Speaker 1: Season two of the Black Tech, Green Money podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by Lexus, who's been celebrating driveway moments
Speaker 1: for over thirty years with the Lexus December to Remember
Speaker 1: Sales event, when you can find exclusive offers on the
Speaker 1: most popular Lexus models. Experience Amazing at You Alexis Dealer
Speaker 1: afro Tech World. Charles Hudson, Managing partner at Precursor Ventures,
Speaker 1: is being interviewed by Isa Watson, founder and CEO at Squad,
Speaker 1: a VC backed software company that helps people build their
Speaker 1: real life friendships and communities on the virtual stage. Charles
Speaker 1: sets some light on how he picks the founders, not
Speaker 1: the companies he invests in. If I think about most
Speaker 1: of the people we're back though, it really is some
Speaker 1: combination of the clarity of purpose around what they're building.
Speaker 1: You know, most of the companies we invest in, they
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of data or attraction. There's no
Speaker 1: products to touch a feel. In most cases, if I'm
Speaker 1: trying to assess as the person sitting across from me,
Speaker 1: as they really thought deeply about the problem and trying
Speaker 1: to solve until they have a thesis on how to
Speaker 1: solve it, that I think is going to play out
Speaker 1: well over the next five seven years. That's a big
Speaker 1: part of it. The second piece, though, that's related, is
Speaker 1: do I think that the founder has capacity for tremendous
Speaker 1: personal growth as a leader. And it's super subjective and like.
Speaker 1: Part of what I'm looking for is people that I
Speaker 1: think the process of running and building a company is
Speaker 1: going to bring the best out of them. They have
Speaker 1: the work ethic, they have to drive, they have the focus,
Speaker 1: but they also have areas um where they can grow
Speaker 1: and develop as a leader and where a startup is
Speaker 1: going to really put them in a position to do that.
Speaker 1: And generally speaking, when I see that that's what we're
Speaker 1: looking for. It's less about, you know, the market or
Speaker 1: the space and attraction. That's really more about how how
Speaker 1: much the founders thought about the problem and the clarity
Speaker 1: they have around the solution. I'm Will Lucas and this
Speaker 1: is Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna introduce you some
Speaker 1: of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds and
Speaker 1: brilliant ideas. If your black and building or simply using
Speaker 1: cut to secure your bag, this podcast is for you.
Speaker 1: Candice Matthews Brokine is the founder and CEO of Lightship Capital,
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bays portfolio service firm including accelerators Hillman and
Speaker 1: New Meat, an adventure capital fund Lightship where she serves
Speaker 1: as managing partner. Lightship Companies work together in support of underrepresented,
Speaker 1: early stage transformational businesses. Candice has a huge focus on
Speaker 1: investing in the Midwest. Her own statements where other investors
Speaker 1: he fly over country, She's he's a gold mine. I aska,
Speaker 1: why then other vcs aren't paying attention to the Midwest opportunity?
Speaker 1: Quite certain? Why we are overlooked. I think it's really, um,
Speaker 1: A bit of it is just not doing the work right.
Speaker 1: So um. You know, there was kind of an uproar
Speaker 1: on the internet off the CEO of Wells Fargo UM
Speaker 1: saying that they've had a very limited pool of black
Speaker 1: talent um to kind of draw from. That's just lazy, right,
Speaker 1: So the Midwest is considered a fly over country, so
Speaker 1: folks are flying from San Francisco to New York or
Speaker 1: San Francisco to Boston to look for deals. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: are there a lot of great deals in those areas? Sure,
Speaker 1: because UM exits bring more activity, you get more mentors,
Speaker 1: you have more dollars, so all of those things spin
Speaker 1: up UM. But there are also great corporations that have
Speaker 1: been built in the Midwest. You've got Eli Lily in Indiana.
Speaker 1: You've got Procter and Gamble in Ohio. You've got in
Speaker 1: Michigan Quicken and Rocket Like. You've got some amazing organizations
Speaker 1: throughout the Midwest where there's incredible you know kind of
Speaker 1: like minds share and talent UM. So so why fly
Speaker 1: over here when we have in credible talent here and
Speaker 1: so we're just we're fishing from upon that no one's
Speaker 1: interested in fishing it and we're taking advantage of incredible deals. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And part of going back to you know, your your
Speaker 1: bio which I read, and you've impacted state, local policy.
