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Speaker 1: relying on them. Hey everyone, and welcome to the very
Speaker 1: first episode of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories,
Speaker 1: a podcast brought to you by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1: I'm Austin Hankwitz, hosted the Rate of Return podcasts and
Speaker 1: co founder of wits Ventures. But you may recognize me
Speaker 1: from my short form videos about the personal finance and
Speaker 1: investing on TikTok and I'm Jenny's Torres, the creator and
Speaker 1: host of the award winning personal finance podcast Jokioo the Neto.
Speaker 1: You may have come across one of my videos on
Speaker 1: social media where I empower others with personal finance knowledge
Speaker 1: in every episode of this podcast, you'll hear Austin and
Speaker 1: I chatting with small business owners as they share their
Speaker 1: stories about the ups and downs of only a small business.
Speaker 1: Plus we'll learn from their experience about how you can
Speaker 1: help fortify and strengthen your own business. That's right, Genius,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited for everyone to hear this podcast.
Speaker 1: And I'm so happy you'll be coming along this right
Speaker 1: with me to hear some awesome entrepreneurial stories. Today we're
Speaker 1: talking about capital and funding, but before we bring on
Speaker 1: our guest and dive into all that, I'd love to know, Genius,
Speaker 1: more about your business journey. So I realized now I
Speaker 1: was charting a path to becoming a content creator, even
Speaker 1: before that was an actual thing. I started my small
Speaker 1: business journey in twenty thirteen and I was looking for
Speaker 1: a creative outlet from my corporate engineering job. I followed
Speaker 1: in my dad's footsteps to be an engineer, but I
Speaker 1: felt like this wasn't the thing I'm meant to do,
Speaker 1: and so I actually started a food blog called delish
Speaker 1: Delights dot com, where I started sharing my Puerto Rican
Speaker 1: heritage and recipes online. And I took it from a
Speaker 1: hobby into a business by learning the ins and outs
Speaker 1: of what content creators do for monetization purposes, so things
Speaker 1: like affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, putting ads on my website.
Speaker 1: And after a couple of years of doing the solopreneurs thing,
Speaker 1: I realized there's nobody in my circle who's doing this
Speaker 1: stuff too, and so I turned to the Internet to
Speaker 1: start learning more about personal finance entrepreneurship, and I ended
Speaker 1: up getting addicted to podcasts so much so that after
Speaker 1: a couple of years of being a consumer of podcasts,
Speaker 1: I decided to start my own, which is Yokioo the Neto,
Speaker 1: and on the show, I really wanted to create a
Speaker 1: community of changemakers and highlighting stories of people who are
Speaker 1: in communities of color that typically don't hear entrepreneurial success
Speaker 1: stories and folks who are pursuing financial independence. And it
Speaker 1: became an accidental business, and ten years later I could
Speaker 1: absolutely say that this is not any part of my plan.
Speaker 1: I have always approached entrepreneurship from a place of curiosity
Speaker 1: and passion and just wanting to explore these crazy thoughts
Speaker 1: that come into your head. And so from becoming a
Speaker 1: food blogger, to now being a full time podcaster and
Speaker 1: content creator. My mission has always just been to connect
Speaker 1: with stories and to find inspiration that not only now
Speaker 1: I can use, but folks who are in my community
Speaker 1: can use as well. Yeah, I'm right there with Eugenius.
Speaker 1: So I'm also a small business owner, not a veteran
Speaker 1: like yourself. Not ten years. So what happened was I
Speaker 1: actually graduated from the University of Tennessee back in twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen with this degree in finance and economics. Super nerd
Speaker 1: I love it. I ended up doing mergers and acquisitions
Speaker 1: for a publicly traded healthcare company. I did that for
Speaker 1: about three years, and then I was sent home right
Speaker 1: during COVID like everyone else, to work from home. But
Speaker 1: instead of lip syncing and dancing on TikTok, I decided
Speaker 1: to share my experience of paying down my student loans,
Speaker 1: growing my credit score, and even buying my house right.
Speaker 1: And I did this all from a place of authenticity
Speaker 1: and transparency because I'm a really big believer that the
Speaker 1: wealth gap in America is only going to get smaller
Speaker 1: if we get as many people as possible to be
Speaker 1: owners of assets, not so much consumers. Right, And so
Speaker 1: now I'm a full time, constant creator. But what's been
Speaker 1: really fun about this is I've also been able to
Speaker 1: invest into the businesses that i'm advertising, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So a fintech or a financial technology company that I
Speaker 1: would use would say, hey, Austin, this is so cool
Speaker 1: that you're a creator now, which you want to talk
Speaker 1: about us and say, sure, but I love what you're
Speaker 1: doing so much. Right, I'm a customer as well. Can
Speaker 1: I own equity in your business? Right back to that
Speaker 1: idea of the owner mindset? And so that's what's so
Speaker 1: exciting about this episode we have coming up right now,
Speaker 1: is this is all about raising money, raising capital. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying with the money I'm investing as materially
Speaker 1: raising that capital for these people, but it's more of
Speaker 1: a sign of hey, I'm with you in solidarity. I
Speaker 1: want to grow this with you. So that is really
Speaker 1: what I've been up to over the last three years.
