1
00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,920
Speaker 1: What's up? Its way up with Angela Yee. I'm Angela Yee.

2
00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,800
Speaker 2: On a Wealth Wednesday, so you know what that means.

3
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,240
Speaker 2: My partner for Wealth Wednesdays, Stacy Tisday is here.

4
00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,160
Speaker 3: Happy Wealth Wednesdays, everybody. I hope you all enjoyed the

5
00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,760
Speaker 3: eclipse and we are about to shed some sunshine on

6
00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,720
Speaker 3: your life's, especially the entrepreneurs out there, by introducing you

7
00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,799
Speaker 3: to an incredible woman, Megan Holston Alexander. She is a

8
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,080
Speaker 3: star in the venture capital arena and you're all going

9
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:31,640
Speaker 3: to learn more about that right now, because I know

10
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,360
Speaker 3: a lot of entrepreneurs are out there and they're all

11
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 3: scratching their heads about raising capital and we really need

12
00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:39,840
Speaker 3: to learn about this, and we really need to learn

13
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,720
Speaker 3: how our community can jump into the AI economy. No pressure, no.

14
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:46,720
Speaker 4: Pressure at all. That's easy.

15
00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:46,920
Speaker 3: Word.

16
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:47,159
Speaker 1: Yeah.

17
00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,319
Speaker 4: I've been listening to Beyonce all week. I'm very turned up.

18
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:51,239
Speaker 4: I'm ready, you ready, I'm ready all right.

19
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 2: But Meghan host and Alexander is here with us. It's

20
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:55,720
Speaker 2: a pleasure to have you here. I know we've been

21
00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,720
Speaker 2: wanting to get to sit down with you because a

22
00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,960
Speaker 2: lot of times people come here and talk about having

23
00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,120
Speaker 2: access to venture capital funds. Some people will talk about,

24
00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:07,040
Speaker 2: you know, the access that we have as black women

25
00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,120
Speaker 2: is way less than everybody else across the board, So

26
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,240
Speaker 2: it's nice to have somebody from the other side of

27
00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,160
Speaker 2: things come in and sit down and talk to us.

28
00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:16,640
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you both

29
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,000
Speaker 4: for having me. You've built such a special platform, and

30
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,240
Speaker 4: I'm just happy to be around, So thank you so much.

31
00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,480
Speaker 3: Thanks, thanks, it's our pleasure. First of all, start by

32
00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:27,959
Speaker 3: educating our audience. What is venture capital?

33
00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 4: Great startup question. So, venture capital is early stage investment

34
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,560
Speaker 4: capital that is for high growth startups, typically in the

35
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:39,279
Speaker 4: tech space. It doesn't have to be in the tech space,

36
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,399
Speaker 4: but more often than not it's in the tech space.

37
00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 4: And the way that I usually try to explain it

38
00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 4: and compare it to something that people do know about

39
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:48,800
Speaker 4: is like the stock market, right, so everybody knows about

40
00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,360
Speaker 4: stock market and the stock exchange and Nasdaq where you

41
00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 4: can go and buy equity in a company. Venture capital

42
00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 4: happens before that. So before a company is available to

43
00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,720
Speaker 4: purchase on the stock market, there's usually investors who've been

44
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,480
Speaker 4: investing for five to ten years into that company already.

45
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,040
Speaker 4: But by the time it gets to IPO which everybody

46
00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,240
Speaker 4: hears about, which is when you can buy it. That

47
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,960
Speaker 4: company has been de risked for a number of years

48
00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,280
Speaker 4: where the government is now comfortable with the general public

49
00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,639
Speaker 4: being able to purchase it. So, prior to a company

50
00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:22,200
Speaker 4: going public, venture investors come in, they take on that risk,

51
00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,480
Speaker 4: They help build the company, help them hire, or help

52
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,600
Speaker 4: them grow, and a lot of times the hope is

53
00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:29,840
Speaker 4: that it gets to the market to where the average

54
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:30,760
Speaker 4: person can purchase it.

55
00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:32,480
Speaker 2: What are some things that you would look for in

56
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,640
Speaker 2: a company to say, Okay, we believe in this company

57
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,000
Speaker 2: enough to feel like we can invest yep.

58
00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,520
Speaker 4: So there's any number of things. CLF tends to focus

59
00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:44,680
Speaker 4: on the investor side. So where do we get the.

60
00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:46,840
Speaker 1: Black Cultural Leadership Fund CLF.

61
00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,480
Speaker 4: Yep, Oh Cultural Leadership Fund. Yes, we tend to focus

62
00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,320
Speaker 4: on the investor side and on the talent side. But

63
00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,280
Speaker 4: our firm has a number of different investment verticals from

64
00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,800
Speaker 4: bio and crypto and games, and each one kind of

65
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,520
Speaker 4: has their own criteria of what they're looking for, So

66
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,320
Speaker 4: I won't speak to what each of them focuses on,

67
00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,800
Speaker 4: but always want to have a really great founder, a

68
00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,799
Speaker 4: really great team, and a really quality product. Or vision,

69
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,440
Speaker 4: but the details. Each one of the teams has something different.

70
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 3: People in communities of color don't think of venture capital

71
00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,560
Speaker 3: as something that's within their reach, accessible, accessible to them,

72
00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,800
Speaker 3: or realistic. Most of us bootstrap our businesses. Should we

73
00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 3: think about that differently because what the venture capital world

74
00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,200
Speaker 3: reflects back to us isn't good. It barely gives us

75
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:31,640
Speaker 3: any money.

76
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:32,000
Speaker 2: Yep.

