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Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black. We're extra brown today.

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Speaker 1: Ambition ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition.

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Speaker 2: Well we have some extra brown in the stew today. Yes,

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Speaker 2: well one, First of all, Happy New Year. I don't

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Speaker 2: know when you're hearing this, but y'all twenty twenty three. Okay.

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Speaker 2: If twenty twenty three had a word, it would be

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Speaker 2: what because I think it was so hard for so

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Speaker 2: many people. But that's all right. We forgot about her.

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Speaker 2: She's going, she's out of here. Twenty twenty four. As

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Speaker 2: my sister Tracy said, it's gonna be a banner year.

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Speaker 2: I can feel it. It's already starting off great for

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Speaker 2: the most part. So we wanted to start the year

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Speaker 2: off awesome by having awesome people in the stew And

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Speaker 2: today we have a woman who is amazing who I

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Speaker 2: was introduced to via one of my mentees. Hey, Berna,

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Speaker 2: Bernad's awesome, and berna' said you have to be a woman. Vernda,

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Speaker 2: she's awesome. So I'm gonna tell you a little bit

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Speaker 2: about Verrenda that we're gonna welcome her into the stew

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Speaker 2: and just chat.

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Speaker 3: So.

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Speaker 2: Vernda Gupta is the CEO and co founder of Sequin

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Speaker 2: which is a women's banking and financial education membership club

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Speaker 2: designed by women for women. Okay, she is a globally

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Speaker 2: recognized credit expert by Forbes, ABC seven News and Fintech

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Speaker 2: magazine who helped launch the popular Chase Sapphire Reserve credit

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Speaker 2: card at Visa. Yes, that was Brenda. Y'all know I

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Speaker 2: got the Reserve card. The joke is of Verenda that

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Speaker 2: I never call it the right name. I'm always like

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Speaker 2: the go get it Chase card, the travel around the card,

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Speaker 2: travel around the world card. So she was the one

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Speaker 2: who helped to launch that, and she received her MBA

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Speaker 2: from Berkeley haz Am I saying that right. Brenda lives

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Speaker 2: in San Francisco, California and is a proud we love

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Speaker 2: this because you know I'm first generation, first generation Indian immigrant.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the studio, Verrenda.

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Speaker 3: I'm so excited. Thank you so much for having me

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Speaker 3: and I love hearing my bio out of your mouth.

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Speaker 3: You are like my personal hype woman. This is great,

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Speaker 3: well one.

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Speaker 2: I heard to have to say that, like honestly, like

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you've ever heard this, but Nigerians

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Speaker 2: in which I am in first generation and Indians have

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Speaker 2: so much in common because we too can only be doctors, attorneys, pharmacists, engineers.

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Speaker 2: There's like a list of very small, you know, education

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Speaker 2: past that we are allowed to go down, which is hilarious.

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Speaker 2: And whenever I talk to my Indian friends kind of

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Speaker 2: like of my upbringing, it sounds so similar. You know,

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Speaker 2: parents were a little extra too strict. You know, education

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Speaker 2: was most important, and yeah that there was just this

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Speaker 2: expectation of excellence always, you know, and so like, so

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Speaker 2: I love that.

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Speaker 3: Gluck company here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so one, I know that. So tell us a

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Speaker 2: little bit about your background, how did you get here?

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Speaker 2: And then I'd love to learn more about what sequences.

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Speaker 3: I'm so excited to talk about my story with you, Tiffany,

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Speaker 3: because I think I have a kindred spirit here. So, yeah,

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Speaker 3: my story begins as a first generation immigrant. My family

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Speaker 3: and I immigrated from India when I was very young,

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Speaker 3: and I saw them navigating the US financial system, and

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Speaker 3: I saw, disproportionately my mom having a lot of fear

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Speaker 3: in that there might be gatcha so that she might

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Speaker 3: make a mistake. And my mother is this, like many

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Speaker 3: Brown mothers, a very feisty immigrant woman. She is not

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Speaker 3: afraid of anything except for this one realm, which was

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Speaker 3: the financial world. And so ultimately, when they were big

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Speaker 3: financial decisions to be made, my dad would end up

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Speaker 3: making them because my mom didn't feel confident. And I

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Speaker 3: started associating money with power at a very young age,

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Speaker 3: and since then, both my parents really encouraged me to

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Speaker 3: become financial independent and really understand the financial system, because again,

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Speaker 3: money is power. And so when I graduated, I actually

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Speaker 3: wanted to get into financial services so I could empower

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Speaker 3: myself and empower my mom and the women and just

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Speaker 3: persons around me with this very important knowledge. And my

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Speaker 3: first job out of college was at Visa, and I

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Speaker 3: felt really fortunate to have that position because I was

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Speaker 3: learning so much. I was a product manager. I was

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Speaker 3: building popular credit cards, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which

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Speaker 3: I know we talked about for a bit, and it

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Speaker 3: was so fun, you know, working on this project, having

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Speaker 3: so much ownership and for multiple years working on this

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Speaker 3: huge product launch which was a big success. And I

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Speaker 3: applied for the card that I had spent years building

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Speaker 3: and I got rejected.

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Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, so you applied for you built the club

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Speaker 2: and couldn't get.

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Speaker 3: In exactly exactly and you know, it was this moment

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Speaker 3: where everything in my life had kind of come rushing

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Speaker 3: to me, and it said, okay, well, you are literally

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Speaker 3: in the center of this system, and you yourself are

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Speaker 3: unable to get access to really important financial tools. And

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Speaker 3: I just looked around and I said, you know, maybe

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Speaker 3: I could be the one to break this generational kind

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Speaker 3: of issue, especially as women are looking at money and

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Speaker 3: looking at finances and not necessarily feeling as empowered and

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Speaker 3: feeling as confident. And then I'm sitting there with this

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Speaker 3: rejection screen in front of me and just had this

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Speaker 3: moment of realization that, you know, if I wasn't able

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Speaker 3: to do something about this, then my daughter in the

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Speaker 3: future was going to be sitting in this exact same chair,

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Speaker 3: having this exact same experience. And it kind of led

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Speaker 3: me on this rabbit hole where I started understanding who

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Speaker 3: the financial system was built for and who it wasn't

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Speaker 3: And I actually learned that women minorities could be rejected

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Speaker 3: from bank accounts, credit cards, business loans up until the

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Speaker 3: nineteen seventies. And that's not ancient history, right, And even

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Speaker 3: though it's illegal today, we all know that putting you know,

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Speaker 3: laws in place does not solve the problem, and I

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Speaker 3: kind of, you know, came to this realization that women

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Speaker 3: and minorities have the largest spending power of any demographic. Ever, however,

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Speaker 3: the financial system and the resources and the guidance and

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Speaker 3: the tools themselves are really not designed around women or

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Speaker 3: around minorities, and that's leading to less than optimal outcomes

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Speaker 3: for us. And you know, that's kind of where my

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Speaker 3: fascination with all of this started.