Speaker 1: Part of the issues that happened in these communities is
Speaker 1: the eco systems are broken. The things around the spirit
Speaker 1: of entrepreneurship that go to support it, local gain, local government,
Speaker 1: university UM. Again, those big organizations, they're not UM working
Speaker 1: together for that entrepreneurial community. You didn't have that feeling
Speaker 1: of powerlessness to not being able to change it, but
Speaker 1: many people do. What is it UM that you did
Speaker 1: as those initial steps to be able to impact that ecosystem?
Speaker 1: Sold that these people can come to the table and
Speaker 1: work for the betterment of entrepreneurs. You know, I think
Speaker 1: I just didn't know any better. Um. So, I mean
Speaker 1: I've always been taught from a young age, like stick
Speaker 1: up for yourself, Um, you know, let people hear your voice.
Speaker 1: Don't take no for an answer. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: think we all walked uphill in both directions with you know,
Speaker 1: poor bad shoes in the snow. Like, you know, it
Speaker 1: was just kind of raised from a humble upbringing. And
Speaker 1: so like I've always gotten what I've what I've needed
Speaker 1: and wanted because I asked for it, I worked for it.
Speaker 1: So as I've been building an ecosystem here and continue
Speaker 1: to kind of attempt to build additional ecosystems elsewhere, it's
Speaker 1: just a matter of having hard conversations with lots of
Speaker 1: different people. Um. It's just it's not been easy work,
Speaker 1: but it's been consistent. So I'm consistently going and knocking
Speaker 1: on doors and then if they're not open, like I
Speaker 1: opened it a little bit and then we have a conversation.
Speaker 1: So it's just been a continuous process process, and and
Speaker 1: part of that kind of affecting, um, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of legislation and law. It's it's really just starting with
Speaker 1: a conversation with someone in an office and then introduces
Speaker 1: you to someone else and you tell them that story.
Speaker 1: So it's just been consistent storytelling of these Um, it's
Speaker 1: been consistent storytelling and sharing the data around the issues,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, it got us to this point
Speaker 1: and now the entire world is looking at these issues
Speaker 1: with a with a greater lens. We were all though
Speaker 1: doing this work previously when you talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: sharing data around the issues, and so many of these
Speaker 1: communities that data is not available, so it may be
Speaker 1: anecdotal early. Um, how do you how do you make
Speaker 1: that case when it is anecdotal? You just search for
Speaker 1: either you you create your own research and that's where
Speaker 1: that's where all out of our work, as you know,
Speaker 1: will happen in Ohio. Right Like it was anecdotal, Um,
Speaker 1: it was qualitative, and so we felt the problems, but
Speaker 1: we didn't we didn't necessarily and we knew how to
Speaker 1: verbalize it. But folks just don't listen to anything other
Speaker 1: than data. Right. So, UM, you know, part of the
Speaker 1: work that we did here in Sincy and throughout the
Speaker 1: state of Ohio was that Minority Entrepreneurship Connectivity Assessment, which
Speaker 1: was really like taking a deep dive into our tech
Speaker 1: ecosystems throughout the state and figuring out, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: while we are a super diverse state, we are not
Speaker 1: all that inclusive or equitable with our dollars. And so
Speaker 1: once you bring that to life for people, they really
Speaker 1: get it, right, um, at least they get it a
Speaker 1: little bit. Now, do we still have issues in society, absolutely, um,
Speaker 1: But we are tackling this one particular area. So I
Speaker 1: just really believe that it's consistency. It's also just creating
Speaker 1: things that don't exist, um, and spending the time to
Speaker 1: do it. There's nothing like a survey, right. You can
Speaker 1: Google form yourself into anything, um and send it to
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of friends. You can get a ton
Speaker 1: of information. We could do a survey for the entire
Speaker 1: Midwest based on our our inboxes and using the context
Speaker 1: that we have and really, you know, really form something big.
Speaker 1: That's how Project Diane Dot started. That's like how lots
Speaker 1: of other things got started. I love that. Um. I've
Speaker 1: written this blog post that I have published LinkedIn several
Speaker 1: years back, and it kind of caught fire put me
Speaker 1: on the radar of a lot of people, and it
Speaker 1: was titled, Hay Startups, you don't live a Silicon Valley.
Speaker 1: And part of the issue was a lot of at
Speaker 1: least at that time, a lot of the insight in
Speaker 1: education on how to build a startup and how to
Speaker 1: get funded was coming out of Silicon Valley. It wasn't
Speaker 1: coming from other places, right, And what I learned was
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff doesn't work outside of Silicon Valley, right.