77
00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:34,320
Speaker 4: So I think there are a number of different ways

78
00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,360
Speaker 4: to fund a business. Venture capital is just one of those.

79
00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,720
Speaker 4: There's a venture you can do, small business loans you

80
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,400
Speaker 4: can bootstrap. Bootstrapping is always good because you keep the

81
00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,240
Speaker 4: ownership for yourself as you build it. And I'm really

82
00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,400
Speaker 4: really optimistic, Like, you're right, the data shows that venture

83
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,920
Speaker 4: capital has historically been you know, black founders haven't received

84
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,240
Speaker 4: a whole bunch of venture capital. But I'm really optimistic

85
00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,600
Speaker 4: about the future. There's like a number of new funds

86
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,720
Speaker 4: coming out, different gps coming out who are making that commitment,

87
00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,160
Speaker 4: so I'm hopeful that there will be more. But you're right,

88
00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 4: the data shows that absolutely has not been the case.

89
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,560
Speaker 2: You know, we're talking about the new funds that are

90
00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:11,760
Speaker 2: coming out and the culture of leadership fund you guys

91
00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,880
Speaker 2: do focus on a specific group, right, So.

92
00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,159
Speaker 4: We focus on black investors, getting black capital into tech companies. Okay,

93
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,800
Speaker 4: getting black talent into tech companies. And our goal is

94
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,120
Speaker 4: to invest black money into all of the best companies.

95
00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,279
Speaker 4: So we don't focus on a type of founder, but

96
00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:28,799
Speaker 4: we focus on a type of investors.

97
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,039
Speaker 2: And okay, the investors because I'm asking this because you know,

98
00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,560
Speaker 2: when we talk about the Fairless Fund and we watch

99
00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,480
Speaker 2: what's happening, shout out to a shout out to Arian

100
00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,880
Speaker 2: and she was up here previously too, But what does

101
00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 2: that mean for you?

102
00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:43,560
Speaker 1: Like, what are we looking at?

103
00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,640
Speaker 2: Because that is something that is going to affect I

104
00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,800
Speaker 2: would think, you know, funds that can focus on black

105
00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:51,920
Speaker 2: owned businesses and black investors period.

106
00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:54,960
Speaker 4: Yep. So I think the work the Arian and a

107
00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,640
Speaker 4: lot of other kind of gps who are focused on

108
00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 4: founders of color, particularly black women founders, who are the

109
00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:06,600
Speaker 4: most educated and most founding group that's out there. I

110
00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,280
Speaker 4: think it's going to be highly impactful because to have

111
00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 4: somebody like an Arian or like many others who can

112
00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 4: say like, I'm from this community, I can see what

113
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,160
Speaker 4: success looks like. I know how to evaluate a company

114
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,599
Speaker 4: that is going to be critical because a lot of times.

115
00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,840
Speaker 4: The argument is that like sometimes other firms just may

116
00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,080
Speaker 4: not understand. And so I think having that black voice

117
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,320
Speaker 4: as an investor is going to be important. So you

118
00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,599
Speaker 4: have to have somebody who can see the vision.

119
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,440
Speaker 3: Talk a little bit more about CLF, and you said,

120
00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 3: it's black investors, but it's a really big deal. You

121
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,520
Speaker 3: have seventy one million under management and it is all

122
00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:43,000
Speaker 3: blacks who are investing in it.

123
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,240
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, So the Cultural Leadership Fund is a strategic

124
00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,839
Speaker 4: co investment vehicle inside of Andresent Horowitz Andres and Horowitz

125
00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,280
Speaker 4: is a venture capital firm that's got about thirty five

126
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,080
Speaker 4: billion under management. And then CLF is a co investment vehicle.

127
00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,440
Speaker 4: So we invest alongside those other funds I just mentioned,

128
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,320
Speaker 4: you know, I said, and Crypto and games. So they'll

129
00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:04,480
Speaker 4: write a check and then we'll come in and put

130
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,400
Speaker 4: additional capital. But the reason why we think it's so

131
00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,440
Speaker 4: interesting and exciting is that we put in that additional

132
00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,440
Speaker 4: capital with two missions in mind. So connecting the world's

133
00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,479
Speaker 4: greatest cultural leaders to the best new technology companies and

134
00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,400
Speaker 4: getting more young African Americans in tech. And for US,

135
00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:25,600
Speaker 4: cultural leader means black athletes, entertainers, musicians, C level executives

136
00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,520
Speaker 4: who are excited about tech, they're interested in innovation, they

137
00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,040
Speaker 4: want to play a role in the things that are

138
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,280
Speaker 4: being built across this industry, and we get to be

139
00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,000
Speaker 4: there on ramp into doing that. So anytime you hear

140
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,800
Speaker 4: about like this athlete invested in that tech company, or

141
00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:40,560
Speaker 4: this entertainer invested in another.

142
00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,400
Speaker 1: Too, like nas invested in ring and here.

143
00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,760
Speaker 4: Now it's not always the case, but there's a pretty

144
00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,039
Speaker 4: good chance that we played a part in making that happen.

145
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,560
Speaker 4: And so for the people in the culture who have

146
00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,000
Speaker 4: the capital to invest in technology, we want to be

147
00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,120
Speaker 4: sure that they get their names on that cap table.

148
00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,880
Speaker 2: What would you say to some entertainment entertainers and athletes

149
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,919
Speaker 2: who do have the money to invest, but they're nervous

150
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 2: because obviously any investment is not guaranteed, and so what.

151
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,479
Speaker 4: Type of thing one more time, Angela, Yeah.

152
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:10,840
Speaker 1: Every investment is not guaranteed.

