Bleeding Heart, Capitalist Mind: Laurel Mintz on Diversity and VC Alpha

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Want to know what happens when you refuse to take no foreign answer?
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Laurel Mintz got dismissed, hung up on, and locked out of every room and venture capital.
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Her crime?
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Launching a fund that only invests in diverse founders.
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Here's how she turned constant rejection into $10 million in funding
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and built her own room when they wouldn't let her in.
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This is the Exit Interview.
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This episode is brought to you by Next Health Calabasis,
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where proactive wellness starts with understanding your body.
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Use code Exit to get your first baseline blood testing consultation
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and $850 value for only 250 exclusively for our listeners.
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Hi everyone, welcome to the Exit Interview.
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We are thrilled today to be with the amazing Laurel Mintz Laurel.
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You started as a lawyer.
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I know I want to talk about you are interim CEO of Bassit,
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which we also want to get into.
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You create a you the founder of Elevate Your Brand,
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which is an experiential marketing agency.
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And now the founder of Fabric VC.
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So Laurel, welcome to the Exit Interview.
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Thank you for having me.
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I feel like there needs to be like,
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I'm so excited for this conversation.
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It's been a long time coming.
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Yes, tell us a little bit about the the journey
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of what led you to ultimately be launching Fabric VC.
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Yeah, pure stupidity.
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No, I'm just kidding.
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You know, when you look back at your career,
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you realize that even though you thought it was so weird
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and like things were derailing,
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that the path was actually quite linear in hindsight.
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So started my career as a corporate M&A attorney,
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have an MBA in digital marketing,
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being a lawyer was not my jam, very boring,
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but practiced at a firm in San Francisco
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called Covington,
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being an international firm,
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and then my dad got sick.
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He's healthy now,
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but I ended up stepping in to your earlier point
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as interim CEO of Bassit,
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Furniture at 26, the West Coast,
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beyond the West Coast.
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And that was, I mean, I cried every day
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if I'd been completely honest.
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And then I would wait my tears away
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and I would like go in and I would boss up
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and I'd be like, all right, what are the numbers?
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What are we doing today?
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Retail Furniture is not it.
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Let's just say that.
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Yeah, yeah, it's I can imagine it's very, very challenging.
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But when you say you cried every day,
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like what was the like impact that a little bit?
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Like what was that process?
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Well, I thought I was on corner,
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partner track at the law firm.
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So it's always what I thought I would be doing.
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And then I could step down and take over that interest.
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I was like, my life is over.
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Like my path is over.
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I've been very, you know,
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structured in how I've approached my life.
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And now I'm completely off that track.
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And really it was putting me on this correct track
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to meet you both and to have these great conversations.
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And so I also was crying every day
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because I realized stepping into that firm
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and you know, I have no filter.
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So this is part of the journey to getting to fabric.
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My father was completely overlaveraged in that company.
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So a lot of people are great salesmen.
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And that's certainly where I get my schmoo schools from.
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But he should never have been an operator.
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So that was why I was so hard.
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We were able to turn it around sold that 2009,
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launched the marketing agency elevate.
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That's now been around 17 years, 400 plus brands.
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I bought 17 years.
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What was the inspiration for that?
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Pardon?
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What was the inspiration for that?
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Well, I started consulting while I was still going out
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off to the big law firm jobs
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and getting these great six-figure offers.
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And my Jewish mother was like,
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oh my god, I'm so excited.
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You should totally take these offers.
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And I was like, this really nauseous
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every time I would get all work.
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And so I started consulting on the side.
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But all the consulting gigs were around Numitia
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at the time.
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We're aging ourselves a little bit now.
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You want to know what the fuck digital marketing was?
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Right, right.
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That's what everybody wanted.
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They wanted to know how to build a social campaign.
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Like what digital really was,
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e-commerce was just starting to really pay.
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Right, right.
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And so all my consulting gigs were on that side.
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While on the left hand side,
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I was getting these great corporate gig offers.
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And like, when I tell you I went through bottles of Pepto
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trying to connect the, or disconnect from the,
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I think this is my corporate, you know, person.
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This is actually me creating my own career.
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Like it was not the vibe.
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But I did wake up one day and I realized,
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actually, this is a career.
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I can make this into something bigger.
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And that's when I started hiring and training
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and building out the agency team.
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Now, like I said, 17 years later,
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my team on that side is and has been 100%
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diverse in stay one.
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That's always been part of our mission and alignment.
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And then yeah, the idea for fabric came about after that.
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So it's been a wild journey.
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Yeah.
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And then pack a little bit just for people
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who don't know, like, the thesis of fabric VC,
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like what you guys do and how you came to,
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you know, sort of structure your fun,
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which is, you know, very sort of different
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from how others do it.
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Yeah. So fabric VC is a venture fund.
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We say we lovingly don't invest in anyone who's pale,
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male or stale.
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They have enough capital.
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They can get it elsewhere.
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Don't come for me.
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It came because of my legal background,
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so many private equity and venture firms
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were coming to us to market them on the agency side.
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Right.
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And one of the GPs one day was like,
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you need to go launch this fund.
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You have earlier a better deal flow
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than we do this marketing special sauce
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and this commitment to diversity.