Speaker 1: And So, what is the difference in your mind, from
Speaker 1: a couple of different angles, from you know, being an entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: which you are an entrepreneur, from being an investor today
Speaker 1: to somebody who's just worked in the machine to make
Speaker 1: things happen. What's the difference that people probably too often
Speaker 1: overlook about, um, the insights they get from the Silicon
Speaker 1: Valley or traditional known notable tech hubs, tech ecosystems versus
Speaker 1: nascent ones ones that are growing, you know, so and
Speaker 1: be having fund I'm finding other investors to invest in me,
Speaker 1: and it's a it's a huge interview process. So, um,
Speaker 1: if somebody has given you a million dollars, let me
Speaker 1: tell you the interview process is like rough. There's a
Speaker 1: background check, criminal and and personal, and they're they're checking
Speaker 1: every single thing. But through these conversations, many of our
Speaker 1: our LPs are limited partners and the fund are investors
Speaker 1: from the coasts, and they ask us lots of questions
Speaker 1: about like, so, how much money you're getting put in
Speaker 1: this company and what percentage of ownership are you going
Speaker 1: to get and and we're explaining to them Midwest valuations
Speaker 1: and we're explaining to them how much money I have
Speaker 1: to put in to get a meaningful amount of ownership percentage.
Speaker 1: And you know, at first we were letting them know, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're putting in this much, and they're like, there's no
Speaker 1: way you can get ownership percentage with that amount of money.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, folks, did West valuations, Like I don't
Speaker 1: know what you guys are out there doing, but like
Speaker 1: we don't start million dollars. We started like five to eight,
Speaker 1: So like, I'm right there doing something way different. So
Speaker 1: they can't even wrap their minds around the fact that
Speaker 1: like a company that's generating revenue right in market, has
Speaker 1: been in the market for a few years, is making
Speaker 1: a few million dollars a year, like still has like
Speaker 1: an eight million dollar valuation. They just can't. They just
Speaker 1: don't get it. So they struggle in that aspect. They
Speaker 1: struggle with the fact that, like Midwesterners love to help
Speaker 1: each other. Like I could text some people pretty high
Speaker 1: up at lots of corporations that are like fortune one hundreds,
Speaker 1: and that's just because all of those people are like
Speaker 1: just really down to like get it moving for their
Speaker 1: city or their state. And so I think that that's
Speaker 1: what they overlook. They overlook the fact that we're all
Speaker 1: connected and that we genuinely have care for what we do. UM. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's all sorts of differences between but like and
Speaker 1: they also fight for deals. Do we fight for deals
Speaker 1: in mid West? There just aren't enough funds right for
Speaker 1: us to fight against each other. So there's just there's
Speaker 1: just a difference in the way they do things out there.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you you talked about the stage at which
Speaker 1: you come in because I get interested in I remember
Speaker 1: listening to you do an interview where you talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, you've had you have very little room for error,
Speaker 1: and that's why you don't invest super early on. UM
Speaker 1: talked about that here, like why can't a fund by
Speaker 1: a black woman the biggest one in the middle, you know,
Speaker 1: period first fund? Why can't you write checks super early
Speaker 1: in the company? Be just because you believe? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: have to show my investors the path to exit. So
Speaker 1: if it's hard to show the path to exit on
Speaker 1: a dream right, um do I have talked to some
Speaker 1: amazing founders, um and before delaying Parnell like what he
Speaker 1: is now with play versus like I saw that at
Speaker 1: the dream stage, right and you know, as an investment committee,
Speaker 1: now I wanted to invest right there. It could not
Speaker 1: get me wrong, But like the entire committee was not interested,
Speaker 1: right because it was just too early. Unfortunately, I have
Speaker 1: to return at least half of the fund on every
Speaker 1: single investment. So let me break this down for you.
Speaker 1: So it's a fifty million dollar fund. Half the fund
Speaker 1: is twenty five million dollars. If I own ten percent
Speaker 1: of a company. This is just like rough Man, I
Speaker 1: owned ten percent of the company and it exists for
Speaker 1: two fifty million dollars. I've returned half of the fund.