153
00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,000
Speaker 2: So just because it looks great on paper and everybody's

154
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,200
Speaker 2: investing doesn't mean it's gonna work out. And it is

155
00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:19,000
Speaker 2: always a risk. But you can lessen that risk, you know,

156
00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,360
Speaker 2: as much as you possibly can. But what would you

157
00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,240
Speaker 2: say to people who do have money that want to

158
00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,080
Speaker 2: invest but they're nervous because maybe something they did in

159
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,040
Speaker 2: the past didn't go the way that they anticipated, or

160
00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:29,560
Speaker 2: somebody they know got burned.

161
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:30,920
Speaker 1: What would you tell them.

162
00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,680
Speaker 4: Yep, So I would say there are experts in never field,

163
00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 4: and like you said, there's no guarantee to any investment.

164
00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,280
Speaker 4: Find yourself a good partner, find somebody who does know

165
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,160
Speaker 4: about the industry, somebody who has been investing in the space,

166
00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,680
Speaker 4: and kind of work through them to learn. And we

167
00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,400
Speaker 4: do that a ton at COF. So we get connected

168
00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,080
Speaker 4: with a lot of folks who have the capitol and

169
00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:53,960
Speaker 4: they're like, I don't want my career to end in

170
00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:55,840
Speaker 4: five years and now no one knows where my money

171
00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,600
Speaker 4: went right, and I'm broke, and I can't you do

172
00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:00,800
Speaker 4: the things that I want to do. And so we

173
00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,480
Speaker 4: try to teach people about you know, when you hear

174
00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:05,440
Speaker 4: jay Z say I'm at the cap table, what the

175
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,080
Speaker 4: splits is? What is a cap table? We're trying to

176
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,360
Speaker 4: teach people those things and a lot and we tell

177
00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,200
Speaker 4: them very, you know, in a very forward way, like

178
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,120
Speaker 4: venture is the riskiest asset class. It's early a company,

179
00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,200
Speaker 4: you don't know if they're gonna make it right. And

180
00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,560
Speaker 4: one of the other facts about venture that people don't

181
00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,760
Speaker 4: know is that we actually expect most of our investments

182
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,760
Speaker 4: to fail. That's what the economics is. A venture. It's

183
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,800
Speaker 4: about your slugging percentage, it's not your batting average, right,

184
00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,640
Speaker 4: So we really depend on a couple of really big

185
00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,240
Speaker 4: hits in any portfolio, and people have to get that mindset.

186
00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:42,160
Speaker 4: So a dventure is a very long game.

187
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:43,400
Speaker 1: That's a good point.

188
00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,560
Speaker 2: And that's like a record label. You know, record label

189
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,800
Speaker 2: sign tons of artists and there's only a few that

190
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,520
Speaker 2: are gonna make the money and the rest are not

191
00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,160
Speaker 2: going to do much, absolutely right, And.

192
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,400
Speaker 4: It's such a long game venture, like it's not day

193
00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,320
Speaker 4: trading like stocks. Right by the today it goes up.

194
00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,800
Speaker 4: I can feel it tomorrow. I always tell my LPs,

195
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,800
Speaker 4: don't come to me in two years looking for money.

196
00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,240
Speaker 2: There'll be people like if I would have invested fifteen

197
00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:10,440
Speaker 2: years ago in this, But you can't tell. You can't

198
00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,560
Speaker 2: do that what something's gonna end up being. And then yeah,

199
00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:14,280
Speaker 2: so could.

200
00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,080
Speaker 3: You guys touch on something that's so important to our

201
00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:20,640
Speaker 3: economy AI and tech? I mean, that's what you're really

202
00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:23,559
Speaker 3: focused on. And I heard you speak at the Power

203
00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:25,199
Speaker 3: Summit at Carnegie Hall.

204
00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,520
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we had a good time.

205
00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:29,880
Speaker 3: And you had Reverend now Sharpton was there, you had

206
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,240
Speaker 3: Mark Morial there, Robert Smith was there, and you could

207
00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,800
Speaker 3: not be struck harder by how much all of them

208
00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:37,760
Speaker 3: were talking about how important it is for the black

209
00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,520
Speaker 3: community to get on the AI sure technology bandwagon. When

210
00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,640
Speaker 3: we hear you talk about these celebrities and artists and

211
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,079
Speaker 3: entertainers to the average person listening out there, that's like, well,

212
00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,400
Speaker 3: that's not me, but tech has to be them. Talk

213
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:52,079
Speaker 3: more about that.

214
00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, we the thing about AI

215
00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,720
Speaker 4: is that it's not new. People think AI is new,

216
00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,280
Speaker 4: but it's not. People been investing in AI for years

217
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,760
Speaker 4: at this point. But a lot of new consumer opportunities

218
00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,280
Speaker 4: like usage for the average person, that's what's becoming available

219
00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,600
Speaker 4: these days. And I think one of the ways that

220
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,559
Speaker 4: people can really dive in is figuring out ways to

221
00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,320
Speaker 4: let AI work for you in whatever job you do,

222
00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,920
Speaker 4: whether it's a radio host or you work in marketing,

223
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,120
Speaker 4: real estate or real estate, think about how can I

224
00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,240
Speaker 4: use AI as like one my creative copilot and to

225
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,640
Speaker 4: supercharge the work that you do. You don't have to

226
00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,440
Speaker 4: be a coder or an engineer to like utilize AI

227
00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:35,760
Speaker 4: and a thing.

228
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 1: It can level the playing field.

229
00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 4: It can level the playing field. And I think, gosh,

230
00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:45,080
Speaker 4: somebody said a quote two days ago about like AI is.