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And honestly, ladies, I was like,
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no, thank you.
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I'm good.
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I'm really happy to be an LP.
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I don't need to be a GP.
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That's not a big headache.
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And then I saw the lack of diversity,
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not just on folks on the GPs side,
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like me, but on the deployment of capital side.
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Right.
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And what we always talk about is that 2% number, right?
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Like less than 2%, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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But what we need to be talking about is the other side of it,
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which is that when you invest in folks like us,
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we return on average at a 25% higher return rate.
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And that's when I was like,
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there's a model here.
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I think I can execute on and do good and do well.
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Like the two are not concessionary.
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And it's just been bullshit.
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Right.
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People have been have been preaching.
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Oh, right.
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It's not like you're funding a nonprofit with this money.
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Thank you.
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One of my mentors, Jesse Draper,
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who's been, her family's been in venture forever.
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She has a, she says, investing in diversity
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isn't a fucking charity.
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It's a great business model.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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And so go ahead and finish your thought.
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Oh, to that point.
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So we decided to only invest in that category
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in consumer tech, health tech and fintech.
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But I wanted to build something that was differentiated.
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So we do a part sweat equity,
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a part cash model, meaning we do this layer of diligence.
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It's all marketing focus because that's our expertise.
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And not about the quarter of the deals that we write cash checks
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you, we will match with sweat equity.
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Meaning we're not just picking winners.
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We're really making them.
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And that's the piece that our investors have been most excited about.
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So that's there for somebody comes from asset management.
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It's interesting because for a marketer to get into this type of space
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for us, like raising capital is very difficult
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because even when you come into a room,
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at the end of the day, you're just a marketer.
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Like you're the marketer.
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You're not the investment professional.
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You're not, you know, and you're not the portfolio manager.
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So entering into the space as somebody who's not coming from finance,
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originally, I know you have a background in M&A
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as it relates to your JD.
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But coming into the space as like somebody who's now
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providing this other piece of marketing and marketing is something
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that has been learned over time.
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Not something that and everybody thinks they're a marketer.
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Everybody thinks they know how to market.
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Everything's their marketer.
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And then also entering a space that's minority driven.
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That's a huge underdog component of it.
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And you're coming up against those who are white males,
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mostly who are getting all the capital.
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So how did you decide you were going to break into this space?
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And then was there a lot of noise around that?
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Did people try and push you back?
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Was what were the challenges to try and get up and going?
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Oh, yeah.
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I mean, well, the first challenges were my own,
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my mental challenges of like,
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oh my god, I'm raising money.
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I've never asked anyone for a penny in my entire life.
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Right.
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In the beginning, like I was betting for money.
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But to your point, as soon as I realized,
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no, this is just a marketing opportunity in a different narrative.
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That's when everything shifted for me.
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I was like, this is an opportunity.
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It's going to be a fit for some.
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It's not going to be a fit for everyone.
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I'm going to get more nose than yeses,
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which I'm totally used to on the agency side.
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But the opportunity that we are providing
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is a completely differentiated model.
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And as soon as I shifted my mindset around that,
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the checks started flowing.
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So that was kind of the first hurdle I had to overcome.
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And then the second one was,
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I'm not very popular in a lot of rooms.
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You're pointable.
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And that's the way I point.
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So how can I overcome that?
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Because there is like a sense of,
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you know that you deserve a seat at the table,
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but it's still, they don't want you at the table all the time.
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Correct.
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How do you navigate?
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Well, I made sure that I was in rooms that wasn't supposed to be in.
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And that was a big realization for me too,
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because you can be in these rooms,
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like where we met at the Wonder Woman group.
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Right.
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Those are great rooms.
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And I love to have the support of those women.
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But those aren't the rooms that you really need to be making change in.
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So I made sure to album my way and get on stages
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and have really uncomfortable conversations
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and put myself in the line of fire.
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Because let's be honest,
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as a white woman, I can have different conversations, period.
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Right.
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And I've always had that voice.
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And so this was just a different conversation
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that happened to be around money.
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And I've been called every name in the book.
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I've been hung up on.
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I have been called all the things.
264
00:10:04.880 --> 00:10:07.760
But this has always been who I am
265
00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:09.680
and who I have been in the agency.
266
00:10:09.680 --> 00:10:12.080
It's just, I can have more impact.
267
00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:12.880
Someone called it.
268
00:10:12.880 --> 00:10:16.880
It was like a, like, who was the woman,
269
00:10:16.880 --> 00:10:20.400
the Rosie, the Riveter?
270
00:10:20.400 --> 00:10:24.000
Yeah. She's like, you're being like a Rosie Riveter, but in finance.
271
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.720
So as long as I can have impact
272
00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:30.480
and I will say the thing that made the biggest difference,
273
00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:32.480
again, in terms of marketing and narrative,
274
00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:33.840
was speaking to the numbers.
275
00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:34.880
Instead of saying,
276
00:10:34.880 --> 00:10:36.720
we need to invest in more diverse founders.
277
00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.280
It was like, no, the numbers show
278
00:10:39.280 --> 00:10:42.160
that investing in diverse founders returns better.
279
00:10:42.160 --> 00:10:44.320
And I always told people, like, let's be clear.
280
00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.200
I'm a bleeding heart, but I am a fucking capitalist first.