Speaker 1: It's really difficult to do that on an idea. How
Speaker 1: do I quantify that on this paperwork that's going to
Speaker 1: go to LPs that have put in a million dollars
Speaker 1: or more. So that's why Also I like you, like
Speaker 1: we've talked like, I have the weight of the world
Speaker 1: on my shoulders, and I feel that it is my
Speaker 1: responsibility to deliver a win. I really do feel that way. So, UM,
Speaker 1: we are trying to get the best mix of black
Speaker 1: and brown founders and maybe fun too, we can invest earlier.
Speaker 1: Maybe the folks that come to our pipeline are getting
Speaker 1: investments from angel investors in our network, and we will
Speaker 1: work really hard for that. Um. But just in this
Speaker 1: fun one, I could not and I hate that. Sometimes
Speaker 1: what what has to happen so that or perhaps there's
Speaker 1: got to be more canvases, But what has to happen
Speaker 1: so that candices can make early her bets? We just
Speaker 1: we need um, we need more fun managers. No matter what.
Speaker 1: There are folks making earlier bets. UM. So precursor ventures,
Speaker 1: they make earlier bets right now. They invest in all founders.
Speaker 1: Is not just um, women and people of color. UM,
Speaker 1: But they make earlier bets. UM. I believe Richard Kirby
Speaker 1: over an equal makes earlier bets. UM. Just I know
Speaker 1: for sure moniqu water makes some earlier bets. Um. But again, um,
Speaker 1: they're I think they're just has to be more of us.
Speaker 1: I think for many years the angel community, Angel investment
Speaker 1: community got burned, right, not by black founders in particular,
Speaker 1: but kind of like all founders. Um. And I think
Speaker 1: we just have to get a resurgence of new people
Speaker 1: angel investing and being educated. Um for earlier bets to
Speaker 1: take place. But it's been it's been difficult to do
Speaker 1: kind of precede precede venture funding. Um, it's a difficult
Speaker 1: space to fund kind of no matter what. Season two
Speaker 1: in the Black Tat Dream Money podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by Lexus, known for celebrating driveway moments for over
Speaker 1: thirty years, Lexus invites you to create more with exclusive
Speaker 1: offers on the most popular Lexus models. At the December
Speaker 1: to Remember Sales event experience Amazing at You. Alexis Dealing
Speaker 1: Canada set out to raise twenty million dollars for a
Speaker 1: first fund at Lightship. In the end, she became the
Speaker 1: first black woman to raise as much as she did
Speaker 1: at her first go, clearing fifty million dollars during a
Speaker 1: global pandemic. So how does that kind of overshot happen
Speaker 1: Canadas speak soon it okay, So like, I'll take it
Speaker 1: away way back. So um, my co founders of Hilman,
Speaker 1: we originally were like, we're gonna raise just like a
Speaker 1: million dollar micro fund. It's going to invest in these
Speaker 1: Hillman companies. Cool that we raised it, great, And so
Speaker 1: then when Brian and I decided to raise this fund,
Speaker 1: you know, originally we're sitting down with our mentors and
Speaker 1: we're like, okay, ten million dollar fund. Our mentors were
Speaker 1: like ten million dollar fun? Do you know how that works?
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the logistics and like management fee on
Speaker 1: ten million dollars and how you're that's just not gonna work.
Speaker 1: They're like twenty million dollars. I look at Brian, I'm like,
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars. That's not gonna happen, right Like. And
Speaker 1: then we started socializing the idea and in February we
Speaker 1: got our first investment, and so I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is gonna go down. And then by March we had
Speaker 1: raised fifteen of the twenty million dollars and so I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is good. And then Covid hit um and I thought,
Speaker 1: of course this thing is gonna this is gonna shut
Speaker 1: all the way down. We won't raise it all. Fifteen
Speaker 1: is good, pat on the back, fantastic. And then um,
Speaker 1: a gentleman from Cincinnati who was working for a group
Speaker 1: called Second News or to M Capital, reached out to
Speaker 1: us and said, Hey, I'm thinking about doing X y Z.
Speaker 1: Do you have time to talk? And we're like sure,
Speaker 1: and we off to him. He's like, hey, I think
Speaker 1: my boss would really like what you guys are up to.