231
00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,440
Speaker 4: You know. The debate is like, hey, is AI gonna

232
00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,480
Speaker 4: take jobs? Is gonna change? I don't know. I can't

233
00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:52,679
Speaker 4: speak one way or the other, but they said, the

234
00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,040
Speaker 4: person who uses AI will take your job, right, And.

235
00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,640
Speaker 2: We see how letting people go but hiring all these

236
00:10:58,679 --> 00:10:59,559
Speaker 2: people for AI.

237
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,480
Speaker 4: The people, I think, the people who learn how to

238
00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:04,360
Speaker 4: utilize it and make it a tool and make it

239
00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,840
Speaker 4: a superpower, that's what's gonna help me people be successful.

240
00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:09,880
Speaker 4: And we can all do that. We all figure out

241
00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:11,040
Speaker 4: how to use it to our benefit.

242
00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,200
Speaker 2: I sell you posting about a app and I was like, oh,

243
00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,400
Speaker 2: let me get this that can help you find the

244
00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,280
Speaker 2: lowest prices for flights. Oh that AI can help you

245
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:19,920
Speaker 2: with something like that. And AI can help you with

246
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,800
Speaker 2: like putting together a workout plan, a diet.

247
00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,960
Speaker 4: That can waver your calendar everything. And one of the

248
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,280
Speaker 4: coolest things about AI is like there are now websites

249
00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 4: that will tell you how to make a good prompt

250
00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,600
Speaker 4: in chat GPT, So when you're trying to use chat

251
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,080
Speaker 4: GBT to figure out something or make a list. It'll

252
00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,120
Speaker 4: tell you exactly like Okay, first put the ask and

253
00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,360
Speaker 4: then put this type of phrase and then do this

254
00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,800
Speaker 4: and it will get you the responses that you need.

255
00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,920
Speaker 4: So we're working on it and people are tinkering and

256
00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,480
Speaker 4: it can be really impactful. So don't be scared, right people.

257
00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,839
Speaker 3: For consumers, also for the economy jobs, yep. A lot

258
00:11:57,840 --> 00:11:59,640
Speaker 3: of people think, oh, I'm in the beauty in the

259
00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,400
Speaker 3: street or in the accounting industry or something. But that

260
00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 3: technology company that wants to create an AI product or

261
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,959
Speaker 3: something to serve they still need your help. Like what

262
00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,200
Speaker 3: you do can be moved into the AI industry. You

263
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:15,120
Speaker 3: just have to learn the tech.

264
00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,000
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you just have to learn the tech. And the

265
00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,920
Speaker 4: other thing is that I want to let my community

266
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,840
Speaker 4: know is that AI is built on data. Right training

267
00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,920
Speaker 4: models to data. We have to be sure that our

268
00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,320
Speaker 4: data about black people and the black community is in

269
00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:32,400
Speaker 4: the data that we train on. There's a lot of

270
00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,120
Speaker 4: organizations that are focused on like how do we get

271
00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,280
Speaker 4: archives from like HBCUs digitized and get them into the

272
00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,040
Speaker 4: models that are going to be trained on. Because I

273
00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,479
Speaker 4: know it can be scary, right, it's like a new technology.

274
00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,199
Speaker 4: People are like whoa. But it's important for us to

275
00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,600
Speaker 4: be in the front, right right and be sure that

276
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,839
Speaker 4: we're included. Otherwise the solutions aren't going to include us.

277
00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,640
Speaker 4: So we have to be okay with like being sure

278
00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,240
Speaker 4: that our data is in these models.

279
00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,800
Speaker 2: Megan, you went to Clerk, right, I did. We gotta

280
00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,080
Speaker 2: make sure we shout Atlanta. So how do you think

281
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,360
Speaker 2: that affected where you are today going to an HBCU,

282
00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:09,480
Speaker 2: going to Clark. Talk to us about that because now

283
00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,160
Speaker 2: you're in a space that you know, traditionally in this

284
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,480
Speaker 2: venture capital space, it's not a lot of people that

285
00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:16,280
Speaker 2: look like us yep in that space.

286
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:21,600
Speaker 4: Ye, Clark Atlanta was everything. Like Clark Atlanta was everything

287
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,000
Speaker 4: the motto literally, no matter where I work, in all

288
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:27,800
Speaker 4: my years where I went to school after Clark, I

289
00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,160
Speaker 4: always had our model like on a post it or

290
00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,199
Speaker 4: behind me in a picture frame, I'll find a way

291
00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,640
Speaker 4: or make one right because we don't accept like it's

292
00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:39,080
Speaker 4: just too hard out here for our community, Like you

293
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,600
Speaker 4: just got to keep going, like somebody closed the door.

294
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:42,959
Speaker 4: I'll find a way or make one. I'll find a

295
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,760
Speaker 4: way or make one. We'll see each other and another

296
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:51,560
Speaker 4: amazing Clark Atlanta. Pinky Coal embodies that's my girl, and

297
00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,120
Speaker 4: we always like just use it in regular conversation. I'll

298
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,440
Speaker 4: find a way or make one, and you just you

299
00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,000
Speaker 4: just keep pushing. And I think that's something you don't

300
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,920
Speaker 4: get everywhere. It's very much like an HPCU and a

301
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,280
Speaker 4: cultural mindset. I'll find away and make one.

302
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,880
Speaker 3: But you weren't thinking venture capital when you were there,

303
00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:12,560
Speaker 3: not at all. You had a fancy, not even close.

