actually wants you to
Speaker 1: reinvest any any profits back into the business, just go
Speaker 1: for growth. So you really have to know who you're
Speaker 1: talking to. Oh, as the entrepreneur is important to know
Speaker 1: what you want. Do you want to build a profitable
Speaker 1: business or do you want to you know, a venture scale,
Speaker 1: venture backable business. So that's the choice, that's that's really good.
Speaker 1: But like in the early stages, like justin like how
Speaker 1: should I then value my company? So how do I
Speaker 1: set the price? Like when do I know if I
Speaker 1: should set a price or I should you know, set
Speaker 1: a price later via a convertible note or a safe
Speaker 1: for us, like, what's the best strategy for thinking about
Speaker 1: how to price a company or not price it? That's
Speaker 1: a great question, um, for for our model and for
Speaker 1: all intents and purposes with collab Um, it's not necessary
Speaker 1: that you price around UM to bury his points. Um,
Speaker 1: it's important that you understand what your costs. Right, So
Speaker 1: you have a milestone, you have your rs r KPIs
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna take us to get from Moustone
Speaker 1: AID and Moustone B. It's gonna take this much work,
Speaker 1: effort and cost. Right is this much amount of this
Speaker 1: amount of money? Those things are important. The value we
Speaker 1: look at it differently. We we look at it again
Speaker 1: as when you choose to collap capital pathway, you are
Speaker 1: opting for more ownership of your business and you're looking
Speaker 1: for to build a sustainable business that whether you get
Speaker 1: another penny from outside investment or not. You can employ
Speaker 1: people in your communities, you can cut yourself on a
Speaker 1: nice salary, and you can provide for your families and
Speaker 1: the families of your your team members. So our metrics
Speaker 1: are measurement tool is slightly different. Now when you decide
Speaker 1: to if you decide if you own the collap capital pathway,
Speaker 1: and you decide that we you know, through work it's
Speaker 1: revealed that wow, this actually is a much bigger business
Speaker 1: or there's a bigger opportunity if we put this on
Speaker 1: the adventure the traditional VC pathway, then what we can
Speaker 1: do and what we will work with you on is
Speaker 1: helping you price that round. Right, So now you've actually
Speaker 1: increased the value because you've actually focused on building a viable,
Speaker 1: profitable business. You don't you can take the money that
Speaker 1: you want to take. You don't have to be pressured
Speaker 1: um or feel that that that amount of pressure from
Speaker 1: venture capitalists based on their terms. You actually get to
Speaker 1: set the terms and we'll will be happy and glad
Speaker 1: to do that with you because we've a been a
Speaker 1: part of the business long enough to know how the
Speaker 1: business works and where the profit is and where the
Speaker 1: growth is. Then also those warm introductions that people talk
Speaker 1: about so often are red hot, and it's really about
Speaker 1: finding the best investors. They're gonna help you get to
Speaker 1: that that mouthstone and those exits and those acquisitions that
Speaker 1: we that we all know on the VC path you
Speaker 1: typically would look for while still preserving a larger portion,
Speaker 1: a much larger portion of the equity stake of the business.
Speaker 1: So um, I hope that answers the question, but that
Speaker 1: that is the collab answer to that question, Barry, at
Speaker 1: what stage are you investing? And if it's pre a
Speaker 1: can you define it? Because you know you have seed round,
Speaker 1: you also have pre seed round and depending on who
Speaker 1: you're talking to, like, Okay, what's the difference between the
Speaker 1: seed and preceed Like right, so talking about that, Uh,
Speaker 1: you can call it. And I don't know if everybody's
Speaker 1: come up with turns like it was a seed and
Speaker 1: then when you know, seeds got too much, like oh
Speaker 1: we need to precede and now but now precedes are
Speaker 1: a million dollar checks. It's all over the place. So
Speaker 1: the way we define it as we want you to
Speaker 1: be post products. So we want to see that you
Speaker 1: can build something to Justine doesn't have to be the
Speaker 1: perfect product, but we want to see that you can
Speaker 1: deliver something. And then we would also like to see
Speaker 1: that product in the hands of a couple of customers,
Speaker 1: you know, we we want to see a pilot. We
Speaker 1: want to see, you know, a couple of users on
Speaker 1: your app, and you're getting feedback and and showing that
Speaker 1: you can, like you, what does a couple? Because you
Speaker 1: you listed at a couple, So my mommy used the app.