Speaker 1: Would you like to talk to him? So we talked
Speaker 1: to this guy named Todd from to M Capital, and
Speaker 1: over like three meetings they decided to invest twenty million
Speaker 1: dollars and we were like, we're at thirty five. What
Speaker 1: just happened here? Um? And so we could see that
Speaker 1: path to fifty million was our hardcap for the fund,
Speaker 1: and so we saw a path We're like, maybe we
Speaker 1: can raise fifteen more, but man, it's COVID. And then
Speaker 1: George Floyd was murdered, and suddenly some foundations, some other
Speaker 1: corporations like started doing some soul searching and realized that
Speaker 1: what they had been doing to date just wasn't enough
Speaker 1: and they should have done it a long time ago. Right,
Speaker 1: Those are the conversations we've been having and you know,
Speaker 1: we're it about. I mean, our cap is fifty million dollars,
Speaker 1: but we have a lot, a lot of interest. We
Speaker 1: have more double all that and interest. So um, it's uh, Now,
Speaker 1: it's just going through and figuring out what's the right
Speaker 1: blend of people. It's a very interesting place to be.
Speaker 1: First time fund managers don't get this opportunity. Lack fund
Speaker 1: managers don't get this opportunity. And so for us, we're
Speaker 1: trying to find the right blend of investors that are
Speaker 1: here for the right reasons and that will stick with
Speaker 1: us through funds to fund three and beyond. Um we are.
Speaker 1: It wasn't all luck May and the timing of this
Speaker 1: has just been incredible. Yeah, it's I'm glad you said
Speaker 1: that because I've had this conversation with a couple of
Speaker 1: folks and people who are working on recognizing the moment
Speaker 1: that we're in, that we're still in with COVID and
Speaker 1: George Floyd and the social prisings and people starting to
Speaker 1: wake up to your point of like we haven't done enough.
Speaker 1: And I always think about it's romy manual quote from
Speaker 1: back from two thousand and eight. I don't even know
Speaker 1: if he's the first person to say it, but he said,
Speaker 1: you never let a great crisis go to waste. It's
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do things you otherwise couldn't have done. Right,
Speaker 1: And you just talked about in this moment when COVID hit,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, when George Floyd hit specifically, people woke up
Speaker 1: and say, hey, we need to do more, and that
Speaker 1: obviously lended itself to getting you guys some checks. Um,
Speaker 1: what do you say two entrepreneurs would be investors about
Speaker 1: this moment um and and how to take advantage of
Speaker 1: this moment when people are saying, hey, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: we should be doing more. How do you take advantage
Speaker 1: of right now? Well, you still have to recognize that
Speaker 1: all money is not good money, right um, And there
Speaker 1: are folks that are being predatory in this moment, So
Speaker 1: make sure that you still are looking at your deal
Speaker 1: and making sure it's a good deal. Right. I've seen
Speaker 1: people try to put a hundred thousand dollar check into
Speaker 1: a company that's doing really well for seven percent equity. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know what that's about, Like, I just don't
Speaker 1: understand what that's So we're we are still seeing that Um.
Speaker 1: But but use the moment to get ahead, because it's
Speaker 1: going to end. This window will close. They've forgotten about
Speaker 1: us before, they will forget about us again. So now
Speaker 1: is the time to structure everything that you need to
Speaker 1: to get it done. UM. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I have much more to say about that than
Speaker 1: that it's it's Um, it's a unique moment. It is.
Speaker 1: It is an incredibly unique moment. And but it's a
Speaker 1: moment that's deserved, right. We deserved this stuff a long
Speaker 1: time ago. This isn't charity, right when people are investing,
Speaker 1: I think it's our responsibility though, to remind people that
Speaker 1: investment in this is not charity, This isn't philanthropic. We
Speaker 1: are at our fund looking for market rate returns. All
Speaker 1: of the founders that surround us, they aren't. They aren't
Speaker 1: doing it for social impact. I'm not a social impact investor. Um.
Speaker 1: There are people making an impact on the world, but
Speaker 1: we're also like generating revenue and we're looking to build
Speaker 1: generational wealth. So now is the time to do it.