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Speaker 2: And so when did you leave? Did you? Did you

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Speaker 2: leave Chase soon after that? And like, is this what

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Speaker 2: would would led you the starting sequence and what is sequin?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, so I left, Lisa, I was working on

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Speaker 3: the TA Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Because they're activity. They know that I'm like, you know,

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Speaker 2: the especially Mandy when it comes to the Chase staffire Reserve,

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Speaker 2: I'm like the Chase the run and get on vacation

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Speaker 2: that I get points to travel card.

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Speaker 3: They know.

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Speaker 2: So the fact that I called it, yes, that is

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Speaker 2: so on brand. Yes, why do you let yes?

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Speaker 3: Exactly?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So you was that like soon after that? You

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Speaker 2: stayed for a little longer, Like what did that look like?

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Speaker 3: I did? Yeah? So I stayed for a little longer

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Speaker 3: because I had this realization that in order for me

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Speaker 3: to fundamentally disrupt the financial system. I really wanted to

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Speaker 3: understand how it worked, who it was built for, how

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Speaker 3: it's designed, what the financial incentives are, how these products

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Speaker 3: are built. And so after I got rejected, I actually

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Speaker 3: had this renewed excitement and zeal for the payments industry

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Speaker 3: because I felt if I could learn from the smartest

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Speaker 3: people in the industry, I could actually take those learnings

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Speaker 3: and then build something better. So I stuck around Visa

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Speaker 3: for a few years after that, and I actually went

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Speaker 3: to get my MBA at Berkeley HOSS. And when I

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Speaker 3: was actually in my MBA program, I started surveying my

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Speaker 3: classmates and I was realizing that even MBAs and these

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Speaker 3: very very ambitious professional women were feeling less confident in

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Speaker 3: our finances as compared to the men. And you know,

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Speaker 3: I just realized that this was a huge opportunity to

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Speaker 3: do something about it. So I had an MBA summer

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Speaker 3: internship at one of the best design firms in the

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Speaker 3: world called Ideo. And when I was there, I was

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Speaker 3: kind of looking around and seeing what was going on

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Speaker 3: in the world, and times up was happening, me too,

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Speaker 3: was happening, and I just felt very strongly that women

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Speaker 3: deserved better financial services that were actually designed around our needs.

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Speaker 2: You know, you realized that there was this problem when

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Speaker 2: it comes to women having access, and also not just

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Speaker 2: women having access. I think that there was a confidence

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Speaker 2: issue that you would look and to solve for. Is

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Speaker 2: that accurate to say exactly? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I mean the issue was so multifascinating, and I think

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Speaker 3: the deeper I dug, the more I saw. So the

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Speaker 3: first piece at the highest level was I was looking

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Speaker 3: at Visa data and I saw that seventy percent of

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Speaker 3: women and every time I say women also with minorities,

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Speaker 3: these stats are worse. So if you're interceptional, it's like

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Speaker 3: if you're women and a minority, if these numbers are

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Speaker 3: just worse and worse. But seventy percent of women were

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Speaker 3: making avoidable mistakes when it came to money, when it

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Speaker 3: came to credit, when it came to wealth, and those

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Speaker 3: mistakes were solvable. It's just because the financial system was

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Speaker 3: not designed with us in mind. We were also not

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Speaker 3: being taught the same way, and the issues start really

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Speaker 3: early where little boys are twice as likely to receive

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Speaker 3: a lesson on credit and finances. By the time we

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Speaker 3: reached high school, and then banks are spending thirty three

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Speaker 3: times advertising to men they are to women, and thus

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Speaker 3: women aren't having these conversations, and so that does lead

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Speaker 3: to greater you know, not really understanding how some of

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Speaker 3: these products and services are working. And then on top

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Speaker 3: of that, when you actually look at the products and

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Speaker 3: services themselves, you can see that credit scoring algorithms, for example,

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Speaker 3: are taking into account, okay, the fact that there is

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Speaker 3: a gender age gap, right, there is a pink tax,

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Speaker 3: and that women's lives are costing more. And so you know,

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Speaker 3: these algorithms are saying, are not actually seeing that, and

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Speaker 3: they're just saying, okay, well, we are going to penalize

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Speaker 3: you with some of those factors that you know, society

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Speaker 3: has put onto us at no fault of our own.

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Speaker 3: And so I started taking all these things, started looking

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Speaker 3: at Okay, of course confidence, a lack of confidence is

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Speaker 3: the result. But also these products were never designed with

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Speaker 3: us in mind. We were never taught this industry is

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Speaker 3: not designed to center women that look like you and me,

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Speaker 3: So it makes sense that you know, we might not

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Speaker 3: be engaging with them, or we might not feel confident

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Speaker 3: using them.

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Speaker 2: Well, where did you get the confidence to say you

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Speaker 2: know what, I have seen the problem, and you know,

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Speaker 2: I have seen the stats, and I want to be

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Speaker 2: part of the solution. Like because a lot of people

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Speaker 2: things happen all the time. I might say, oh, you know,

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Speaker 2: I you know, I don't like on my street right

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Speaker 2: now where I live, it's kind of a busy street,

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Speaker 2: and I think to myself, oh, there should be a

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Speaker 2: speed bump here, you know. But I just complained about it.

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Speaker 2: But you know, sometimes there's a thing that makes you say,

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Speaker 2: I'm actually not just going to complain about it. I'm

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Speaker 2: going to do something like where did that energy come from?

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Speaker 2: Is that like your mother's just seeping through? Like, no,

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Speaker 2: the feistiness is still here.

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Speaker 3: My mother is definitely my inspiration, and you know, I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, to know me is to know my mother.

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Speaker 3: But I think ultimately, when I looked around, I didn't

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Speaker 3: really see anyone tackling this problem from the way that

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Speaker 3: I really felt fundamentally the financial system needed a redesign,

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Speaker 3: and you know, the education and the confidence and that component.

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Speaker 3: I started seeing so many women start talking about that,

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Speaker 3: which I thought was just so incredible, and women that

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Speaker 3: looked like you and women that looked like me having

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Speaker 3: these conversations and as I mentioned times up was happening,

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Speaker 3: me too was happening, and I just felt like the

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Speaker 3: timing for something like this was right. But the other

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Speaker 3: part that I felt a lot of gratitude for and

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Speaker 3: really understood my privilege in that I understood how to

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Speaker 3: build financial products. And you know, as I looked around,

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Speaker 3: even when I was working at Visa and especially now

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Speaker 3: as a fintech founder, there wasn't anyone who looked like me.

