1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:01,680
Speaker 1: Speaks to the planet. I go by the name of

2
00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:03,960
Speaker 1: Charlamagne to God and guess what, I can't wait to

3
00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,320
Speaker 1: see y'all at the third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival.

4
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,320
Speaker 1: That's right, We're coming back to Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April

5
00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,119
Speaker 1: twenty six at Poeman Yards and it's hosted by none

6
00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,520
Speaker 1: other than Decisions, Decisions Man, d B and Weezy. Okay,

7
00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,040
Speaker 1: we got the R and B Money podcast with taking

8
00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:21,560
Speaker 1: Jay Valentine. We got the Women of All Podcasts with

9
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,600
Speaker 1: Sarah Jake Roberts, we got Good Mom's Bad Choices. Carrie

10
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,920
Speaker 1: Champion will be there with her next sports podcast and

11
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,600
Speaker 1: the Trap Nerds podcast with more to be announced. And

12
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 1: of course it's bigger than podcasts. We're bringing the Black

13
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,680
Speaker 1: Effect marketplace with black owned businesses plus the food truck

14
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,680
Speaker 1: court to keep you fed while you visit us. All right, listen,

15
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,680
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab

16
00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,479
Speaker 1: your tickets now at Black Effect dot Com Flash Podcast Festival.

17
00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,240
Speaker 2: I'm Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green Money. Carolyn

18
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,839
Speaker 2: Royns is a Latina entrepreneur and the co founder and

19
00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,400
Speaker 2: cey of Hello Alice and aipowered platform that connects small

20
00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,680
Speaker 2: business owners of capital, mentorship and opportunities, over one million

21
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,319
Speaker 2: entrepreneurs on the platform, and partnerships with major corporations. Hello

22
00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,000
Speaker 2: Alice is proving that diversity isn't just good for business,

23
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,600
Speaker 2: it's essential. We give a lot of attention to hyper

24
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,959
Speaker 2: growth startups, technology companies, companies that you know are aiming

25
00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,440
Speaker 2: to be unicorns and things like that, while most people, however,

26
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,480
Speaker 2: work for small businesses or want to own a small

27
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,080
Speaker 2: businesses A small business and your work at Hello Alice

28
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,360
Speaker 2: connects a lot of small businesses with resources and opportunities.

29
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,200
Speaker 2: And I wonder what trends you're observing in the challenges

30
00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,520
Speaker 2: they might be facing compared to when you started this organization.

31
00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:43,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, Unfortunately, I will say that the challenges are facing

32
00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,240
Speaker 3: haven't changed much. It's always, you know, since we've blocked

33
00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,560
Speaker 3: Hello alics, the top two needs of small businesses have

34
00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:56,400
Speaker 3: consistently been access to capital and building customer awareness. Ultimately,

35
00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,000
Speaker 3: what we hear for businesses is they're looking for ways

36
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,160
Speaker 3: to put more money in their pocket, whether that's through

37
00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,280
Speaker 3: funding or whether that's through organic revenue growth. And that's

38
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,240
Speaker 3: really where the focus of Hello Alice sits.

39
00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:10,600
Speaker 2: Do you believe that, you know, I mean, you're saying

40
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,639
Speaker 2: that not a lot has changed. How has the approach

41
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,280
Speaker 2: potentially had to say, Okay, if this is not making

42
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,320
Speaker 2: meaningful impact, not that it's not making mean but the

43
00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 2: numbers you just you know, remain flat because more people

44
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:25,840
Speaker 2: are entering the space, have you had to change how

45
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,920
Speaker 2: you approach these challenges.

46
00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:33,240
Speaker 3: Where we're seeing great headway is the understanding around small

47
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,040
Speaker 3: business and we will launch Teloalis. Back in twenty seventeen,

48
00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,480
Speaker 3: we would talk about small businesses and nobody wanted to

49
00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,000
Speaker 3: hear about it was the reality. People were very focused

50
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000
Speaker 3: on the startup space. Everything was about tech.

51
00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,440
Speaker 4: There were all these accelerators, incubators, and great happening.

52
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:48,760
Speaker 5: To the small business.

53
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,440
Speaker 4: The silver lining of the pandemic which impacted small businesses

54
00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,519
Speaker 4: and lots of really difficult ways.

55
00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:58,400
Speaker 3: And challenge them in ways that we've never seen before.

56
00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,639
Speaker 3: It also brought great attention to small business and I

57
00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,480
Speaker 3: think it made everybody recognize how much we actually lean

58
00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 3: on these businesses in our backyards, what a huge piece

59
00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,760
Speaker 3: of the economy they are. They're ninety nine percent of

60
00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,280
Speaker 3: businesses in the US are small. They're creating fifty five

61
00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,800
Speaker 3: percent of new jobs, and so when you put a

62
00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,520
Speaker 3: freeze on that, I think we all recognized there was

63
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,960
Speaker 3: a lot of tension happening, certainly at the local level

64
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,480
Speaker 3: in terms of how we individually dependent on these businesses,

65
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,120
Speaker 3: but nationally, when we started to look at the economy,

66
00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,040
Speaker 3: we say, this is a huge impact in terms of

67
00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:38,280
Speaker 3: how our country operates. And so in that sense, I

68
00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,680
Speaker 3: think we've seen more attention. They're a better understanding, and

69
00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:48,480
Speaker 3: that understanding has opened up new products, new technology, more ability,

70
00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,800
Speaker 3: and I think more resourcing behind these businesses. And that's

71
00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,440
Speaker 3: allowing the companies that are fundamentally healthy.

72
00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 5: Businesses, it's allowing them to thrive.

73
00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,040
Speaker 3: And now where we're starting to focuses, Okay, these ones

74
00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,960
Speaker 3: that have sort of a shaky foundation that certainly struggle

75
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:04,920
Speaker 3: during the pandemic are.

76
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:05,800
Speaker 5: Continuing to struggle.

77
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,960
Speaker 3: Now, how do we build up those fundamentals to help

78
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,040
Speaker 3: them understand these are the pieces they need to get

79
00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 3: in place so that they can capitalize on this new

80
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,240
Speaker 3: wealth of resources that's been created. So there's definitely a

81
00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,240
Speaker 3: need to meet in the middle between the ecosystem resources

82
00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,440
Speaker 3: that are available in the capital that's being created, and

83
00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,720
Speaker 3: the small businesses themselves and the work that they need

84
00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,159
Speaker 3: to do to be able to access those resources.