Speaker 1: And I think it's everyone's responsibility to make sure that
Speaker 1: these good stories are being told, um, and that we're
Speaker 1: highlighting great founders doing great things, not necessarily just the
Speaker 1: I raised around, right, because raising rounds aren't milestones. Generating
Speaker 1: revenue is right, So how do we highlight the people
Speaker 1: do actually doing the work. How are we putting up
Speaker 1: those people who really need an investment? UM, That's that's
Speaker 1: how we have to capitalize on this whole movie. Season
Speaker 1: two of the Black Tech, Green Money Podcast is brought
Speaker 1: to you by Lexis for over thirty years, Lexus May
Speaker 1: Driveway is the place to celebrate with the December to
Speaker 1: Remember Sales event. Find exclusive offers on popular Lexus models
Speaker 1: now through January four. Experience amazing y alexis dealing. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about the education you guys do UM
Speaker 1: in a couple of different ways, how consequential. First was
Speaker 1: the new Me acquisition, right, and I were just talking
Speaker 1: about this this this morning. UM to be completely candid,
Speaker 1: and I'm fine with this, Like it's not easy, rate
Speaker 1: like running a nonprofit and UM grants hum and grants go,
Speaker 1: and they are not always smooth. And for us, there
Speaker 1: were two reasons for doing the New the acquisition. One,
Speaker 1: it generated revenue to smooth out those bumps because there
Speaker 1: were times when I couldn't make payroll right because we're
Speaker 1: a nonprofit right and sometimes people people say they're gonna
Speaker 1: give you a hundred thousand dollar grand and suddenly it's
Speaker 1: a fifty thousand dollar grand, and like, where am I
Speaker 1: supposed to come up with that? Bunny books like and
Speaker 1: so there were plenty of times where like I deferred
Speaker 1: my salary for my employees. So one, it was a
Speaker 1: revenue generator so that we would not still be We
Speaker 1: would have had a very difficult time being around without
Speaker 1: a way to make revenue. That's number one. But to
Speaker 1: it gave us access to a fantastic brand and people love, love, love,
Speaker 1: still love Angela Beton Right and the program that she
Speaker 1: created back in two thousand twelve New Me Class two.
Speaker 1: Brian Bracken went through that class right, Freddie from Pigeon
Speaker 1: Ley went through it too. Marlon Avery, our director of technology,
Speaker 1: went through New Me Like New Me made a huge
Speaker 1: difference for Black Tech UM and continues to and three
Speaker 1: of our first seven investments were New Me companies. That
Speaker 1: time that we get to spend with companies physically together
Speaker 1: working through their business issues, like it's really helped us
Speaker 1: to change our model on the accelerator side. UM but
Speaker 1: it's definitely a way to find great companies to invest
Speaker 1: in as well. So I don't know knew me was
Speaker 1: a really like big turning point for us. Talk about
Speaker 1: what the program looks like now for entrepreneurs. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a one week boot camp. UM. While it used
Speaker 1: to will be in a house, now will be in
Speaker 1: UM nice safe, clean hotel space and in conference rooms. Well,
Speaker 1: so founders at the end of the night can still
Speaker 1: go back to their spaces. I used to cook breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 1: and dinner with a team of people, So now it's
Speaker 1: uh catering practices for sanitizing and of course you know
Speaker 1: I cleaned the kitchen like a black auntie, so um,
Speaker 1: you know, no worries there. But catering does help. And
Speaker 1: so that's how we'll run it. UM and we'll have
Speaker 1: NEWBEE programs in one in Cincinnati, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: Why why are those communities, UM, What's what's happening in
Speaker 1: those communities? That's well, UM, there's a kind of a
Speaker 1: key inflection point in Tulsa, UM with the Tulsa Race
Speaker 1: massacre anniversary comes up in June of UM, and so
Speaker 1: that can. He has asked us to come in and
Speaker 1: figure out our little corner of helping to rebuild a
Speaker 1: portion of Black Wall Street. Right, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: work that needs to be done UM in meaningful ways.
Speaker 1: So a group they're called the George Kaiser Family Foundation
Speaker 1: UM gave us a pretty significant grant to do work
Speaker 1: in Tulsa, and UM that same organization actually made a
Speaker 1: sizeable investment into the fund UM, so they've they've invited
Speaker 1: us there in Detroit, UM and actually in Michigan so
Speaker 1: Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana UM and actually
Speaker 1: this press release came out today, UM made a one
Speaker 1: point eight million dollar investment UM in Lightship and in
Speaker 1: Hillman UH and new me for us to offer programming
Speaker 1: in Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo. So UM we'll also do
Speaker 1: some work in the Indiana area, but those dates haven't
Speaker 1: been secured yet. So as we kind of go into communities,
Speaker 1: we do say, yes, it is important to provide programming,
Speaker 1: but we as a people, as we stay over and
Speaker 1: over over mentored and under capitalized, So you have to
Speaker 1: invest in both. UM. You have to train people, but
Speaker 1: you also need to invest in their companies so they
Speaker 1: can grow it in your community. UM. So we look
Speaker 1: at it from two lenses. As a fund um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's building great companies adding to the tax base. Um.
