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Speaker 1: Let's get this started. I'm super glad to be here

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Speaker 1: with you today because then this first conversation that we're

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Speaker 1: going to have is about corporate responsibility and closing the

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Speaker 1: wealth gap. Who realizes that actually corporations do have a

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Speaker 1: responsibility in making this my man? One person knows that

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Speaker 1: corporations have a responsibility. Here the blueprint presented by Northwestern

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Speaker 1: Mutual Misfireside Discussion will delve into the critical role of

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Speaker 1: corporate responsibility and addressing the wealth gap through real time

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Speaker 1: examples of how Northwestern Mutual is doing it. Especially they

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Speaker 1: have this SARE task Force, which is a sustained action

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Speaker 1: for Racial Equity task Force, or they're putting people whose

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Speaker 1: jobs it is to make sure this thing happen happens

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Speaker 1: in collaborations with global partners. These speakers will explore successful strategies,

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Speaker 1: actionable frameworks, and best practices that companies can adopt to

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Speaker 1: actively participate in closing the wealth gap, ultimately promoting economic equity,

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Speaker 1: financial literacy, and inclusive financial well being for all. So

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Speaker 1: we're going to have this conversation with Abim Kola, who

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Speaker 1: is vice president, chief audit executive and a member of

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Speaker 1: the company's Enterprise Leadership Group and was appointed executive sponsor

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Speaker 1: for the CEO led Sustained Action for Racial Equity initiative

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Speaker 1: aimed at helping to close the racial wealth gap. And

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Speaker 1: the moderator here today is Dennis Kale, co founder and

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Speaker 1: CEO of Zert You and So Zert You So. And

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Speaker 1: he's also a Navy veteran. Any veterans in the building

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Speaker 1: right now, any families of veterans, I like that, thank

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Speaker 1: them and thank you guys for your service. He's an

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Speaker 1: SMU Graduate Bank board member and award winning entrepreneur, including

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Speaker 1: afro Tech Future fifty honoree this year Forbes Next one thousand,

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Speaker 1: d CEO five hundred n Ey Entrepreneur of the Year winner.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the stage, moderator Dennis Kale and our panelist

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Speaker 1: Abim Cola.

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Speaker 2: All right, Rondover pause here is.

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Speaker 3: But I knew of Ben would hold it down for us.

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Speaker 3: So thank you, sir.

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Speaker 4: That's what we do as military veterans, right, Thanks for

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Speaker 4: your service.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Happy to serve and happy to be here.

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Speaker 3: So let's get it kicked off ready, start with you. You

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Speaker 3: know Northwestern Mutual Financial Services Company founded in eighteen fifty seven,

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Speaker 3: been around one hundred and sixty six years. You guys

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Speaker 3: are big backers and supporters of black businesses, of black companies, founders,

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Speaker 3: underrepresented founders. Can you talk a little bit about how

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Speaker 3: that support fits into your overall mission from an organizational standpoint? Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, But before I get started, I just want to

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Speaker 4: take a moment to say thank you so much for

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Speaker 4: having us.

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Speaker 2: It's always a pleasure.

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Speaker 4: I was here in March of last year and the

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Speaker 4: energy in the room was palpable. It's just incredible to

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Speaker 4: see a sea of African Americans here and to be

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Speaker 4: able to have this conversation with you is phenomenal. So thanks,

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Speaker 4: thanks for having us to the point you made. Northwestern

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Speaker 4: Mutual is a financial services company based out of Milwauka, Wisconsin.

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Speaker 4: I moved here from New York City to go join

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Speaker 4: that company for a variety of reasons. One of the

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Speaker 4: principal reasons was exactly the commitment what we're going to

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Speaker 4: be talking about today. I saw a company that was

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Speaker 4: so committed. The vision of the company is to eliminate

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Speaker 4: financial anxiety from Americans in particularly. We know that undersilved communities,

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Speaker 4: there's this gap within other SILF communities and I could

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Speaker 4: see at that time twenty years ago when I was

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Speaker 4: packing up from New York City, I'm moving to Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,

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Speaker 4: that I was going to connect with a company that

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Speaker 4: had a deep vision and mission around financial security fall.

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Speaker 2: Now fast forward.