85
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder how you think about this? So in

86
00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,120
Speaker 2: business there is no stasis, like if you're making the

87
00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,440
Speaker 2: same amount of money you made last year, you're probably

88
00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,920
Speaker 2: going down because the market is changing, market is getting

89
00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,320
Speaker 2: more efficient, more richtel etc. And so I think about

90
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,000
Speaker 2: how how do small business owners think about growth? Should

91
00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,320
Speaker 2: we be thinking about scale or should we be thinking

92
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,520
Speaker 2: in the way that technology start off thinking about scale?

93
00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:59,200
Speaker 2: Or is there another way we should be thinking about

94
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:00,719
Speaker 2: how we grow small all businesses.

95
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,840
Speaker 5: The lessons that are learned from the tech industry can

96
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,200
Speaker 5: certainly be applied to small business in so many ways,

97
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:10,880
Speaker 5: and I would say increasingly so.

98
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,240
Speaker 3: If you think about the amount of technology that a

99
00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,280
Speaker 3: business has available to them today, with AI, you can

100
00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:23,320
Speaker 3: have employees technology employees that are not paid employees for you,

101
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 3: agents that are working for your company. Right, you're opening

102
00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,479
Speaker 3: up the ability and capacity to work and operate so

103
00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,239
Speaker 3: much more efficiently. And so when you think about scale,

104
00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,159
Speaker 3: I think for small businesses now it's shifting the way

105
00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,160
Speaker 3: that they have to think about it. Right, there's still

106
00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,520
Speaker 3: the need in the early days build a great product

107
00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,760
Speaker 3: or service, find incredible traction with your market, find what

108
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,880
Speaker 3: the lights your market, you've got to go above and

109
00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:51,200
Speaker 3: beyond and what goes beyond that line of satisfactory, and

110
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:52,880
Speaker 3: then start to figure out how do you scale that,

111
00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:54,479
Speaker 3: how do you automate that, how do you make that

112
00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:59,839
Speaker 3: process more efficient? But tech company or main street small business,

113
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,920
Speaker 3: the reality is the approach is the same. Find your

114
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,440
Speaker 3: product market fit and then figure out how do you

115
00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,840
Speaker 3: use technology and how do you use you know, efficiencies

116
00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,440
Speaker 3: and systems and all of these great tools at business's

117
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,120
Speaker 3: disposal to scale, to automate, and to optimize.

118
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:17,800
Speaker 2: When you say small business, your responsortion just made me

119
00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,320
Speaker 2: think about this. When you said small business, what do

120
00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,520
Speaker 2: you mean? Do you mean? Because I've been to like,

121
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,040
Speaker 2: you know, small business can range from you know, hundreds

122
00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,080
Speaker 2: of thousands to twenty million dollars a year, and then

123
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,279
Speaker 2: you've got micro businesses that are like kind of like

124
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,919
Speaker 2: you know, one person you know shops, Like, how do

125
00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,240
Speaker 2: you think how do you define small businesses?

126
00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:36,039
Speaker 3: Yeah?

127
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,560
Speaker 5: I mean it's a boraa definition depending on who you

128
00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,320
Speaker 5: talk through. The definition toruls shift.

129
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,160
Speaker 3: According to the SBA, it's under five hundred employees. What

130
00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:48,320
Speaker 3: we are mostly looking at, I would say the majority

131
00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:50,599
Speaker 3: of those that fall into that ninety nine percent of

132
00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,480
Speaker 3: small businesses or under ten million in revenue. The majority

133
00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,159
Speaker 3: of businesses on Hello Wallis are actually under ten employees

134
00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,880
Speaker 3: and under a million in revenue. And so you can

135
00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,159
Speaker 3: certainly see like the biggest piece of the pie is

136
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,240
Speaker 3: those micro businesses that are just trying to keep the

137
00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:08,520
Speaker 3: lights on. You know, they're just trying to make sure

138
00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,080
Speaker 3: that their employees are paid. They're just trying to make

139
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:15,040
Speaker 3: sure they have enough money to you know, support themselves

140
00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:20,080
Speaker 3: and ideally their families. The needs are really you know,

141
00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,960
Speaker 3: week to week and or paycheck to paycheck versus you know,

142
00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,120
Speaker 3: thinking about these massively scalable companies.

143
00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,360
Speaker 2: So when you when you're talking about it, let's just

144
00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:32,840
Speaker 2: take you know, let's make up a business. You know,

145
00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,400
Speaker 2: this business is doing four hundred you know, thousand, maybe

146
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,280
Speaker 2: even less, let's say two hundred thousand. It's a one

147
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,040
Speaker 2: or two person shop. And I'll let you pick the industry.

148
00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,920
Speaker 2: But what the how should they be thinking about product

149
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,960
Speaker 2: market fit? Because I don't hear small business owners at

150
00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,320
Speaker 2: that level thinking product market fit. They just they have

151
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,280
Speaker 2: either a skill and they are you know, kind of

152
00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,440
Speaker 2: a craftsman and they do the work and then hopefully

153
00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,640
Speaker 2: people buy the work from them, or you know, maybe

154
00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,720
Speaker 2: they own a print shop or a landscaping company, or

155
00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,360
Speaker 2: you know, how do they find product market fit?

156
00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:09,800
Speaker 5: Yeah?

157
00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,120
Speaker 3: I find two really common paths that businesses go down.

158
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,280
Speaker 3: The first is you have a founder or an owner

159
00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:21,600
Speaker 3: or a business owner who loves the product or service

160
00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,880
Speaker 3: that they provide, and they're so focused on refining and

161
00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:29,160
Speaker 3: optimizing and perfecting that product or service that they forget

162
00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,640
Speaker 3: about the sales side. The other type of a business

163
00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 3: owner is one who is great at sales. They're super charismatic,

164
00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:37,520
Speaker 3: they're great at building a team, they're great at getting

165
00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,800
Speaker 3: energy behind something and making things happen. Not so great

166
00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,240
Speaker 3: at refining and optimizing that product. And so where you

167
00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,240
Speaker 3: see the sweet spot is when a business owner has

168
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:51,480
Speaker 3: a balance between those two. That's when you establish product

169
00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,840
Speaker 3: market fit. So I think it's not often talked about

170
00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,600
Speaker 3: in the small business space in the same way.

171
00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:56,880
Speaker 5: But the reality is that's what it is.

172
00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,679
Speaker 3: Right, whatever product you're bring into market, how are you

173
00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:02,080
Speaker 3: putting your own stamp on that, How are you building

174
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,240
Speaker 3: the right brand story around that? How are you presenting

175
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,520
Speaker 3: it to your market in a way that is meaningful

176
00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,440
Speaker 3: and differentiated from everybody else who's out there, because the

177
00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,440
Speaker 3: reality is today you can buy most products on Amazon,

178
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,520
Speaker 3: you could find most services you know within.