281
00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:47.680
Right.
282
00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:50.000
And that really unclenched a lot of, you know,
283
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:50.640
my hold.
284
00:10:50.640 --> 00:10:51.280
It's big.
285
00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.000
I was like, let me see that spreadsheet again.
286
00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.440
Hold on, wait a second.
287
00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.480
How do you get past the rejection, the consistent rejection?
288
00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.120
I think that's the hardest part for new entrepreneurs,
289
00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.080
for founders, for people who aren't used to asking for capital.
290
00:11:06.800 --> 00:11:09.280
The product is near and dear to them.
291
00:11:09.280 --> 00:11:11.120
How do you get over the constant rejection?
292
00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:14.000
I was already trained for that.
293
00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.000
I feel because on the agency side,
294
00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.400
I've never been pitching my whole career.
295
00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:20.320
And again, you get more nose than yeses.
296
00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:26.320
They're not as hostile as they've been saying sometimes.
297
00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.720
But also, the truth is, is like, when we polished our materials
298
00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:32.720
and people saw what we were about,
299
00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:34.640
we would always send our materials ahead of time.
300
00:11:34.640 --> 00:11:37.120
And if you were anti-TEI, anti-EV,
301
00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.440
and you saw those materials,
302
00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:40.880
you were never going to be in a Zoom or...
303
00:11:40.880 --> 00:11:42.080
We were in many ways.
304
00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:43.360
And that was fine by me.
305
00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:45.200
So I think leading with the materials
306
00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:46.960
and making sure that we're like,
307
00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:48.960
to be clear, this is who we are and what we do,
308
00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:50.160
you can either love it or leave it.
309
00:11:52.160 --> 00:11:54.480
But the rejection side, that's life.
310
00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:57.280
You've got to have a thick skin, just like an entertainment.
311
00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.720
If you don't have a thick skin, then go get a W2.
312
00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:01.840
Just do something else.
313
00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:04.880
But was there ever a room...
314
00:12:04.880 --> 00:12:07.200
I mean, it sounds like maybe there wasn't.
315
00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.280
But was there a particular time where you had...
316
00:12:11.280 --> 00:12:12.800
whether it was the way it came,
317
00:12:12.800 --> 00:12:16.880
or the people, or something where a rejection kind of,
318
00:12:16.880 --> 00:12:20.160
like, was a little chinky in the armor at some point?
319
00:12:20.160 --> 00:12:21.360
Yes, definitely.
320
00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.960
My Chief of Staff calls it when I get like upset,
321
00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.480
and she says, I'm sad boxing,
322
00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.360
because I had this moment of depression in this arc,
323
00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:30.640
where I went into my boxing class,
324
00:12:30.640 --> 00:12:32.240
and I was literally on the bad, like...
325
00:12:33.280 --> 00:12:34.480
I can't do this anymore.
326
00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:35.680
This is too hard.
327
00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:36.800
Go whenever I get in that scene.
328
00:12:36.800 --> 00:12:38.800
You're going to see what day God damn it.
329
00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:40.240
You call this sad boxing.
330
00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:44.000
But what happened was I was in New York.
331
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.000
I was at an alternative's conference,
332
00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.240
and there was this guy on stage who did seat...
333
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.240
who seated venture funds, like mine,
334
00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:51.920
with three to five million dollars seed funding.
335
00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:56.000
And he was talking about how he had just done this for another LP,
336
00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:56.400
who...
337
00:12:56.400 --> 00:12:59.600
or a GP rather, who had a marketing background
338
00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.160
in the added value of that expertise
339
00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:03.200
with Stone kind of leave value.
340
00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.600
But I was like, this guy's going to love me,
341
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:07.360
because I do all the things that I'm a lawyer,
342
00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:08.880
and I'm already executing.
343
00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:09.840
He gets off stage.
344
00:13:10.560 --> 00:13:12.960
We start having a conversation and a side in the room.
345
00:13:13.520 --> 00:13:15.280
And I didn't lead with the diverse...
346
00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:17.520
I don't know why, because I usually do.
347
00:13:17.520 --> 00:13:20.560
But I led with the kinds of companies we were investing in,
348
00:13:20.560 --> 00:13:21.920
in terms of vertical,
349
00:13:21.920 --> 00:13:24.560
the marketing expertise, the differentiation,
350
00:13:24.560 --> 00:13:26.480
the rolling-raise-rolling closed model,
351
00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.160
rolling deploy model rather.
352
00:13:28.160 --> 00:13:30.160
And at the very end, I said,
353
00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:32.000
and he's like leading in, and he's like eating it up.
354
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:33.200
Like he is into this.
355
00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.760
And at the very end, I close with,
356
00:13:36.400 --> 00:13:38.480
and all of our founders are diverse.
357
00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:41.920
And you could just see his whole face drop.
358
00:13:41.920 --> 00:13:44.560
And he leans in, and he gets beat red,
359
00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:46.400
and he goes, you're a racist.
360
00:13:46.400 --> 00:13:47.920
That's fucking racist.
361
00:13:47.920 --> 00:13:50.080
And the whole room went dead silent,
362
00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:52.160
because we were just in like a little corner.