304
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,520
Speaker 3: And that then went from Clark to Stanford because she's

305
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,360
Speaker 3: really smart and you had a pretty cool u VC

306
00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:20,920
Speaker 3: teacher I had.

307
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,240
Speaker 4: I did the funny middle part of the story, though,

308
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 4: is I went to Clark Atlanta was on a very

309
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,080
Speaker 4: very different path. I wanted to teach and do research

310
00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:30,760
Speaker 4: full time, and I was gonna go get a PhD.

311
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,640
Speaker 4: And I dropped out. So I'm gonna drop out. I

312
00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:35,440
Speaker 4: think a lot of people tend to think that the

313
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,520
Speaker 4: path is easy, and it's so clear I'm a dropout.

314
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,680
Speaker 4: It's okay to it's okay to quit a thing because

315
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,840
Speaker 4: it put me in a position to eventually move to

316
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,600
Speaker 4: California and go to Stanford. And it's so funny because

317
00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:50,320
Speaker 4: I actually told the Dean of Stanford this at one time,

318
00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,720
Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't claim Stanford unless I have to. Right,

319
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,560
Speaker 4: I'm Clark Atlanta, through and through. That's always going to be,

320
00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,200
Speaker 4: you know, my first love. But Stanford gave me. It

321
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,880
Speaker 4: really opened up the world to see, like, when you

322
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:04,840
Speaker 4: do have that grit and you have that commitment and

323
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,200
Speaker 4: that kind of workhorse attitude and the world opens up

324
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,960
Speaker 4: to you, there's so much you can do. But one

325
00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,000
Speaker 4: of the funny stories, when I was at GSB, I

326
00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,800
Speaker 4: still wasn't focused on finance, but I ended up in

327
00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,040
Speaker 4: a venture capitol class and my professor was Eric Schmidt,

328
00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,880
Speaker 4: who was the former CEO of Google. People call him

329
00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:27,440
Speaker 4: they said he was the first adult in the room

330
00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 4: at Google. And it was great because I had never

331
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,480
Speaker 4: done anything adventure before, it had never taken a class.

332
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,200
Speaker 4: I took it because it was at a good time

333
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:35,960
Speaker 4: and I didn't want to be in traffic on the

334
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:37,680
Speaker 4: one on one, you know about the one O one,

335
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,240
Speaker 4: And so I took the class and kind of towards

336
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,240
Speaker 4: the end, we go for a walk, yes, you know

337
00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,040
Speaker 4: around he would go for walks with students, and he

338
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,360
Speaker 4: told me two things. One I committed to not repeating again.

339
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,000
Speaker 4: But the other he gave me like some good secret

340
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,240
Speaker 4: life advice. But the other one he said, Megan, you're

341
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,960
Speaker 4: one of my best students, and I know ventures not

342
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,240
Speaker 4: your thing, but I think you should try it for real.

343
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:01,840
Speaker 1: Oh wow.

344
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,680
Speaker 4: And I was like, sir, I don't know black people

345
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,080
Speaker 4: do venture, right, just very like dismissive of it because

346
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,680
Speaker 4: I didn't think I could do it. And He's like,

347
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:14,640
Speaker 4: I'm serious, I think you should try. And kind of

348
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,720
Speaker 4: from there, I just I was like, you know what

349
00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:18,400
Speaker 4: if Eric Schmid said you could try And he may

350
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,160
Speaker 4: not even remember the story, he may not even remember me,

351
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,600
Speaker 4: but I say it changed my mindset of like if

352
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:24,960
Speaker 4: he thinks I can do it, why don't know? I

353
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,800
Speaker 4: think I can do it right right? And so I

354
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:28,960
Speaker 4: started doing a ton of internships. You're supposed to do

355
00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,080
Speaker 4: one internship in business school between your first and second year.

356
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,600
Speaker 4: I ended up doing four internships while I was there.

357
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,120
Speaker 4: I wasn't playing because I was making a career change.

358
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,160
Speaker 4: So like running up and down, saying into a road,

359
00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,200
Speaker 4: like taking meetings with people, and it turned into my

360
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:43,640
Speaker 4: full time I love.

361
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,120
Speaker 1: That's my internships. That's so important.

362
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,080
Speaker 2: I always talk about that when you're in college and

363
00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:48,960
Speaker 2: trying to figure out what you want to do in

364
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:50,400
Speaker 2: after you know, if you can.

365
00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,080
Speaker 1: I want to ask you this.

366
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,480
Speaker 2: Too, as we're talking about the Cultural Leadership Fund, how

367
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,960
Speaker 2: important is it for people who are getting VC funding

368
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 2: the people who are investing Sometimes you know VC funds,

369
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,560
Speaker 2: they just give money and they're quiet about it and

370
00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,080
Speaker 2: not at all involved. But for you guys, you want

371
00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:12,679
Speaker 2: to make sure that the people who are providing the

372
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,560
Speaker 2: funding are also involved.

373
00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,000
Speaker 4: Yep. Absolutely. Like we talked about VC a lot being

374
00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,760
Speaker 4: like a marriage, right, it's a long term relationship, it's

375
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,960
Speaker 4: a financial relationship. They can go really well or really

376
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,440
Speaker 4: not well. And so we encourage the LPs limited partners,

377
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,159
Speaker 4: the folks that the cultural leaders that we take money from.