179
00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,400
Speaker 5: Your look online. On some level, how do you start

180
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,120
Speaker 5: to differentiate and make your stamp in the market.

181
00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,559
Speaker 4: People want you your company and not from the company

182
00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:28,640
Speaker 4: down down the street.

183
00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,480
Speaker 3: And ultimately, I think it boils down to how are

184
00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:34,920
Speaker 3: you finding that product or service and how are you

185
00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:36,760
Speaker 3: bringing to the market in a really unique way.

186
00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, And one of the conversations I have with small

187
00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:45,400
Speaker 2: business owners is we tend to emphasize support for our businesses.

188
00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:47,400
Speaker 2: And one of the things that kind of I shouldn't say,

189
00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,760
Speaker 2: frustrates me. Maybe that's too strong a word, but like,

190
00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,560
Speaker 2: I don't shop at Target because I support Target. Like

191
00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:54,880
Speaker 2: I shop at Target because they have what I need

192
00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,000
Speaker 2: and I don't know enough about the business to support

193
00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,160
Speaker 2: it or not. And I wonder what your take is

194
00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:06,400
Speaker 2: on how we shift or maybe add on just providing

195
00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:11,560
Speaker 2: things people need versus relying on support, if that makes sense.

196
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:15,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think it's the burden is on

197
00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,400
Speaker 3: the small businesses to make it easy for the customer. Right.

198
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:20,720
Speaker 3: The reality is most of us love to shop small

199
00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:21,800
Speaker 3: we love to support.

200
00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:22,560
Speaker 5: Our local communities.

201
00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:24,320
Speaker 3: We want to go, you know, we'd rather buy the

202
00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:27,760
Speaker 3: product from a business that we know and a business

203
00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,800
Speaker 3: owner who we know and want to support, versus walking

204
00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,160
Speaker 3: into Target and buying some generic brand that everybody else has.

205
00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,400
Speaker 3: The difficulty comes is that it's hard to find those

206
00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,520
Speaker 3: products or services. When you need a bottle of shampoo.

207
00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,040
Speaker 3: It's very easy to walk into Target and you know

208
00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,199
Speaker 3: you have every option there. How do you make it easy?

209
00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:47,720
Speaker 3: And that's where I think you look at online brands

210
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,440
Speaker 3: and you look at people who've done it well, and

211
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:54,080
Speaker 3: they're making it easy right. They're offering subscriptions, they're you know,

212
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,679
Speaker 3: tailoring the experience to you. They're allowing you to customize

213
00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,160
Speaker 3: and pick what's the right, perfectly right product for your

214
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,079
Speaker 3: hair type. Those small businesses that can do that, that

215
00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:07,160
Speaker 3: can refine what that experience is and why it's different

216
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,599
Speaker 3: for one customer versus another customer, and why it's specialized

217
00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,480
Speaker 3: and why it's easier. Those are the businesses I think

218
00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 3: that have a huge opportunity to capitalize on our innate

219
00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,320
Speaker 3: desire to go purchase from small businesses. But it takes time,

220
00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,319
Speaker 3: it takes technology, it takes refinement. It takes looking at

221
00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,880
Speaker 3: that whole customer journey from awareness to building a brand advocate.

222
00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 3: And if you can do that, people are willing. They

223
00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:35,040
Speaker 3: want to spend their money with you. I would sell

224
00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,679
Speaker 3: business owners like the world is rooting for you. You

225
00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,320
Speaker 3: just have to know how do you capitalize on that willingness,

226
00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,920
Speaker 3: how do you capitalize on those resources? And how do

227
00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,360
Speaker 3: you spend your time of connecting those dots in the

228
00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:46,400
Speaker 3: most efficient ways.

229
00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,800
Speaker 2: How have you had to manage the resources you provide

230
00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,760
Speaker 2: to underserved traditionally underserved communities, black people, Hispanic, Vida, etc.

231
00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,640
Speaker 2: How have you had to reconfigure the training, the lessons,

232
00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 2: the resources to fit the nuance? Because I mean, if

233
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,679
Speaker 2: we think about our counterparty, we didn't historically buy and large.

234
00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 2: I'm creating a broad stroke here that we didn't necessarily

235
00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,480
Speaker 2: grow up talking about business at the dinner table, didn't

236
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:18,800
Speaker 2: necessarily grow up talking about budgeting and investing in so

237
00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,520
Speaker 2: many factors of our communities. So when you think about

238
00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,240
Speaker 2: the bridge that has to be crossed for these populations

239
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,360
Speaker 2: of people to get to business success, what is different

240
00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:36,440
Speaker 2: about your offering because you're speaking to these audiences, it's you.

241
00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:37,600
Speaker 5: Know, I try to remind everybody.

242
00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,640
Speaker 3: And like every business starts small, every business starts small,

243
00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,080
Speaker 3: we start with a different knowledge base. To your point,

244
00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:46,199
Speaker 3: we start with different resources at our disposal.

245
00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:47,839
Speaker 5: You know, most businesses in.

246
00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:51,400
Speaker 3: The United States are starting with under five thousand dollars

247
00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:53,120
Speaker 3: of startup capital.

248
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:55,040
Speaker 5: That's a really.

249
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,560
Speaker 3: Small amount of money at prinkly, you know, when you

250
00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:01,160
Speaker 3: think about being able to pull resources across. It's why

251
00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:04,480
Speaker 3: our grants programs on HOLLO ouls are so critical, because

252
00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,240
Speaker 3: that tiny bit of capital can be the start of

253
00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:09,960
Speaker 3: a business for somebody. Now we look at black owned

254
00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:13,480
Speaker 3: businesses and Latino owned businesses, it's often half of that

255
00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,320
Speaker 3: amount of capital, and so there's certainly at a disadvantage

256
00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,400
Speaker 3: when we look at the starting point, and so it's.

257
00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,439
Speaker 5: Important to figure out one how do we bridge those gaps.

258
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:22,200
Speaker 5: And that's where.

259
00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:27,520
Speaker 3: Programs like grants programs, corporate support programs, a lot of

260
00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:30,120
Speaker 3: the NGOs that are out of there are doing great

261
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:31,360
Speaker 3: and necessary work.

262
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,920
Speaker 5: The knowledge base, thankfully today, is available. You just have

263
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:37,480
Speaker 5: to know to.