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Speaker 4: Through the ten twenty years that I've been at the company,

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Speaker 4: the company's been involved in a variety of things in

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Speaker 4: the community, trying to improve the lives of the community

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Speaker 4: because it matters to us in terms of how we

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Speaker 4: developed the communities. Fast forward to unfortunate mode of George Floyd.

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Speaker 4: We decided to really really double down in a very

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Speaker 4: sustained way to really begin to uplift communities, particularly the

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Speaker 4: Black and African American community.

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Speaker 2: And I'm sure we're going.

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Speaker 4: To be going a lot deeper into the sustained action

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Speaker 4: for racial equity. But our CEO basically took it upon

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Speaker 4: himself post the George Floyd Murdim to actually conduct one

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Speaker 4: on one interviews. How many people do that one on

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Speaker 4: one interviews with Black and African Americans to deeply understand

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Speaker 4: the experiences not only within the community but our advisors.

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Speaker 4: And he came away really committed even more committed building

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Speaker 4: on all the things that he had been doing, that

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Speaker 4: we had been doing for years to really make sure

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Speaker 4: that we have a program which I'm very proud of

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Speaker 4: to be the executive sponsor today that is leading the charge.

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Speaker 4: And again I'm sure we'll get into the details, but

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Speaker 4: high level, we created the Sustained Action for Racial Equity,

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Speaker 4: a task force cheered by the CEO, and I say

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Speaker 4: cheered by the CEO because in this day and age,

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Speaker 4: there's nothing more important in my opinion, that leadership courage.

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Speaker 4: I was reading a little about Joon Sanders day and

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Speaker 4: they talked about the audacity to be brave, and I

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Speaker 4: am just so proud to work for a CEO who

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Speaker 4: is so brave to be in a position like this

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Speaker 4: myself to recognize that people are waiting for us to

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Speaker 4: take a step back an instead we're leaning forward. So

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Speaker 4: I'm sure we're getting too a lot of the programmatic

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Speaker 4: aspects of the things that I'm very proud of how

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Speaker 4: we're leading and supporting black businesses, But just want to

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Speaker 4: say that this commitment we've had is built on generations.

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Speaker 4: But we're even more committed to make sure that we

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Speaker 4: are reaching and touching lives, particularly in the underrepresented communities.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for that, and thank you for your courage too.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and now I'm going to flip it back to you.

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Speaker 4: Right, we're here talking about one of the things that

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Speaker 4: inspired us as part of some of the initiatives was

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Speaker 4: this notion of access to capital.

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Speaker 2: We wanted to make.

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Speaker 4: Sure that as part of building on how we've been

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Speaker 4: supporting black businesses and underrepresented communities for decades, we knew

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Speaker 4: that obviously the gap in terms of access to capital

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Speaker 4: is real.

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Speaker 2: This has been studied, and we talked about three things.

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Speaker 2: I like to say.

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Speaker 4: It's getting in the game, so access to capital, to

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Speaker 4: get in the game, to start a business, thriving in

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Speaker 4: the game in terms of fall and financing, and then

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Speaker 4: you know, obviously creating the opportunity to scale businesses such

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Speaker 4: that they could be supplies to companies. So what's your experience, Dennis,

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Speaker 4: in terms of getting in the game, staying in the game,

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Speaker 4: and thriving in the game.

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Speaker 2: You have a business that is doing pretty well, You're

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Speaker 2: thriving right now.

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Speaker 4: Why do you talk a little bit about your business model,

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Speaker 4: what you do and then speak to some of those categories.

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Speaker 3: Sure, thanks, abim So, just by way of quick background,

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Speaker 3: Dennis kel founder CEO at Zertu. We have a mission

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Speaker 3: to drive financial equity and inclusion, one relationship at a time,

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Speaker 3: and we do that by simplifying loans between friends and

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Speaker 3: family and baking in and bill pay transparency. So if

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Speaker 3: I borrow three hundred dollars from a BIM to pay

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Speaker 3: my pass do AT and T bill. Once a BIM

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Speaker 3: approves that loan, instead of the money coming to me,

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Speaker 3: Zrchu sends that money straight to AT and T minus