363
00:13:52.160 --> 00:13:53.440
And I mean, I was like,
364
00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:54.960
God, it your mag is showing.
365
00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:56.880
God, it didn't see it before on stage.
366
00:13:56.880 --> 00:13:57.600
I get it now.
367
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:00.400
The funniest part of that story
368
00:14:00.400 --> 00:14:01.840
is that I went to a dinner afterwards,
369
00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:03.040
but they had a cocktail hour,
370
00:14:03.040 --> 00:14:05.040
and I had a lot of friends in that room.
371
00:14:05.040 --> 00:14:07.280
And so he would introduce himself to,
372
00:14:07.280 --> 00:14:09.840
you know, my friend Sarah or whatever, and she would go,
373
00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:11.680
oh, you're that guy that called my friend,
374
00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:12.400
Laurel O'Raciss.
375
00:14:12.400 --> 00:14:14.160
Let's talk about why that's problematic,
376
00:14:14.160 --> 00:14:15.360
especially in rooms like this.
377
00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.200
And so he got schooled,
378
00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.200
probably like three or four more times that night,
379
00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:20.640
which I was like, okay, you know,
380
00:14:20.640 --> 00:14:21.120
my people.
381
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.480
That'll love the group chat, honey.
382
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:23.200
Yeah, that's right.
383
00:14:24.880 --> 00:14:26.480
That was one of the moments of like,
384
00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.760
oh, yikes.
385
00:14:27.760 --> 00:14:29.200
Like it was a yikes moment for sure.
386
00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.000
But that is interesting,
387
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.600
because your approach was to throw
388
00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.000
in the diversity component at the end,
389
00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.760
because you want them to hear the numbers first.
390
00:14:35.760 --> 00:14:37.040
That's the strategy.
391
00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:37.920
Exactly.
392
00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:40.720
But it showed, it showed his MAGA, you know what I mean?
393
00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:41.520
Like, yeah, yeah.
394
00:14:41.520 --> 00:14:42.240
Like, oh, got it.
395
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:43.120
That was hidden before.
396
00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:44.080
Now it's very clear.
397
00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:44.560
Yeah.
398
00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:46.640
I think it's important, though, to identify that,
399
00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:49.280
because I think there's a lot of misconception around,
400
00:14:49.280 --> 00:14:51.520
like, yes, when you're doing things
401
00:14:51.520 --> 00:14:53.760
for minority groups and for diversity,
402
00:14:53.760 --> 00:14:55.280
you want that to be prevalent,
403
00:14:55.280 --> 00:14:57.360
and you want to be loud and proud about it.
404
00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.200
But you want to be strategic about it,
405
00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.000
because if that's all that people here to start,
406
00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.680
they're not going to hear everything else.
407
00:15:03.680 --> 00:15:05.040
So you purposefully,
408
00:15:05.040 --> 00:15:06.560
even though you're very mission-driven
409
00:15:06.560 --> 00:15:08.400
to help minority groups,
410
00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:10.000
you don't lead with that.
411
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.200
You actually closed with it, which is interesting.
412
00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:14.160
I'll lead with the numbers.
413
00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:16.640
Like, if I can show you that the model is a better model,
414
00:15:16.640 --> 00:15:18.640
or at least an equal model,
415
00:15:18.640 --> 00:15:20.320
and you can do good and do well,
416
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.760
like, why wouldn't you?
417
00:15:21.760 --> 00:15:22.720
Mm-hmm.
418
00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:23.680
Yeah.
419
00:15:23.680 --> 00:15:25.040
That's really interesting.
420
00:15:25.040 --> 00:15:26.080
I have another question, too,
421
00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:27.520
as it relates to power dynamics,
422
00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:28.560
particularly with men.
423
00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:30.320
You're talking to a lot of men,
424
00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:32.800
probably the majority of people are going to be men,
425
00:15:32.800 --> 00:15:34.000
men of power.
426
00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:35.760
And when things are transactional,
427
00:15:35.760 --> 00:15:38.000
particularly related to money,
428
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.320
there can be sexual undertones.
429
00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.720
So have there been times where you're going through
430
00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.000
and trying to raise capital
431
00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.240
or having the money conversation?
432
00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.160
And then there's an undertone there
433
00:15:48.160 --> 00:15:49.280
that crosses your path.
434
00:15:49.280 --> 00:15:51.120
How do you, can you tell us a story
435
00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.200
and sort of how do you navigate that?
436
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.600
Yes, I really want to say the name.
437
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:56.720
I'm not going to.
438
00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.440
You have been a lot, actually.
439
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.440
And look, I'm looking at 50,
440
00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:02.560
then I am to 40 now.
441
00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:06.160
So my sexuality isn't as front and center as it was.
442
00:16:06.160 --> 00:16:07.760
I know what I look like.
443
00:16:07.760 --> 00:16:10.640
And I dress to the nines when I go into these rooms.
444
00:16:10.640 --> 00:16:11.920
And I do it very intentionally.
445
00:16:11.920 --> 00:16:13.920
I never dress in black or rarely dress in black.
446
00:16:13.920 --> 00:16:16.800
I like to be bold and really stand out
447
00:16:16.800 --> 00:16:18.480
because that's just my personality.