264
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,400
Speaker 3: Ask the right questions and you have to know how

265
00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,560
Speaker 3: to tap into the right networks. I think I mean

266
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:47,360
Speaker 3: my experience, I grew up to immigrant parents in Spring Texas.

267
00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:49,079
Speaker 3: I went to public schools my whole life. I know

268
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,000
Speaker 3: nothing when I started my first company and it failed.

269
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,000
Speaker 3: And the reality is I didn't lean on the resources

270
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:56,400
Speaker 3: even that I had at my disposal. I wasn't aware

271
00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,200
Speaker 3: of the local networks that were in my town.

272
00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,280
Speaker 5: I wasn't aware of you know, who.

273
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:04,680
Speaker 3: I could lean on for mentors, and there were people

274
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,840
Speaker 3: around me who were willing to help and who I

275
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,160
Speaker 3: could have asked. I just didn't even know the right

276
00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,480
Speaker 3: questions to ask. And part of that means you've got

277
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:13,559
Speaker 3: to be in the room. You've got to hear the conversations.

278
00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,600
Speaker 3: When I say the room, sometimes that's the digital room.

279
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,520
Speaker 3: Get them in you know online forums, jump into you

280
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,320
Speaker 3: know LinkedIn groups, show up at your local networking event

281
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,480
Speaker 3: and just here and start to expose yourself to that.

282
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,160
Speaker 3: And that's one of our goals at Hello Wallis is

283
00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,640
Speaker 3: how do we blast that knowledge as loud and far

284
00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:36,200
Speaker 3: and you know, as as you reach into these pockets

285
00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,840
Speaker 3: of communities that aren't having those conversations at the dinner table.

286
00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,120
Speaker 3: Because I certainly, I certainly did and I had the

287
00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,800
Speaker 3: advantage of you know, entrepreneurs in my family and still

288
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,960
Speaker 3: didn't have those conversations at the dinner table. There was

289
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,880
Speaker 3: still I'd never heard of venture capital, I'd never thought

290
00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:52,280
Speaker 3: about getting a loan from a bank.

291
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:53,720
Speaker 5: I never considered those things.

292
00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:57,760
Speaker 3: But the reality is those conversations were being had in

293
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,080
Speaker 3: areas that I had access to all around me. I

294
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,040
Speaker 3: just didn't know they were there. And so that's our job,

295
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,960
Speaker 3: I think as a community, and everybody listening to this

296
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:08,760
Speaker 3: is how do we go out and reach into our

297
00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,320
Speaker 3: communities and go find those dinner tables where those conversations

298
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,760
Speaker 3: aren't being had and start them and just say, hey,

299
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,440
Speaker 3: check out this network, go look at this thing, meet

300
00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:22,400
Speaker 3: this person. It's so organic, but the knowledge is spread

301
00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,240
Speaker 3: so much further today than it was, certainly even ten

302
00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:25,840
Speaker 3: years ago.

303
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,880
Speaker 2: What do you find are some of the most pervasive

304
00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:36,520
Speaker 2: issues plaguing small businesses from black and Latino communities. I

305
00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,160
Speaker 2: think about, you know, knowing your numbers as one Like

306
00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,600
Speaker 2: I was talking to a friend of mine who was

307
00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,880
Speaker 2: building like a skincare company, and we were talking about

308
00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,360
Speaker 2: like the cost of one bottle, like how much does

309
00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:50,080
Speaker 2: it cost to make one bottle? And she had never

310
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,000
Speaker 2: even thought to price it down, like to get the

311
00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:54,920
Speaker 2: cost down to how much is it the cost to

312
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:59,000
Speaker 2: make one that unit metric and so they just price things,

313
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,520
Speaker 2: you know, because oly that's exilely for twenty I'm like, well,

314
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,440
Speaker 2: how much does it cost? But not knowing how to

315
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,800
Speaker 2: get those formulas to figure out how much does one

316
00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:11,360
Speaker 2: bottle cost or one jar was like enlightening in a

317
00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,760
Speaker 2: way but also shocking. And so I think about, you know,

318
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:16,920
Speaker 2: having paperwork in order, like what are some of the

319
00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 2: things that are pervasively plaguing us?

320
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:23,880
Speaker 5: Sometimes I think we're our own worst enemy.

321
00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,720
Speaker 3: What I look at, whether it's black and Latino communities,

322
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,880
Speaker 3: whether it's you know, any pocket of people who who

323
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,720
Speaker 3: don't sort of see themselves in the room of the

324
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:36,560
Speaker 3: successful business owners.

325
00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:39,080
Speaker 5: There's fear is a huge part of it.

326
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,520
Speaker 3: We're afraid to ask for help and to show that

327
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,480
Speaker 3: we don't know what we don't know because we feel

328
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,200
Speaker 3: like we should and we feel like everybody else might.

329
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,080
Speaker 3: I think that's a huge piece of it. The second

330
00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:55,640
Speaker 3: piece is risk aversion. There is I think oftentimes because

331
00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:00,400
Speaker 3: we're not seeing the models out there, we're not saying,

332
00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:03,480
Speaker 3: you know, we see a lot of we hear a

333
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,280
Speaker 3: lot of stories of failure. There's a risk aversion in

334
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,000
Speaker 3: terms of being able to take that leap. And I

335
00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,480
Speaker 3: think if we flip the story and say, look, we're

336
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:13,919
Speaker 3: all still here, standing, and we're all still we're all

337
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,399
Speaker 3: still surviving in spite of those failures and in spite

338
00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,320
Speaker 3: of those obstacles and in spite of all those things

339
00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:22,840
Speaker 3: that have happened, we can do this. And I think

340
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,000
Speaker 3: when you start to look at at the models of being, like, look,

341
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,679
Speaker 3: what happened there doesn't necessarily have to happen here, And

342
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:32,040
Speaker 3: how do we learn from those and how do we

343
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:33,600
Speaker 3: figure out how to surpass those? And how do we

344
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,320
Speaker 3: look at the models of success around us and say,

345
00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:37,400
Speaker 3: what are they doing?

346
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:38,040
Speaker 5: That's different.

347
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,000
Speaker 3: A lot of it boils down to the conversation when

348
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,399
Speaker 3: you walk in and talk to your banker and you

349
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,719
Speaker 3: walk into that appointment like you deserve that loan and

350
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:47,800
Speaker 3: like you're going to be the best risk that they

351
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:48,439
Speaker 3: can take on.

352
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,320
Speaker 5: It is a different sort of conversation. And so when

353
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:51,880
Speaker 5: you see.

354
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,520
Speaker 3: Sort of a lot of the you know where we

355
00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,120
Speaker 3: see kind of equal stats in different outcomes.