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Speaker 3: And you know, just having that experience where I was

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Speaker 3: rejected from the product that I helped create, I don't

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Speaker 3: know anyone else who's had that experience still in you know,

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Speaker 3: my many almost a decade in fintech now, I haven't

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Speaker 3: seen that. And I think with that perspective that made

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Speaker 3: me really empathetic to the women who I'm building for.

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Speaker 3: Where I had these conversations and I can say, okay,

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Speaker 3: I also experience that problem. You're right right. You know,

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Speaker 3: I got rejected because I wasn't building my credit history

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Speaker 3: effectively and that's because I didn't know. No one taught me.

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Speaker 3: And so as I'm talking to other women and building

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Speaker 3: the products, it's also thinking about how do we not

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Speaker 3: only give you the education that you need and the

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Speaker 3: why behind everything, but also how do we design products

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Speaker 3: and services that you can actually take those learnings and

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Speaker 3: then practice with them and know that these products aren't

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Speaker 3: going to have a bunch of gotchas around them. So

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Speaker 3: to answer your question to me, I think I just

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Speaker 3: didn't see anyone else with my unique perspective, and I

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Speaker 3: felt this is something that should exist the world because

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Speaker 3: when you give women and minorities more money, that's how

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Speaker 3: the world moves forward. And it became a matter of

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Speaker 3: gender equity and equity for minorities as well, where again,

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Speaker 3: going back to money is power. Understanding how to leverage money,

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Speaker 3: Understanding money, credit and wealth and actually having the tools

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Speaker 3: to make those work for you is just so powerful.

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Speaker 3: And it felt like probably the most important thing that

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Speaker 3: I could do with my life. And so that's why

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Speaker 3: I decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurship and build

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Speaker 3: what is now Sequin.

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Speaker 2: So let's talk about Sequin one. How did you come

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Speaker 2: up with the name and what exactly is sequin?

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Speaker 3: Yes, I actually love this question with the name, so

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Speaker 3: it's actually an interesting kind of fun fact. So Sequence

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Speaker 3: or Siica is the Arabic term for a coin, and

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Speaker 3: around the Roman Empire timing there were these Venetian gold

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Speaker 3: currencies as well, called sequence or sica, and as you know,

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Speaker 3: the fall of the Roman Empire, the coins started losing

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Speaker 3: value and so people would wear them as talismans and

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Speaker 3: you know, decor and over time it became this kind

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Speaker 3: of shiny not what we know a sequence, Kay, and

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Speaker 3: I really loved that mix of you know, rooted and

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Speaker 3: deep currency and gold coins, but also something that represents

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Speaker 3: femininity and something that feels very kind of bright and

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Speaker 3: loud and out there. It just felt like this perfect

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Speaker 3: mix of you know, what we were trying to build

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Speaker 3: and you know, the change that we're trying to make

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Speaker 3: in the world.

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Speaker 2: Now that we know how you got the name Sequin,

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Speaker 2: what exactly because I know it's a women's banking and

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Speaker 2: financial education membership club, but what exactly does that mean?

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Speaker 2: If I were to go and we have a link

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Speaker 2: in the description of our you know, if you're listening

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Speaker 2: and like, I want to sign up for a Sequin

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Speaker 2: after hearing, So if I were to go to to

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Speaker 2: go to sequencar dot com, right, that's the site, right.

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Speaker 3: Yes, exact seccard dot com right.

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Speaker 2: And so then what can I expect? Like, what will

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Speaker 2: I get there? You know that I can't find someplace

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Speaker 2: self exactly.

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Speaker 3: So the best part about Sequin is that we combine

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Speaker 3: community and financial guidance with actual banking and financial tools

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Speaker 3: for you to take the action. So you have guidance,

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Speaker 3: you have accountability, and you have banking tools. And so

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Speaker 3: we go through our three step money, credit and wealth

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Speaker 3: program and at each step we actually say these are

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Speaker 3: the things that you need to do, and actually in

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Speaker 3: this order, because we get so many questions around should

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Speaker 3: I be paying off debt first, should I be investing first?

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Speaker 3: Should I have an emergency fund? And actually there is

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Speaker 3: an order that works for most people, and so we

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Speaker 3: say this is the order you can diy. We have

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Speaker 3: a ton of amazing resources around money, credit, and wealth.

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Speaker 3: We have workshops if you need accountability, and we do

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Speaker 3: a lot of community work together as well. And then

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Speaker 3: the best part is you get a Sequin high interest

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Speaker 3: checking account and a Sequin depit card that has your

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Speaker 3: own money mantra on its visa.

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Speaker 2: Oh girl, you know those cards. You're like, where did

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Speaker 2: you press the set staples? But now you're not if

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Speaker 2: you're listening and you can't see it. It has the

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Speaker 2: visa on it. I love that it has your money mants.

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Speaker 2: That's amazing.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it's great and it's really neat. So you know,

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Speaker 3: one of our main products that will give you is

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Speaker 3: sequent high interest checking, which is something that doesn't really

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Speaker 3: exist on the market. And so with high interest checking,

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Speaker 3: it means that your checking account is actually growing every

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Speaker 3: single dollar. And what we hear so much of women

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Speaker 3: is you know, either I'm not investing, which you know

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Speaker 3: we're hoping to change, or I'm not growing my money

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Speaker 3: and we want every single dollar of yours to grow

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Speaker 3: in your checking account. So your paycheck goes into sequence,

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Speaker 3: it grows at high interest. The raids subject to change,

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Speaker 3: but right now it's three point five six percent and

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Speaker 3: checking why in checking, which is over fifty times what

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Speaker 3: you're gonna get with ye.

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Speaker 2: I'm not the lead everyone, I'm not the one who

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Speaker 2: is there like a minimum. It lookuld me for myself,

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Speaker 2: I mean for the audience, it's.

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Speaker 3: I know there are no gotchas. So that was one

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Speaker 3: of the things that I felt very strongly about with

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Speaker 3: my experience with my mom was there's a lot of

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Speaker 3: gotchas in the financial world. Right, you get a free

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Speaker 3: checking account for those of those of you can't see me,

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Speaker 3: I'm putting clothes right, a free checking account. But there's

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Speaker 3: so many gotchas. Right, there's overdraft fees, late peas. I

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Speaker 3: always say, if you're not paying for a product, you

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Speaker 3: are the product. Yes, And you know that's something that

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Speaker 3: we wanted to kiss goodbye to with Sequin, where when

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Speaker 3: you come in, everything is given to you and we

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Speaker 3: have a monthly or an annual membership and once you're

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Speaker 3: in there's nothing. And at a certain point with you know,

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Speaker 3: if you connect your direct deposit to Sequin, you will

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Speaker 3: likely earn more in interest than the membership fee. So

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Speaker 3: you're learning, right, you're getting accountability. You're getting these novel

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Speaker 3: banking tools that don't really exist on the market. High

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Speaker 3: interest checking is gate kept, like American Express has it,

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Speaker 3: but you have to have an AMEX card with an

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Speaker 3: annual fee and then you get access to it. This way,

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Speaker 3: there's no gatekeeping. You come in and we also have

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Speaker 3: some other really amazing tools like credit tools where you

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Speaker 3: can build credit, you can pay off debt all within Sequin,

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Speaker 3: all in one place. So the idea is you can

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Speaker 3: manage your entire financial life within sequin We'll tell you

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Speaker 3: the exact order of things to do, will give you

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Speaker 3: resources to actually practice take action. We'll give you accountability

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Speaker 3: with the community, and we will give you novel banking

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Speaker 3: tools that do not exist anywhere else really on the

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Speaker 3: market and are definitely not all in one place together.

