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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly

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Speaker 1: conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small

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Speaker 1: decisions we can make to become the best possible versions

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Speaker 1: of ourselves. I'm your host, doctor Joy Hard and Bradford,

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Speaker 1: a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or

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Speaker 1: to find a therapist in your area, visit our website

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Speaker 1: at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you

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Speaker 1: love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is

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Speaker 1: not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with

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Speaker 1: a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for joining me for session four or four of the

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Speaker 1: Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. We'll get right into our

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Speaker 1: conversation afterword from our sponsors. Have you heard the news

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Speaker 1: Therapy for Black Girls is launching our community on Patreon.

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Speaker 1: It's your space to be seen, heard, and understood in

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Speaker 1: an even more connected way. We're excited to bring you

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Speaker 1: new segments like so my Therapist said, where we break

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Speaker 1: down viral therapy hot takes with real mental health professionals,

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Speaker 1: TBG community chats, where we unpack trending pop culture topics

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Speaker 1: that have us all in our feelings and opportunities to

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Speaker 1: connect with other sisters all over the world. Sign up

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Speaker 1: now at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com, slash join Patreon

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Speaker 1: for all the details about what we're planning and to

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Speaker 1: be the first to know when the doors are open.

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Speaker 1: We can't wait to see you inside. With over three

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Speaker 1: point five million black owned businesses in America, we continue

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Speaker 1: to see the landscape of black entrepreneurship grow and expand,

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Speaker 1: and as a black entrepreneur myself, I know firsthand the

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Speaker 1: importance of seeking out support in order to take your

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Speaker 1: business to the next level. That's why today I'm so

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Speaker 1: happy to have Jewel Burg Solomon on the podcast. She's

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Speaker 1: the managing partner at Collab Capital, in early stage venture

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Speaker 1: capital fund she launched to close the funding gap for

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Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs. Prior to that, Jewel was head of Google

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Speaker 1: for Startups US, where she created initiatives that have deployed

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Speaker 1: over forty five million in non diluted capital to Black

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Speaker 1: and Latino led businesses since twenty twenty. She's also the

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Speaker 1: founder and CEO of part Pick, a startup acquired by

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Speaker 1: Amazon in twenty sixteen, which streamlined the purchase of maintenance

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Speaker 1: and repair parts using computer vision technology. Jewel is a

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Speaker 1: seasoned expert in the venture capital space, and whether you're

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Speaker 1: a business owner looking for funding, a black woman wanting

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Speaker 1: to fund businesses you believe in, or you just want

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Speaker 1: to make sense of the industry, Jewel drops a ton

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Speaker 1: of gyms in our conversation. If something resonates with you

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Speaker 1: while enjoying our conversation, please share with us on social

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Speaker 1: media using the hashtag tbg in session. Here's our conversation. Well,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today.

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Speaker 2: Jul, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I'm very excited to chat with you all about

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Speaker 1: venture capital. Let us just start this conversation with the basics.

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Speaker 1: So if you were trying to explain venture capital to

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Speaker 1: a five year old, can you give us the definition

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Speaker 1: of what are we talking about when we say venture capital?

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Speaker 2: So it's really about equity. Let's just say I have

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Speaker 2: a business and I want to grow and scale my business.

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Speaker 2: There's a few different ways I could get there. If

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Speaker 2: I want to scale quickly and I want to approach

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Speaker 2: a huge market. One of the ways that I can

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Speaker 2: go about getting there is to take on venture capital investment.

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Speaker 2: And as a venture capitalist, what I'm expected if I'm

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Speaker 2: the investor, is that your business is going to approach

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Speaker 2: a huge industry. When I say huge, I mean multi

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Speaker 2: billion dollar industry, and I'm going to take a percentage

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Speaker 2: of your company in exchange for money to help you

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Speaker 2: grow and scale into that big, huge industry. So it's

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Speaker 2: really an exchange of value, a piece of the company

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Speaker 2: for dollars and hopefully additional resources, support connections, that type

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Speaker 2: of thing. So that's how I would explain I don't

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Speaker 2: know if that's well down enough for a five year old,

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Speaker 2: but that's how I would explain it to someone who

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Speaker 2: was unfamiliar.

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Speaker 1: Got it. So I'm sure we're going to get into

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Speaker 1: this a little bit later. But when I think about like,

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Speaker 1: I guess another way to scale a business would be

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Speaker 1: to get a loan from a bank, maybe right, And

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Speaker 1: in that case, the bank is not like getting a

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Speaker 1: piece of your company, but you would be paying them

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Speaker 1: back with interest. In the case of venture capital funds,

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Speaker 1: you are not like paying them back with interest. They

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Speaker 1: are getting a part of your business.

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Speaker 2: Right. The structure of most venture capital firms is equity

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Speaker 2: based financing, so there is no expectation that you will

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Speaker 2: pay back with interest. The expectation is at some point

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Speaker 2: in the future, your business is going to grow and

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Speaker 2: scale enough and exit either through selling it to another

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Speaker 2: larger company or going public on NASAC or New York

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Speaker 2: Stock Exchange, and in return, your investors will receive back

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Speaker 2: ten x plus what they invested. What I like to

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Speaker 2: share with people is it's important to understand how venture

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Speaker 2: math works before you try to raise venture capital funding.

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Speaker 2: So to give an example, I lead a fund. Our

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Speaker 2: first fund was fifty one million dollars. Every investment that

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Speaker 2: we make, we're trying to underwrite that the company that

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Speaker 2: we invest in could return the fund. So that means

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Speaker 2: that we invest a million dollars, we're expecting that company

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Speaker 2: to return back fifty one million dollars to us. So

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Speaker 2: that's fifty x you know, the investment. So that's a

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Speaker 2: huge expectation. That means that you have to be approaching

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Speaker 2: a huge market and you have to be doing it

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Speaker 2: at a pace that can get those returns back with

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Speaker 2: then call it seven to ten years is the expectation

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Speaker 2: from a time horizon. So that's also an important factor

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Speaker 2: to keep in mind for people who want to understand

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Speaker 2: venture capital or entrepreneurs who may want to raise venture capital.

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Speaker 1: Got it got it. So talk to us a little

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Speaker 1: bit about your entrepreneurship journey. So did you always plan

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Speaker 1: to be an entrepreneur? I know you founded a company

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Speaker 1: port Pick and then solved the company. Had that always

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Speaker 1: been a plan or did little Jewel imagine that you

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Speaker 1: would be doing this.

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Speaker 2: I like to share with people that I got entrepreneurship honest.

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Speaker 2: I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. So I

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Speaker 2: watched my mom build a business from the time I

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Speaker 2: was seven. She has an insurance agency along with a

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Speaker 2: number of other businesses. So I watched her build up.

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Speaker 2: And then my father actually inherited family businesses from my grandfather,

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Speaker 2: and so I was working in the family businesses, which

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Speaker 2: was convenience stores, a laundromat, all different types of brick

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Speaker 2: and mortar businesses. So saw that from a very young

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Speaker 2: age and really didn't have exposure to much else besides entrepreneurship.