356
00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,840
Speaker 5: So part of it is how do.

357
00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:01,600
Speaker 3: We present ourselves in the best line, And that is

358
00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,840
Speaker 3: knowing your numbers, it's walking in with confidence, it's owning

359
00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,160
Speaker 3: that space in the room. On the flip side, again,

360
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,040
Speaker 3: there's a lot of work to be done on how

361
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,119
Speaker 3: are we educating those giving the loans, how are we

362
00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:16,160
Speaker 3: educating those offering the venture capital, how are we helping

363
00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,919
Speaker 3: to model up the stories. It's again both sides, like

364
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,639
Speaker 3: it's finding that middle ground or we can start to

365
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 3: jump over those those hurdles. But I think to the

366
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,119
Speaker 3: degree that you can know your numbers, you can be

367
00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:34,040
Speaker 3: like the you know, the leader of your entity.

368
00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:35,920
Speaker 5: You know that company better than anybody else.

369
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,360
Speaker 3: Does you know your market better than that banker does,

370
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,479
Speaker 3: or better than that investor does. So remember that when

371
00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,359
Speaker 3: you walk in, present it with confidence. And you know,

372
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,199
Speaker 3: I think so much of it is just you've got

373
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:48,199
Speaker 3: to get buy in.

374
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,600
Speaker 5: You're selling. Your biggest jobs as an owner is to sell.

375
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so good. I remember it was a couple

376
00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,040
Speaker 2: of years ago I had heard a banker say this

377
00:18:58,119 --> 00:18:59,960
Speaker 2: phrase I'm about to say, and it blew my mind.

378
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,280
Speaker 2: I didn't think of it this way. And he said,

379
00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,439
Speaker 2: the bank needs you. And I had always grown up

380
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,159
Speaker 2: thinking that, you know, we need the bank, but the

381
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:12,200
Speaker 2: bank needs you like the bank's business is to sell money,

382
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,119
Speaker 2: like they loan money. They sell money quote unquote because

383
00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,080
Speaker 2: they need it to be invested so that it can grow.

384
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:21,639
Speaker 2: They need to put it in your pocket so you

385
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:23,919
Speaker 2: can grow it and continue to all these things. So

386
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,760
Speaker 2: but we either way, I grew up. At least I'll

387
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,560
Speaker 2: speak for me, you know, like it's it's a little exposing,

388
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,560
Speaker 2: it's it's it's there is a fear when you get

389
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,520
Speaker 2: a bank or ask you for your documents. It's like

390
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,440
Speaker 2: being interrogated by a police officer. You know, in a way.

391
00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:41,879
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, I don't I don't want that experience.

392
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,920
Speaker 2: And so many that come from my community feel that way.

393
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,520
Speaker 2: But when you have this shift of thinking that the

394
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,399
Speaker 2: bank needs me to be successful, my question to you

395
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,080
Speaker 2: is why do they need other than just they need,

396
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,000
Speaker 2: you know, to grow their capital and their balance sheet.

397
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 2: What does the bank need? I know there's you know,

398
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,159
Speaker 2: community efforts that they have to be holding to. Like

399
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,280
Speaker 2: what why does the bank need us to be successful?

400
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 2: As small business owners?

401
00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:10,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, banks have a lot off.

402
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,200
Speaker 3: That's their business, right, it's deploy capital to get returns

403
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,960
Speaker 3: on that capital. They need to put that money to work,

404
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,280
Speaker 3: and so and particularly and certainly this landscape is shifting

405
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:25,439
Speaker 3: on the daily currently. But they made great promises to

406
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:30,440
Speaker 3: get capital into underserved communities and the reality is they're

407
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,639
Speaker 3: they're not meeting those you know, those goals, and so

408
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,280
Speaker 3: they have great objectives out there. They're trying to connect,

409
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,560
Speaker 3: you know, they're working through CDFIs, they're working with community engagement.

410
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,480
Speaker 3: They're trying to lift up the performance across different different areas.

411
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,920
Speaker 3: They're being held accountable internally and externally to their customer base.

412
00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 5: And so it's our objective when I see.

413
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,040
Speaker 3: People are rooting for small business, I mean everybody is

414
00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 3: rooting for small business. Your local community is rooting for

415
00:20:57,880 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 3: you to succeed because they want to see those businesses

416
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 3: stick around on Your banker is rooting for those small

417
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 3: businesses because they want to be able to give more loans.

418
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,920
Speaker 3: They're being measured and judged on how many loans do

419
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,520
Speaker 3: they deploy, what is the return rate on those loans,

420
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:14,160
Speaker 3: and so your success is their success. I would say, hello, whiles,

421
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,399
Speaker 3: we have this great sweet spot because we get to

422
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,119
Speaker 3: be a mission driven company because the only thing that

423
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:24,720
Speaker 3: everybody succeeds with is if small businesses succeed. Every enterprise

424
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 3: corporation that we work with succeeds when those small businesses succeed.

425
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 3: Our business succeeds when small businesses succeed, and the small

426
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,880
Speaker 3: business owners succeed obviously when they succeed. And so everybody

427
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:41,120
Speaker 3: needs it and everybody relies on it. It's how capital

428
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,879
Speaker 3: is created at the end of the day. So more purchases,

429
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:50,240
Speaker 3: more transactions, more loan volume, greater returns on investments, all

430
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:51,960
Speaker 3: of that depends on the success of the.

431
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 5: Small business owner.

432
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,400
Speaker 2: That's a great segue to this, you said, and I've

433
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:59,439
Speaker 2: heard others repeat this phrase. I don't want your take on.

434
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 2: It's like d is good for business. It's not just

435
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 2: the right thing to do, but it's good for business.

436
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,720
Speaker 2: And can you elaborate on how diversity creates, you know,

437
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 2: sort of a tangible return for business.

438
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's listen, in anything, if you think

439
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 3: about your funnel, right, if you want to get the

440
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,560
Speaker 3: very best businesses in, you've got to cast the widest funnel.

441
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,399
Speaker 3: And we know we've seen this happen time and time again.

442
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,760
Speaker 3: Information travels largely through through word of mouth, and whether

443
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 3: that is digitally or whether that is in person, information

444
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 3: is getting communicated to our communities that look quite similar

445
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 3: to us in any capacity.

446
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 4: The more we can broaden after really wide net, the

447
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 4: best we're going to filter through. And so when we

448
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 4: talk about DEI, there's a great controversy today.

449
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,199
Speaker 5: You know, everything to your merit based, and I.

450
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 3: Think everybody agrees on that the best should rise to

451
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:55,120
Speaker 3: the top.