Speaker 1: I host a podcast called the Rate of Return Podcast.
Speaker 1: I've got the Rate of Return newsletter over ten thousand
Speaker 1: subscribers of people who work across a bunch of different careers,
Speaker 1: and we've also invested into twenty six different startups from
Speaker 1: the preset all the way to Series C. It's creator economy,
Speaker 1: it's fintech, it's even a mail shampoo company, believe it
Speaker 1: or not. So all these really really cool opportunities that
Speaker 1: have been afforded. As a constant creator and a small
Speaker 1: business owner at that of course, uses QuickBooks. QuickBooks literally
Speaker 1: saved my sanity. It wasn't until I started using QuickBooks
Speaker 1: that I actually knew what was going on with my
Speaker 1: money and capital or money and how to raise it
Speaker 1: is what we're talking about today. I decided to take
Speaker 1: the route of business credit cards and small business grants.
Speaker 1: So I don't think I'm at the place where I've
Speaker 1: started thinking about venture capital just yet. But it's always
Speaker 1: really interesting to find these stories of folks who go
Speaker 1: and pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists and make
Speaker 1: magic happen with other people's money. I love that. So,
Speaker 1: speaking of other people's money, Austin, can you talk about
Speaker 1: the way is that a business can raise capital? Most definitely.
Speaker 1: So there's a couple ways that come to mind. The
Speaker 1: first way is you know, other people's money. Angel investors, right,
Speaker 1: These are those wealthy individuals who want to invest into
Speaker 1: small precede or even seed stage startups. We think about
Speaker 1: shark tank, Right, that's essentially an angel investor. So the
Speaker 1: next one list is VC funding, right, venture capitalists, And
Speaker 1: this is essentially like private money. Think about like a
Speaker 1: mutual fund, how people kind of pulled together millions of dollars. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the same thing here. A firm would come out,
Speaker 1: pull together tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to
Speaker 1: then invest that money into budding, seed or precede stage startups. Right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from one here very soon. She raised
Speaker 1: more than six million dollars from venture capitalists investors. The
Speaker 1: next one that comes to mind is crowdfunding. And I
Speaker 1: think we've all kind of heard of this one before,
Speaker 1: right Indiego, Go, Kickstarter, other things like that. Right. This
Speaker 1: is essentially rallying your community, your friends, your family, to say, hey,
Speaker 1: give me money so I can build my business. Right.
Speaker 1: One that I think you mentioned here earlier with credit
Speaker 1: cards and things of that nature of the small business loans. Right,
Speaker 1: this is going into debt to fund your small business
Speaker 1: if that might be the operating capital needed or are
Speaker 1: things that nature to get off the ground. You'll see
Speaker 1: tons of different banks offering small business loans and things
Speaker 1: that nature. Even I think the United States government even
Speaker 1: have some small business loans as well. Yep, the Small
Speaker 1: Business Administration also known as the SBA. That is it. Okay,
Speaker 1: there we go. And the last one that comes to
Speaker 1: mind are grants. Right, This is money received from anyone
Speaker 1: who's trying to solve a problem to qualify for a grant.
Speaker 1: It could be nearly anything, right, could be your background,
Speaker 1: your experience. I've been kind of like, I think of
Speaker 1: this as a scholarship to college in the sense that
Speaker 1: you have these very specific parameters, you check the boxes,
Speaker 1: and you get to apply for this money. But for
Speaker 1: a little perspective, here are some quick stats as it
Speaker 1: relates to how business owners who want to start a
Speaker 1: business in twenty twenty three plan to fund it. So,
Speaker 1: the most popular way is using their own money or savings.
Speaker 1: The second most popular is a loan from family or friends,
Speaker 1: the third most popular is a business loan from a
Speaker 1: commercial lender, and way at the bottom is the VC
Speaker 1: funding that venture capital funding that we're going to get
Speaker 1: into a little bit more today. So those are the
Speaker 1: different ways that I can think of as it relates
Speaker 1: to funding a business. But do you mind walking us
Speaker 1: through a little bit more about your own experience with grants.
Speaker 1: I think grants are probably the most accessible for folks,
Speaker 1: especially people who don't necessarily have a network of people
Speaker 1: that they can leverage as investors. As a first generation entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of people in my circle
Speaker 1: who I can just be like, hey, guys, can you
Speaker 1: write me a check because I have this really cool
Speaker 1: business idea, And so when it comes to funding your
Speaker 1: business without having to take on debt, grants are really
Speaker 1: really key. And there are federal grants and state grants
Speaker 1: and even grants from corporations. So, as someone who's received
Speaker 1: a grant before, how did you decide that that was
Speaker 1: the right way to raise money for your business? Why
Speaker 1: did you do it grants and maybe not crowdfunding or
Speaker 1: an angel investor. I think for me, just because of
Speaker 1: the nature of my business, I really am still trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what exactly it is I do as
Speaker 1: a podcaster, an influencer, content creator. In my head, I'd
Speaker 1: never pictured pitching what I do to venture capitalists. It
Speaker 1: just did an equate I usually think about that for
Speaker 1: like a product based business or a technology company, So
Speaker 1: For me, I was just operating in a very small
Speaker 1: business mindset and I wanted to be able to actually
Speaker 1: offer a scholarship program where I could teach people for
Speaker 1: free about investing. And I found an organization that supports
Speaker 1: that type of work and they gave me a grant
Speaker 1: that I could use to then give money to people
Speaker 1: who participated in the program to start investing. Right. So,
Speaker 1: there's like so many different things that you can do
Speaker 1: with the money that you receive from grants, and it's
Speaker 1: out there for the taking. I think that's really powerful.