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Speaker 3: So I love what we're building. And the best part

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Speaker 3: is we want to design a financial system with women

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Speaker 3: and minorities in mind for the first time in history,

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Speaker 3: right if women could be and minorities could be rejected

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Speaker 3: from again bank accounts, business loans, credit cards. Until the seventies,

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Speaker 3: every single bank out there was not designed with our

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Speaker 3: needs in mind, right, And so we always do feedback sessions.

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Speaker 3: Every single product that we've built, and every single feature

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Speaker 3: is actually built by a request from a member of

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Speaker 3: our community. And so we really do listen. And that's

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Speaker 3: why you know your reaction took me. Of high interest checking,

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Speaker 3: we heard so many women say like, Okay, I do

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Speaker 3: have an investment, but I need money every month, and

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Speaker 3: I have a lot of money in my checking account

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Speaker 3: and that should be growing, and every single dollar of

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Speaker 3: yours should be growing. And so we're like enter high

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Speaker 3: interest checking.

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Speaker 2: I love that. So what one currently? So it depends

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Speaker 2: if you're listening to this podcast five years and nat,

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Speaker 2: this might not be accurate. But for now, what is

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Speaker 2: the annual fee? And then what aside from this high

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Speaker 2: interest checking, what else does it get you access to?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, So when you join our membership, our monthly

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Speaker 3: right now is thirteen dollars a month. Our annual we're

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Speaker 3: actually doing a promotion. We'll do a promotion with We'll

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Speaker 3: give you a specific link with brand ambitions so you

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Speaker 3: can get forty percent off, So we'll share that as well.

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Speaker 3: In annual membership. But you get everything, so you get

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Speaker 3: all of the financial guidance that I mentioned. So our

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Speaker 3: money Credit Wealth Program, which includes courses, it includes workshops,

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Speaker 3: and includes DIY resources to help you do things like

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Speaker 3: calculate your emergency fund. It does things like help you

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Speaker 3: figure out the best way to pay off debt, It

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Speaker 3: does things like help you understand the best way to

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Speaker 3: get started investment. And then you also get access to

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Speaker 3: our financial tools which are high interest checking right so

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Speaker 3: you're able to grow every single dollar at insanely high

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Speaker 3: interest and it's totally liquid to you. You get access

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Speaker 3: to all of our credit tools that help you build credit,

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Speaker 3: payoff debt. You literally just connect your credit cards to

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Speaker 3: Sequen and the tools smart enough to tell you are

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Speaker 3: you in debt payoff mode or credit building mode. And

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Speaker 3: the best part is all of it is in one

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Speaker 3: place and it's all accessible to you. You're not going

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Speaker 3: to be charged overdraft fees, late fees, penalties. We actually

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Speaker 3: every time you make a transaction, text you and tell

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Speaker 3: you how much you have left in your account, so

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Speaker 3: you are never going to be overdrafting. You're always aware.

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Speaker 3: So those are kind of small features that we just

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Speaker 3: provide for nervous system regulation, but we're constantly building new

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Speaker 3: features and everything is accessible to you as a SEQUENCE member,

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Speaker 3: Like I.

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Speaker 2: Have so many cut I'm like, right, and everybody knows me,

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Speaker 2: they know work.

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Speaker 3: Es.

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Speaker 2: I'm like okay, So question, do you have joint accounts available.

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Speaker 3: Us yet? And actually, you know, it's something that we

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Speaker 3: could consider. But one of the things that we are

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Speaker 3: trying to prevent here is women and minorities are twice

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Speaker 3: as likely to be the authorized or the secondary user

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Speaker 3: on a joint account. And with Sequin, we really want

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Speaker 3: this to be your bank account, Like this is your banking,

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Speaker 3: and there's not really anyone else like this is you,

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Speaker 3: you know, and you can manage your financial life if

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Speaker 3: you want to connect you know, your partners credit cards

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Speaker 3: into it, or if you want to kind of use

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Speaker 3: it together, you can. But it really is meant to

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Speaker 3: be an account for you to be able to keep

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Speaker 3: organized and on track.

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Speaker 2: Okay, now that makes sense. So a second question, do

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Speaker 2: you guys do business accounts yet?

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Speaker 3: Not yet? But we do have so many entrepreneurs in

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Speaker 3: our community, which is really amazing, and for their money, Mantrell,

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Speaker 3: a lot of them will just put their business name

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Speaker 3: and that keeps them really accountable. So it's not a

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Speaker 3: business account, but you can store your business funds in

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Speaker 3: sequin if you would like. It's just not meant to

436
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,400
Speaker 3: be used as a business account, but you can grow

437
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 3: those business funds and sequence if you will.

438
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 2: Okay, even if you know, I'm just thinking like, okay,

439
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 2: good to know. Look at me, I'm like and because

440
00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:21,119
Speaker 2: you see me like, I'm back in all these questions

441
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,880
Speaker 2: for the audience aka Tiffany Gus.

442
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 3: Let's get you signed up.

443
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 2: Do you guys offer savings accounts yet?

444
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 3: Chree, it's all checking. We just wanted everything to be

445
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 3: very liquid. One thing that we are working on again

446
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:43,040
Speaker 3: community requested, is buckets, and so you can separate out

447
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 3: let's say your emergency fund, right, will help you calculate that.

448
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 3: We'll do a workshop with you and we'll say, okay,

449
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 3: now put that money into sequin where it's going to

450
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 3: grow with high interest. And so we're working on building

451
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 3: out our buckets functionality, but for now it's all kind

452
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:00,439
Speaker 3: of in checking and we don't like your to be

453
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,679
Speaker 3: locked away. We just want you to have access to it.

454
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 3: But if you do need to separate it out, that's

455
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:05,800
Speaker 3: where the buckets come in.

456
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 2: Okay, Now, I love that. I'm a bucket girl. So

457
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,679
Speaker 2: I wanted I know one of the the drawbacks of

458
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 2: a savings account, which I mean, I obviously love a

459
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,359
Speaker 2: high yield savings account, but I know that there is

460
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 2: like you can't do more than six transfers a month,

461
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 2: I believe, So are there is there like an amount

462
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 2: of transfers that you can't do? Okay?