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Speaker 3: our success fee. So that's how we make money. And

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Speaker 3: came up with this idea probably ten plus years ago

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Speaker 3: because my sister and other family members would borrow money

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Speaker 3: from me and I had limited success in getting that

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Speaker 3: money back, and so my thought process was, how do

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Speaker 3: I take the awkwardness out of this but also help

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Speaker 3: make them more accountable. But the big issue I had

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Speaker 3: was not really knowing that the money was being used

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Speaker 3: for the intended purpose. And so I give you that

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Speaker 3: context because my background started and my career started in

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Speaker 3: the Navy as a systems engineer sett an up shift

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Speaker 3: to shore ship to ship communications. But prior to that,

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Speaker 3: I grew up in very humble beginnings. I grew up

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Speaker 3: in low income public Housing and Monroe, Louisiana. We didn't

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Speaker 3: have banks or credit unions or financial services companies in

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Speaker 3: my neighborhood, but we had several liquor stores and pawn

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Speaker 3: shops that would cast your check for thirty percent of

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Speaker 3: whatever your check was. So even at seven years old,

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Speaker 3: I knew that was bad math. And so you fast

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Speaker 3: forward walked outside the naval base after boot camp. There

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Speaker 3: was a lot of payday lenders, etc. And so I

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Speaker 3: say that to say me founding Zertu and starting this

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Speaker 3: company is really mission driven, but it also goes go

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Speaker 3: back to making sure that I was being intentional about

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Speaker 3: finding investors like Northwestern Mutual that are aligned with our mission,

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Speaker 3: because that is extremely critical and it's not ever about

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Speaker 3: just taking money from anyone. One of the first questions

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Speaker 3: I ask any investor is what do you bring beyond

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Speaker 3: the capital? I think that's important, and I think you

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Speaker 3: have to have people around the cap table, around the

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Speaker 3: table that are in it with you for the mission

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Speaker 3: and understand that you can do good. You can do

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Speaker 3: well by doing good. And so that's what ZRCHU sets

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Speaker 3: out to do. And I think it really starts with

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Speaker 3: those early checks from investors and partners like Northwestern Mutual

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Speaker 3: that are willing to take a risk on you and

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Speaker 3: then understand that you're going to do everything you can

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Speaker 3: not to make a liar out of them and make

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Speaker 3: sure you have a strong ROI. And so for us,

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Speaker 3: it's really about aligning yourself with the right partners early,

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Speaker 3: because I do think that has a lot to do

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Speaker 3: with your success. And by the way, they've made several

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Speaker 3: introductions from a corporate standpoint, so we can drive our

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Speaker 3: revenue as well, and so there's so much more that

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Speaker 3: they bring to the table. And that's what I encourage

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Speaker 3: any founder of Color to seek out, is those investors

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Speaker 3: that are aligned with you, that understand you, that understand

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Speaker 3: the bridge that you're trying to build, because that's going

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Speaker 3: to drive your success. And so I take very little

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Speaker 3: credit for the success we've had to date and give

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Speaker 3: most of that to the support system that we have

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Speaker 3: around us.

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Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure.

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Speaker 3: Thank you back to you so post George Floyd. Okay,

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Speaker 3: a lot of companies, corporations made a lot of commitments,

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Speaker 3: a lot of promises. Most of those have been broken

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Speaker 3: at this stage, and I'm sure everyone in this room

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Speaker 3: can tell you some of those promises have been broken.

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Speaker 3: Can we talk or can you tell us a little

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Speaker 3: bit about Northwestern Mutual and your commitments then and now

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Speaker 3: and sort of where you guys are and really what

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Speaker 3: advice would you give to other corporations.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I really like the topic of this conversation in

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Speaker 4: terms of corporate social responsibility to close the wealth gap

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Speaker 4: because we are all uniquely positioned to be able to

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Speaker 4: do our you know, a path a part in helping

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Speaker 4: to close the racial wealth gap. You know, I'm just

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Speaker 4: going to share a little bit about the why, the what,

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Speaker 4: and the how. So you know, I talked a little

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Speaker 4: bit about the why that this is uniquely aligned to

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Speaker 4: our vision. But we recently had another conversation with our

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Speaker 4: CEO and where we landed is this is simply a

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Speaker 4: growth strategy. It is good for business. It's more than

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Speaker 4: just being altruistic. Investing in your communities, doing what you

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Speaker 4: can to really enable black business is good for business.