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Speaker 2: So I always thought I was going to be an

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Speaker 2: entrepreneur just because that's all I really knew. I didn't

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Speaker 2: know what form that would take, and so it was

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Speaker 2: new for me to be exposed to tech entrepreneurship in particular,

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Speaker 2: and that came when I was in college. I went

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Speaker 2: to Howard University and I interned my first year on

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Speaker 2: Wall Street, so kind of got the exposure to the

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Speaker 2: financial markets from that internship. And then my second year

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Speaker 2: I interned at Google, and that really opened my eyes

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Speaker 2: to all the things that were going on in Silicon Valley,

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Speaker 2: and so I've kind of wanted to marry what I

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Speaker 2: I knew from home in terms of entrepreneurship the way

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Speaker 2: my parents did it with what I was seeing when

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Speaker 2: I interned out at Google and then ultimately went to

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Speaker 2: work full time at Google. So that's really how I

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Speaker 2: got into this world of tech entrepreneurship, just pulling together

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Speaker 2: the things that I saw over my early life and

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Speaker 2: then getting excited about what I could potentially build from scratch.

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Speaker 1: Got it and how did that lead to you building portpik.

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Speaker 2: So spent a couple of years at Google. Actually loved

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Speaker 2: what I was learning, didn't love living in the Bay Area,

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Speaker 2: so I wanted to be closer to my family, so

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Speaker 2: I moved to Atlanta and took a job at a

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Speaker 2: parts distributional company called McMaster Car. And that place was

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Speaker 2: pretty much polar opposite to Google. They were very behind

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Speaker 2: the ball when it came to technology. They were still

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Speaker 2: operating primarily based on a catalog and this was like

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Speaker 2: in twenty twelve. So I saw that it was a

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Speaker 2: huge business. They were selling millions of millions, if not

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Speaker 2: billions of dollars worth of parts every year, but they

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Speaker 2: were still not taking advantage of the latest technology. And

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Speaker 2: so I took what I learned at Google. And at

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Speaker 2: Google I had seen basically the idea that you can

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Speaker 2: build something from an idea using code. And then I

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Speaker 2: took the problem that I was seeing and my new job,

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Speaker 2: which was that people could not identify the products that

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Speaker 2: they wanted to purchase from us. And I had this

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Speaker 2: kind of light bulb. Okrah talked about aha moment. I

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Speaker 2: had one of those moments where I was like, people

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Speaker 2: should be able to search for the parts that they

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Speaker 2: want to buy from us with an image. Very simple

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Speaker 2: idea and I called it something very simple part pick

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Speaker 2: take a picture of a part, and we tell you

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Speaker 2: what it is and where to buy it. That was it.

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Speaker 2: Very simple idea, but very difficult application at the time.

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Speaker 2: So this is computer vision technology. I didn't know too

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Speaker 2: much about it. I was not an engineer. I knew

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Speaker 2: enough to be dangerous and to find the right people

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Speaker 2: that can help me build it. And at the time,

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Speaker 2: I happened to be studying for the GMAT and a

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Speaker 2: friend of mine had let me use his little buzzcard

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Speaker 2: to get into Georgia Tech's library, and so I was

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Speaker 2: already kind of like hanging out on campus. I was young.

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Speaker 2: I was twenty three at the time, so I still

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Speaker 2: could float like I was a student, and started to

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Speaker 2: go to different events that were happening on campus with

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Speaker 2: the hopes of meeting the right technical people who could

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Speaker 2: help me build out my idea, and that actually worked.

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Speaker 2: Met one person who introduced me to the next person.

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Speaker 2: Eventually met doctor Nashley Cephis, who became my CTO, and

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Speaker 2: together we were able to build really novel technology to

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Speaker 2: solve this problem of part search with an image.

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Speaker 1: Wow, so you were on almost like the cutting age

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Speaker 1: of like us being able to search through screenshots to

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Speaker 1: shop on Now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's honey. Now I tell people, I'm like, everybody's

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Speaker 2: talking about AI, but me and my team we built

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Speaker 2: artificial intelligence for this particular use case. We started in

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Speaker 2: twenty twelve, so twelve years ago. So this technology has

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Speaker 2: been around, it's just now it's come to the forefront.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, we were early, early in the game.

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Speaker 1: And well, so Jul talk to us. You already mentioned

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Speaker 1: that you are a managing partner at a capital fund

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Speaker 1: and you had a fifty one million dollar fund. We're

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Speaker 1: still getting into the details of all of that. Will

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Speaker 1: walk us through what is a typical day as a

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Speaker 1: managing partner at colleb Capital.

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Speaker 2: So my life right now is consumed with fundraising. I'm

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Speaker 2: raising our second fund. The first fund was fifty one million.

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Speaker 2: I'm raising fund to which has one hundred million dollar target.

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Speaker 2: So that means I'm meeting with limited partners, who are

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Speaker 2: the people who invest in collab and other funds, and

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Speaker 2: convincing them that we have a thesis that is going

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Speaker 2: to be differentiated from anything else they can find in

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Speaker 2: the market. And our thesis is that we are investing

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Speaker 2: in black lead innovation companies across the US. We invest

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Speaker 2: across three sort of thematic focus areas. Future of Care

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Speaker 2: with the focus on women's health, mental health, and elder care,

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Speaker 2: Future of Work with the focus on economic mobility, So

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Speaker 2: how do we get more people in high paying jobs

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Speaker 2: using technology? And then community infrastructure, So really thinking about

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Speaker 2: all the things that folks need to thrive in communities,

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Speaker 2: so think access to transportation, access to clean water and

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Speaker 2: healthy foods, access to digital briadband technology. So we invest

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Speaker 2: across those thematic focus areas and all of those go

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Speaker 2: under a big umbrella around increasing Black prosperity. That's our mandate.

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Speaker 2: We are looking for people who are aligned with those

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Speaker 2: ideas and showcasing to them. Of our portfolio now invested

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Speaker 2: in thirty eight companies across Fund one. These are the

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Speaker 2: types of companies that we invest in. Here's how they're

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Speaker 2: performing and getting them excited that we'll continue to do

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Speaker 2: that work moving forward into Fund too. That takes up

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Speaker 2: the bulp of my time today. In addition, I'm supporting

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Speaker 2: the thirty eight portfolio companies that we've already invested in,

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Speaker 2: so helping them think about how do they scale and grow,

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Speaker 2: helping them track their metrics, and making connections on their behalf,

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Speaker 2: connecting them to corporations to become their customers. We just

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Speaker 2: got done with our founder retreat, so planned a two

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Speaker 2: day event for the portfolio so that they could come together.

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Speaker 2: I do some wellness activities as well as here from

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Speaker 2: speakers who have already gotten to the points where they're

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Speaker 2: trying to get to. Those are the two big parts

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Speaker 2: of my job today is fundraising for fund to and

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Speaker 2: then supporting the existing portfolio. And the last part is

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Speaker 2: in continuing to invest. So we've already closed part of

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Speaker 2: the second fund, so we're continuing to write checks into

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Speaker 2: new investments for fund too.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, that's kind of day in the life for me.

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Speaker 1: So I want to make sure I get this structure right.

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Speaker 1: So you are venture capitalists, and other businesses can come

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Speaker 1: to you and collab capital to say hey, I have

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Speaker 1: this business, I want you to fund it. But then

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Speaker 1: you are also getting money from other people to be

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Speaker 1: able to pass this money down to these other businesses.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, that's exactly right. So I mean I wish

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Speaker 2: I had fifty one million dollars or one hundred million

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Speaker 2: dollars just to invest in businesses not quite there yet.

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Speaker 2: We are fiduciary, so we represent other investors. Sometimes it's corporations, foundations,

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Speaker 2: high network individuals who want to invest in businesses but

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Speaker 2: maybe don't have the network or don't have the bandwidth.

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Speaker 2: Maybe they're running other businesses and don't have the time

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Speaker 2: to find to source and then support these businesses. That's

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Speaker 2: what we do is on their behalfs find great businesses

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Speaker 2: and build a portfolio that they can feel confident will

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Speaker 2: deliver returns over time.