463
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:30,800
Speaker 3: No? So yeah, So I love these conversations because I all,

464
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 3: these women are so smart, right, and you're always asking

465
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,199
Speaker 3: like the fine print kind of questions. And that's one

466
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,119
Speaker 3: of the things that we wanted to avoid here with

467
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,959
Speaker 3: Sequin is you come in and you just have nervous

468
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 3: system regulation. Your money is always available to you. There's

469
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 3: no gotchas, there's no restrictions, there's no minimums. When you're

470
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 3: a Sequin member, you have access to everything. We just

471
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,399
Speaker 3: open the door and you have access to the whole

472
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:56,200
Speaker 3: the whole kingdom here.

473
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 2: So just this before I forget. So also my question is, oh,

474
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,520
Speaker 2: is there bill pay available? Because I'm a big bill

475
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,680
Speaker 2: pay girl, you know where like people come in, I

476
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 2: mean I automate bill payments, and of course bill payments

477
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,600
Speaker 2: come in, but is there a bill payment option available yet?

478
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 3: So it's not you can't send like a check to

479
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:20,639
Speaker 3: your you know, bill pay or anything like that, but

480
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 3: you can definitely pay your bills from Sequin. And we

481
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 3: have a entire session actually and a bunch of materials

482
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 3: around organizing your finances and so much of it is automating,

483
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,080
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, and so we actually go through what

484
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,600
Speaker 3: is that checklist of what you need to do just

485
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 3: to again reduce that mental load monthly and make sure

486
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 3: your bills are paid and you know you're not going

487
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 3: to miss payments, et cetera. So it's not an official

488
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 3: bill pay functionality, but you can definitely connect your bills

489
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:50,479
Speaker 3: to sequin.

490
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 2: Okay, trying to think is there any like financial questions,

491
00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,600
Speaker 2: I'm like, why else? It sounds really awesome, And just

492
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,639
Speaker 2: just for clarity, I just was looking the other day

493
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,639
Speaker 2: because I overdrafted because although I had a bunch of

494
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 2: money in one account I and another joint account that

495
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 2: I have my sister because to your point, I was

496
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 2: helping her. My my monthly fee is twenty five dollars

497
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:20,160
Speaker 2: and I get nothing for that twenty five dollars nothing now, see,

498
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 2: I know, so for thirty dollars to you know, so one,

499
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 2: you know, it's significantly less than what probably you're paying

500
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 2: quite honestly if you have a checking account. And then

501
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 2: on top of that, you're also earning interests where I'm

502
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 2: earning nothing. I mean, this is a big bank. So

503
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 2: even in saving it's point like zero zero or one percent,

504
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,640
Speaker 2: but checking is like gird, you tried it, there's nothing

505
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 2: here for you. And so you know if those of

506
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 2: you who are hearing the fee that for the most part,

507
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,160
Speaker 2: you are likely paying a fee anyway, I know. Sometimes

508
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 2: you know to your point that bank like if you

509
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 2: have direct deposit that that fee gets waived. So some

510
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 2: people take advantage of that, but I love the fact

511
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 2: that there's this education component and the community component, which

512
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 2: is so right up my alley. So I wanted to

513
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 2: shift gears a little bit into because there we have

514
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,880
Speaker 2: a lot of entrepreneurs here and would let to get

515
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 2: a better understanding of like what the business Like, this

516
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 2: is me my curiosity. So is this like when I

517
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 2: started the budget Nesta that I didn't have any money

518
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 2: and certainly no one was trying to invest. You know,

519
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:24,239
Speaker 2: did you raise money to start Sequin? How was that

520
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 2: process as a brown woman? If you did? Like what

521
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:26,439
Speaker 2: did that?

522
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 3: Like? Oh my gosh, I love this conversation. Yes, So

523
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,880
Speaker 3: we actually decided to take the venture back to reach

524
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 3: and one thing that was really important for me and

525
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,719
Speaker 3: hopefully you can all get the stuns as I'm talking,

526
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 3: is living our mission end to end, and that is

527
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,960
Speaker 3: our investors. That's you know who works that Sequin, that's

528
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 3: who we're serving. But we really care so much about

529
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 3: empowering women financially. And part of that is even if

530
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 3: you are an in having the opportunity to have a

531
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 3: huge outcome, right, And so when I went to fundraise

532
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 3: for the first time. First of all, I had no

533
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,239
Speaker 3: idea what I was doing. I was like me with

534
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 3: a pitch deck. And actually, funny story, I walked into

535
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 3: a woman who actually ended up investing later on, and

536
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 3: you all know her name. But when I walked in,

537
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 3: she said, uh, you know, don't you have friends and

538
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 3: family who can invest? And I said, I actually don't.

539
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 3: You know, that's one of the things right where you

540
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 3: hear these stories of entrepreneurs and it's you know, I

541
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 3: got a small loan of a million dollars.

542
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 2: I did a friend and family round and I got

543
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 2: three hundred thousand.

544
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 3: I know, I know, And it's those types of things,

545
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 3: and you know, to this investor's credit, I said to her,

546
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 3: I said, one of the reasons why I want to

547
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 3: start this company is to put more money in the

548
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 3: hands of women. And I hope that one day I

549
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 3: can be that person that someone comes to and says,

550
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 3: I have this amazing business idea that's going to change

551
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,040
Speaker 3: the world. Do you want to invest? And I hope

552
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 3: at that point I can say, yes, I have a

553
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 3: little bit of money to give to you. But at

554
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 3: this point, you know, as as a first generation immigrant.

555
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 3: Part of it is you don't have generational wealth, right,

556
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 3: that is the thing, and that's the thing that we

557
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 3: are all working towards. And so you know, going in,

558
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,320
Speaker 3: I think taking it as a moment to educate and say,

559
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 3: you know this type of thing, right, I do not

560
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 3: have extremely wealthy friends and family to be investing, you know,

561
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 3: hundreds of thousands of dollars into this. But the second

562
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,960
Speaker 3: piece that was really important to me was having women

563
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 3: and women of color on my cap table. And it

564
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 3: took me longer to fundraise to find those folks and

565
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 3: really test the fit both ways. Right, It's not just

566
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,680
Speaker 3: me saying, oh, I need money to get started on

567
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 3: my business, but truly was are you mission driven? Do

568
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 3: you understand the huge opportunity that this is to change

569
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 3: the world? Right? It's you know, putting hands and putting

570
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 3: money in the hands of women, putting the money in

571
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 3: the hands of minorities. This is a revolutionary idea. And

572
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:11,640
Speaker 3: are you in it for the long caul and are

573
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 3: you in it for those ups and downs? And I'm

574
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,960
Speaker 3: so glad I made that decision to really be intentional

575
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,960
Speaker 3: about who is on our cap table, because as we

576
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 3: have progressed year over year and done additional rounds. Almost

577
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 3: all of those women have reinvested into the company, and

578
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 3: so it made our rounds after that, you know, a

579
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 3: lot easier. And we actually went through a startup accelerator

580
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 3: called why Combinator, which has launched, yeah, some of the

581
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 3: biggest unicorns of the last few years, Stripe, Instacart, door, Dash,

582
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 3: et cetera. And it's been such an amazing experience to

583
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 3: have that mentorship. But it is kind of interesting, you know,

584
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 3: I am a huge fan of my peers, and they're

585
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 3: some of the smartest and kindest people I've ever met.