Speaker 1: And I also think you hit the nail right on
Speaker 1: the head as it relates to angel investors or vcs,
Speaker 1: like a very product based or technology based. Right. The
Speaker 1: person we're going to be talking here with soon, she
Speaker 1: has a payment processing platform. It's one of these businesses
Speaker 1: that can grow to a multi billion dollar enterprise if
Speaker 1: it can scale enough. And so that's what I think
Speaker 1: the big differences between raising from an angel investor in
Speaker 1: vcs and stuff like that, or raising from grants or crowdfunding. So, Austin,
Speaker 1: as a content creator like me, did you raise any
Speaker 1: funds for your business as a content creator? It's been
Speaker 1: very lean, just kind of get a laptop, maybe a camera, microphone,
Speaker 1: it's maybe a thousand dollars or so if you're able
Speaker 1: to do it right. But I would say that if
Speaker 1: I was to try and find capital right now, would
Speaker 1: actually be through a technique we have not yet talked about,
Speaker 1: and that is borrowing against existing assets, specifically my portfolio.
Speaker 1: So I've got thirty thousand dollars in a brokerage account
Speaker 1: right now on a platform that allows me to borrow
Speaker 1: against that if I need liquidity. So, for example, if
Speaker 1: I had wanted to perhaps take on a bigger project
Speaker 1: or maybe hire an employee, I could borrow up to
Speaker 1: twenty five or even fifty percent of that amount at
Speaker 1: a reasonable interest rate to then deploy toward that project.
Speaker 1: So Austin, if someone doesn't have a portfolio, can they
Speaker 1: still access capital this way? So that's a really good question.
Speaker 1: The short answer is no, and that's because there's no
Speaker 1: collateral to borrow against. However, having a stock portfolio is
Speaker 1: only one form of collateral. Perhaps they might have a
Speaker 1: house or perhaps something else that's generally expensive, a car,
Speaker 1: a valuable of some sort that they would be able
Speaker 1: to borrow against. That's a really interesting way to leverage
Speaker 1: funds you already have for a new project. Now that
Speaker 1: we have a better idea of the most common ways
Speaker 1: to raise capital, let's hear from our guest about her journey. Today.
Speaker 1: We're joined by Ami Comoji. Ami is a Stanford trained physician,
Speaker 1: an x BCG consultant turned founder CEO of Sika Health.
Speaker 1: At the age of six, Amy emigrated from Ghana with
Speaker 1: the dream of becoming a physician and achieving that dream,
Speaker 1: she learned how broken the financial side of US healthcare
Speaker 1: can be. That's why she created Seka Health in order
Speaker 1: to reinvent the way we pay for our health. Seeka
Speaker 1: Health is a consumer first payment company that enables merchants
Speaker 1: to accept funds at checkout from health savings accounts or
Speaker 1: HSA's and flexible spending accounts or FSAs, so we can
Speaker 1: all afford our health needs. You might be familiar with
Speaker 1: these types of accounts as you may have an HSA
Speaker 1: or FSA yourself, or they might be something that you
Speaker 1: offer to your employees. Amy started funding for her company
Speaker 1: during the pandemic and has raised a six point two
Speaker 1: million dollars seed round from world class investors. Ami, welcome
Speaker 1: to the show. Thank you so much, Janis and Austin.
Speaker 1: It's wonderful to be here. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: hanging out with us. Ammi. I think a really good
Speaker 1: place to start this conversation is for us to understand
Speaker 1: the origin story of seek A Health, and I believe
Speaker 1: it has to do with your mother being laid off
Speaker 1: during the pandemic and the decisions that had to be
Speaker 1: made because of that, like having to become a tax
Speaker 1: expert essentially overnight, just to figure out how to use
Speaker 1: those healthcare funds from her job. Can you walk me
Speaker 1: through how that circumstantially inspired you to start this company
Speaker 1: so exactly as you mentioned, inspiration for starting Seeka actually
Speaker 1: happened in twenty twenty when unfortunately, my mom was laid
Speaker 1: off of her job. She's working as a hotel worker
Speaker 1: at the time, and that meant that she was going
Speaker 1: to lose her health plan, of which her FASA was
Speaker 1: part of. That the FSA is a wonderful tool and
Speaker 1: that it does allow you to spend that money pre
Speaker 1: tax on your health, but in her case, it was unfortunately,
Speaker 1: use it or lose it. And the hardest part about
Speaker 1: these tools is that you can only spend them on
Speaker 1: certain things, and no one tells you what those things are.