378
00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:35,320
Speaker 4: We tend to ask them upfront, like do you want

379
00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:37,160
Speaker 4: to talk on the phone to founders? Do you want

380
00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,760
Speaker 4: to spend time with them and join advisory boards and

381
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:41,800
Speaker 4: support them and help them with all the things that

382
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,000
Speaker 4: are your area of expertise? And I tend to find

383
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:46,679
Speaker 4: that people who are willing to put their money in

384
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,360
Speaker 4: at the early stage, they want to stay close to it, right,

385
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:51,879
Speaker 4: They want to know the founder, They want to be

386
00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:53,439
Speaker 4: able to call them up on the phone and have

387
00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,080
Speaker 4: the founder feel like they can call them as well.

388
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:58,439
Speaker 4: And so we try to really teach people how to

389
00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:02,000
Speaker 4: lean in to those moments because that's where the magic happens, right.

390
00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,800
Speaker 4: And our firm is really big generally on like operational support.

391
00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:07,720
Speaker 4: So we have like a full on marketing team to

392
00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:09,680
Speaker 4: help our portfolio companies. And we've got to go to

393
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,240
Speaker 4: market team and we've got, you know, a talent team

394
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,760
Speaker 4: that helps you know them think about hiring. We take

395
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,520
Speaker 4: that very seriously and same for CLF. We want our

396
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,439
Speaker 4: founders to know that they can depend on us, and

397
00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,200
Speaker 4: a lot of our investors feel the same way.

398
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,320
Speaker 3: What are the types of groups CLFS invested in?

399
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,480
Speaker 4: So CLF we again follow on to the Injuries in

400
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,960
Speaker 4: Horowitz portfolio. We're a co investment vehicle. So most of

401
00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:36,040
Speaker 4: the companies that you see on the Injuries and Horowitz

402
00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,399
Speaker 4: website are also cultural Leadership Fund investment.

403
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:40,919
Speaker 3: When you're telling me they're like twenty five non profits or.

404
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:46,400
Speaker 4: Yes, ooh, I like where you're taking me stay So actually,

405
00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,840
Speaker 4: so CLF, one of the things that we do is

406
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,240
Speaker 4: we donate all of our management fee and carry, so

407
00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:54,679
Speaker 4: that means every single dollar that we make of profit

408
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,560
Speaker 4: inside of CLF, not our LP's profits, but our on

409
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,480
Speaker 4: the firm. We donate to organizations that are specifically focused

410
00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,560
Speaker 4: on getting more young African Americans in tech, and there's

411
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:07,800
Speaker 4: no other firm doing that, and we're really really proud,

412
00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,520
Speaker 4: and we've been doing it since twenty eighteen, so pre pandemic,

413
00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,600
Speaker 4: and have done about two and a half million dollars

414
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,359
Speaker 4: so far. But we support organizations like the Hidden Genius

415
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,600
Speaker 4: Project and Black in Gaming and Black Collegiates and Gaming

416
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,840
Speaker 4: and Pursuit and Perscoless and so many that are actually

417
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,400
Speaker 4: based here in New York as well. But a lot

418
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,840
Speaker 4: of times when it comes to nonprofits, people feel like

419
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:30,960
Speaker 4: they need to start something new, Right, I got to

420
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,880
Speaker 4: start my own nonprofit. I got to do my own

421
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:33,520
Speaker 4: thing when.

422
00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:34,560
Speaker 1: You can support what's already.

423
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,960
Speaker 4: But there are people who have been doing the work

424
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:38,800
Speaker 4: to get black people in tech four years.

425
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:39,639
Speaker 1: I think that's great.

426
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,440
Speaker 4: We wanted to supercharge them and it's been such a joy.

427
00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:47,400
Speaker 4: Like we've seen people get placements into two early tech companies,

428
00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,480
Speaker 4: we've seen people learn how to code, we've seen people

429
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,880
Speaker 4: figure out other ways to contribute to tech. And then

430
00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,120
Speaker 4: we also fund so we fund organizations, but we also

431
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,320
Speaker 4: fund like initiatives, right because it's wonderful to teach people

432
00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,879
Speaker 4: how to code. But we are of the belief that

433
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,040
Speaker 4: there's a number of ways to get people involved in tech.

434
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:08,440
Speaker 4: So we funded an initiative, a new thing called the

435
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,320
Speaker 4: Black Digital Art Collective and it BATAC and basically it's

436
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,199
Speaker 4: a collective of people who buy black digital art with

437
00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,200
Speaker 4: the goal of like trying to help blow up black

438
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,080
Speaker 4: digital artists because we saw in the big crypto art

439
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,600
Speaker 4: world there weren't a lot of black artists being highlighted.

440
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,320
Speaker 4: So we said, how do we put capital into what

441
00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:32,959
Speaker 4: they're building and then support them and blow them up.

442
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,680
Speaker 4: So BTC has been really successful so far, and there'll

443
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:37,720
Speaker 4: be a number of other things coming out like that,

444
00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 4: like how do we get our community at the front

445
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:41,960
Speaker 4: part of technology.

446
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,120
Speaker 3: That's one other thing I wanted to touch on. There's

447
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,639
Speaker 3: money to be made in tech by getting into companies early. Yes,

448
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,720
Speaker 3: for anybody out there is like my career path. You know,

449
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 3: maybe you're not an entrepreneur, there's I mean, there's really

450
00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:58,720
Speaker 3: a lot of money to be made by getting started

451
00:20:58,760 --> 00:20:59,160
Speaker 3: up early.

452
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,720
Speaker 4: Yep. So you always hear when a company goes public.

453
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:07,960
Speaker 4: Oh my god, the employees became millionaires overnight. Wasn't overnight,

454
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,159
Speaker 4: it seemed like overnight, But a lot of them have

455
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 4: been working there, like I said, for a very long time,

456
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 4: five six, seven, eight, nine years before they went public.