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Speaker 1: So, Drew, you brought up an important point that I

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Speaker 1: want us to dig a little deeper in because you

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Speaker 1: mentioned that you all at Collab Capital have a primary

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Speaker 1: focus on funding like black and brown companies and as

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Speaker 1: a way to extend wealth. And we know that there

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Speaker 1: was a recent appeals court that ruled the Fearless Fund,

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Speaker 1: a venture capital firm focused on supporting women of color entrepreneurs,

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Speaker 1: and saying that they could not issue grants specifically for

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Speaker 1: black women. And I had the privilege of being at

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Speaker 1: a conference with you accelerate her shout out to Kim

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Speaker 1: in Miami and heard you talk about the stance that

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Speaker 1: you are taking and that Collab Capital is taking in

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Speaker 1: terms of wanting to continue with this mission because you

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Speaker 1: feel like it's important even though there is a concern

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Speaker 1: around these court cases. So can you say a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about what this case means for funding and

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Speaker 1: the stands that you all are taking a collab Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I think the case is really unfortunate. It's a testament

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Speaker 2: to the times that we're in where anytime there's progress,

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Speaker 2: we had a black president, and of course with everything

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Speaker 2: that happened with the murder of George Floyd, there was

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Speaker 2: a lot of funding that went into black causes and

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Speaker 2: businesses and funds, et cetera. And anytime that kind of

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Speaker 2: progress or seeming progress happens, there's always a backlash. And

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Speaker 2: we look back in history and we've seen it countless times.

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Speaker 2: We can just basically set our watch to you, there's

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Speaker 2: always going to be a backlash to progress, and so

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Speaker 2: I think, unfortunately, the Fearless Fund was a target in

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Speaker 2: what has been a string of lawsuits around this kind

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Speaker 2: of quote unquote anti dei. In my business, it's extremely

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Speaker 2: unfortunate because Fearless Fund is close in terms of proximity.

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Speaker 2: We are both funds based out of Atlanta, focus on

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Speaker 2: investing in Their focus is women of color. Our focus

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Speaker 2: is black founders more broadly. So, yeah, it's been difficult

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Speaker 2: to watch what they've had to go through. I think

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Speaker 2: there's a few distinctions that help us, in a sense,

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Speaker 2: not be afraid to continue our work. So in the

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Speaker 2: Fearless Mine case, they are specifically targeting their grant program,

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Speaker 2: which sits outside of their fund and in their nonprofit,

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Speaker 2: and the case is reckless and ridiculous that I think

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Speaker 2: it is. It's particularly talking about the fact that in

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Speaker 2: the website language it states that specifically this program is

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Speaker 2: for black women and it's a contract associated with that,

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Speaker 2: and that was what the case handed on. In the

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Speaker 2: case of Collab. We do have language on our website

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Speaker 2: that discusses our focus on investing in black founders, but

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Speaker 2: there's nothing to say that it's exclusive. So if you

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Speaker 2: look at our base of founders, every company does have

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Speaker 2: a black founder, but there's also white founders and Mexican

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Speaker 2: founders and founders of all stripes. So we've worked really

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Speaker 2: hard with our legal team to make sure that we

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Speaker 2: can continue in our purpose and our mission but not

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Speaker 2: come against some of the kind of challenges hopefully across

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Speaker 2: our fingers that fearless fun than others have had to face.

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Speaker 1: Got it okay? So, according to People of Color in

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Speaker 1: Tech in twenty twenty three, black startup entrepreneurs got only

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Speaker 1: one point three percent of the one hundred and forty

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Speaker 1: seven billion in VC invested in US startups. I'm curious

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Speaker 1: to hear you talk about what other ways you've maybe

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Speaker 1: seen the VC industry be not advantageous to black founders.

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Speaker 1: I feel like we consistently hear that black women, especially

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Speaker 1: are some of the lowest funded people in the VC industry.

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Speaker 1: So can you talk a little bit about that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, another very unfortunate statistic, and I think it's good

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Speaker 2: to ground it in context of venture capital as an

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Speaker 2: industry is very insular and it's very network driven. Well,

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Speaker 2: most venture capitalists invest in places where they feel comfortable,

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Speaker 2: where they have proximity, where they know the people, where

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Speaker 2: they can validate someone's background. And so what that has

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Speaker 2: created over call it seventy years at the industry has

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Speaker 2: been operating, is you have majority of the capital concentrated

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Speaker 2: on the coast, and majority of the capital concentrated in

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Speaker 2: alumni networks of Stanford, Harvard, mit ivy Lee schools. So,

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Speaker 2: because what we know about the statistics for those universities,

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Speaker 2: they're not very diverse, over time, you have these kind

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Speaker 2: of buddy networks that become the venture capitalists and then

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Speaker 2: invest in the deals that they see that they have

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Speaker 2: proximity to, which are oftentimes led by people who look

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Speaker 2: like them. So that's what's happened over time, and when

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Speaker 2: you say, the one percent of venture capital dollars going

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Speaker 2: to black founders. The other side of that equation is

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Speaker 2: one percent of venture capital dollars managed by black investors.

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Speaker 2: So there's a correlation there between who's writing the checks

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Speaker 2: and who's receiving the dollars. So I think that's why

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Speaker 2: it's so important the work that I do and other

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Speaker 2: black fund managers, not to say that all black fund

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Speaker 2: managers are investing inclusively in black entrepreneurs, but just to

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Speaker 2: say that as we diversify the base of people who

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Speaker 2: have access to deploying the capital, we can expect to

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Speaker 2: see more diversity on the side of entrepreneurs that are

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Speaker 2: actually getting the funding. But it just takes time. I mean,

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Speaker 2: like I said, it's seventy years, and it's probably been

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Speaker 2: less than ten years that there's been any level of

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Speaker 2: concentration among the investors who actually have dollars to deploy

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Speaker 2: who are black.

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Speaker 1: So what kinds of changes do you think need to

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Speaker 1: be made to make it easier are more accessible for

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Speaker 1: black founders to get VC fund.

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Speaker 2: I think part of it, as anything, is education. As

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Speaker 2: we started the conversation and I talked about what venture

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Speaker 2: capital is and what the expectations are there was a

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Speaker 2: moment in time where venture capital was being promoted heavily.

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Speaker 2: I think I'll put it on the social media. What

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Speaker 2: was the name of the movie that was about Facebook?

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Speaker 2: Can remember the social something Something.

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Speaker 1: We'll have to look it up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're but that movie in my opinion, and there's

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Speaker 2: been a number of other movies that kind of glamorize

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Speaker 2: and glorify Silicon Valley and present the young white dude

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Speaker 2: in the hoodie getting a big check to go and

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Speaker 2: build something out of his basement. That's the archetype that

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Speaker 2: we've seen so many times, and I think one that

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Speaker 2: does have an impact as far as when people want

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Speaker 2: to pursue how they think it should be done, how

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Speaker 2: easy it seems. In that movie, Mark Zuckerberg just walks

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Speaker 2: into a room and impresses the people with his idea

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Speaker 2: and gets a check. That's maybe what happened for him,

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Speaker 2: but that's not really true to how it actually happens.