Speaker 1: So we actually had to scramble to try to figure
Speaker 1: out and exactly like you're saying, practically to become tax
Speaker 1: experts overnight in order to determine how we could use
Speaker 1: these funds. But in doing so we learned a lot,
Speaker 1: and I learned a lot and really three things specifically
Speaker 1: that ended up giving the court insights for starting SEEKA.
Speaker 1: So first and foremost, I learned that there are way
Speaker 1: more ways to spend FSA and HSA dollars than most
Speaker 1: people realize, things like glasses, fitness equipment like a peloton
Speaker 1: bike or gym membership, certain nutritional vitamins and supplements, maybe
Speaker 1: even pet supplies for an emotional support animal or a
Speaker 1: service animal, so a really really broad range of expenses.
Speaker 1: The second thing we realized, and this I think was
Speaker 1: sort of the root cause, was that not only did
Speaker 1: a lot of consumers like my mom not know how
Speaker 1: to spend these funds, but a lot of merchants struggle
Speaker 1: to accept FSA and HSA funds as a form of payment.
Speaker 1: In fact, many of them don't even know which of
Speaker 1: their items are eligible and which aren't. The third core
Speaker 1: insight here is that there are about seventy million people
Speaker 1: in the US who have either an FSA or an HSA,
Speaker 1: and about one hundred and fifty billion dollars flows through
Speaker 1: these accounts every year, and a lot of times the
Speaker 1: money just sits there, and in some cases like what
Speaker 1: almost happened to my mom, and people actually lose money
Speaker 1: to the tune of about eight billion dollars every year
Speaker 1: when these funds expire. So for all those reasons and
Speaker 1: all the learnings, I saw that there was a real
Speaker 1: opportunity for improvement, a very big market, and an urgent need,
Speaker 1: and that's why I decided to start seek a Health.
Speaker 1: Got it Okay? So for everyone listening right now, can
Speaker 1: you explain the differences actually between an HSA and an FSA,
Speaker 1: and then why are those differences so important for the
Speaker 1: problem that you're solving with seek a Health. So episades
Speaker 1: and hsas are really one of the best tools out
Speaker 1: there to help people to save on their various healthcare needs.
Speaker 1: But part of what comes with utilizing these tools is
Speaker 1: knowing the key differences between them exactly like you're mentioning,
Speaker 1: and so even though they sound really similar, they're actually
Speaker 1: really different in terms of how and when you can
Speaker 1: spend these dollars. For h says, the money actually rolls
Speaker 1: over from year to year, and you can actually invest
Speaker 1: those dollars over time and grow those funds to be
Speaker 1: a really large pot of money. For episays, they're use
Speaker 1: it or lose it, which means you have to use
Speaker 1: them within the course of a year, and in some cases,
Speaker 1: let's say, if you lose your job, you actually might
Speaker 1: have to spend them right away, within the month. And
Speaker 1: so what that means for us, and the problem that
Speaker 1: we're solving is that there can be a lot of urgency,
Speaker 1: both because there's a big pot of money that you
Speaker 1: don't want just sitting there, and also because the funds
Speaker 1: might be expiring on a deadline, and that makes it
Speaker 1: really important to make it easier for people to identify
Speaker 1: where and how they can spend these dollars. So the
Speaker 1: way that we solve that problem specifically is that we
Speaker 1: actually show up at checkout. We show up as a
Speaker 1: payment method, very similar to let's say a buy now,
Speaker 1: pay later product that you've seen, or perhaps a PayPal
Speaker 1: except the difference with us is that you can actually
Speaker 1: link your health funds as a form of payment. And
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, we're doing a bunch of things on
Speaker 1: the regulatory front, helping the merchants get certified and figure
Speaker 1: out which items counting can be improved in which items
Speaker 1: are not. But the goal is for you as the
Speaker 1: consumer and the shopper, to have a really easy experience,
Speaker 1: a really easy way to buy the products that you
Speaker 1: need and save money doing it, and likewise for merchants
Speaker 1: to be able to offer you a new way to pay.
Speaker 1: Were you surprised when you found this huge literacy gap
Speaker 1: when it comes to how these accounts work? And were
Speaker 1: you surprised that no one has thought of fixing this
Speaker 1: problem before? You know? I don't know that I can
Speaker 1: say that I was surprised. Unfortunately, in our healthcare system,
Speaker 1: a lot of problems look like this where things are
Speaker 1: just very broken, not because it's anyone's fault or intention right,
Speaker 1: but because there's a literacy gap. And what that means
Speaker 1: is there is an opportunity for companies like us to
Speaker 1: be created to close those gaps on behalf of consumers,
Speaker 1: but also on behalf of other businesses, and that's what
Speaker 1: is creating the opportunity for us. So this episode is
Speaker 1: all about capital raising and fund raising all that fun stuff.
Speaker 1: You raised six point two million dollars from some of
Speaker 1: the most well known and I mean four runner ventures.