452
00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 5: I think everyone's aligned with that.

453
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 3: The reality is we have to make sure the best

454
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 3: even get into the race, and so how do we

455
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 3: help the best get into the race?

456
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 5: And that's the way that I look at.

457
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,480
Speaker 3: Deis we've got to make sure to your point, everybody's

458
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,400
Speaker 3: having that conversation at the dinner table, everybody knows where

459
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,320
Speaker 3: to show up to take advantage of an opportunity. Everybody

460
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,640
Speaker 3: understands that they are meant to be in this conversation.

461
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,960
Speaker 3: That's success with DEI if we do that, and we're

462
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 3: making sure everyone has access to the resources, everyone has

463
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:30,800
Speaker 3: availability to these things. Again, technology is helping to close

464
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 3: a lot of those gaps as well, but we still

465
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:35,919
Speaker 3: a long way to go. When you look at the

466
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 3: disparity between the black community and the white community, there

467
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 3: is a huge disparity there and we have to do

468
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 3: work to close that in and when we do it

469
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 3: the best are going to rise to the top, and

470
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,159
Speaker 3: that might be a black person, it might be a

471
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 3: white person. It's very likely going to be a mix

472
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,080
Speaker 3: of both, and it's going to be quite representative of

473
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 3: our country as a whole if we make sure that

474
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 3: everybody has the right knowledge and.

475
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:02,680
Speaker 5: Access to resources.

476
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,120
Speaker 2: So as it is if business, if DEI is great

477
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 2: for businesses, if diversity is great for business, and it's

478
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 2: been shown that to be a great economic competitive advantage,

479
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 2: why is that so hard to communicate to folks who

480
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 2: want to go the other way?

481
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:22,480
Speaker 5: I don't think. I don't know that it's.

482
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,439
Speaker 3: Hard, And because I've had a lot of conversations with

483
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:33,159
Speaker 3: people on both sides of the table, and often what

484
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 3: I hear, I think is that it boils down to

485
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 3: what is what is fair? If somebody feels like they're

486
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 3: being passed over because of who they are on either side,

487
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,400
Speaker 3: and I think on both ends of the conversation we're

488
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 3: hearing the same thing. Somebody feels like they're being passed

489
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,919
Speaker 3: over for an opportunity because of who they are. And

490
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,800
Speaker 3: I think that's where if we sit there and say, look,

491
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 3: let's figure out how do we how do we help

492
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 3: people start from the same place, how do we help

493
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 3: get people in the room. Instead of saying, should there

494
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 3: be you know, should there be quoted? Should there be

495
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:07,960
Speaker 3: a firmaive action? Should there be the things? The reality is,

496
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 3: how do we just help everybody get in the room.

497
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,480
Speaker 3: To me, that's the conversation that actually bridges this whole

498
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 3: argument and stops it from being you know, I didn't

499
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:19,399
Speaker 3: get it because I'm white, or I didn't get it

500
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 3: because I'm black. The reality is, how do we help

501
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,159
Speaker 3: everybody feel like they're getting a fair run at whatever

502
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 3: the opportunity is.

503
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 2: You know, you've mentioned that, you know there's some challenge

504
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 2: in the early days, challenging efforts in finding your lane

505
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:39,120
Speaker 2: in the small business ecosystem, And I wonder can you show,

506
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 2: I guess specific by turning point when you found this

507
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 2: is what we're supposed.

508
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 5: To be doing.

509
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, we started well, I mean hello, EL started very

510
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,880
Speaker 3: much from a mission standpoint. It was my own experience

511
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 3: I mentioned before, and I do very little about starting

512
00:25:54,960 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 3: a company, and my first business failed and I went

513
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,679
Speaker 3: back to work, paid off debts, licked my wounds for

514
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 3: a bit, started a second company that I ultimately sold,

515
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,439
Speaker 3: ran it very differently with the lessons that I learned

516
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 3: and feel very fortunate they got to start over again,

517
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 3: because many people don't have that opportunity. I was young

518
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 3: and single and could handle bumps and bruises enough at

519
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 3: the time, but it was that experience that helped that

520
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 3: really got me focused on how do I help others

521
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,239
Speaker 3: from experiencing this because it was very difficult. I was

522
00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 3: getting myself out of debt, I was sorting through a

523
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 3: lot of the financial troubles and difficulties, and so that

524
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:36,880
Speaker 3: I would say that was sort of the focus always

525
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 3: from the start is how do we help you know?

526
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,160
Speaker 5: How do I help personally?

527
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 3: It really started as me mentoring and supporting and connecting

528
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 3: resources in because when I sold that second company, the

529
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 3: world opened up to me.

530
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,639
Speaker 5: It was like all of a sudden, I had.

531
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 3: Credibility and I was invited to the to the conferences,

532
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 3: and I was invited to the table. But the reality

533
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 3: is many people never get there and they never have

534
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 3: that experience, And so I just started saying off resources

535
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 3: to others and saying, you need to know about this,

536
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:03,640
Speaker 3: you need to come here, you need to be here,

537
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 3: you need to be in this room, and little by

538
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 3: little that turned into a technology that could do that

539
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:13,200
Speaker 3: much more efficiently. We started kind of boiling the ocean

540
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:14,399
Speaker 3: and saying we're going to help the whole world, that

541
00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,399
Speaker 3: we're gonna help every entrepreneur and really honed in on

542
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 3: small business and on micro businesses because of the volume,

543
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 3: Because we said, if we can solve this, you know,

544
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,879
Speaker 3: it's a small segment, it's a very narrow segment that

545
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 3: no one's paying attention to, and certainly nobody was back

546
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:33,400
Speaker 3: in twenty seventeen, if we can solve it for this

547
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 3: narrow piece of the segment, it's the majority of small businesses,

548
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 3: and they don't look like the businesses that we often

549
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 3: think of when we think of entrepreneurs, when we think

550
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:44,440
Speaker 3: of successful, you know.

551
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:45,200
Speaker 5: Business people.

552
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,199
Speaker 3: That's not what everybody was imagining, but the reality is

553
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,199
Speaker 3: that that is what business in America is.

554
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,199
Speaker 2: You know, when we were talking about the conversations we

555
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 2: had growing up, or lack of conversations around budgeting and

556
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 2: financial litercy, seeing et cetera, you know, you kind of

557
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,439
Speaker 2: touched on seeing representation of these things. And I often

558
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,919
Speaker 2: think about my experiences. I didn't see black wealth in

559
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 2: black entrepreneurship until I moved to Atlanta some in my

560
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 2: early twenties because I'm from Tweed, Ohio, and I'm back

561
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 2: here now and I'm building businesses. But I saw success

562
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 2: on TV and I saw it on computers, but I'd

563
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 2: never seen it like that way with my naked eye

564
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 2: until I moved to Atlanta. So I wonder about how

565
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 2: you believe black people who have found some level of

566
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,919
Speaker 2: success should show up in the world to be representative

567
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 2: of what it could look like for those coming behind them.