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Speaker 4: We want to grow, we want to be relevant, we

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Speaker 4: want to be competitive. Marketplaces have a change in and

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Speaker 4: if you stick with your old business model, you will

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Speaker 4: never grow, you will not be relevant, and you will.

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Speaker 2: Not be competitive.

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Speaker 4: So, Barnan, this is grounded in the business imperative. So

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Speaker 4: that was sort of the initial kind of the why.

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Speaker 4: And it's always very important, not that this is not

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Speaker 4: important for social good, but from a corporate standpoint, to

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Speaker 4: be really grounded in the why. And we are so

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Speaker 4: ground in the why unanimously around the company.

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Speaker 2: Now, what did we decide to do?

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Speaker 5: So?

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Speaker 4: Again post George Floyd, the CEO pulled a number of

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Speaker 4: us together and said, I want you to think innovatively.

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Speaker 4: I heard the word innovation used here, and my colleagues

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Speaker 4: and I went to the drawing board and we started

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Speaker 4: thinking about all kinds of ideas and what was behind

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Speaker 4: our minds was the sustained action.

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Speaker 2: And that was very, very deliberate.

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Speaker 4: The CEO wanted to make sure this was not just

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Speaker 4: the fleeting thing because I've read all the articles about

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Speaker 4: where all the commitments that companies made to grow black

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Speaker 4: businesses and really foster the development of underrepresented the businesses,

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Speaker 4: and so we said, it's action. But we went through

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Speaker 4: the drawing board and we said what are we going

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Speaker 4: to do? And there were a number of levers that

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Speaker 4: we created, but we said, let's make this very strategic.

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Speaker 4: So we created a strategy and we make sure we

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Speaker 4: allocate funds on par with every other corporate strategic initiative.

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Speaker 4: And I was asked to be the executive sponsor, So

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Speaker 4: I was given a portfolio, I was given the money

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Speaker 4: allocated to be able to do that, and that gave

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Speaker 4: everybody the confidence that this is not just some bite

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Speaker 4: side but again that spoke to kind of the sustained

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Speaker 4: aspect of it. So getting into the exactly what we did,

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Speaker 4: we recommended that we created we created a hundred million

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Speaker 4: dollar impact investing fund.

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Speaker 2: Now, these things are.

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Speaker 4: Not easy, but we had to create the case for that,

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Speaker 4: and ultimately that past muster and the focus for one

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Speaker 4: hundred million dollar impact Investing fund was around affordable housing,

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Speaker 4: healthy sustaining with.

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Speaker 2: Neighborhoods, and access to capital.

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Speaker 4: So step number one, Step number two is we have

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Speaker 4: a corporate venture capital fund about one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 4: million dollars, and that fund is broadly deployed across all races,

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Speaker 4: Ethnicsi's gender. But we wanted to make sure we had

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Speaker 4: a little set aside again for black businesses, and that

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Speaker 4: was green lips.

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Speaker 2: Okay, let's do that.

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Speaker 4: We wanted to make sure that the entrepreneurs that we

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Speaker 4: will be funding were strategically aligned to the company of fintech,

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Speaker 4: insured tech, Digital, heald AI, that kind of stuff, So

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Speaker 4: that was a second bucket. We then my colleague and

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Speaker 4: I then said, but we can't stop there. We have

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Speaker 4: to make sure we start creating an ecosystem. Why don't

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Speaker 4: we create an accelerator, And we studied the Northwest Mutual

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Speaker 4: Black Fund Accelerator as a complement of that, and we're

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Speaker 4: in the process of graduating the thirtieth cohort sorry thirty

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Speaker 4: members from the accelerator. It's a twelve week program. People

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Speaker 4: coming to the program get one hundred thousand dollars, they

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Speaker 4: get an executive mentor from Northwest Mutual and they graduate

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Speaker 4: from the program and gone to get other funding sources.