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Speaker 2: I think Sharks Tank can also be to blame for

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Speaker 2: some of this. Is you go on TV, you do

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Speaker 2: a five minute pitch, and then you leave with an

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Speaker 2: investment from Mark Evan, Like, that's not really how the

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Speaker 2: industry works, and so I think part of it is

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Speaker 2: given that that has been many people's introduction to what

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Speaker 2: does it mean to have an investor, there's a certain

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Speaker 2: level of education that has to counterbalance some of what

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Speaker 2: we've seen on in media around what does it actually mean,

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Speaker 2: how does the process actually work, what are the actual expectations,

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Speaker 2: And so that's why I try to at least explain

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Speaker 2: if I'm investing in a company, my expectation is that

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Speaker 2: company is going to have to grow and scale to

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Speaker 2: be huge in order for me to get the returns

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Speaker 2: that I'm committing to my investors. That whole relationship, I

390
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,920
Speaker 2: think it's just important for people to understand, and once

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Speaker 2: we get that understanding, then I think we will go

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Speaker 2: after much bigger ideas. Right now, when I meet entrepreneurs,

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Speaker 2: I see a lot of people going after good ideas

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Speaker 2: and maybe helpful ideas, but ideas that don't necessarily have

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Speaker 2: global impact and scale, and those are the types of

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Speaker 2: things that I want to fund. And so I want

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Speaker 2: more people to be thinking bigger in terms of the

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Speaker 2: types of businesses that they could potentially build. And then

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Speaker 2: the last thing I'll say on that is the other

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Speaker 2: thing I want is for people to recognize that you

401
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Speaker 2: don't have to raise venture capital in order to build

402
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 2: a great business. I think sometimes people get so locked

403
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Speaker 2: into the idea of raising money and they forget about

404
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,399
Speaker 2: the fact that there's plenty of amazing businesses that we

405
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Speaker 2: all use all the time that never raise a dollar

406
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 2: venture capital, and so it's not a requirement by any means,

407
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Speaker 2: and it actually is a really hard thing to do

408
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Speaker 2: and adds a lot of new layers into building a business.

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Speaker 2: So that's something I like to remind people of. It's

410
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Speaker 2: definitely not a requirement, and in most cases it's not

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Speaker 2: a great fit.

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Speaker 1: So dull, I'm sure that there'd be somebody listening to

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Speaker 1: our conversation saying, like, I think I have an idea,

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00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 1: Like I think I have something that could scale. Where

415
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Speaker 1: do you need to start if you are interested in

416
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Speaker 1: getting VC funding?

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Speaker 2: So I think the biggest thing I would say around

418
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Speaker 2: where to start is the further you are, the better

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Speaker 2: the deal can be. So the game of venture capital

420
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:39,360
Speaker 2: is around a risk continuum. So the riskier the bet is,

421
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Speaker 2: the worse the deal will be for the entrepreneur, and

422
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Speaker 2: better the deal will be for the investor. The more

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00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,399
Speaker 2: you de risk the business, the more you have power

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Speaker 2: in dictating what the deal should be. So to put

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Speaker 2: that in more specific terms, when I look at an

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00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,919
Speaker 2: investment and the business is pre revenue, maybe they have

427
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 2: a great team, but they haven't built the technology out yet,

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Speaker 2: I am more likely to want to come in at

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00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:15,120
Speaker 2: a lower valuation. So there's nothing tangible that I can

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Speaker 2: use to assess the value of the business. So I'm

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00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 2: going to say, Okay, I'll give you a couple million

432
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,719
Speaker 2: dollars on the board because of the team. I believe

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Speaker 2: in the team, but I don't have any way to

434
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Speaker 2: understand if the revenue projections that you put out there

435
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 2: are true because you haven't brought any revenue in yet.

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Speaker 2: So I'm going to more than likely value that company

437
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 2: much lower than if they came and said, we generated

438
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 2: a million dollars in revenue already, and here's our plan

439
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 2: is scale to one hundred million. We have these relationships

440
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 2: with X, Y and Z customers and they plan to

441
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 2: engage us further in the coming years. We have this

442
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 2: technology that's already built out. In that scenario, I'm going

443
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,160
Speaker 2: to have to pay a higher price for the business

444
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,639
Speaker 2: because there's already things that indicate that bus business is

445
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,679
Speaker 2: on a solid growth trajectory. So all that to say,

446
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 2: as far as you can get without investment, the better

447
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:19,679
Speaker 2: because you have more power in the negotiation when it

448
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,199
Speaker 2: comes down to you what an investor is willing to

449
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 2: pay more.

450
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:36,719
Speaker 1: From our conversation after the break, are there other markers

451
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 1: that you're looking for when you're looking at which businesses

452
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 1: to invest in? So you've mentioned further along in the

453
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,920
Speaker 1: process or do you risking? You said, are there other

454
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: things that like a business should have in place? And

455
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 1: like how are they finding you? Do we just google

456
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,800
Speaker 1: venture capitals near me? Like, how do you find people

457
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 1: to even pitch?

458
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 2: That's funny, I've never used that cerche term. I know

459
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 2: curio to see what comes there. Maybe if you're in Atlanta.

460
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 2: I wonder if I would come up. As far as

461
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 2: other things to have, I think I'm an early stage investor,

462
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 2: so I invest at the seed stage. Companies that I

463
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 2: invest in typically do have a product that's built, So

464
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,720
Speaker 2: I'm looking for you've built something and you've got someone

465
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 2: using it. The other thing that is good to have

466
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,360
Speaker 2: early in the process is you've been able to convince

467
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 2: at least one or two other people to join you

468
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 2: in building. So typically I like to invest in teams,

469
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 2: not just one individual. So that means if you're a

470
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,119
Speaker 2: business mind, you've been able to invest a tech mind

471
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 2: to join you. I gave the example of in my journey,

472
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:48,680
Speaker 2: I had doctor Nashali Cifas. She's an amazing computer vision genius,

473
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 2: and I was able to convince her with very little money.

474
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 2: At the time, I had not raised any capital, but

475
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 2: I was able to convince her to join me, and

476
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,360
Speaker 2: that was a huge hurdle to get over to find

477
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 2: the right technical talent, and so I'm looking for business

478
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 2: folks who've been able to convince the technical talent or

479
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 2: a technician who's been able to convince a business mind

480
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 2: to join them. Typically, that's how we like to see

481
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,119
Speaker 2: the founding teams set up. And then if you've gotten

482
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 2: the first three or four people around the table as well,

483
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,679
Speaker 2: whether that be part time folks that you were going

484
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,400
Speaker 2: to bring on full time once you raise some capital

485
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:26,919
Speaker 2: or once you get the product off the ground, that

486
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,160
Speaker 2: early team is important. The other thing is a deep

487
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,840
Speaker 2: understanding of the market that you're approaching. So I think

488
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 2: a lot of times people want to build a solution

489
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 2: without having done in depth analysis of the problem, and

490
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,960
Speaker 2: it's really the problem that you have to go deep

491
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 2: on in the market that you have to go deep on.

492
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 2: The solution should come after you have a really deep

493
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 2: understanding of what the problem is and a really deep

494
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 2: understanding of the market that you're entering. And so that

495
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 2: piece a very painful problem is how I like to

496
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 2: describe it, that people will be willing to pay for

497
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:07,960
Speaker 2: a solution to and a very fast growing market, So

498
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 2: a market that there's a lot of energy around now

499
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,560
Speaker 2: or we can foresee there will be in the future,

500
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,720
Speaker 2: because we're making bets that a solution that is being

501
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 2: built today is actually going to have market application in

502
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 2: five to ten years from now. That's how early we're investing.