568
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:44,480
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a great, a great question.

569
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 3: I mean, I can only relate to my own experience,

570
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 3: which obviously not it's a black person, it's hard to

571
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 3: say what the right answer.

572
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 2: Is, but I will say Latina or Latina or Lustia.

573
00:28:54,960 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 3: I mean it's I think that the key piece is

574
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:02,959
Speaker 3: how do you how do you help people believe that

575
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 3: they can do it? And I will say for myself,

576
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 3: I mean, I started off my career as an investment banker,

577
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 3: saw a lot of you know, white male success stories

578
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 3: and entrepreneurship, and nothing ever stopped me from thinking that

579
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 3: that could be me. I looked around and they didn't

580
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 3: look like me, but I always believed I think I was.

581
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 4: And I was always told in my house that I

582
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 4: can do it, nobody ever stopping from doing it, and

583
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 4: so I always knew there was a pathway there. And

584
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 4: I think the one thing that I kept even when my.

585
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 3: Business failed, and even I knew in my gut, I

586
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 3: knew that I could achieve whatever I was seeing around me.

587
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 3: So I think part of it is just the conversations

588
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 3: that we are having at home, regardless of what the

589
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 3: path is or whether our parents know you know how

590
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 3: to navigate through those paths or not, is just create

591
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 3: the belief in kids today that they can do it

592
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 3: and they can figure it out. In terms of those

593
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 3: that have who have succeeded and who have a it's

594
00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 3: the same thing, right it's going and saying look, I

595
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,360
Speaker 3: did it, you can do it, because it is easier

596
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 3: to identify, certainly with someone who looks like you and

597
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 3: somebody who had who has had a similar path. I

598
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 3: think we always hear, you know, those stories of people

599
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 3: who have overcome huge hurles in all capacities of their life,

600
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 3: and it gives you hope that they figured it out.

601
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,520
Speaker 5: If they figured it out, it's it's figure outable.

602
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 3: Else someone else can do it, and we can replicate

603
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 3: and repeat that story.

604
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 5: I mean, that's why I love the thing.

605
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 3: Like what you're doing and telling the stories and bringing

606
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 3: bringing light to those things I think is so critical

607
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 3: because it just it's proof point after proof point after

608
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 3: proof point, and you never know which proof point's going

609
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,000
Speaker 3: to stick with who and what's going to resonate with who.

610
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,719
Speaker 3: But those stories matter, and they matter tremendously. But at

611
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 3: the end of the day, I think it's like, how

612
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 3: do you build up the confidence in somebody? And that

613
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 3: comes from little little wins along the way in life.

614
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 6: I like that.

615
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,520
Speaker 2: Finally, I think there's this quote I've found from you

616
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 2: where you said, you know, banks adventure capital continue to

617
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 2: rely on incredibly limited data to make underwriting decisions, and

618
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,360
Speaker 2: I thought, I thought that was striking, And I wonder

619
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 2: how you can help them bridge the gap because these

620
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 2: outdated practices in a lot of ways, And how can

621
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 2: small businesses better articulate those qualitative strengths scrappiness like leadership

622
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:26,959
Speaker 2: ability and you know, how to when when funders typically

623
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 2: look at quantitative data.

624
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, I will say I was shocked, you know, in

625
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 3: the early days of how Whiles I dug a lot

626
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 3: into the underwriting model when I would talk to bankers

627
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 3: at major bulge bracket firms saying they were looking at

628
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 3: you know, word documents and Excel spreadsheets and questionnaires to

629
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 3: figure out should they get a loan or not when

630
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 3: all this data was available?

631
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 5: Or we would you look around for data sources.

632
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 3: And we're like, our data is this small, tiny, scrappy startup.

633
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,120
Speaker 3: You know, in our early days, just a handful of

634
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:03,480
Speaker 3: employees had more relevant and more recent data than the

635
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 3: Small Business Administration. It's eye opening about how little data

636
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 3: there is on small businesses and the ability to match it.

637
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 3: We still get calls constantly from government agencies, from Fortune

638
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 3: one hundred companies saying, hey, can you help us out

639
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 3: with data on this segment of businesses?

640
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 5: Can you help us understand this piece? Can you figure

641
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 5: this out?

642
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 3: And if they're leaning on you know us like there's

643
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 3: such an opportunity to start to piece together the stories

644
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:34,200
Speaker 3: of not just you know, not just where is a

645
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 3: business owner today?

646
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 5: But I think the really valuable piece and what we

647
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,040
Speaker 5: work on a lot at Helloalys is how.

648
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 3: Do we better understand the trajectory of a small business owner?

649
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,480
Speaker 3: If you know, I start with one thousand dollars and

650
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,960
Speaker 3: somebody else started with ten thousand dollars and we both,

651
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 3: you know, are at twenty thousand dollars. Who's on a

652
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 3: better path and who feels like a better risk?

653
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 5: Right? It's and I think oftentimes.

654
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,520
Speaker 3: We're looking at you, well, you're twenty thousand dollars a

655
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 3: year of twenty thousand dollars, and you know, here's the

656
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 3: loan I'm going to give you.

657
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:05,800
Speaker 5: That's not the full story.

658
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,560
Speaker 3: We have to see what is where did they start

659
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 3: and where are they now to understand ultimately where they're going.

660
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 3: So and data ultimately provides that picture, right, But it's

661
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 3: also what have you faced along the way?

662
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:18,719
Speaker 5: What have you dealt with?

663
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 3: What did your you know, what happened in your industry

664
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 3: in this time, what was your cohort of others in

665
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:25,080
Speaker 3: your space doing?

666
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 5: What was happening to other businesses in.

667
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 3: You know, in Atlanta, if you know, an area was

668
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 3: struck by a natural disaster. There was a huge obstacle

669
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 3: being able to look at that data and say, Okay,

670
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 3: I've got to put this lens on how this company's

671
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 3: performing to better understand the real risk factor going forward.

672
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 5: But we're a long way from that.

673
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,479
Speaker 3: I don't think banks are anywhere close to looking at

674
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 3: that sort of data. But it's my hope that if

675
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:52,640
Speaker 3: we can gather it and we can understand it, we

676
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 3: can keep providing it and keep sharing the story.