Speaker 1: But from a nonprofit side, we are an economic development engine.
Speaker 1: You mentioned this when I asked you about, you know,
Speaker 1: making impact at the state local levels. Um, that you
Speaker 1: kind of you know, you didn't know, so you just
Speaker 1: started doing stuff and it just kind of worked. You talked,
Speaker 1: you talked yourself on the fly. Um. Investing, how do
Speaker 1: how do you learn to invest? So what happens in
Speaker 1: communities like where we come from. You know, you get
Speaker 1: people who ride at twenty five not a check because
Speaker 1: they got money, you know, into a startup, and that
Speaker 1: startup goes nowhere. Then they stopped investing, right because you know, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is not what I thought. This is not the
Speaker 1: next school. I thought it was going to be the
Speaker 1: next Google. Right, And so how do you get educated
Speaker 1: it to do this so that you don't fall into
Speaker 1: that trap of hey, one didn't work and I'm tapped out. Yeah? So, um,
Speaker 1: really it's been a long game. UM. So this is
Speaker 1: not my background a degree in economics and statistics. So
Speaker 1: we were see Cincinnati. Um. I was incredibly luved that
Speaker 1: two families took me under their wing and provided a
Speaker 1: scholarship for me. And um, you know, that was the
Speaker 1: base of my knowledge for many, many years. Six years
Speaker 1: ago I got into tech, had a very small tech
Speaker 1: company here instance, then raised a few hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: ran out of a few hundred thousand dollars. And I
Speaker 1: think it was in while I was running that company
Speaker 1: that I built some of the strongest relationships that I
Speaker 1: have today. So I'll mention two people and these are
Speaker 1: both white males. Um. Mike Venerable, Uh, the CEO of
Speaker 1: since Tech, which is a venture capital firm that is
Speaker 1: supported by the state of Ohio. Oh. Um. I pitched
Speaker 1: him my company hello parent years ago and he was like, kid,
Speaker 1: come back to me when you got something better. And
Speaker 1: I did. At some point I went back to him
Speaker 1: and said, hey, I got this thing called and accelerator.
Speaker 1: He was like, okay, I can get after this. And
Speaker 1: then when I said I wanted to do a fund,
Speaker 1: he was the person was like, ten million dollar fund.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no, twenty million dollar fund. He really
Speaker 1: helped me structure my thesis, so had I taken his
Speaker 1: no at no I don't like you or no you're
Speaker 1: not good enough UM and taken that in UM as
Speaker 1: a negative. I wouldn't be where I am today. So
Speaker 1: you know, he really that relationship. He taught me a
Speaker 1: lot about venture UM. And and as I was building
Speaker 1: Hello Parent, which was the little tiny company UM, David
Speaker 1: Woolbrand from a law firm called Thompson him really walked
Speaker 1: me through really understanding my term sheet vertibal notes safe waterfalls,
Speaker 1: like really understanding the terms like it, Matt. It's it's
Speaker 1: a lot of reading. It's a lot of like repetition
Speaker 1: looking at deals. Like. The nice thing about having accelerated
Speaker 1: the last few years is we see two thousand companies
Speaker 1: a year. Now do they fit? Are they all great?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not, but there's a there's a grouping that are incredible.
Speaker 1: So I've gotten a lot of reps and we asked
Speaker 1: a lot of questions. So just I've been curious. My
Speaker 1: business partner, Brian has been curious UM. And then we've
Speaker 1: surrounded ourselves with other great people. So our senior associate,
Speaker 1: Alexis Alston came to us from a to maybe three
Speaker 1: billion dollar fund, right, so she was well trained Um,
Speaker 1: she went to Brown, she's been she's been investing for
Speaker 1: the last like five years. And it's some days I
Speaker 1: look at her and like, are you old enough to
Speaker 1: have been investing for five years? Right? But she's got it. Um.
Speaker 1: We have a venture partner at in Tulsa, Joey wick Garaga, Like,
Speaker 1: who helps us us? Right? Because we don't know what
Speaker 1: we don't know? And our LPs are constantly helping. But
Speaker 1: we know we're emerging fund managers. We know we're going
Speaker 1: to make mistakes, and we just ask a lot of
Speaker 1: questions and I just I'm just I am. I'm still
Speaker 1: learning on the fly. But um, you know, one of
Speaker 1: our LPs like reached out last week and they're like, man,
Speaker 1: these first five investments are really good. We're really proud
Speaker 1: of you, and you know you're tracking better than some
Speaker 1: of your majority peers and that actually feels pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So what do you say to those well healed people
Speaker 1: who just you know, got great retirements and um, have
Speaker 1: some money to play with and want to get into
Speaker 1: startup investing. But where do they go to get that education?