448
00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:22.160
And definitely men will sexualize that
449
00:16:22.160 --> 00:16:28.160
and pray on the fact that they can control a little bit
450
00:16:28.160 --> 00:16:30.480
the narrative because they can write you a big check, right?
451
00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.320
So I have this one, one guy who
452
00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.960
had been kind of dangling the carrot
453
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:38.640
for a couple of months.
454
00:16:38.640 --> 00:16:40.320
He was in New York, I'm in LA.
455
00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:41.520
And I was coming out to New York
456
00:16:41.520 --> 00:16:44.880
from my last road show for this, this fund.
457
00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:47.840
And he was like, let's go out for dinner.
458
00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.480
I would love to just hang out, learn more about the fun.
459
00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:51.600
I think we'd have a really good time.
460
00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:52.240
I'm like, great.
461
00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:56.000
We go out for dinner and it's clear.
462
00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.560
Like from moment one, I'm a very flurry person
463
00:16:58.720 --> 00:16:59.920
and I don't take it personally.
464
00:16:59.920 --> 00:17:01.680
Like I use what I have.
465
00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:03.600
And if that is a little bit of flirtyness
466
00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:05.360
and a little bit of cleavage, I'm fine with that.
467
00:17:05.360 --> 00:17:05.920
You know what I mean?
468
00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:09.120
It might not be the most like PC thing to say,
469
00:17:09.120 --> 00:17:11.280
but I feel like we need to use all our assets.
470
00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:12.480
Right.
471
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:16.880
And also, I make sure that I don't allow them to cross up that line.
472
00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:22.480
And that's really where your kind of like core values
473
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.480
as a human have to come into place.
474
00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.320
So we're sitting across from the table
475
00:17:26.320 --> 00:17:30.000
and he starts asking like very sexual questions
476
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:32.880
and about me and my relationship with my husband
477
00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:34.240
and all these kinds of things.
478
00:17:34.800 --> 00:17:36.400
And I was like, hmm, I've got it.
479
00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:37.760
Okay, this is that.
480
00:17:37.760 --> 00:17:38.720
Got it.
481
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.680
And I basically just cut him off at the knees.
482
00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.480
I stopped drinking because I didn't want him to have any,
483
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:46.720
you know, any power dynamic in that way.
484
00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:48.720
Did he write me a check?
485
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.320
Absolutely fucking not.
486
00:17:50.320 --> 00:17:53.040
And has he been responsive to any of my communication
487
00:17:53.040 --> 00:17:53.600
since then?
488
00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:55.200
Absolutely fucking not.
489
00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:58.800
So you have a pretty good sense of who is real in the room
490
00:17:58.800 --> 00:18:00.640
and who's just there to be a little flurry
491
00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:02.240
and who's more predatory.
492
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:03.440
Exactly.
493
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.880
And then I think it's important to know
494
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:06.880
because when when people are starting up
495
00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.640
when you're in that founder phase,
496
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.680
you're trying to get capital, there's a there's a desperation
497
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.280
a little bit that comes with that.
498
00:18:14.560 --> 00:18:16.960
In my career, I think one of the important things
499
00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:20.800
I've learned has been if the opportunity was there once,
500
00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:23.120
there'll be another opportunity.
501
00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:24.640
It may not be the same opportunity,
502
00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:25.920
but there'll be another opportunity
503
00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.320
because you already got to the door of the opportunity.
504
00:18:28.320 --> 00:18:30.400
So can you tell us a little bit about,
505
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:31.760
like in that instance,
506
00:18:31.760 --> 00:18:34.880
you don't necessarily want to accept all capital.
507
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.760
You should be selective of the capital that you receive.
508
00:18:37.760 --> 00:18:39.760
Can you give us a little bit of insight into that?
509
00:18:41.360 --> 00:18:45.760
Yeah, I mean, so we were very intentional
510
00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:49.840
about making sure that our minimum check size
511
00:18:49.840 --> 00:18:53.600
was accessible to more diverse LPs.
512
00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:56.640
When you come into a venture fund typically,
513
00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.680
the minimums are like 250, 500 a million.
514
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.840
They're really not approachable,
515
00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:04.640
especially for women who have never written a check
516
00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:06.240
of that kind of scale before.
517
00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.800
I mean, we're lucky to be in an era
518
00:19:08.800 --> 00:19:10.960
where this wealth transfers happening.
519
00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:13.520
But even to this day, most women,
520
00:19:13.520 --> 00:19:16.560
even ones that have great careers and have made a lot of money,
521
00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:19.120
maybe they've written a couple of angel checks.
522
00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.000
But venture is something that they've very intentionally
523
00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:23.840
been left off the table of.
524
00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:27.760
So we made sure to build out a corporate,
525
00:19:27.760 --> 00:19:29.760
or a capital call structure
526
00:19:29.760 --> 00:19:33.680
that allowed more smaller checks to come in over time
527
00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.480
to make sure that our LP base could be more diverse.
528
00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.400
And I think because of that
529
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.960
and because of our core marketing message,
530
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:43.680
we really get to the right people who understand
531
00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:45.520
who we are and what we're about.
532
00:19:45.520 --> 00:19:48.720
Now, again, to my earlier stories, not always the case.