Speaker 1: I got cousin, he used the app. I need to
Speaker 1: know what a couple? A couple of thousand, a couple
Speaker 1: of hundreds. Yeah, that's a legit question. Um, So we
Speaker 1: we say, you know, like five to ten k in
Speaker 1: in revenue, Um, will we go above that and below
Speaker 1: that in some bills based on the bibility of the
Speaker 1: product and the team. Maybe they're a little bit earlier,
Speaker 1: but you know they have a fedigree. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: we're we're an investors still, so we still we still
Speaker 1: we will have some of that. You know, you've got
Speaker 1: something before you're showing your success. Maybe you know you
Speaker 1: built that confidence up an investors, So maybe we will
Speaker 1: do it a little bit earlier. Um. And then also
Speaker 1: is gonna be we may take something a little bit
Speaker 1: earlier if we have a really really good growth partner
Speaker 1: in our network that we can can take this thing
Speaker 1: to the next level and they just need some help,
Speaker 1: you know. So it will be some iterations, but I'll
Speaker 1: say the majority of our investments will will be that
Speaker 1: kind of post product. You know, you've got several thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in early revenue and we're gonna come in get
Speaker 1: you with some growth partners. Um, you know, get your
Speaker 1: marketing stuff set up, help you with yourselves. Uh, it
Speaker 1: really help you take that in a profitable manner to
Speaker 1: you know, like that ten million are we kind of
Speaker 1: have this target to give you one to get companies
Speaker 1: to ten million dollars in revenue and that's how we
Speaker 1: return our fund back to the LPs UM to get
Speaker 1: our companies to ten million dollars in revenue with thirty
Speaker 1: percent profitability. And so like that's the train that will
Speaker 1: get you on once you come in at that target.
Speaker 1: Talk to me about, UM, Atlanta, maybe the more broadly
Speaker 1: the South, but Atlanta specifically about like the tech ecosystem
Speaker 1: and the wrap around services that offer the opportunity for
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs to be successful, particularly black entrepreneurs. Like what is
Speaker 1: it about what is unique about Atlanta more generally the
Speaker 1: South that allows us to thrive? Yeah? Man, your questions
Speaker 1: man today is UM, I love Atlantic. You can't tell
Speaker 1: between my hat and my shirt. Um, Atlanta is a
Speaker 1: special place, um, and and really actually stems from obviously
Speaker 1: the civil rights movement. UM. With Dr King, you can
Speaker 1: also talk about the political leadership and the things that
Speaker 1: were laid out that actually preserved and may wait for
Speaker 1: wealth to be created amongst black people. So we look
Speaker 1: look at the world's busiest airport, like the world's busiest
Speaker 1: airport is half named by a black man because of
Speaker 1: the energy and the effort and the intentionality that he
Speaker 1: had and building a world class um airport and doing
Speaker 1: that with black people, UM right there along the way.
Speaker 1: And so that spirit um, it's it's still here and
Speaker 1: it persists. And I think when you take that into
Speaker 1: consideration and also adding the layers, right, so you're adding
Speaker 1: great educational institutions. In Georgia tech got the called the
Speaker 1: Honorary hpc of Georgia State. Um, you have three HPCs
Speaker 1: UM literally right around the corner, like in downtown Atlanta.
Speaker 1: They're not rural hpc use, these are you know, urban
Speaker 1: you know urban hpc u s. So you have a lot,
Speaker 1: you have all the culture and the benefits of that.