586
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 3: But they don't look like me, right, They look like

587
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 3: them and they all kinds of very similar. They look

588
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 3: like who the financial world is designed for. And I

589
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 3: think I love that, Yeah, for sure. So I think that,

590
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 3: you know, is the superpower right of being able to

591
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 3: be empathetic with your community. And even as I do

592
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,560
Speaker 3: use their interviews almost every single day and do money

593
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 3: therapy sessions, I'm crying on these calls with these women,

594
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 3: right because I see they tell me the stories about

595
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 3: you know, that them watching their moms growing up, and

596
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 3: I'm like, that was me too, and you know, them

597
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 3: getting rejected from products. I'm like me too, Right, how

598
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 3: do we actually take that feeling and then actually solve

599
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 3: it with products and services? So anyway, I digress. Yes,

600
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 3: we took the venture back to route. But having mission

601
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 3: driven investors is something that is so important and it's

602
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,160
Speaker 3: a smart business decision as well, because it's a long

603
00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,840
Speaker 3: journey and you know, you're in this relationship with your

604
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,560
Speaker 3: investors for you know, decades. I hope I got to

605
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 3: run this company for the rest of my life and

606
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 3: so you know, these people are going to be along

607
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:06,960
Speaker 3: with me for the right No.

608
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,000
Speaker 2: I love that and for those because there are listeners

609
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 2: who are like, what's the cat table? I heard it?

610
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 2: I remember what? Jay Z has this great line. Have

611
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 2: you heard that line? Like it's like he said, oh,

612
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 2: this is great line where he's like, you know something

613
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,600
Speaker 2: something at the cat table? What the splits is something

614
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 2: like you know? And I just love that, Like he's

615
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 2: like integrating, like you know, a venture language into like rapin.

616
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 2: But anyway, I just like, go, y'all google it, just

617
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 2: say Jaz cat table.

618
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 3: That's a venture fun too. Yeah.

619
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 2: So he's very well, you know, but he said he

620
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,240
Speaker 2: had to learn like it's a different type of thing.

621
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 2: So for those people who are listening and not familiar,

622
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,719
Speaker 2: I love that we get to see it through brown eyes,

623
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 2: like oh okay, so yeah, what is a cat table?

624
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Yes?

625
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,760
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, So CAP table just stands for a capitalization table.

626
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,120
Speaker 3: And so when you go to fundraise, you'll say, okay,

627
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 3: I you know, it's kind of Shark tank vibes, but

628
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 3: a little less uh, a little less theatrical, I would say.

629
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:08,880
Speaker 3: But yeah, so you know how they say, I'm, you know,

630
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,799
Speaker 3: looking for a certain amount of investment to own this

631
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:16,359
Speaker 3: portion of my company, and I value my company at

632
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:20,240
Speaker 3: this amount, and so it's basically what percentage ownership based

633
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:24,120
Speaker 3: off the amount that they've invested and at what valuation

634
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:28,279
Speaker 3: basically your company is. So basically it's kind of a spreadsheet,

635
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,960
Speaker 3: a fancy spreadsheet that shows you know the ownership of

636
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:31,400
Speaker 3: the company.

637
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 2: So that's why jay Z say what the splits is right,

638
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,200
Speaker 2: because he's basically like, Okay, if I give you this

639
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,720
Speaker 2: amount of money, what's my cut basically of your company?

640
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:42,440
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, exactly, yeah, yeah, the famous words of jay Z.

641
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 2: But so so for you because I've heard, like, like

642
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 2: I said, have never I've never I never tried to

643
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,719
Speaker 2: raise money. Plus I don't even know, like, so we

644
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 2: have been totally self funded. So I started the budget

645
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 2: nathe them, funded it myself, like you know, a little

646
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 2: by little, I made a little money, funded it more,

647
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 2: and then I used the Budgetista as the bank. So

648
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 2: when I launched other projects and companies, I would go

649
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 2: to the bank of Budgenista. So when I started my

650
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 2: online school, which we peaked at in like eight figures

651
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,880
Speaker 2: a year, I was like, but I think, like we

652
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,840
Speaker 2: needed thirty thousand dollars to get them, Like it was.

653
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:23,840
Speaker 2: We were paying professors, we were paying you know, for

654
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 2: the like, for the content just and it was a lot.

655
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,880
Speaker 2: But I could have never started with thirty thousand dollars

656
00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,279
Speaker 2: like ex preschool teacher Tiffany starting the Budgeanista. But you

657
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 2: know then because by then the Budgetesta hadn't been in

658
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 2: business like six or seven years, so the academy was

659
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:41,840
Speaker 2: able to say, hey, Budgenisa, can I borrow money, you know,

660
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 2: And so the Budgetista lent it the thirty thousand that

661
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 2: it needed. Yeah, and then its first year, I remember

662
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,400
Speaker 2: we put all that money to work. I remember we

663
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,880
Speaker 2: made thirty thousand dollars the first thirty minutes that we

664
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 2: opened the doors. I had never made I used to

665
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:56,840
Speaker 2: make thirty nine thousand dollars a year as a teacher,

666
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 2: and so that was like what you know, So that

667
00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 2: was kind of like my the funding as how I

668
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 2: saw it, you know, because I thought, to your point,

669
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 2: I didn't feel confident enough. Plus too, I wouldn't even

670
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:08,800
Speaker 2: know what to do. I didn't come from the corporate world.

671
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 2: So I'm fascinated to hear like, okay, like how many

672
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:15,360
Speaker 2: people did you have to pitch to? Like what was

673
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 2: your like pitch percentage? Like, oh, you know about two

674
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 2: percent of people said oh yes, And is that normal?

675
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 2: Like what did you find? How was that? Like, yeah,

676
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,960
Speaker 2: how many people did you pitch to? And you know,

677
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 2: like what was your like closing rate? I guess, And

678
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 2: it was that normal comparative to your to your peers?