503
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 2: And so we need to have conviction that the market

504
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 2: is growing in such a way that a big business

505
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,280
Speaker 2: can be built in this space where there may be

506
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 2: already isn't a big business that exists today. So those

507
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 2: are a few things that you have to be able

508
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 2: to convince someone that you might be pitching of which

509
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 2: first you have to convince yourself. That's the biggest part

510
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: of it, too, is that you believe, even in spite

511
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 2: of people saying no, or people not really understanding your

512
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 2: vision that you have high convictions in so much so

513
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,160
Speaker 2: that maybe you are willing to quit your job or

514
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 2: stop what you've been working on in the past, Like

515
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 2: that was my thing. I was willing to quit my

516
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 2: job that was paying me very well because I saw

517
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 2: something that I thought was compelling enough that the bet

518
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 2: of working on it for In my case, it was

519
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,520
Speaker 2: four years before I sold it, but that bet was

520
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,960
Speaker 2: going to be well worth the opportunity costs of me

521
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 2: quitting my job at that time.

522
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 1: And so do we look at venture capital websites to

523
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 1: see like an email address? Do we prepare a PowerPoint

524
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 1: deck of the stuff that you just talked about, like

525
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 1: here's my team, here's my idea. But I also want

526
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 1: to go back to something you mentioned because you said

527
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 1: you invest at the seed stage, so I also want

528
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: to know what are the stages of business, Like I

529
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: think I've heard a pre seed kind of thing, but

530
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: I don't know what's after seed.

531
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,840
Speaker 2: Okay, I did any answer your question about how do

532
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 2: you find the venture capitalists? These days? A lot of

533
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 2: venture capitalists do have like open applications on their way website,

534
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 2: So we at collect capital. We have an open application,

535
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 2: so you can just apply on the website. We look

536
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 2: at all the applications that come through and then reach

537
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 2: out to the folks that we're interested in chatting with,

538
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 2: and we send communication to everyone. So at the very

539
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 2: least you can apply and get some good information as

540
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 2: far as good next steps, but as far as finding others.

541
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 2: There are tons of databases and websites that announce when

542
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 2: new funds launch or when they've raised a new fund,

543
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,960
Speaker 2: So I recommend like as resources for finding out when

544
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 2: new funds launch and when they've raised fresh funds. That's

545
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 2: a great time to reach out to investors when they

546
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 2: have fresh capital to deploy, So that's one thing. I

547
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 2: think it's also important to get involved in your local communities.

548
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 2: I don't recommend going straight to venture capitalists. I think

549
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 2: there's a few steps to go before that. In terms

550
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 2: of investment, generally, friends and family is first. For many

551
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 2: of us, we don't have cssarily have friends and family

552
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 2: that can write ten, fifteen, twenty five, fifty thousand dollars

553
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 2: checks to help us get our ideas off the ground.

554
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 2: But sometimes you would be surprised at what a conversation

555
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:17,959
Speaker 2: within your family can prompt. So I think that's what

556
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 2: I recommend to people to even just tell your family

557
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 2: and friends what you're working on and see if there's

558
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 2: anyone in your network, maybe not your immediate friends and family,

559
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 2: but maybe co workers or folks that you've work with

560
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 2: in the past, what they may be interested in helping

561
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 2: you do. So friends and family is first, and then

562
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 2: typically there's precede round, which would be maybe you haven't

563
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,040
Speaker 2: launched yet, but you've built something that people can get

564
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 2: their hands around or get their mind around, and that's

565
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 2: when I would approach angel investors. You could do angel investors, accelerators.

566
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 2: Oftentimes in cities like in Atlanta, there are angel groups

567
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 2: that you can approach. This is where Google does come in.

568
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 2: You can start to google active angel investors in your area.

569
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:09,239
Speaker 2: And then once you have a product and you can

570
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 2: also start to approach like there are pre seed funds

571
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 2: out there that specifically invest very early. First check in

572
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 2: and you can look online for preceed funds. And then

573
00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,480
Speaker 2: seed stage, like I mentioned, is where I invest, which

574
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 2: is typically there is revenue, there is a product in market,

575
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 2: you're starting to see early signs of product markets fit,

576
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 2: and you're really thinking about how do you scale from there.

577
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,360
Speaker 2: Seed is probably where the most investors live. It's like

578
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,240
Speaker 2: a lot of investors invest in the seed stage. And

579
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,920
Speaker 2: then after seed there is Series A, and that is

580
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 2: typically where you have a repeatable formula as far as

581
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 2: how you get to your customers, how you retain your customers,

582
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:55,840
Speaker 2: how you see the expansion going up to ten fifty

583
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 2: one hundred million dollars in revenue. And there's a number

584
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:02,240
Speaker 2: of alphabets after that, a ABCD, and those really just

585
00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,680
Speaker 2: depend on Those are like the growth stage rounds, So

586
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 2: that's when you might hear a funding announcement for one

587
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars into one company, that is them making

588
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 2: preparations for eventually hopefully going public or doing a huge

589
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 2: acquisition one day.

590
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,520
Speaker 1: So early on in our conversation you mentioned that, of course,

591
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,879
Speaker 1: not all businesses are right for venture capital. So you've

592
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 1: already shared that if you're not expecting like a humongous scale,

593
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 1: like a fifty x kind of return, your business might

594
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,719
Speaker 1: not be right. But you also said that there were

595
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:41,200
Speaker 1: other reasons that like venture adds additional complications to your business.

596
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about those, like some

597
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: other things people might want to be mindful of. In

598
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:46,280
Speaker 1: terms of venture capital.

599
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 2: Yes, So the symbols way to put that is when

600
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 2: you take on venture capital, you're adding owners. A lot

601
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,920
Speaker 2: of times people get into entrepreneurship because they want freedom,

602
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 2: they want flexibility, They they want to write the ship

603
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 2: in the way that they want to and adding investors

604
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 2: changes that you have someone that you have to be

605
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:11,839
Speaker 2: accountable to. In our context, we ask for monthly reports

606
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,319
Speaker 2: from our companies that we've invested in, so we're expecting financials.

607
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 2: There's a few key performance indicators that we're looking for

608
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,359
Speaker 2: on a monthly basis. We're looking for quarterly financials. So

609
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 2: there are all these things that you owe someone because

610
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 2: they're giving you capital to you grow your business. I

611
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,359
Speaker 2: don't think that I'm this way, but some investors they

612
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 2: want to talk to you on a regular basis. They

613
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:38,000
Speaker 2: want to ask you questions, they want to give inputs.

614
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 2: So a little bit of that freedom and flexibility, you're

615
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,360
Speaker 2: compromising when you bring on investors, because you do you

616
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:50,279
Speaker 2: have an obligation to someone else, and you also have

617
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,720
Speaker 2: expectations of someone else as far as how the business

618
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 2: is going to grow and scale. So those are things

619
00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,400
Speaker 2: that I don't know that everyone necessarily thinks about when

620
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 2: they take on capital. They may think, oh, this is

621
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,240
Speaker 2: just money in the business and I can still dictate everything,

622
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 2: and that's not always the case. There's also power. Literally,

623
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:14,280
Speaker 2: some investors right into the agreement that they have voting

624
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,480
Speaker 2: rights in the business. They may have a board seat

625
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 2: in the business. As companies grow, there are sometimes situations

626
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 2: where board members unseat the CEO or the founder because

627
00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 2: they think that the business isn't growing in the way

628
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 2: that they would expect it to. So that is something

629
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,240
Speaker 2: that you have to be mindful of as you continue

630
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 2: to take on investors and give up ownership in the business.