Speaker 1: Urikim is an incredible woman. So what I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get out here, though, is, I mean, how did you
Speaker 1: do that? Right? What were some maybe unexpected challenges involved
Speaker 1: you get any curveballs headed your way. I also read
Speaker 1: that it was kind of the chicken and the egg
Speaker 1: problem with hiring people, So maybe walk us through that
Speaker 1: process as well, and maybe not having a team yet
Speaker 1: when you were raising it. I'd love to know you're
Speaker 1: exactly right. It was definitely a lot of challenges. Part
Speaker 1: of the reason I knew I needed to fundraise was that,
Speaker 1: you know, in order to solve this problem, I needed
Speaker 1: a really good team, a really strong team, particularly on
Speaker 1: the engineering on the product side, and many of those
Speaker 1: folks currently work in tech. You are paid incredibly well, right,
Speaker 1: So it was a chicken and egg problem for sure,
Speaker 1: But I decided that the way to start was to
Speaker 1: bring on incredible partners on the investment side who could
Speaker 1: then help by providing the capital I needed to attract
Speaker 1: a wonderful team in terms of my journey fundraising. I
Speaker 1: definitely don't come from the traditional tech background. I've actually
Speaker 1: never worked in tech professionally. My background is as a physician,
Speaker 1: as you've mentioned, and I previously worked as a healthcare consultant,
Speaker 1: which meant that I didn't necessarily have an automatic rolodex
Speaker 1: of tech focused investors to call right away. And so
Speaker 1: what did I do? I actually started really close to home.
Speaker 1: Started by telling everyone that I knew, I was really
Speaker 1: excited about this problem, that I wanted to start this business,
Speaker 1: and many of those people were my previous mentors or
Speaker 1: bosses or friends, maybe folks that had started companies before.
Speaker 1: And it didn't really even feel like I was pitching,
Speaker 1: or it wasn't intending to pitch. It was mostly just
Speaker 1: telling my story. And sometimes there was an ask for advice,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it was an ask for capital. And the
Speaker 1: more comfortable I became, the more I began to ask.
Speaker 1: And there are plenty of nos, but eventually I did
Speaker 1: get to a first yes and then the next yes.
Speaker 1: And when I set out to fundraise, I set out
Speaker 1: to raise half a million dollars, but within a few
Speaker 1: weeks I had actually surpassed that goal and raised over
Speaker 1: one point two million, And that was because the people
Speaker 1: that I was speaking with, you know, really believed in
Speaker 1: the opportunity, and they also really believed in me, and
Speaker 1: you know, it became evident that this was a problem
Speaker 1: that desperately needed to be solved. And the other thing
Speaker 1: that happened was that many of those people actually knew
Speaker 1: investors or knew people who knew investors, and so they
Speaker 1: were able to help me with introductions. And eventually those
Speaker 1: at the introductions that helped me get pulled into the
Speaker 1: room in front of Forerunner Ventures and Shine Capital and
Speaker 1: the co founders of Plaid some of the people who
Speaker 1: eventually led my seed round a few weeks later. That's
Speaker 1: absolutely incredible, And I think another amazing part of your
Speaker 1: story is the fact that you did this during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: which I think a lot of people would be like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is the right time to
Speaker 1: be asking people for money to fund a new business.
Speaker 1: So did you ever run into just mindset blocks or
Speaker 1: concerns that this was not going to work out the
Speaker 1: way that you intended. Yeah, So that's one of the
Speaker 1: hardest things about the entrepreneurial journey is there always will
Speaker 1: be challenges. There will always be setbacks, and one of
Speaker 1: the most important things is to quiet the noise, fake
Speaker 1: it till you make it, and just know that if
Speaker 1: you can get your ideas across, convey your message, which
Speaker 1: is that this is a problem that needs to be
Speaker 1: solved today. Actually this is a problem that's even more
Speaker 1: urgent because of the pandemic. How many of us have
Speaker 1: lost our jobs, how many of us have dealt with
Speaker 1: health issues. How many of us could use a way
Speaker 1: to save money on our health needs as a result
Speaker 1: of this broader climate, So you know, they're certainly you
Speaker 1: know there are ways that the pandemic made things harder.