Speaker 1: What should they do? What should they do? I I'm
Speaker 1: a huge advocate of the Angel Capital Association UM SO
Speaker 1: a c A and I'm not certain when they were founded.
Speaker 1: UM provides fantastic education for Angels. Every year they do
Speaker 1: a summit I'm certain of this year they'll do it
Speaker 1: online UM. But I've taken people to the A c
Speaker 1: A UM Angel one oh one boot camp UM and
Speaker 1: it's a great way to learn from other people of
Speaker 1: how to formulate their portfolio and how to read the
Speaker 1: terms and when to invest, how to carve out a
Speaker 1: certain amount of money UM. And so as a group,
Speaker 1: they have chapters all over the country. Now they will
Speaker 1: be the first to admit that diversity has been an
Speaker 1: issue UM within a c A. So there aren't very
Speaker 1: many people that look like us in chapters UM, but
Speaker 1: it is a great way to get in there and
Speaker 1: learn UM. And I know that this year they're just
Speaker 1: like they do it every summit. UM. They bring in
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs from all over the country and they're always looking
Speaker 1: for great black founders at the same time they're looking
Speaker 1: for other black angel investors. So I believe that education
Speaker 1: first before you write a check. Good UM. I kind
Speaker 1: of want to end here on there's a quote I
Speaker 1: found from you, UM, and you talked about your startup journey.
Speaker 1: Hello parents, and um, there's a quote It says I
Speaker 1: started a lot of businesses and I enjoyed the process
Speaker 1: of business creation. I've started lots of things somewhere horrible
Speaker 1: failures and some were great. This one is actually probably
Speaker 1: my best one yet. How then, how do you encourage
Speaker 1: Because I'm talking my question is pointed towards the spirit
Speaker 1: of entrepreneurship and ultimately finding the thing that works. How
Speaker 1: do you encourage people to go after just the ideas
Speaker 1: and even if you hit a bunch of ten dead ends,
Speaker 1: you just keep trying things. How do you just, based
Speaker 1: on your trajectory and your journey, encourage people to just
Speaker 1: keep you know, nipping at that thing until you find
Speaker 1: your success. Well, you have to surround yourself with like
Speaker 1: really great people. You know, family members aren't always going
Speaker 1: to support you in this crazy thing. So surround yourself
Speaker 1: with a group group of people who are going to
Speaker 1: encourage you, um and also going to let you know
Speaker 1: like when you are being an idiot. Um. I think
Speaker 1: you have to start there. And a friend of mine
Speaker 1: UM said a few years ago to me, like you
Speaker 1: can do anything from ten pm to two am, Like
Speaker 1: try doing the work then like, spend your time growing
Speaker 1: that thing after hours, Um, still be great at your
Speaker 1: day job, um, and but work on that one thing
Speaker 1: every night. I don't know, this has kind of been
Speaker 1: being an entrepreneur. I think is the best thing like
Speaker 1: to be human is you know, you only have a
Speaker 1: limited amount of time. Um, and so I'm trying to
Speaker 1: live my best one years. So I think if people
Speaker 1: to take that on, like, are you happy in your
Speaker 1: day job if you are doing and then after hours
Speaker 1: do something else, that's great, that is going to affect
Speaker 1: and change the world. Um. But yeah, there are plenty
Speaker 1: of people who are happy in making a difference in
Speaker 1: their day job and so maybe entrepreneurship isn't their path. Um,
Speaker 1: But if you've got a hankering for something, like do
Speaker 1: it because you only have so much time. Black Tech
Speaker 1: Green Money is a production of Blackvity. Afro Tech is
Speaker 1: produced by Morgan Dubon and meat Will Lucas, with additional
Speaker 1: production supported by Love Beach and Ray veneer Born. Special
Speaker 1: thank you to MIKEAE Davis is the cars of you
Speaker 1: know like the Wine. Yes that's his real name. Learn
Speaker 1: more about my guests and other tech disruptors and innovators
Speaker 1: at afrotech dot com. Go get your money, Peace of love,