631
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:39,719
Speaker 2: So those are just some of the things that can

632
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,880
Speaker 2: create different dynamics and complication that I don't know that

633
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 2: people always think about on the onset when they're taking

634
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:47,560
Speaker 2: on capital.

635
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:54,959
Speaker 1: More from our conversation after the break, Have you heard

636
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 1: the news? Therapy from Black Girls is launching our community

637
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: on Patreon, your space to be seen, heard and understood

638
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Speaker 1: in an even more connected way. We're excited to bring

639
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: you new segments like so my Therapist said, where we

640
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:13,520
Speaker 1: break down viral therapy hot takes with real mental health professionals.

641
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 1: TBG community chats where we unpack trending pop culture topics

642
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Speaker 1: connect with other sisters all over the world. Sign up

644
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Speaker 1: now at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com, slash join Patreon

645
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 1: for all the details about what we're planning and to

646
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 1: be the first to know when the doors are open.

647
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 1: We can't wait to see you inside. So I want

648
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 1: you to give us another couple of definitions, because I

649
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,319
Speaker 1: feel like VC as with the many industries right like,

650
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 1: there's all this jargon that you don't quite know, but

651
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: people like use it all the time. So I want

652
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 1: to share a couple of terms with you to see

653
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 1: if you can give us some definitions. So, while you

654
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 1: were working as the head of Google for Startups US,

655
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 1: you deployed over forty five million in non diluted capital

656
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: to black and Latino led businesses. What does non deluted

657
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 1: capital mean and why is it important for founders of color?

658
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, so non diluted is the best kind. That means

659
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 2: that in this case, in the case of the warrithraditic Google,

660
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 2: it's no strings attached. So there's no equity that you're

661
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 2: giving up. There's nothing that you're giving up. It's basically

662
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 2: similar to a grant, where you may have some reporting obligations,

663
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 2: but other than that, it's money for you to use

664
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 2: in the ways that you want to use it for

665
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 2: your business. You can find nondluted capital or grant capital.

666
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,000
Speaker 2: That's the best kind because you don't have to worry

667
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 2: about giving up equity in your business.

668
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:44,719
Speaker 1: You share this term just briefly before, what is an

669
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:45,719
Speaker 1: angel investor?

670
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 2: So an angel investor is someone who is investing their

671
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:55,080
Speaker 2: own capital, and typically their expectations for that capital are

672
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 2: not as high as a venture capitalist who's investing someone

673
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 2: else capital. So I'm an angel investor, don't do as

674
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 2: much of it anymore since I focused on investing through Collab.

675
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 2: But before I started Collab, I wanted to understand more

676
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,919
Speaker 2: about investing. So I put my own capital to work

677
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:19,839
Speaker 2: and invested in fifteen different founders. And my perspective when

678
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 2: I did that was, yes, I would love to get

679
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:26,480
Speaker 2: returns back from these dollars, but mostly I want to

680
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 2: help these entrepreneurs learn more about their business, understand more

681
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:34,839
Speaker 2: about investing more broadly, and so oftentimes angel investors are

682
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,440
Speaker 2: a little bit more flexible. They're investing a little bit earlier.

683
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:43,359
Speaker 2: They really are concerned with helping the entrepreneur. Maybe they

684
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,279
Speaker 2: have a subject matter expertise that they can bring to

685
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,280
Speaker 2: support the business at an early stage, but typically they're

686
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 2: just investing their own capital into businesses and maybe the

687
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 2: check sizes would be a bit smaller than you would

688
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:58,200
Speaker 2: find from a venture capitalist.

689
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 1: And typically with angel investors, are they also getting equity

690
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:04,080
Speaker 1: or is it more of the long kind of situation.

691
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:08,120
Speaker 2: Angel investors they can be a little bit more creative

692
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 2: as far as the deals that they put together, but

693
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:15,040
Speaker 2: typically if someone is terming themselves as an angel investor,

694
00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:17,080
Speaker 2: they're investing for equity in the business.

695
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 1: Got it? Okay? What does diversification refer to?

696
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 2: So that really just means if you're putting together a

697
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 2: portfolio of your investments, you want to have different things

698
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:34,280
Speaker 2: represented in that portfolio. So I'll use myself as an example.

699
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:39,480
Speaker 2: I have a diversified portfolio that has private equity, so

700
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:43,279
Speaker 2: that's angel investments that I've made. It also includes the

701
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,840
Speaker 2: investment that I make into collab. So part of being

702
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,960
Speaker 2: a venture capitalist is that you have to make a

703
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,280
Speaker 2: commitment to your firm as well. It's kind of shown

704
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,439
Speaker 2: that you have a skin in the game with your investors.

705
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,800
Speaker 2: So I invest a percentage of collab, which means that

706
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 2: I really have to have high conviction in the investments

707
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 2: that we make because my money is on the line

708
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 2: as well. So we have angel investments, I have my

709
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 2: investments in a collab. I have real estate holdings. I

710
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:16,400
Speaker 2: have stock, you know, just kind of vanilla stock market,

711
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 2: Vanguard bonds across the board. That is where, regardless of

712
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:24,799
Speaker 2: what happens in the market, I have some things that

713
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:28,400
Speaker 2: are maybe not going to be as impacted. And the

714
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 2: bet is over the span of time, you will put

715
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,719
Speaker 2: together a portfolio that feels that can withstand some of

716
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 2: the ups and downs that may happen in the market

717
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 2: because you are in a number of different types of

718
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 2: asset classes.

719
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 1: Okay, what is a unicorn startup?

720
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 2: So unicorn is a term that was coined by Eileenlee

721
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:56,960
Speaker 2: maybe ten fifteen years ago, and she's an investor. Cowboy

722
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:01,080
Speaker 2: Aventures is her firm, and she coin that term to

723
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:06,319
Speaker 2: describe companies that reach a billion dollar valuation. So this

724
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,839
Speaker 2: could be because they've raised two hundred million dollars at

725
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 2: a billion dollar valuation. It could be because they've gone public,

726
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,480
Speaker 2: and the public markets gave them a billion dollar valuation,

727
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:19,680
Speaker 2: but it's really just that moniker around a billion dollars,

728
00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 2: which at the time when she coined the term, that

729
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,879
Speaker 2: was that number that would typically return a fund if

730
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:30,960
Speaker 2: a company exit a billion dollars. Now we're looking at

731
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 2: deca corns ten billion dollars in value. The bar just

732
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,280
Speaker 2: keeps rising. But a unicorn is kind of the goal

733
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,319
Speaker 2: that a lot of people that get into startups want

734
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:45,240
Speaker 2: to reach because that typic we can return a fund,

735
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:46,000
Speaker 2: got it?

736
00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:47,799
Speaker 1: Okay? What's an incubator?

737
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 2: Incubator is typically a place where early stage startups can

738
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 2: get resources support. Sometimes it comes with funding office space

739
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,799
Speaker 2: really at that early stage. So I was a part

740
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:05,840
Speaker 2: of an incubator. Georgia Tech has one of the longest

741
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:10,799
Speaker 2: standing incubators ATDC and so my business was located there

742
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:14,160
Speaker 2: for a few years. But it's typically a great place

743
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 2: for very early stage companies to locate so they can

744
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,120
Speaker 2: get more access to resources community, that type of thing.

745
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:24,839
Speaker 1: And is that similar to an accelerator or is that.