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Speaker 4: As part of the Impact Investing Fund, we've also been

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Speaker 4: partnering with local community development financial Institutions CDFIs in the

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Speaker 4: local area to make sure that they are able to

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Speaker 4: loan to make loans to local business because they have

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Speaker 4: the expertise on the ground game. And then we decided

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Speaker 4: that also we wanted to take a look at our

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Speaker 4: supplied diversity program to make sure we come brought in

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Speaker 4: that program.

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Speaker 2: So these are efforts.

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Speaker 4: And initiatives, key initiatives that I'm very very proud of

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Speaker 4: that we're driving as hard as possible. On top of that, obviously,

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Speaker 4: we're paying very close attention to the culture that we're creating.

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Speaker 2: As part of the strategy.

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Speaker 4: We had a cultural aspect of it, We had a

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Speaker 4: talent aspect of it, and then we had an aspect

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Speaker 4: of it that relates to being relevant in the marketplace.

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Speaker 4: How do we show up in the marketplace? What would

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Speaker 4: make people trust us, particularly again underrepresented communities. So I

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Speaker 4: share the strategic approach with you, and I know it's

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Speaker 4: a little painstaking to go through all the initiatives, but

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Speaker 4: they say, this was a very well thought out strategy

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Speaker 4: that's resourced with specific initiatives and people aligned with those initiatives.

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Speaker 4: And then we're beginning to measure proof points, and the

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Speaker 4: proof points that are material, how do we know we

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Speaker 4: actually make an impact. We want to make sure that

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Speaker 4: the businesses we're funding actually growing revenue. We want to

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Speaker 4: count the number of people they're hiring because obviously they're

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Speaker 4: creating jobs, and we want to for the accelerators the

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Speaker 4: founders come in, we want to track sort of full

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Speaker 4: on funding among many other ways of tracking actual, real impact.

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Speaker 2: So we're very, very proud of the work we've been doing.

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Speaker 4: But I just want to underscore exactly the question you asked,

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Speaker 4: which is we're not seeing as many proof points. And

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Speaker 4: I've read a number of articles about people leaving, you know,

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Speaker 4: the commitments they've made, But there's no better time for

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Speaker 4: us to double down the commands we're made. And I'm

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Speaker 4: just really proud of how we're going about this.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for that. I'm going to double click on something.

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Speaker 3: Is there a call to actually you would have for

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Speaker 3: other companies just based on the ecosystem you just walked

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Speaker 3: through and talked us through. You're not just throwing money

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Speaker 3: at these companies or these founders. You're in saying, you know,

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Speaker 3: go make it happen and then wondering why they fail.

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Speaker 3: You're actually building a support system, an ecosystem around this.

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Speaker 3: Is there a call to action you would have for

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Speaker 3: other organizations?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Yeah, the call to action

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Speaker 4: is across. So I would say about three dimensions. I mean,

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Speaker 4: the first is, frankly, from whatever your vantage point is,

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Speaker 4: the call to action is that courage, the audacity to

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Speaker 4: be bold, to continue to think outside of the box

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Speaker 4: because you know, it's hard, you know, and there are

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Speaker 4: times when you doubt it. There are times when people would,

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Speaker 4: you know, impede the progress drying makes. So that's number

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Speaker 4: one call to action. Let's be bold, let's be audacious.

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Speaker 4: Obviously we have to think constructed and make sure it's

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Speaker 4: grounded in the business. So that's number one. Number two

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Speaker 4: is it's beyond just activity. Even though I mentioned a

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Speaker 4: number of things that are very positive. I talked about

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Speaker 4: how we want to measure progress at the end of

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Speaker 4: the actual impact you're making, and let's make sure that

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Speaker 4: the programs we're doing actually tailored to deliver actual impact

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Speaker 4: and not just activity.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 4: Lastly, you know, I would just basically say, closing the

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Speaker 4: wealth gap for many may seem like boiling the ocean.

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Speaker 4: It's a giant wealth gap, and there's so many doors

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Speaker 4: you can open, so many dimensions you can take, and

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Speaker 4: sometimes it may feel frankly overwhelming, like how do I

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Speaker 4: know if I'm scratching the surface, how do I know

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Speaker 4: if I make an impact? I'm just gonna go back

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Speaker 4: to my tried and true ways or traditional ways. The

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Speaker 4: third call to action here is for you know some

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Speaker 4: of us are from corporations, but within your vantage point,

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Speaker 4: within your power, construct find ways to determine the kind

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Speaker 4: of impact you can make, what door you can open.