679
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, So you know some of the stats and

680
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,839
Speaker 3: I try to take that bogged down by the stuff, right, So,

681
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 3: but I intellectualized these numbers, and you know, less than

682
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,919
Speaker 3: two percent of venture funding goes to women, period, right,

683
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 3: And then when you think about women in fintech, when

684
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 3: you think about women of color, when you think of

685
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,880
Speaker 3: immigrants that never just gets smaller and smaller and smaller.

686
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 3: And actually, I think someone told me I had a

687
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,880
Speaker 3: greater chance of winning the calif Or Neil lottery than

688
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:05,359
Speaker 3: I did raising money when you look at the percentages. Yeah, yeah,

689
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:06,840
Speaker 3: and I was like, thanks, I tried not got to

690
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,120
Speaker 3: think about that. Luckily it was you know, after I

691
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 3: finished razing and we raised about six million dollars, which

692
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:19,759
Speaker 3: is amazing. Yeah, and you know, from awesome investors. But yeah,

693
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 3: I know that idea of going out there and pitching

694
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:28,480
Speaker 3: really requires you to take a very big bet on yourself.

695
00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 3: And you know, you're talking to the best investors right

696
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 3: in Silicon Valley in our case, and their job is

697
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 3: to tell you everything that can go wrong with your company,

698
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 3: and it can really mess with your psychology. And actually,

699
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:46,520
Speaker 3: you know, in those moments, I really leaned upon three things.

700
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:51,399
Speaker 3: The first was my expertise and being able to say

701
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,360
Speaker 3: that I built the credit card that's been your wallet.

702
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,879
Speaker 2: We called it a flex around here, yes, And.

703
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,800
Speaker 3: You know, I it's interesting because when I first started,

704
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,919
Speaker 3: I for some reason just felt like, oh, my qualifications

705
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 3: would speak for myself. And they knew that going into it.

706
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 3: You know, when I'd send them an email saying I

707
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,440
Speaker 3: wanted to chat. It's I built the chase half I reserve.

708
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,640
Speaker 3: And you know, there's a voice inside my head again

709
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 3: that I don't let get too loud. But I do

710
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 3: feel if I were again a white man and they

711
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,759
Speaker 3: had known that, I don't think they would have. I

712
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:28,759
Speaker 3: got grilled. There was actually a woman partner who came

713
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:30,680
Speaker 3: up to me after one of my pitches and she says,

714
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:34,280
Speaker 3: I have never seen anyone get grilled like that. Good job.

715
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,719
Speaker 3: And at first I was like, wow, thank you, And

716
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:39,160
Speaker 3: then I started thinking about it more and I was

717
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 3: like why is that? Though, Like, why as a woman

718
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,160
Speaker 3: do you need to be ten x better? But leaning

719
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,840
Speaker 3: into my expertise, I think helped a lot in saying, Okay,

720
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 3: I know how to build these products. I've done it

721
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,399
Speaker 3: before you use a product that I built, I can

722
00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:56,319
Speaker 3: do this. I know how to do this, and just

723
00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 3: getting confident in that in my body is not as

724
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 3: an immigrant so much for is like humility, and I

725
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 3: realized that wasn't the strategy here because the guys were

726
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 3: not going in humble right. So that leads me to

727
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 3: my second point, was just being able to sell a

728
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 3: really really big vision that for me again was grounded

729
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:19,719
Speaker 3: and talked to thousands of women at that point and

730
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 3: being able to say, I understand this population one because

731
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 3: I am this woman, but also this woman has an

732
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,839
Speaker 3: incredible amount of spending power that she's just making avoidable

733
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,400
Speaker 3: financial mistakes with and if we can solve that, that

734
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 3: is just so that unlocks so much opportunity for so

735
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 3: many people. So that was the second piece, and the

736
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,240
Speaker 3: third piece was, you know, everyone has those days where

737
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:50,239
Speaker 3: just like one too many negative, you know, conversations and

738
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 3: be like lying on my office floor with the lights off,

739
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 3: like so tired that I just like pick up my

740
00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:01,680
Speaker 3: phone and call my mom. My Mom's just like, women

741
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:06,040
Speaker 3: need this, And I feel so much more empowered going

742
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,879
Speaker 3: through the financial system, after going through Sequin and after

743
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,360
Speaker 3: being a part of sequin, and this is really really

744
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 3: important and that just always refueled me. So I think

745
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 3: going back to a really strong lie is you know,

746
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 3: something that was just so helpful, and you know, just

747
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,319
Speaker 3: I love the people that we're building for because they're

748
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 3: my sisters and my mom and my future daughters. Right,

749
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 3: that's what's not to love.

750
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 2: So yeah, we have in our slack channel, we have

751
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:37,960
Speaker 2: a channel called Testimonials where wherever somebody says something nice

752
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 2: about us an email or social whatever, we take a

753
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 2: screenshot and we all posted there because everyone has days

754
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,959
Speaker 2: where you're like, oh, oh no, we doing like today,

755
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,360
Speaker 2: I made a huge mistake with the brand we partnered

756
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,920
Speaker 2: with and it was just like and I was just

757
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 2: like one am I doing fifteen years old? But you know,

758
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:56,200
Speaker 2: you get to go to the testimonials channel and women

759
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,120
Speaker 2: are like, I pay my bill for the first time

760
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,520
Speaker 2: I was able to save you red Like okay, okay,

761
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 2: you know, like this is the why you know, so

762
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 2: it doesn't important. I think it's important for women to

763
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 2: hear like, no matter what level of success or whatever

764
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 2: that you've achieved, you know it's still you know, you

765
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 2: still have days. So thank you for being vulnerable. And

766
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,560
Speaker 2: I think my last big, huge question for you is

767
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 2: like what is a desired outcome? Right, so five years,

768
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 2: ten years from now, like, what what's your I call

769
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,160
Speaker 2: it dreamscaping. We just kind of like let your dreams

770
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,120
Speaker 2: just run around the landscape of your mind, Like what

771
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,640
Speaker 2: would you love to see that sequence? Has this many

772
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:36,759
Speaker 2: people signed up? It's doing this? Like what does that

773
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 2: look like?

774
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,440
Speaker 3: This is such a great, great question. I want to

775
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:46,640
Speaker 3: be the number I want Seque to be the number

776
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 3: one banking for women, and I want to be able

777
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:55,759
Speaker 3: to grow with you from your first checking account all

778
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:59,720
Speaker 3: the way to your entire life sneeds right, So checking account,

779
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,239
Speaker 3: then get into credit, then you get into you know,

780
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,719
Speaker 3: big life goals like investing, you get into buying a home. Right,

781
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 3: we see that women are better to lend to, but

782
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,040
Speaker 3: mortgages are more expensive for women. Why the heck is that?

783
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:11,319
Speaker 2: Right?