533
00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:52.400
And also, it's interesting when you're building
534
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:56.080
a micro fund versus what our next vehicle will look like
535
00:19:56.080 --> 00:19:58.080
because we've been able to build these relationships
536
00:19:58.080 --> 00:20:00.880
to your point with institutional funds
537
00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.240
that could never write a check to a small fund
538
00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:07.000
because their minimum checks are 5, 10, 20, 25 million.
539
00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:09.200
So it's like economies of scale,
540
00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.680
even within the venture world.
541
00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.640
And it's also just about relationships.
542
00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:17.920
And to your point, I've definitely closed a bunch of doors
543
00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.480
that I knew were never going to be the right doors.
544
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:21.800
But the ones that are fruit,
545
00:20:21.800 --> 00:20:24.320
I mean, you're not, I'm not very religious,
546
00:20:24.320 --> 00:20:27.040
but they say, like God doesn't miss you any opportunity.
547
00:20:27.040 --> 00:20:29.240
Anything that's supposed to be yours will be yours.
548
00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:31.120
I think I totally messed up that.
549
00:20:31.120 --> 00:20:32.520
Adam, you know what I mean?
550
00:20:32.520 --> 00:20:35.040
So we get, yeah, what God has for you to find you.
551
00:20:35.040 --> 00:20:36.400
Basically, I think is what you mean.
552
00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:37.960
Yeah, correct, correct.
553
00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:39.400
It's for you, it'll find you.
554
00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:41.320
Mm-hmm, it'll find you.
555
00:20:41.320 --> 00:20:43.360
After you've invested in looking your best,
556
00:20:43.360 --> 00:20:45.080
you'll want to invest in your wellness
557
00:20:45.080 --> 00:20:47.600
so you can feel just as good as you look.
558
00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:49.520
Next Health takes a proactive approach
559
00:20:49.520 --> 00:20:51.960
to wellness through advanced biomarker testing,
560
00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:54.000
giving you a clear look at what's actually
561
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:55.600
happening inside your body.
562
00:20:55.600 --> 00:20:58.440
From there, their medical team builds a personalized treatment
563
00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:01.400
plan to help you feel and perform your best.
564
00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:02.960
If you want to take control of your health,
565
00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.960
use code exit for your baseline biomarker test
566
00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:11.200
and consultation and $850 value for just $250 exclusively
567
00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:12.480
for our listeners.
568
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.240
Visit Next Health Calabases and start your wellness journey
569
00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:16.600
today.
570
00:21:16.600 --> 00:21:19.120
And I'd love to talk about just to that point in both
571
00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:20.760
and how you structured it in the companies
572
00:21:20.760 --> 00:21:22.600
that you're supporting in that 25%.
573
00:21:22.600 --> 00:21:25.960
Like, talk about some of the, like, the wins
574
00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:28.760
or like what's come out of some of the companies
575
00:21:28.760 --> 00:21:31.920
that you've been able to support in this context.
576
00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.120
Well, we're investing early,
577
00:21:33.120 --> 00:21:34.840
so we don't have exits as of yet.
578
00:21:34.840 --> 00:21:38.080
But we've invested in some super interesting companies,
579
00:21:38.080 --> 00:21:40.360
probably ones that you guys even know,
580
00:21:40.360 --> 00:21:43.120
which is unusual when you're writing super early checks.
581
00:21:43.120 --> 00:21:46.400
The first check we ever wrote was to a company called Cadence.
582
00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.880
There are these little pods that you put your creams and jewelry
583
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:50.600
and serum in for travel.
584
00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:53.480
And then they magnetically attach and magnetically label.
585
00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:55.160
They've been everywhere for the holidays.
586
00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:56.880
You guys, yeah, I'm seeing the dawn.
587
00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:57.720
Yeah.
588
00:21:57.720 --> 00:21:58.560
That was the first check.
589
00:21:58.560 --> 00:22:01.120
I didn't know that was one of your companies, obviously.
590
00:22:01.120 --> 00:22:02.640
The first check we ever wrote.
591
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:03.680
That was the first check we ever wrote.
592
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.120
And they just closed their series day this year.
593
00:22:06.120 --> 00:22:07.240
So that's been a great one.
594
00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:09.120
And they've been very, like, they're a very visible company,
595
00:22:09.120 --> 00:22:10.960
which is why I like to bring them up.
596
00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.600
And then this one's really interesting.
597
00:22:13.600 --> 00:22:15.880
It's a company called Chippen.
598
00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:18.400
They originated as a pet food company,
599
00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:20.760
but then they saw that there were going to be all these economic
600
00:22:20.760 --> 00:22:22.360
headwinds from terrorists.
601
00:22:22.360 --> 00:22:23.720
And I don't know if you do this.
602
00:22:23.720 --> 00:22:24.920
I certainly didn't.
603
00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:28.480
Most of the proteins that we grind into pet foods here
604
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.960
come from the garbage, whitefish,
605
00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:31.480
that china ships over to us.
606
00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:32.840
I did not know this.
607
00:22:32.840 --> 00:22:36.080
I also did not know that there are all these bodies of water
608
00:22:36.080 --> 00:22:38.520
all across the US where the states will pay you
609
00:22:38.520 --> 00:22:40.520
to maintain biodiversity.