Speaker 1: But I had the belief internally that actually that was
Speaker 1: the reason why this needed to exist now, and then
Speaker 1: as a result, I was able to convey that to
Speaker 1: the people around me. Coming up on Mind the Business
Speaker 1: Small Business success Stories. Fundamentally, fundraising is a form of
Speaker 1: relationship building, so people don't invest in companies, they invest
Speaker 1: in people. We'll be right back after the break. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories brought
Speaker 1: to you by iHeartRadio and into a quick books. So
Speaker 1: I'm curious if there's any maybe one or two tactical
Speaker 1: things that you did during this fundraising that really led
Speaker 1: to success. Was it a pitch deck that you were
Speaker 1: just combing through a thousand times? Was it practicing your
Speaker 1: pitch in front of the mirror? Was like, what was
Speaker 1: maybe a couple of tactical things that you were practicing
Speaker 1: and doing that truly led to the success that you
Speaker 1: experienced in this round? You know, I think the way
Speaker 1: I'll answer that is by saying that I do think
Speaker 1: preparation is underrated in general, especially in the way that
Speaker 1: these stories of fundraising come about. It's made to sound
Speaker 1: really magical, like all of a sudden, who woke up
Speaker 1: and had this great idea and then a bunch of
Speaker 1: people started throwing money at me? And that's just not
Speaker 1: how it works. By the time I was pitching to
Speaker 1: say Forerunner, I had done my pitch a thousand times,
Speaker 1: certainly in front of the mirror, but most importantly in
Speaker 1: front of other people who could give me advice, who
Speaker 1: could critique the way I answered this question, who could
Speaker 1: give me insight into how I could convey my message
Speaker 1: even better. And so part of what that looked like
Speaker 1: tactically was setting up meetings with all sorts of colleagues
Speaker 1: just to practice and having docs, I would list out
Speaker 1: all the questions that I could possibly get and the
Speaker 1: ways that I would handle some of those questions and
Speaker 1: those objectives. I think the takeaway here is that fundraising,
Speaker 1: like any skill, is one that can be learned, one
Speaker 1: that can be improved, and one that can be perfected
Speaker 1: over time, and you know it's important to invest in
Speaker 1: some of that preparation upfront. I'd love to know how
Speaker 1: one determines how much money you actually want to raise.
Speaker 1: I've never raised venture capital. The whole idea of kind
Speaker 1: of freaks me out, honestly, but I think it's because
Speaker 1: I watched too much Shark Tank. So I want to know,
Speaker 1: how do you find out you know? Or how do
Speaker 1: you determine how much money you need and what your
Speaker 1: strategy could be? Because right you can take out loans,
Speaker 1: you can put things on credit cards. So how did
Speaker 1: you decide to go with venture capital? Yeah? For me,
Speaker 1: the way that I determined how much money I needed
Speaker 1: to raise was actually I built a model. It was
Speaker 1: maybe overly precise, to be honest, but I figured out, well,
Speaker 1: how many people do I need to hire? First and foremost?
Speaker 1: What will each of those people be doing, and I
Speaker 1: knew that the biggest cost in this business given that
Speaker 1: it was essentially a fintech business with payroll costs essentially,
Speaker 1: so that was the major input. We would also likely
Speaker 1: use the funds for things like marketing an office, so
Speaker 1: building in some of those costs. But the lesson in
Speaker 1: there is just to figure out why are you raising
Speaker 1: money to begin with, what are you going to use
Speaker 1: that money for? And then try as best as you
Speaker 1: can to estimate about how much of those resources, how
Speaker 1: many resources you'll need to be able to get there.
Speaker 1: The other big piece of fundraising isn't a fundraise, it's
Speaker 1: to build a great business, right, So what are the
Speaker 1: key things that I need to figure out in this
Speaker 1: stage to build this business and how much time and
Speaker 1: what resources will it take for me to get there?
Speaker 1: So we're really fundraised with the intent of bringing on
Speaker 1: the people I needed in order to sort of prove
Speaker 1: or disprove the hypothesis of the business. So you know,
Speaker 1: what is it going to take to prove to yourself
Speaker 1: right that this is a business that has legs? And
Speaker 1: then fundraising ideally just enough with a little bit of
Speaker 1: buffer of course, to help you get to that next milestone,
Speaker 1: and then outside of that, part of how I thought
Speaker 1: about fundraising is I really do see our busters not
Speaker 1: just as people who provide capital, but people who are
Speaker 1: important strategic partners and strategic thought partners. So using that
Speaker 1: the fundraising process is a way to actually grow your network,
Speaker 1: to find the right experts to bring around the table
Speaker 1: so that you can accomplish some of these key milestones
Speaker 1: that you have in front of you. Now, I hope
Speaker 1: you don't mind, but I really want to rewind for
Speaker 1: a second here, because something you talked about in the
Speaker 1: beginning of this interview was you shared this with everyone
Speaker 1: close to you, right, You shared it with your friends,
Speaker 1: your colleagues, your mentors, all these people who were excited
Speaker 1: to lift you up and see you succeed. What advice
Speaker 1: would you give to the small business owner that's trying
Speaker 1: to raise money that might not have access to investors
Speaker 1: or friends or family with all this extra advice, time
Speaker 1: and money to give and support. Fundamentally, fundraising is a
Speaker 1: form of relationship building. So people don't invest in companies,
Speaker 1: they invest in people. And what that means is that
Speaker 1: it's really important for all aspects of your business. Actually
Speaker 1: to constantly be building your network and to be building relationships.
Speaker 1: So let's say you're a small business owner. Maybe you
Speaker 1: don't have a network of investors potential investors today. Part
Speaker 1: of what you can do is to actually find networks
Speaker 1: of other founders and join communities. So I joined early
Speaker 1: on a bunch of Slack groups, for example, of people
Speaker 1: that were trying to build businesses and health tech and fintech,
Speaker 1: people that were product oriented. That is free to everyone
Speaker 1: and available to everyone. There are different communities. So our
Speaker 1: company is built in New York, and there's actually a
Speaker 1: community called built in NYC, and various people who have
Speaker 1: different email list serves where you can put yourself out there.