457
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,080
Speaker 4: So this concept of like early employeehood. When you go

458
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 4: and started a tech company, oftentimes they give you employee

459
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:28,280
Speaker 4: equity meaning some options, stock options, some you know, equity

460
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,879
Speaker 4: into the company and that company is valued at a

461
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 4: specific place when you come in. But the expectation is

462
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,199
Speaker 4: that as that company grows, the value of the company

463
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 4: will grow, and so will your early employee equity. So

464
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 4: if you're there long enough and early enough, you have

465
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 4: the opportunity to when that company goes public or they

466
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 4: get sold, because that happened sometimes too. They may not

467
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,080
Speaker 4: go public, but there there'll be m and a activity,

468
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:58,760
Speaker 4: you have the chance for your equity to be really,

469
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 4: really valuable. So tell you years later, they go public

470
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 4: and now you have a windfall and you can now

471
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,879
Speaker 4: go and best what you couldn't do before, or you

472
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 4: can now go start a company which you couldn't do before.

473
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 4: So there's a ton of opportunity as an early employee

474
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,280
Speaker 4: to build wealth And what a lot of people don't

475
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,280
Speaker 4: know is that tech has been the greatest generator of

476
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 4: wealth yea over the last twenty years, and so as

477
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,400
Speaker 4: an individual, it is one of the I think clearest

478
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 4: paths to building wealth is going to a tech company early.

479
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,080
Speaker 4: The flip side of it, again, it's very risky in

480
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,920
Speaker 4: early stage, but there's so much opportunity there if you're

481
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 4: interested in the space.

482
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 3: How do we get our tech skills up?

483
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,199
Speaker 4: How do you get your tech skills up? Here's the

484
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,840
Speaker 4: interesting thing. Tech companies need everybody. They need hr people,

485
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 4: they need marketing people, they need finance and graphic designers.

486
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 4: So whatever skill you already have, there's a likelihood that

487
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:51,639
Speaker 4: a tech company needs it.

488
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 2: Even if you think about as we discuss AI right,

489
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,160
Speaker 2: and we were discussing this last week, this open letter

490
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 2: warning against the predatory use of in the music industry,

491
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,959
Speaker 2: you know YouTube. Now they put like a little disclaimer

492
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,480
Speaker 2: if this is something that was AI generated, and even

493
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 2: for to keep track of things like that, to make

494
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:15,120
Speaker 2: sure that you know you're taking care of people who

495
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 2: want to make sure they're protecting their art and their

496
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:19,640
Speaker 2: voice and their likeness and things like that.

497
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 1: That's important too.

498
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 2: Moving forward as people are trying to figure out, Okay,

499
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 2: I just want to make sure they can't just take

500
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,639
Speaker 2: you know, my image or my likeness and do something

501
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:27,919
Speaker 2: with it.

502
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 4: Yep. And one of the things that I think you're

503
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 4: absolutely right about that, and I think one of the

504
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 4: things that I want to point out is this happens

505
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,680
Speaker 4: with every industry. There's always going to be bad actors,

506
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 4: right in finance or when the internet first came out

507
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 4: and they would like steal your identity.

508
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:46,640
Speaker 1: That's still happening, right.

509
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,399
Speaker 4: There are bad actors in every industry. And what we

510
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,719
Speaker 4: have to figure out is like how do we counteract

511
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 4: that and overpowered with people who are trying to use

512
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,439
Speaker 4: the technology in the right way Because a lot of

513
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 4: you know, AI companies, and we've invested in several, they

514
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 4: want to do it the right way. They don't they

515
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 4: don't want people stealing somebody's voice and their image, et cetera.

516
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 4: And so they're tinkering to try to figure that out.

517
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 4: But I think if people's hope that is that like

518
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,360
Speaker 4: there will be no version of people doing the wrong thing.

519
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,320
Speaker 3: That's not human nature, right, That's not human nature.

520
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,360
Speaker 4: So there will always be bad actors. We just need

521
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 4: to figure out, like how do we do it bigger

522
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:27,359
Speaker 4: and better for the people who are trying to do

523
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:27,680
Speaker 4: it right.

524
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:30,720
Speaker 2: I tell you, guys had an event and the Dream

525
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,639
Speaker 2: performed at it. I saw you posted him because he

526
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 2: was like, I haven't been performing and like, over, yeah,

527
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 2: not go outside.

528
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,680
Speaker 4: He said it. He said, y'all, he said, I don't

529
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:41,399
Speaker 4: come outside. So this is a big deal. We were

530
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 4: very proud. We were very proud.

531
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 2: Yeah.

532
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 4: So we every year we try to bring our investors

533
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 4: together because, especially after the pandemic, people just hadn't been

534
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,920
Speaker 4: around each other, and we want to give them opportunity

535
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 4: one to meet each other because there's a lot of

536
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 4: chances for our executives to meet our entertainers, athletes, to

537
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 4: meet our general partners who do the investing. But also

538
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,440
Speaker 4: we want to give them a chance to learn about

539
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,439
Speaker 4: the technologies that we're investing in. So we can have

540
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 4: our games team come in and say like, here's how

541
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 4: we're thinking about the future of games. Here, that's how

542
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 4: we're thinking about the future of AI. And so we

543
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,160
Speaker 4: try to do that once a year. It is only

544
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 4: for our investors, so I'm said, I can't invite everybody,

545
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,919
Speaker 4: but it wouldn't be COLF if we didn't throw a

546
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,399
Speaker 4: little sauce on it. We had to throw a little sauce.