610
00:22:40.520 --> 00:22:43.400
So this badass female founder moved to,
611
00:22:43.400 --> 00:22:45.120
I believe it was Mississippi,
612
00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:47.280
started taking this whitefish out of the water,
613
00:22:47.280 --> 00:22:50.000
grinding it into an ingredient,
614
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.480
and just closed a massive contract with Purina,
615
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.880
who I believe will acquire them in the next two years.
616
00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:57.800
So essentially pivoted into an ingredients company,
617
00:22:57.800 --> 00:23:00.040
kept the high margin snap food category
618
00:23:00.040 --> 00:23:02.600
for visibility and awareness around the brand,
619
00:23:02.600 --> 00:23:05.120
and I think as a clear line of site acquisition.
620
00:23:05.120 --> 00:23:06.920
So those are a couple of, but they're all my babies.
621
00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:07.920
I mean, I love them.
622
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:08.760
Yeah.
623
00:23:08.760 --> 00:23:11.400
You know, they're also interesting.
624
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.120
What about managing, there's obviously a lot of failures
625
00:23:14.120 --> 00:23:19.240
also as it comes to VC and startups and everything like that.
626
00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:21.880
How do you navigate?
627
00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:23.920
When do you know when something is suddenly,
628
00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:24.880
this isn't gonna work?
629
00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.040
And then what's the strategy?
630
00:23:26.040 --> 00:23:26.960
What do you do?
631
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.560
Yeah, my second check ever was the first company that failed.
632
00:23:30.560 --> 00:23:33.960
And these were two SPVs that had rolled into the fund.
633
00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:35.480
So it was like a super early check.
634
00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:38.000
I was still very much in learning phase.
635
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.520
The company was in the medical space
636
00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:44.360
and or the health tech space rather.
637
00:23:44.360 --> 00:23:45.640
Founder was absolutely brilliant.
638
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:48.800
They figured out a way to centrifuge.
639
00:23:48.800 --> 00:23:49.720
I'm totally gonna mess this up
640
00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:51.160
because I'm not a technical person.
641
00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:53.080
And something like their centrifuge model
642
00:23:53.080 --> 00:23:55.040
was like 10 times faster than the average.
643
00:23:55.040 --> 00:23:59.640
So they could, they could return results at scale
644
00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:02.800
faster than any other pharmacy in the world.
645
00:24:02.800 --> 00:24:04.200
And they had all these great contracts,
646
00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.280
very weird LA contracts with like LA, USD
647
00:24:07.280 --> 00:24:08.640
and the adult film industry.
648
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.080
So they had these really interesting targets.
649
00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:13.520
The reason that they ended up shutting down
650
00:24:13.520 --> 00:24:16.040
was because they had an internal bad actor.
651
00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:18.800
And so he was fraudulently building.
652
00:24:18.800 --> 00:24:22.120
And so the federal government came and stepped in
653
00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:25.240
and said, this is a, this is HIPAA non-compliance
654
00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:28.760
and like all these other right issues.
655
00:24:28.760 --> 00:24:30.800
And they ended up having to shut the company down.
656
00:24:30.800 --> 00:24:33.160
The core technology I believe is still sound
657
00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:35.560
and we hope that they will spin back up with that
658
00:24:35.560 --> 00:24:37.440
and release re-release equity.
659
00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:39.280
Who knows about what happened or not.
660
00:24:39.280 --> 00:24:40.720
But those are not things you can solve
661
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:41.960
where I couldn't have gone into this,
662
00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:43.240
I mean, there's a billion people.
663
00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:44.920
How could I know that that was the person
664
00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:46.960
that would fuck up the entire company?
665
00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:47.800
Right.
666
00:24:47.800 --> 00:24:50.040
I will tell you though, I at first I was like,
667
00:24:50.040 --> 00:24:52.880
oh my god, we have a mob.
668
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:55.800
And then almost like instantaneously,
669
00:24:55.800 --> 00:24:58.920
I had that moment of panic and then I had a moment of,
670
00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:00.640
actually I'm really proud of myself.
671
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.920
Like you're gonna have these fail points just like in life.
672
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:05.720
And the fact that it was a very small check
673
00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:08.480
because it was an SPD is actually such a blessing.
674
00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:10.160
Let's just, yeah.
675
00:25:10.840 --> 00:25:13.280
Well, then you also are able to tell
676
00:25:13.280 --> 00:25:15.400
how you recover from a loss too.
677
00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:18.040
It gives you, it's additive to the track record.
678
00:25:18.040 --> 00:25:19.240
Correct, correct.
679
00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:21.040
Yeah, nobody wants to see that everything is perfect
680
00:25:21.040 --> 00:25:22.760
because they know that it's bullshit.
681
00:25:22.760 --> 00:25:23.760
Right.
682
00:25:23.760 --> 00:25:25.360
That's correct.
683
00:25:27.360 --> 00:25:28.600
It's like, what are you not showing me?
684
00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:30.240
Open up that landing closet.
685
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:32.200
Right, right, right, right.
686
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:36.840
To that point, I'm curious what things do you see?
687
00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:38.760
Because obviously you're dealing with a lot of founders,
688
00:25:38.760 --> 00:25:41.280
you're dealing with a lot of people coming towards you.