746
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 2: Different similar to an accelerator and sometimes the terms are

747
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:32,000
Speaker 2: used interchangeably. I think accelerator more often does have a

748
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 2: funding component where For an example, tech Stars is a

749
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,560
Speaker 2: well known accelerator. Y Combinator is a well known accelerator,

750
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,920
Speaker 2: and they are typically exchanging. I think the deal with

751
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 2: tech Stars now is like one hundred and twenty thousand

752
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,239
Speaker 2: for six percent of the company. It's a pretty good

753
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,839
Speaker 2: deal for tech Stars if the company does well. But

754
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 2: for oftentimes those companies that go into those accelerators are

755
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,279
Speaker 2: so early that they just need that first capital to

756
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 2: get things off the ground, and they need the curriculum,

757
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:05,120
Speaker 2: which typically is like kind of ten to twelve weeks

758
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 2: where you are in a cooker pretty much, where you

759
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 2: have different things that you have to do week to week,

760
00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 2: and that at the end of it, you do a

761
00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 2: demo day where you talk about your company, do a pitch.

762
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:21,880
Speaker 2: Oftentimes there's investors and people that you could potentially partner

763
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,919
Speaker 2: with or hire that are invited to come and watch

764
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 2: your pitch.

765
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,880
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for defining all those terms as to do.

766
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,800
Speaker 1: That's super helpful. So we've already talked about several different

767
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,960
Speaker 1: ways to receive funding in addition to VC. So you

768
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,919
Speaker 1: talked about grants, We've talked about loans. Are there other

769
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: things that people should be on the lookout for in

770
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:42,759
Speaker 1: terms of funding for their businesses.

771
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:46,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, so depending on the type of business, there's so

772
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,680
Speaker 2: many different avenues for funding that you could go. One

773
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:53,800
Speaker 2: of my favorites for companies that are entering into research

774
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,960
Speaker 2: focused businesses or businesses that have a research component is

775
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:05,120
Speaker 2: government funding, so there is is their ss BCI SBIR.

776
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 2: There's all these different acronyms, but there's a lot of

777
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:12,920
Speaker 2: funding available from the government and it's typically grants like funding,

778
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,879
Speaker 2: so pretty much no strings attached, non alluded funding. As

779
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 2: we discussed earlier, those are really great opportunities for people

780
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:25,120
Speaker 2: that are doing kind of research driven SBIR In particular,

781
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:30,640
Speaker 2: for that SSBCI is funding that is state control, So

782
00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 2: depending on where you are located, you may be able

783
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 2: to check in with your local state body and see

784
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:42,080
Speaker 2: who is managing the SSBCI funding for your state that

785
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:47,440
Speaker 2: is currently actively being deployed. So that's one avenue government funding.

786
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 2: There's also loans, of course. One of my favorite things

787
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:57,280
Speaker 2: that tell people about is CDFIs. Community development financial institutions.

788
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:04,839
Speaker 2: CDFIs are local financial institutions that can support local entrepreneurs

789
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:08,560
Speaker 2: and sometimes they have different mandates around exactly the types

790
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:12,600
Speaker 2: of entrepreneurs that they support, but they oftentimes have more

791
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 2: creative and flexible lending options than your traditional banks would have.

792
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:22,359
Speaker 2: The best place to source funding, in my opinion, is

793
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:26,880
Speaker 2: just through building a business that has customers that pay.

794
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:30,920
Speaker 2: So that's something that is under discussed. But you can

795
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:33,479
Speaker 2: build a business where you don't have to take outside funding,

796
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,680
Speaker 2: or you don't need outside funding if you just get

797
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,359
Speaker 2: customers to pay you more than whatever the cost of

798
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,840
Speaker 2: your service er that is, that's the easiest way to

799
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,520
Speaker 2: go about it. Of course, pitch competitions they still happen

800
00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 2: quite regularly, so depending on what you're doing, that could

801
00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 2: be a way to get an early funding for your business.

802
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 2: So yeah, those are some of the ways that I

803
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:58,080
Speaker 2: recommend people to look at sources of capital for their business.

804
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:01,040
Speaker 1: Would you be ecstatic too, you see come through the

805
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 1: collab capital inbox. Would pitch because somebody sends you that

806
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 1: would immediately say absolutely that I want to hear more.

807
00:47:07,719 --> 00:47:10,680
Speaker 2: Well. I talked about some of our thematic focused areas.

808
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,600
Speaker 2: One that I'm really interested in finding a deal in

809
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:18,480
Speaker 2: right now is in the fertility space. I think that unfortunately,

810
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:22,120
Speaker 2: this is a growing problem for a lot of people,

811
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 2: and right now there are certainly a number of startups

812
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:29,360
Speaker 2: that are working on this, but I haven't seen a

813
00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:33,279
Speaker 2: ton that are led by black sounders and addressing some

814
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:37,760
Speaker 2: of the maybe specific issues that black families have related

815
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:40,720
Speaker 2: to fertility. So that's something I would love to see.

816
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 2: There's a lot happening in the climate space, and I

817
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:48,160
Speaker 2: would love to see more black founders building in the

818
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:52,720
Speaker 2: climate space. So pitches around that are interesting to me. Yeah,

819
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:54,440
Speaker 2: those are two that are like top of mind for

820
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:56,839
Speaker 2: me right now. I think we're seeing a lot in

821
00:47:57,400 --> 00:47:59,759
Speaker 2: health tech, which I'm excited about. We're doing a lot

822
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,040
Speaker 2: of deal in that space. And then on the community

823
00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 2: infrastructure side, unfortunately, we still have a lot of problems

824
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:08,359
Speaker 2: related to our water and so that's an area that

825
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:10,879
Speaker 2: I'm interested in finding our companies in as well.

826
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,520
Speaker 1: Got it, and are there any current funded startups that

827
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:16,759
Speaker 1: you're very excited about from black founders that you want

828
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:17,479
Speaker 1: to put on the map.

829
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:22,239
Speaker 2: Well, we have over thirty really incredible companies that I

830
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:24,720
Speaker 2: hate to pick favorites, but I do have some favorites

831
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:30,000
Speaker 2: in the portfolio. I always talk about Jasmine Crow Gooder,

832
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,720
Speaker 2: the work that she's doing to get more people fed.

833
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:36,759
Speaker 2: Gooder is a climate company We don't talk about that

834
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:41,560
Speaker 2: part enough, but she's saving food from landfills, and perfectly

835
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 2: good food is a number two source of carbon emissions

836
00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 2: and landfills, which is something that when I hear that side,

837
00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:49,880
Speaker 2: every time I hear it, it was online. So I just

838
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,319
Speaker 2: love the work that she's doing at Gooder and that's

839
00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:58,239
Speaker 2: a proud collab portfolio company. We just actually made an

840
00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 2: investment in another climate company and Neat led by Julia Collins,

841
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:06,560
Speaker 2: another amazing black woman founder. Her business is called Planet Forward,

842
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:10,800
Speaker 2: and she's really helping all think about every single consumer

843
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:15,800
Speaker 2: product that you use, so think about going target. Basically

844
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:20,080
Speaker 2: everything that you see has some implication from a carbon

845
00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 2: emissions standpoint, and most large corporations are now held to

846
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:29,000
Speaker 2: standards where they have to get to net zero by

847
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:32,680
Speaker 2: a certain year twenty thirty, twenty fifty, et cetera. So

848
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:36,319
Speaker 2: what Planet Forward is doing is giving those companies the

849
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:41,240
Speaker 2: data they need to actually action their goals. So they've

850
00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:43,759
Speaker 2: set out these wafty goals of we want to get

851
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:47,040
Speaker 2: to net zero by twenty thirty, they need the data

852
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 2: to tell them where they are today, what products they have,

853
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:55,480
Speaker 2: how those products are contributing to where they are today

854
00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:57,960
Speaker 2: and what changes they need to make in order to

855
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:00,400
Speaker 2: get to that net zero goal. And Planet Forward is

856
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 2: given them all of the back in data and software

857
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:07,120
Speaker 2: in order to get to those actual goals. So we're

858
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:08,839
Speaker 2: super excited about that company as well.