677
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 5: Little by little we start.

678
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 3: Chipping away at innovative underwrit models, and there are great

679
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,200
Speaker 3: I was in tests being done and there. It's going

680
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 3: to ultimately rely on the startup community in the fintech

681
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:09,840
Speaker 3: community to.

682
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 5: Say, look, we did it. We're getting better returns on

683
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:17,120
Speaker 5: our on our investments, and you all can do it too.

684
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, the bolt rockets will follow, you know the proof points.

685
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 2: I actually do have one more.

686
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 3: So.

687
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:25,920
Speaker 2: There was a few years ago the SBA put out

688
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 2: this study that said eighty percent of the small businesses

689
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 2: built in minority communities Black Hispanic communities are in the

690
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:39,800
Speaker 2: eighty percent of those businesses are in the bottom twenty

691
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:45,280
Speaker 2: percent of categories for revenue. So we over index on barbershops,

692
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:51,560
Speaker 2: landscaping companies, restaurants, you know, corner stores, and so my

693
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,279
Speaker 2: I guess my question to you is one is how

694
00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:00,200
Speaker 2: do we see more for ourselves? So how do we

695
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 2: open up the aperture or the lens that there's a

696
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 2: bigger opportunity out there, Like I think about that, like

697
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,399
Speaker 2: there's no black owned like Boicks or Supercuts. Like there's

698
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,680
Speaker 2: there's individual barber shops, but we don't have like a

699
00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,279
Speaker 2: chain or franchise model, and like still like there's none

700
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 2: of that. And not just the black community, but how

701
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 2: do black people and minorities in general see bigger and

702
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,040
Speaker 2: see like instead of just doing this once, I could

703
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 2: do this thirty times and find ways to create something

704
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 2: that's replicable.

705
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's that's always a tough one.

706
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 3: It's hard for maybe I think my mind works that way,

707
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 3: probably to my detriment sometimes because I think every time

708
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:42,279
Speaker 3: I see something, I'm like, this could be this, take

709
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:47,759
Speaker 3: it to you know, the nth degree. It's it is mindset,

710
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,360
Speaker 3: and that mindset I think is ingrained early on, and

711
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,360
Speaker 3: it's really hard to break that mindset. I mean, I

712
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,120
Speaker 3: think I've been in communities where you see a whole

713
00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 3: community that just thinks very traditionally and they think very.

714
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 4: Small scale, and they're operating well. They're brilliant at what

715
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,799
Speaker 4: they do, and they're skilled craftsmen and knowledgeable about their

716
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:11,360
Speaker 4: business and their industry.

717
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,920
Speaker 3: But the mindset to grow. Because I always get in

718
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 3: those conversations I'm like, well.

719
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:17,239
Speaker 5: Have you thought about this? Have you thought about how

720
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:18,879
Speaker 5: you could do this? Have you thought of and.

721
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 3: Sometimes you sort of get this look like there is

722
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,320
Speaker 3: not a desire.

723
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,160
Speaker 5: So I think one is finance me where does the

724
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:26,359
Speaker 5: desire live?

725
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,440
Speaker 3: Because that's a that's a huge piece, right, And I

726
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:30,759
Speaker 3: think it can be built into any community. I think

727
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 3: everybody has the potential to have that, but it has

728
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:35,320
Speaker 3: to be it has.

729
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:36,440
Speaker 5: To be taught and learned.

730
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,480
Speaker 3: And so when you're surrounded in communities where the thinking

731
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,879
Speaker 3: is a certain way, it's really hard to break out

732
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 3: of that. A lot of you know, and you see

733
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 3: that sort of the use case of what made somebody

734
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 3: sort of jump out of this? What made somebody make

735
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 3: make the leap out of sort of the status quo

736
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 3: for whatever path they were on into something you know,

737
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 3: all of them to use the word greater, although some

738
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 3: would probably question is it you know, is it or not?

739
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 3: I don't know, but into a more kind of scalable

740
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 3: and efficient and effective and you know, more capitalist model

741
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:17,879
Speaker 3: on some level, right, What creates that foundation? I think

742
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 3: that boils down to teachers, It boils down to mentorship,

743
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:22,800
Speaker 3: It boils down to parents, It boils down to the

744
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 3: stories and access in our communities.

745
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 5: And so when I think about tech ecosystems.

746
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,480
Speaker 3: And in a lot of these cities, one of the

747
00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 3: greatest things they can do, I think is if they're

748
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 3: having a pitch date, invite invite kids in from your community,

749
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,480
Speaker 3: Invite people in, Invite people to come to see and watch

750
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:43,960
Speaker 3: and know that this exists. We operate in such bubbles

751
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 3: in all of these spaces. You know, if you run

752
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 3: a business, invite somebody in just to come see and understand,

753
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 3: even if it's for a day, open those doors to

754
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:56,120
Speaker 3: start to just break the mold and at least plant

755
00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 3: the seed for something that who knows where it's going

756
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,719
Speaker 3: to come to life you know later on. But we

757
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 3: have to build in that exposure. And sometimes it's you know,

758
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,239
Speaker 3: taking a story and telling it in a different context

759
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:14,240
Speaker 3: or not just having conversations about small business and startups

760
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,799
Speaker 3: and entrepreneurship in tech in that community. How do we

761
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:22,399
Speaker 3: break out and go find the business on the.

762
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 5: Corner of main street in a town and say here's

763
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:28,920
Speaker 5: here's a model. Have you did you know this existed?

764
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:31,439
Speaker 5: Have you thought about this? Do you know what this takes?

765
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 5: Do you know what it would require? Here's a couple

766
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 5: of pathways.

767
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 3: Some are going to jump on it and summer now,

768
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,200
Speaker 3: but over and over it starts to break the mold

769
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:38,799
Speaker 3: of how we think.

770
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 6: Black Tech Green Money is a production to Blavity, Afro Tech,

771
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,279
Speaker 6: the Black Effect Podcast Network and I Hire Media and

772
00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 6: it's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with

773
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 6: the additional production support by Kate McDonald, SAG and Jada McGee.

774
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 2: Special thank you to Michael.

775
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:55,720
Speaker 6: Davis and Love Beach.

776
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 2: Learn more about my guess of the tech to show

777
00:38:57,760 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 2: that's an innovatives afrotech dot com.

778
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 6: The video version of this episode will.

779
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 2: Drop to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, So tap in,

780
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,760
Speaker 2: enjoy your Black Tech Green Money, Share this to somebody,

781
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 2: Go get your money. Peace and love,