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Speaker 4: Even if you're an entrepreneur, you probably have a network

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Speaker 4: that you can expose other entrepreneurs too. And I'm sure

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Speaker 4: you have thoughts around this, Dennis, but it's a universal

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Speaker 4: call to action for us or to believe that as

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Speaker 4: a as a community, we're much better off if we

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Speaker 4: uplift one another.

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Speaker 2: That would be my call to action.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for that, Thank you for your leadership too.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely all right, I'm going to ask you also what

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Speaker 4: advice you have for people from your vantage point as

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Speaker 4: an entrepreneur. Granted it's been it's not easy to build

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Speaker 4: a business. I'm sure most people in this room recognize

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Speaker 4: the number of times you get told no, the amount

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Speaker 4: of time it takes to be able to get something

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Speaker 4: started and then scale it. But my question is on

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Speaker 4: a twofold you asked me about from a corporate standpoint,

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Speaker 4: and I would ask from a corporate standpoint, from a

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Speaker 4: VC standpoint, and from an entrepreneurial standpoint. I'm sure you've

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Speaker 4: experienced a little flavor between all those three, what advice

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Speaker 4: would you have from your unique vantage point given some

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Speaker 4: of the challenges and nuances of experience for each one

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Speaker 4: of those constituents.

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Speaker 3: I think it's a great question, and I've talked to

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Speaker 3: all of those organizations and entities, and what I would

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Speaker 3: say is, I'll start with corporate. You touched on this Corporate.

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Speaker 3: I think if and when corporate comes to the table

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Speaker 3: and they're looking at investing in black founders or underrepresented founders,

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Speaker 3: if if they come to that with the spirit of

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Speaker 3: this is a charity versus this is an investment, I

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Speaker 3: think it's the wrong start. I think you know that

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Speaker 3: conversation doesn't go far and those commitments are going to

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Speaker 3: fall off fairly quickly. So that's what I'm encouraged by

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Speaker 3: what you guys are doing at Northwestern Mutual in terms

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Speaker 3: of understanding, you know, and vetting deals. Right. So when

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Speaker 3: I'm talking with corporate investors and you guys know this,

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Speaker 3: it's the same diligence process as it would be if

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Speaker 3: I'm talking to a VC. So for me, I approach

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Speaker 3: it as if you know, it's the same common conversation.

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Speaker 3: But when I hear organizations sort of give me clues

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Speaker 3: that you know they're viewing this as a nice sort

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Speaker 3: of thing to do because it's the right thing to

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Speaker 3: do in the moment, versus this being baked into their culture.

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Speaker 3: I shy away from those corporate investors because I know

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Speaker 3: they're not really committed to me, to investing in black

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Speaker 3: founders and really helping us be successful. So that's one thing.

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Speaker 3: And I never got that impression with north with Northwestern Mutual,

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Speaker 3: So I would I would say to corporations, organizations, bake

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Speaker 3: it into your culture. Okay, make sure that founders of

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Speaker 3: color and not underrepresented founders know that they have just

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Speaker 3: as much of a shot as getting an investment, assuming

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Speaker 3: they're button up, you know, and they can sort of

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Speaker 3: demonstrate demonstrate the ROI from there. Vcs are very very different.

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Speaker 3: They're different animal corporations. From a corporate venture standpoint, that's

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Speaker 3: not your core business. So you kind of have that

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Speaker 3: luxury of sort of not living and dying off of

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Speaker 3: these investments, but yet you approach it like it's a

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Speaker 3: true investment. And I think this is important for founders

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Speaker 3: in this room to understand how the vcs think. I have.