859
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 1: Incredible. We definitely sharing more about their companies in our

860
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:16,400
Speaker 1: show notes for sure, so people can look into those.

861
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:20,399
Speaker 1: So what resources or other things exist for black women

862
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,839
Speaker 1: who might be interested in becoming venture capitalists? So if

863
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:26,880
Speaker 1: I'm interested in maybe doing some angel investing or going

864
00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:29,160
Speaker 1: that stuff, you know, you started at angel investing and

865
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:31,960
Speaker 1: then scaled. What resources exist for people?

866
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:34,520
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so glad you're asking that, because this is

867
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:36,880
Speaker 2: another thing that it's a soapbox that I get on

868
00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 2: a lot, which is that black women in particular should

869
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:44,359
Speaker 2: be doing more when it comes to angel investing. Back

870
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:46,799
Speaker 2: to what we talked about earlier as far as the

871
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:50,160
Speaker 2: disparities that exists in the venture capital industry, and my

872
00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:53,040
Speaker 2: point about the reason. Part of the reason is because

873
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:58,600
Speaker 2: the investors don't look like the companies that are building.

874
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,759
Speaker 2: We can change that. I more black women start investing,

875
00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:05,120
Speaker 2: likely they will invest in black women. So I really

876
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:10,120
Speaker 2: encourage people who have the capacity and the capacity is

877
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:13,239
Speaker 2: not that much. You can start angel investing with one

878
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:17,560
Speaker 2: thousand dollars, five thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars. So I

879
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:19,759
Speaker 2: say that, and then the note that I will put

880
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:22,200
Speaker 2: on that is you have to be willing to lose

881
00:51:22,239 --> 00:51:25,799
Speaker 2: that money, because investing in early stage companies is a

882
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:29,960
Speaker 2: very risky bet. But I definitely encourage people to get

883
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,200
Speaker 2: excited and started, and really the best way to get

884
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:36,080
Speaker 2: started is just to invest in people you believe in.

885
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,800
Speaker 2: That's the easiest way to get started, and then scaling

886
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:43,319
Speaker 2: from there. I think if you determine that you really

887
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:48,360
Speaker 2: love investing and you have a passion for the business

888
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:51,399
Speaker 2: of investing, which is quite different, I would say, than

889
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:54,920
Speaker 2: just investing for fun. If you have a passion for

890
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:58,200
Speaker 2: the business of investing, which is more around portfolio construction,

891
00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 2: which is about understanding the returns profile and models. So

892
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:08,440
Speaker 2: it's very much a finance job. That's something candidly I

893
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:11,120
Speaker 2: didn't really know when I got into it how much

894
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:16,080
Speaker 2: it is in spreadsheets and building models and being able

895
00:52:16,120 --> 00:52:20,960
Speaker 2: to defend my ideas and choices and doing research. That

896
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:25,840
Speaker 2: is really the professional job of being an investor. That part.

897
00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:30,359
Speaker 2: If you like that, then the pathways in. I think

898
00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:32,480
Speaker 2: there's the path that I took, which is I was

899
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:36,719
Speaker 2: an entrepreneur, I had a successful exit, and I used

900
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,000
Speaker 2: that as my track record when it came down to

901
00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:44,520
Speaker 2: raising capital. The other, probably more popular way in is

902
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:47,399
Speaker 2: to work at a larger firm, build up a track

903
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:50,800
Speaker 2: record at a firm, and then if you decide you

904
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:53,120
Speaker 2: want to spin out, you can do that. A lot

905
00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:56,359
Speaker 2: of people also entered into this industry having had a

906
00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:00,480
Speaker 2: more traditional finance background, so maybe worked in banking for

907
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 2: a number of years or on Wall Street, etc. So

908
00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:06,200
Speaker 2: there's a lot of a number of different ways into

909
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:09,120
Speaker 2: the industry. There's programs that I think I've done a

910
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:14,040
Speaker 2: really great job of helping prepare people like HBCUVC, Black

911
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:18,680
Speaker 2: Venture Capital Consortium Black VC. They have a number of

912
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:22,719
Speaker 2: training programs as well, So there's certainly different ways to

913
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,839
Speaker 2: get more of the knowledge base in order to get

914
00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:26,839
Speaker 2: into the space as well.

915
00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:30,040
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for all those resources, Jewel. This

916
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:32,640
Speaker 1: has all been so helpful. I know our community will

917
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:35,439
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Let us know where we can stay

918
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:37,640
Speaker 1: connected with you. What is your website as well as

919
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:39,680
Speaker 1: any social media handles you'd like to share.

920
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:44,960
Speaker 2: Sure, so If you are an entrepreneur who wants to

921
00:53:45,719 --> 00:53:49,320
Speaker 2: submit your business for consideration from Collab, you can visit

922
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:53,759
Speaker 2: Collab dot capital and just submit an application on the website.

923
00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:57,360
Speaker 2: If you want to just follow me, my website is

924
00:53:57,480 --> 00:54:03,600
Speaker 2: Jewelbirks dot com. I am Jewel Melanie on social media

925
00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:06,400
Speaker 2: and Jewel Burke Solomon on LinkedIn Beautiful.

926
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:08,120
Speaker 1: We'll be sure to include all that in the show

927
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 1: notes so people can find you very easily. Thank you

928
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 1: so much for spending some time with us today, Jewel.

929
00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:13,560
Speaker 2: Thank you.

930
00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:19,520
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you was able to join me and

931
00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:22,560
Speaker 1: share her exercise for this episode. To learn more about

932
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:24,880
Speaker 1: her and the work she's doing at Collab Capital, be

933
00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:27,200
Speaker 1: sure to visit the show notes at Therapy for Blackgirls

934
00:54:27,200 --> 00:54:30,320
Speaker 1: dot com slash Session four O four and don't forget

935
00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:32,279
Speaker 1: to text us episode to two of your girls right

936
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:34,880
Speaker 1: now and tell them to check it out. Did you

937
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:36,680
Speaker 1: know that you could leave us a voicemail with your

938
00:54:36,719 --> 00:54:39,920
Speaker 1: questions for the podcast. If you want to suggest movies

939
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:42,200
Speaker 1: or books for us to review, or even give thoughts

940
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:44,920
Speaker 1: around other topics you'd like to hear, drop us a

941
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:47,920
Speaker 1: message at Memo dot fm slash Therapy for Black Girls

942
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:50,080
Speaker 1: and let us know what's on your mind. We just

943
00:54:50,200 --> 00:54:53,160
Speaker 1: might talk about it on the podcast. If you're looking

944
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:56,280
Speaker 1: for a therapist in your area, visit our therapist directory

945
00:54:56,320 --> 00:55:00,680
Speaker 1: at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash directory. This episode

946
00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:04,520
Speaker 1: was produced by Elise Ellis, Indi Chubu, and Tyrie Rush.

947
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:08,000
Speaker 1: Editing was done by Dennison Bradford. Thank y'all so much

948
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,520
Speaker 1: for joining me again this week. I look forward to

949
00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:14,399
Speaker 1: continuing this conversation with you all real soon. Take good care,