Speaker 1: You can write a small post, let's say, for their blog,
Speaker 1: and so there are a lot of really creative ways
Speaker 1: where you can just start to build your network and
Speaker 1: start to surround yourself with people. And they might not
Speaker 1: be investors right away, they might be other folks just
Speaker 1: like you that are starting to get off the ground.
Speaker 1: But as you build your network, as you get yourself
Speaker 1: out there, you will be surprised your network will really
Speaker 1: amplify and multiply, and through those loose connections here and there,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to find the path to investors. I
Speaker 1: guess my last question here for you, Ammy is you
Speaker 1: know you probably know overall, black entrepreneurs typically receive less
Speaker 1: than two percent of all VC dollars each year, while
Speaker 1: company is led by black women receive less than one percent,
Speaker 1: according to data from crunch Base. However, you beat those odds.
Speaker 1: You US six point two million dollars from world class investors.
Speaker 1: So my question is, how did you beat those odds?
Speaker 1: And what would you tell the person that was in
Speaker 1: your shoes maybe two years ago that had the idea
Speaker 1: that was trying to beat those odds right now? That's
Speaker 1: such a good question and also such an unfortunate question.
Speaker 1: I hope for a day where there isn't this funding gap.
Speaker 1: And you know, by some of my research, black female
Speaker 1: founders raised point three to four percent, so a third
Speaker 1: of one percent of the funds raised back in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one when I was raising. Part of how I
Speaker 1: beat those odds was going back to the fundamental belief
Speaker 1: that this business needs to exist and I'm the right
Speaker 1: person to do it. And as cliche as it sounds,
Speaker 1: just to bake it till you make it, you know,
Speaker 1: I think people really get caught up in the details,
Speaker 1: but then forget the sort of overarching message and fundraising,
Speaker 1: particularly at the seed stage when there's not that much traction,
Speaker 1: the numbers aren't that great. You need to be able
Speaker 1: to convince yourself as well as investors of two things.
Speaker 1: Number one, that the problem that you're solving is a big,
Speaker 1: important and urgent problem that needs to be solved, and
Speaker 1: number two, that you're the right person or the right
Speaker 1: team to solve that problem. And everything else is just
Speaker 1: supporting bullets. So your traction, your revenue, the market data,
Speaker 1: but the thing that really counts, the thing that moves
Speaker 1: people is the passion with which you speak, the conviction,
Speaker 1: the ability to show that you will run through walls
Speaker 1: to make it happen. And so that was part of
Speaker 1: the difference maker for me, was just continuing to focus
Speaker 1: on that as the core message and the story, and
Speaker 1: of course big market MC data, and you know, we
Speaker 1: had this level of commercial interests, but it really just
Speaker 1: came down to grounding myself and I know this is
Speaker 1: a big important problem and it needs to be solved,
Speaker 1: and number two, I'm the right person to do it. Therefore,
Speaker 1: come on board and help me build this business. I
Speaker 1: love kind of ending things on an inspirational note, right,
Speaker 1: So tell the aspiring capital raisers who are listening to
Speaker 1: this right now, your best motivational saying or phrase or
Speaker 1: something that you held onto during the process. Well, one
Speaker 1: that comes to mind is you either win or you learn.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as losing. At least for me.
Speaker 1: This journey really is about the learning. No matter how
Speaker 1: this business turns out, and I know that we have
Speaker 1: a very very strong outcome ahead of us, But the
Speaker 1: most important thing is just focusing on the learning, focusing
Speaker 1: on you know, what are the things that are working,
Speaker 1: what are the things that aren't working so well? What
Speaker 1: are some of the areas that our strengths for me?
Speaker 1: Where are some of the areas that might be holding
Speaker 1: me back? How do I apply that learning mindset to
Speaker 1: every interaction that I have, whether it's with customers or
Speaker 1: with my team. And of course through the fundraising process too.
Speaker 1: I learned a lot during the fundraising process, and in fact,
Speaker 1: the times that I learned the most was from the nose.
Speaker 1: Some of the things that I learned from the nose
Speaker 1: were which types of investors would be most interested in
Speaker 1: the business, that I was building, and it was through
Speaker 1: that learning that I was able to correct and navigate,
Speaker 1: you know, change this or that about the way that
Speaker 1: I tell my story and the audience to whom I
Speaker 1: tell it to, so that I could find that right
Speaker 1: fit that I eventually landed on. So if I could
Speaker 1: tell your listeners anything is focus on the learning and
Speaker 1: remind yourself that you either win or you learn, and
Speaker 1: there's no such thing as losing. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that your boldness, the passion for what you're doing, and
Speaker 1: just your confidence. I could feel like when you would
Speaker 1: walk into a room to pitch, people could just feel
Speaker 1: how excited you were to make an impact with your business,
Speaker 1: and so I have to credit that for your success.
Speaker 1: So I just want to thank you for being an inspiration.
Speaker 1: Especially as a woman of color. It's so rare for
Speaker 1: us to see examples of folks who are really able
Speaker 1: to make these things happen and to place themselves in
Speaker 1: rooms where we might not have seen ourselves represented before.