784
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:15,399
Speaker 3: There's you know, mortgages, there's weddings, there's kids in five

785
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,840
Speaker 3: twenty nine plans. We know with retirement, women have to

786
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:20,759
Speaker 3: be thinking about that differently because we live longer and

787
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:22,759
Speaker 3: you know, it might take a step back as caretakers,

788
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,840
Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera. There's so many hidden costs to

789
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 3: being a woman every step of the way, and there's

790
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,880
Speaker 3: so much guidance to be had, and there are better

791
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 3: products to be built that are more transparent, like we're

792
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,520
Speaker 3: already doing with sequin right where we're educating you, were

793
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 3: giving you the products. And so I want to be

794
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,879
Speaker 3: that place where you have a really big life goal,

795
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:46,840
Speaker 3: you get your first job, you get married, you have kids,

796
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,200
Speaker 3: you retire, and I want Sequin to be with you

797
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,839
Speaker 3: every step of the way. The place that you can

798
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:56,320
Speaker 3: feel is very trustworthy. You feel like there's no gotchas,

799
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:59,279
Speaker 3: and you feel like your banking is truly aligned with

800
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 3: yours and what you are looking to accomplish, and it's

801
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:05,840
Speaker 3: really helping you get there versus you know a cause

802
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 3: of stress or that you know your bank is making

803
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,719
Speaker 3: money when you make a mistake. I don't want that anymore. Right,

804
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,480
Speaker 3: access to finance is access to credit, access to wealth

805
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,279
Speaker 3: is directly equal to access to opportunity, and I just

806
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,920
Speaker 3: want women with women and minorities to have at least

807
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:22,879
Speaker 3: the same but if not opportunities.

808
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 2: I love that access to wealth, access to credit, access

809
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:30,799
Speaker 2: to like really living this your financial life as you

810
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:34,759
Speaker 2: see fit is directly aligned with access to opportunities. That

811
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:37,920
Speaker 2: is so I think that people understand that when you know,

812
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:39,839
Speaker 2: you hear people say I'm going to pull myself up,

813
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:41,920
Speaker 2: or you should buy your bootstraps, but some people have

814
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,520
Speaker 2: no boots, so it's like, what does that even mean?

815
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,839
Speaker 2: And so I love that. So we are claiming that

816
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 2: for you. Yeah, I love this. This was like so great.

817
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,239
Speaker 2: I thank you for being open to not just talk

818
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:58,319
Speaker 2: about the product itself, but like the business underlying the product. Yeah,

819
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:02,719
Speaker 2: you know, so you know that is something that I'm

820
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,399
Speaker 2: always curious about. I know our listeners are curious about,

821
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:07,720
Speaker 2: and I know they're Hopefully you have found this interview

822
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 2: so as delightful as I have, because I just learned

823
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 2: so much and it's just nice to see. I hope

824
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:15,480
Speaker 2: you know that there are people out there who are

825
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,120
Speaker 2: navigating from a place of good, you know, especially in

826
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:22,200
Speaker 2: this space. Sometimes I'm like, oh, I guess you know,

827
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:24,600
Speaker 2: when I'm thinking about the tools or resources that I

828
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:27,560
Speaker 2: have to use or recommend, because although the tool might

829
00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 2: be good, the underlying business doesn't really sit well. So

830
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,640
Speaker 2: I love, love, love that there are people out there

831
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:36,600
Speaker 2: who like me, are like, yes, of course I want

832
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 2: to make money, but I want to make good money

833
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,520
Speaker 2: in a good way. You know. I tell people I

834
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:44,279
Speaker 2: want to do good right, I want to help good people,

835
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,520
Speaker 2: I want to make good money, and I want to

836
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,839
Speaker 2: live a good life. And so I just I love

837
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:50,840
Speaker 2: that you are right in the line with that, Vernda,

838
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,680
Speaker 2: and we thank you for so we thank you so much.

839
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,040
Speaker 3: Coming on, I feel again I have a kindred spirit

840
00:44:57,080 --> 00:44:59,280
Speaker 3: here and I just love so much what you've felt

841
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 3: in this community. And you know, as I mentioned to

842
00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:04,120
Speaker 3: some of my inspirations when I first started this company,

843
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,799
Speaker 3: you were at the top of that list. So thank

844
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,600
Speaker 3: you for everything. Yes, I have actually a spreadsheet from

845
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:13,400
Speaker 3: when I first started. I said, who are my dream

846
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 3: people who I would love to just meet and just

847
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 3: love the work that they're doing, And it was Tiffany

848
00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:23,360
Speaker 3: the budget me start if this feels very like manifesting

849
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,000
Speaker 3: in the world's you know, coming together. So thank you

850
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,520
Speaker 3: for everything that you do, and thank you for this

851
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,839
Speaker 3: platform to share my story and share what we're doing

852
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:31,680
Speaker 3: with sequin.

853
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 2: No, absolutely so if you are interested in secret, because

854
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 2: lord knows, I'm putting at least one of my checking

855
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:39,280
Speaker 2: accounts over there. Yeah, and you know there is a link,

856
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 2: you know, as Vernda explained, there is a link, so

857
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:45,640
Speaker 2: you can certainly go to sequincard dot com. But with

858
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:49,239
Speaker 2: our link sequencard dot com slash brown Ambition, you get

859
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:51,239
Speaker 2: forty percent off. Is that where you're saying, Yeah, so

860
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:53,360
Speaker 2: exact the link is in the description, So go ahead

861
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:57,040
Speaker 2: and take a look. And Brenda, I'm actually going coming.

862
00:45:57,080 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 2: I have to tape something for a brand and I'm

863
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,160
Speaker 2: coming to Oh, I'm coming to LA. You're in San Francisco.

864
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:02,880
Speaker 2: Why don't know?

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Speaker 3: Why are you going to be in LA?

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Speaker 2: I believe the third of February. I'm still we're still

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00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,520
Speaker 2: working on dates, but I don't let you know. You know,

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00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:11,960
Speaker 2: and then that way, keep me posted.

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Speaker 3: I love LA. It's a quick trip, so maybe I'll

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Speaker 3: just fly down and have some fun and Santa Monica and.

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Speaker 2: See Monica too. All right, thank you and thank you

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00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 2: b a listener. If oh, Brenda will quick. If they

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00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,319
Speaker 2: want to find you, where can they find you? Like,

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00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:26,680
Speaker 2: if they want to continue to learn more?

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00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:30,560
Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah. So you can follow us on our sequence TikTok.

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00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 3: We're at Sequin Club, same on Instagram, same on LinkedIn,

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00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 3: and if you want to follow me for whatever reason

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00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:42,239
Speaker 3: and follow my life I'm at Brenda dot gufta on

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00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 3: Instagram as well.

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Speaker 2: Well. Thank you. All right, y'all, see you next week.

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Speaker 2: If you love this episode, share with a friend because

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00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 2: sharing is truly caring. And we'll see you next week.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much. Bye,