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Speaker 3: I had two term sheets earlier in the year. I'll

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Speaker 3: give you an example that I turned down from VCS

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Speaker 3: because I felt like there was a lot of overreach

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Speaker 3: in those term sheets and felt like they were just

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Speaker 3: sort of taking advantage of the market and you know

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Speaker 3: where we are collectively, and that's hard to do, as

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Speaker 3: any one of you in this room will know, that's

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Speaker 3: hard to do in this this market. You know, when

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Speaker 3: you're burning through capital, you have a certain number of

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Speaker 3: months in runway and all that. But I did it

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Speaker 3: because it was the right thing to do. But I

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Speaker 3: also knew I had other investors around the cap table

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Speaker 3: that I can go to and say, look, I'm not

421
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Speaker 3: feeling this deal. I don't like it. I don't think

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Speaker 3: it's good for the company long term. And we had

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Speaker 3: a couple investors, including Northwestern Mutual, that stepped up and

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Speaker 3: led and co led this recent round of funding our

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Speaker 3: Series A that we've done. So that's a that's you know,

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Speaker 3: this is a real time example of making sure you

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Speaker 3: have the right investors on your cap table early because

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Speaker 3: you're going to need them later, right, And so sort

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Speaker 3: of looking at it from a what would I recommend

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Speaker 3: to corporate venture as well as founders, And I think

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Speaker 3: from a founder standpoint, as well as vcs. If I'm

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Speaker 3: giving any founder in the room advice. When you're talking

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Speaker 3: with vcs, I typically like to give them permission. And

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Speaker 3: this may be counterintuitive, but I give them permission early

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Speaker 3: on to say no. Now. The reason I do that

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Speaker 3: is because I need them to I need to have

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Speaker 3: an objective conversation with them, and I need them to

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Speaker 3: be able to actually hear my pitch right, because a

439
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,200
Speaker 3: lot of times these vcs feel like they're under pressure

440
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,399
Speaker 3: because you're a black founder and oh, you know it,

441
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 3: maybe taking the wrong way if I say no to them. No,

442
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,239
Speaker 3: first thing I say to them is, look, you know

443
00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,360
Speaker 3: I'm viewing this first call. It's just an introduction call.

444
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 3: You know. Whether it goes anywhere or not, that's okay.

445
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:05,720
Speaker 3: You know this is you and I getting to know

446
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,199
Speaker 3: each other. And I think more of us need to

447
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 3: look at these investor conversations like dating, right, And I

448
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 3: always compare talking to investors as if I'm dating because

449
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,120
Speaker 3: and what you don't want to do is ask an

450
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,879
Speaker 3: investor to marry you on the first date, right now.

451
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,040
Speaker 3: True story. I actually wanted to ask my wife to

452
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 3: marry me on our first date, but I knew she

453
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 3: would have run away, right, you know, and that would

454
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 3: have been a bad thing for both of us. But

455
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 3: so I had to get to know her.

456
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 2: You know.

457
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,720
Speaker 3: The only thing I was working on with her was

458
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,199
Speaker 3: the second date. And I say to you, that's the

459
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,640
Speaker 3: only thing you should focus on with investors, the second date,

460
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,920
Speaker 3: getting to know them, because it's important that you both

461
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 3: feel like you have permission to say no to each other.

462
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 3: And by the way, I've said no to a lot

463
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,160
Speaker 3: of investors. But when you say no to investors, guess

464
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 3: what they do introduce you to other investors. So it's

465
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 3: important to understand. And I'm not even talking about how

466
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,720
Speaker 3: the game works. I'm just talking about how psychology work

467
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,919
Speaker 3: and how people are. You know, meet people where they

468
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,479
Speaker 3: are because at the end of the day, investors, especially

469
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:29,119
Speaker 3: venture capital investors, and what I've learned is two things

470
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 3: that's important to them. They don't want to be embarrassed

471
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 3: by making a bad investment, and they always want to

472
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 3: look smart by making great investments. Right, So understand that

473
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 3: psyche going in and just kind of humble yourself and say,

474
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 3: let's just have a conversation and get to know each

475
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 3: other and never go into an investor deal. Thinking I

476
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 3: need you guys to invest in the next two to

477
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 3: three weeks. Not going to happen. I started relationships with

478
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 3: Northwestern Mutual about a year before they actually made an investment,

479
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 3: and that's likely true for most of our investors now.

480
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 3: So give yourself time, give yourself enough runway to make

481
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,400
Speaker 3: the right decisions. Don't marry the first investor you meet.