Speaker 1: Then you start throwing and in the corporations the fortune
Speaker 1: five hundreds UM. What that does is it creates a
Speaker 1: really really rich network of individuals that are highly connected
Speaker 1: and highly engaged and highly creative, and UM, when we
Speaker 1: start talking about wrap around services, what's really great about
Speaker 1: Atlanta is there are so many people that do so
Speaker 1: many things, and so our job is to go and
Speaker 1: find the best, you know, find the best to actually
Speaker 1: help our portfolio companies. And so what the wrap around
Speaker 1: services looks like. It looks like, you know, it looks
Speaker 1: like having an entertainer as an advisor. It looks like
Speaker 1: a lacree shouting your product out on on television. It
Speaker 1: looks like you know, t I taking a meeting. It
Speaker 1: looks like all these um what we would what some
Speaker 1: may call like a mecca UM. But it's really about
Speaker 1: a synergetic ecosystem that's that when made efficient right when
Speaker 1: they're when their platforms, the the the institutions are in
Speaker 1: place to make that network efficient, the results are literally
Speaker 1: limitless UM. And we have access literally to the world
Speaker 1: with the airport UM and then world class education and
Speaker 1: world class companies that that have the capital to help
Speaker 1: a lot of companies grow UM and increase their values.
Speaker 1: Sprinkle a little something on there will Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: a deeply educated answer right there, Like I'm like, go ahead,
Speaker 1: very I want all three of you to do this
Speaker 1: answer so um and so I mean just to hit
Speaker 1: the big major points. But I don't think I wanted
Speaker 1: to sprinkle. Was that the other really dope thing about
Speaker 1: Atlanta is that people that are from Atlanta, you know,
Speaker 1: they're very sarticular about this, but Atlanta has a lot
Speaker 1: of transplants, right, A lot of people moved to Atlanta,
Speaker 1: whether it's for jobs, where it's for the culture, whether whatever.
Speaker 1: Lady moved to Atlanta for um and so what happens
Speaker 1: is in ecosystems like it. And I think this is
Speaker 1: kind of the big difference from like I would say,
Speaker 1: the other coasts is that when somebody is successful in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: there's probably another ecosystem that's benefiting, like because you made
Speaker 1: a bunch of money here. And I know I'll let
Speaker 1: nominated anyway because I'm talking. But with Dr Nashville Seacatis, right,
Speaker 1: like park Pick was successful in Atlanta, she's from Jackson, Mississippi.
Speaker 1: She's successful in Atlanta and goals and buys twelve acres
Speaker 1: of land in Jackson, Mississippi to build her tech club
Speaker 1: in her hometown. Still lives in Atlanta, but now you
Speaker 1: see this root, right like, you see this reach um there.
Speaker 1: You know there are other co founder went back to
Speaker 1: Kansas City and he's doing work in Kansas City, right like,
Speaker 1: So now you have this roots when things happen in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: that they start to spread to Charlotte and you know,
Speaker 1: down to Florida and over here to Birmingham and Nashville
Speaker 1: and Memphis and all these places that people moved to
Speaker 1: Atlanta to reach this success. But it doesn't just stay here.
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the things I love about
Speaker 1: Atlantas that the seeds here they grow and german ate
Speaker 1: in a lot of other places as well. Jo Man,
Speaker 1: my partners, they answer that one. But one thing I
Speaker 1: will add is there's something this is even though I
Speaker 1: love Atlanta and I could go on and on about
Speaker 1: how great Atlanta is, there's something else which is a
Speaker 1: tension right now in Atlanta where there's a fight for
Speaker 1: the city when it comes to black leadership, when it
Speaker 1: comes to black economic prosperity. And I think that you
Speaker 1: have an energy around maintaining these things. And so for me,
Speaker 1: that's what keeps me motivated and keeps me excited, is
Speaker 1: like we have work to do here. Still there's a
Speaker 1: lot that we have to um maintain as far as
Speaker 1: what the foundations that Maynard Jackson set so many years ago.
Speaker 1: There's work for this new generation, those of us who
Speaker 1: have decided to land here. So that for me is
Speaker 1: like the thing of Okay, we can't let the hard
Speaker 1: work that happened and fifty years ago go to waste.