547
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 4: So having the dream come was a great addition. He

548
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 4: showed out. He did a great job. But I encourage

549
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 4: people to even if you don't, you know, whatever funds

550
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 4: you invest in, or if you find a way to invest,

551
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 4: always find the moments where you can meet the founders

552
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 4: and meet the other investors that just happens to be.

553
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:47,719
Speaker 2: Ours, you know, Megan, I want to ask you this,

554
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 2: what happens when investor and a founder they a founder

555
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 2: and a funder. They're not connecting and clicking, and they

556
00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 2: want to like, you know, is there always an exit plan?

557
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 3: Like?

558
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: How does that work? And how frequent does that happen?

559
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: How frequently?

560
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 3: Yeah?

561
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,439
Speaker 4: I mean, like I said, it can be like a marriage,

562
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:08,359
Speaker 4: and people don't always.

563
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:09,360
Speaker 1: Because marriage don't always last.

564
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,400
Speaker 4: They don't always last more than half of the data.

565
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 3: The data shows it's like more than fifty percent do not.

566
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's insane, but I think of it very similar.

567
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 4: Friends break up, you get a job that you hate.

568
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: Because money definitely can put a damper on any.

569
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 4: Type of any relationship.

570
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially when your goals aren't necessarily aligned or you know.

571
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,439
Speaker 2: I think even as a founder, when you have people

572
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 2: that you have to I know Pinky will talk about

573
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 2: this like used to having your own thing, but now

574
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,919
Speaker 2: you have other people that you have to be accountable

575
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 2: for an answitude, and that could be beneficial or it cannot.

576
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 4: Yep, one thousand percent stressful. I think a lot of

577
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 4: it comes with like communication and maturity. The hope is

578
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 4: that if something is not working out, that people can

579
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 4: talk it out and figure it out right. And if

580
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 4: you can't, you can find an exit plan, whether it's

581
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 4: selling your shares in the company you know somebody else,

582
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 4: or just saying okay, from this point on, this is

583
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 4: how we're gonna divide it out.

584
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 2: But it happens because I can imagine that as for

585
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 2: myself being like a founder also, it is very emotional

586
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 2: connecting you to your business and sometimes it's hard to discuss,

587
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,159
Speaker 2: you know, what you see as something that's your a

588
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,640
Speaker 2: baby with somebody that may not have been there.

589
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 4: From may not have been there from the beginning, but

590
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,480
Speaker 4: what one You always have to remember, nobody's gonna love

591
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 4: your baby like you, and then nobody's gonna love your baby,

592
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 4: like you my baby, not ugly, just a little bit

593
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 4: completely ugly, are cute. But also you want people who

594
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 4: are going to challenge you. You want people who are

595
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:46,440
Speaker 4: going to challenge your thinking because you don't want yes

596
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 4: men around you, whether they're your friends or your investors,

597
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:50,880
Speaker 4: So you want them to be able to call you out.

598
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 4: But then also you want them to be there through

599
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:56,120
Speaker 4: the hard times if you have because companies go through

600
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 4: hard times. Sometimes there's a dipping revenue, sometimes you don't

601
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 4: make your numbers. But you want people to say, like,

602
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 4: I'm missed because I believed in you. Let's figure this out,

603
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 4: and usually I'm assuming when it falls apart. It might

604
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,119
Speaker 4: be a failure in one of those three things, but

605
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 4: the hope is that people can resolve it amicably. And

606
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 4: sometimes it's just saying, hey, this.

607
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 1: Is where we part ways, okay, m all right?

608
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,400
Speaker 3: Wow? So how can people follow you in CLF? Oh?

609
00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 4: Yes, so CLF is at a sixteen z CLF on

610
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,439
Speaker 4: my personal page. I don't talk a lot about CLF,

611
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 4: but it's at Megan h Alexander on Instagram. But a

612
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 4: sixteen and z CLF on x and Instagram? Is that right?

613
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 3: Beauty and we'll share that with everybody, and we really

614
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 3: appreciate you lighting the fire under people that we were

615
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 3: all in the tech AI economy and I'm just going

616
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 3: to figure out how to be in it and how

617
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 3: we can all capitalize it because we can.

618
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 4: Because we can capitalize, and we deserve to be a

619
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 4: part of the economics that are being created, and I

620
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 4: want to help ensure and clf overall. It's like, how

621
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 4: do we ensure that we have some economics, some ownership,

622
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 4: because that's where the game changes. It's ownership. How do

623
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 4: we get involved in that.

624
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 2: I thank you so much for coming here too. I

625
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,200
Speaker 2: think that you're so empowering and for people to see

626
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 2: you speaking about things like this is going to be

627
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 2: a lot more of a connection than if somebody.

628
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 4: Else trying to be empowering like you was. So you

629
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 4: got to voids that people here all over the world,

630
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 4: and so in your own way, you are absolutely pushing

631
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 4: the culture forward. And I'm just trying.

632
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 2: To manage this is our responsibility to bring people like

633
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 2: you up here that I think are credible, are vetted out,

634
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 2: that have the experience, and this means a lot to

635
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:42,000
Speaker 2: our audience.

636
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 1: I appreciate you so much.

637
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 2: It is Financial Literacy Month, but for us it's Financial

638
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 2: Literacy year every year.

639
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 4: So every day they are well ones days is about listen.

640
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 4: Such an honor, such an honor. I'm so please, A

641
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 4: shes fly too. Let's just talk about that for a secondly,

642
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 4: because I don't get to put on real clothes today,

643
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 4: so I say, when I got to go outside, I

644
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 4: got to put on something real. But thank you so much.

645
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 4: Such an honor, thank you pleasure, thank you Stacey Well