482
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 4: Awesome, I'm sure we have Do we have time for questions?

483
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 2: If we do?

484
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 4: Were certainly open to that, But there was one thing

485
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 4: that will just double down one.

486
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,680
Speaker 2: Sorry, I can see we have time for two questions.

487
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 2: You understand it.

488
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 1: Say where are you from?

489
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 5: Y Nika, I'm haughty and I'm from Brooklyn. Okay. My

490
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 5: question is for you, Dennis, all right, how what's the

491
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 5: percentage that you're invested with venture capitalists versus like companies

492
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 5: like Nimus, like Northwestern?

493
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 6: Like?

494
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:53,400
Speaker 5: What what's the breakdown?

495
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 3: That's a great question. Didn't think about that until you

496
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:01,119
Speaker 3: asked me that, right, But just visual our cap table.

497
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 3: It's about seventy thirty corporate, seventy percent thirty percent VC.

498
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 3: In fact, our entire Series A, with exception of one investor,

499
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 3: was corporate. We had one VC and I barely let

500
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 3: that VC in. I was actually hell bent on not

501
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 3: taking any money from venture capital as part of our

502
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,280
Speaker 3: Series A, because I really want to show other founders

503
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 3: that there's a different path to get where you're going, right,

504
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 3: And so many times we put so much dependency on

505
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,199
Speaker 3: venture capital, which, look, we need venture capital, but at

506
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 3: the end of the day, they're still only investing one

507
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 3: percent into black founders, right, So that's just a data

508
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 3: point we can't ignore. So we need to get creative

509
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 3: and start thinking outside of the box. And corporate partners

510
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 3: are just stepping up more and more, but you have

511
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 3: to deliver too at the end of the day. So

512
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:58,399
Speaker 3: it's about seventy thirty.

513
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 2: You say your name noon away.

514
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 6: From Mariah and I'm from Brooklyn, but I live in

515
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,400
Speaker 6: Jersey now, So my question is for both or either

516
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 6: of you. We talk a lot about mentorship, but then

517
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 6: also sponsorship and when you're looking at people looking to

518
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,640
Speaker 6: become entrepreneurs. There's a lot of research obviously in resources online,

519
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,359
Speaker 6: but I find it more helpful when you can find

520
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 6: a sponsor or someone to mentor you. Where would you

521
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 6: suggest people go for those kind of interactions build obviously

522
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 6: like networks like this, you can build, you can build relationships,

523
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 6: but like, are there programs or are there certain avenues

524
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 6: you suggest new or young entrepreneurs to spaces.

525
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 2: To be in. I can take that first, and that

526
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 2: you can comment.

527
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 4: I mean, for us, it's uniquely within Accelerator program and

528
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 4: we match executives to the founders, executives that have done

529
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 4: all kinds of jobs and have the unique skill sets,

530
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,720
Speaker 4: whether it's a CTO, whether it's CIO, whether it's the

531
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 4: head of digital product, whatever the case may be, that

532
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 4: can really advise and counsel. We have cohorts of only five,

533
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 4: so we're able to deploy executives who bring that skill set.

534
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,480
Speaker 4: So that's what we've been doing. But I'm sure you

535
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 4: can speak to kind of a broad up mentorship.

536
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,360
Speaker 3: I have very little to add to that because I

537
00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 3: think that's the route, that's the path, right. And so

538
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 3: my only one ad is that early on when we

539
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 3: were raising our seat funding, I literally pitched every accelerator

540
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 3: program there is. I didn't turn down, as my uncle

541
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 3: used to say, I wasn't turning down nothing but my collar, right,

542
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 3: And so for me, I showed up. I made the pitch.

543
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,239
Speaker 3: You know, in most cases we got in, but it

544
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 3: was really about getting access to those resources, as you're

545
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 3: alluding to, right, because that's what we want. We want

546
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,760
Speaker 3: those resources, we want those introductions, We want the opportunity

547
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 3: to be in the room to at least make our

548
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 3: business case right. And some people are going to say no,

549
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 3: some are going to say yes, please get us in

550
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 3: the room.

551
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: So y'all make some noise for dinners in the beam.

552
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 2: Thank you, gentlemen telling me where have you been