Speaker 1: We have to make sure that we're maintaining the positions
Speaker 1: that we have. We have to make sure that what
Speaker 1: you know, the sad part of the city where you
Speaker 1: do still have a huge gap as relates to the
Speaker 1: haves and the have not, even in the black community.
Speaker 1: There's work to be done. And so I'm excited about
Speaker 1: the fact that we get to do that work here
Speaker 1: in showcase what can happen when there's intentional efforts in
Speaker 1: a city where you have leadership in these different spots.
Speaker 1: The fact that Barry is over tech Stars social Impact
Speaker 1: and is building companies here in Atlanta, that is not
Speaker 1: by mistake. The fact that justin you know, founded with
Speaker 1: Joey Willman Gooding Nation to build social impact companies here
Speaker 1: in Atlanta is not by mistake. The fact that I
Speaker 1: took on the role to lead Google for startups here
Speaker 1: in Atlanta about the stake. So we're doing all these
Speaker 1: things to really set a different path for the city,
Speaker 1: building on what we've seen, um, you know from the past.
Speaker 1: And Jill, I'll give you this, this final thing, and
Speaker 1: then I'll ask um some other answer a questions to
Speaker 1: all of you. Um. You wrote a postum a little
Speaker 1: while ago called while I always have two jobs, um,
Speaker 1: And there was a quote in there that I particularly
Speaker 1: stuck out for me and said, although I was able
Speaker 1: to make a life changing amount of money through the
Speaker 1: sale of part pick, I've always viewed this as a
Speaker 1: foundation of general generational wealth for my family, not as
Speaker 1: a personal victory. Um. Can you talk about the personal
Speaker 1: responsibility you felt too, not just ball out and go,
Speaker 1: you know, go get the grill right, you know, the
Speaker 1: grills on order right, but to you know, also turned
Speaker 1: around and reinvest um that reward into your family and
Speaker 1: to other entrepreneurs, Like how important is it that we
Speaker 1: as black people who do something, who do reach that
Speaker 1: finish line and get that exit and make it get
Speaker 1: that bag, not just take it selfishly, but to keep
Speaker 1: that not that it's not saying that you hain't do
Speaker 1: that stuff, Go get the grill, that's what you want through.
Speaker 1: But how important is it that we reinvest into our
Speaker 1: communities are people? Yeah, it's critical. I I don't think
Speaker 1: we cannot rely on anybody else to save us about ourselves.
Speaker 1: And it's gonna take all of us who have achieved
Speaker 1: some level of success to go back, turn around, help
Speaker 1: somebody else out, I mean, in my opinion. And maybe
Speaker 1: that's just the way I was wired, the way I
Speaker 1: grew up. But it's a duty, it's a responsibility. Um.
Speaker 1: And and also it's it's like I have the skills,
Speaker 1: I have the knowledge, I have to give it to
Speaker 1: somebody else. So for me, that's it's just really important.
Speaker 1: And I would not feel right if I, you know,
Speaker 1: retired and said, okay, doce is I made what I
Speaker 1: need to make I'm out here. I'm out of here. Um.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, I need to make sure that the
Speaker 1: next person, the Tracy Pickets of the world, you know,
Speaker 1: can do ten times what I did. I I think
Speaker 1: that we know enough to make sure that the next
Speaker 1: one is bigger and better. And if I can be
Speaker 1: a facilitator of that, that to me is like everything.
Speaker 1: Then I can go and retire with I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: Joe pull up to the office tomorrow with a grill
Speaker 1: one that's gonna be right. Black Tech Green Money is
Speaker 1: a production of Black and the Fro. Tech is produced
Speaker 1: by Morgan Dubon and meat Well Lucas, with additional production
Speaker 1: supported by Love Beach Your Raven near Born Special thanking
Speaker 1: to Michael Davis's Since the carsa von Yan you know,
Speaker 1: like the wine. Yes, that's his real name. Learn more
Speaker 1: about my guests and other Technis represent innovators at afrotech
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