Speaker 1: So just thank you for the work that you do
Speaker 1: just by being you. Thank you so much, and hopefully
Speaker 1: the takeaway here is that you being different coming from
Speaker 1: a different background, whether it's an ethnic difference, or a
Speaker 1: gender difference, or a country difference, or professional difference. All
Speaker 1: those differences can be advantages because it is so important
Speaker 1: to lean on your own personal experiences. That is the
Speaker 1: source of your conviction, your strength, that's what makes you
Speaker 1: compelling as a founder and an owner and a builder.
Speaker 1: So the more that we can lean into our differences,
Speaker 1: I think the more successful we will be. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us. I mean, this was I
Speaker 1: learned so much. I'm sure a lot of the listeners
Speaker 1: here are pumped, they're excited, they're inspired, especially by your story. Right,
Speaker 1: this was awesome. I can't wait to do this again,
Speaker 1: hopefully sometime soon. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for having me, Austin and Janie. It
Speaker 1: was wonderful to be here, and hopefully some of these
Speaker 1: tips were helpful to your audience. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: That was such an incredible conversation with Ami Komoji. You know,
Speaker 1: there are so many ways to raise capital and get
Speaker 1: funding for a small business, and Amy is definitely on
Speaker 1: one end of that spectrum raising millions of dollars with
Speaker 1: multiple investors, but there are so many other ways, like bootstrapping.
Speaker 1: When you're doing it on your own grants, which we
Speaker 1: talked about earlier, and asking friends and family. You just
Speaker 1: really have to find what's the best fit for your
Speaker 1: business and your situation. I'm curious, Austin, what stuck out
Speaker 1: most to you about this conversation. Totally agree, great conversation.
Speaker 1: I think a couple of things really stuck out to me.
Speaker 1: The first one was the preparation. Right We asked her
Speaker 1: about what all went into a successful raise, and she
Speaker 1: talked about a thousand times that she'd pitched. That is incredible,
Speaker 1: lots of practice, lots of preparation. I think that's incredibly
Speaker 1: important for someone listening right now. The preparation is key.
Speaker 1: The second thing that really stuck out to me was
Speaker 1: just how interesting of a problem she's solving and how
Speaker 1: big of a total addressable market that is. She mentioned
Speaker 1: billions of dollars gets wasted every single year with the
Speaker 1: hsas and FSAs. But then also the urgency around that.
Speaker 1: I mean, she gave such a personalized story with her
Speaker 1: mother and how she was laid off and you know
Speaker 1: she only had a month to spend this money, but
Speaker 1: how to become a tax expert overnight to even be
Speaker 1: able to do that what about you? What a couple
Speaker 1: of things that stuck out to Eugenius. I absolutely love
Speaker 1: the fact that she didn't let the dismal statistics that
Speaker 1: exist around black entrepreneurs receiving venture capital as a deterrent
Speaker 1: for her even pursuing that right, because I think a
Speaker 1: lot of what I've discovered about entrepreneurship is your mind
Speaker 1: will keep you from opportunities and we'll stop you from
Speaker 1: pursuing things before anybody actually tells you know. And so
Speaker 1: the fact that she said, you know what, the stats
Speaker 1: don't favor me, but I'm still going to show up
Speaker 1: and I will take all the knows because it all
Speaker 1: starts with one. Yes. That's so inspiring and that's I
Speaker 1: think one of my favorite parts of entrepreneurship is the
Speaker 1: mindset work and the confrontation of limiting beliefs that we
Speaker 1: constantly have to do to create things out of nothing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I really think it kind of leans back into
Speaker 1: what she was saying. It's not a win lose situation.
Speaker 1: It's a win or you learn, right. It's an up
Speaker 1: in its ounds, yes and knows, but we're winning and
Speaker 1: we're learning. It's never a win lose situation. Absolutely well,
Speaker 1: good stuff everyone. Thanks so much for hanging out with
Speaker 1: us today on our first episode. You can find me
Speaker 1: on my social media accounts at Austin Hanquitz and you
Speaker 1: can find me at Jokieto Dinano podcast. You can follow
Speaker 1: Into It QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks, and
Speaker 1: to get the tools that you need to start, run
Speaker 1: and grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today
Speaker 1: and be sure to catch the next episode of Mind
Speaker 1: the Business Small Business success Stories on Thursday, April thirteenth,
Speaker 1: where we speak to viral marketer Andrea Casanova on the
Speaker 1: different ways to effectively build your brand strategy. You won't
Speaker 1: want to miss that one, so don't forget to follow, rate,
Speaker 1: and review this show wherever you listen to podcasts so
Speaker 1: you can stay up to date on our future episodes
Speaker 1: and check out our show notes for more info from
Speaker 1: this episode and small business funding. And a huge thank
Speaker 1: you to our guest Ami Kamoji. This podcast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks. Our executive producer
Speaker 1: is Molly Sosha, our supervising producer is in the Kia Swinton,
Speaker 1: and our writer is Tyree Rush. Our head of post
Speaker 1: production is James Foster and we will see you next time.