689
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:47.040
What things do you see consistently in entrepreneurs
690
00:25:47.040 --> 00:25:49.240
that are successful that are,
691
00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:53.240
assuming maybe transparency might be one of them.
692
00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:55.800
But what are the things that kind of,
693
00:25:55.800 --> 00:25:59.600
what are your sort of green flags and red flags
694
00:25:59.600 --> 00:26:04.600
of sort of entrepreneurship as you've seen it?
695
00:26:05.120 --> 00:26:10.400
Yeah, I would say it teeters between a green and a red flag,
696
00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:12.360
which is the attitude of the founder
697
00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:16.960
because you want a founder who has a little bit of bravado
698
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:19.760
but isn't not, is still coachable, right?
699
00:26:19.760 --> 00:26:21.960
And so it's this very interesting balance
700
00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:24.760
between ego and delulu, you know?
701
00:26:24.760 --> 00:26:25.920
Right.
702
00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:27.200
So that's been an interesting one.
703
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:30.160
We had a female founder that we didn't eventually write a check to,
704
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:33.240
but when she was introduced to us, our first meeting,
705
00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:35.520
she was like, we're going to close our round in like two weeks.
706
00:26:35.520 --> 00:26:37.080
If you can't write me a check, that's online
707
00:26:37.080 --> 00:26:38.120
then we shouldn't really be talking.
708
00:26:38.120 --> 00:26:41.000
And I was like, you're like, oh, yeah.
709
00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:43.480
Oh, honey, you're so cute.
710
00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:44.480
So cute.
711
00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:48.000
And she didn't, she was a runner heart.
712
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:49.200
Right, but what's your heart?
713
00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.680
Exactly, that whole Southern ad.
714
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.400
And she didn't close around for like two or three months
715
00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:54.840
and I knew that was going to happen.
716
00:26:54.840 --> 00:26:55.840
Yeah, of course.
717
00:26:55.840 --> 00:26:57.880
And I knew that the product that she created,
718
00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:01.160
the service she created was really just such a great model.
719
00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:04.760
So we did end up writing a check, but I was like, it was a little,
720
00:27:04.760 --> 00:27:06.960
it was teetering on the yucky side a little bit.
721
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:08.440
Right, right, right, right.
722
00:27:08.440 --> 00:27:10.440
That was right.
723
00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:12.320
And then presence, I think knowing you're,
724
00:27:12.320 --> 00:27:14.600
where you're great at and solving for the rest,
725
00:27:14.600 --> 00:27:17.640
like I've had a lot of founder, we do pitch events.
726
00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:22.360
We've had 50 or 60 companies pitched live with a huge audience.
727
00:27:22.360 --> 00:27:24.760
And that was really a marketing tool and an opportunity for them
728
00:27:24.760 --> 00:27:27.600
to get in front of our amazing network.
729
00:27:27.600 --> 00:27:29.360
Because we can't write checks to everyone, right?
730
00:27:29.360 --> 00:27:32.640
So we're not open this up and we've definitely had other founders
731
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:36.000
and other funders fund those companies in the room.
732
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.360
And some of these founders come in and I'm like,
733
00:27:38.360 --> 00:27:41.720
why are you the one, you are, you should not be on camera honey.
734
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:43.360
Like, no, why?
735
00:27:43.360 --> 00:27:46.400
Like you should have your CMO or at least go get some training back.
736
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:48.440
But like, you're not the one.
737
00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:52.400
And there's just like, they're like too technical or they just,
738
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:53.520
they go down and happen.
739
00:27:53.520 --> 00:27:57.760
Nobody cares about because it's so deeply about what they care about.
740
00:27:57.760 --> 00:28:02.240
But that's not how a pitch should go in terms of, right?
741
00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.680
So everybody thinks or not everybody.
742
00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:09.560
But there's a lot of misconception around needing presentation
743
00:28:09.560 --> 00:28:12.840
training or media training before you go into it.
744
00:28:12.840 --> 00:28:14.760
They think, oh, because it's a closed room,
745
00:28:14.760 --> 00:28:17.240
I'm not necessarily going to be on TV or I'm not
746
00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:19.600
going to be on live stream social media.
747
00:28:19.600 --> 00:28:21.720
I don't need the presentation training.
748
00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:26.040
And I know my product really well, but it's about the delivery.
749
00:28:26.040 --> 00:28:30.040
You don't necessarily need to know every single intricate detail
750
00:28:30.040 --> 00:28:31.040
about the product.
751
00:28:31.040 --> 00:28:33.320
You have to be able to tell the story.
752
00:28:33.320 --> 00:28:37.480
And not every founder is the storyteller for the company.
753
00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:40.440
Is that something when everyone's a marketer or when things are marketer?
754
00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:44.600
But everyone should be able to market in a succinct way
755
00:28:44.600 --> 00:28:46.800
their product or service for fundraising.
756
00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:50.160
So can you talk at you mentioned that originally you had done the pitch
757
00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:53.280
workshop as a marketing tool?
758
00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:55.960
Can you explain a little bit?
759
00:28:55.960 --> 00:29:00.800
We obviously can only write a few checks out of each round that we close.
760
00:29:00.800 --> 00:29:04.280
And I have this moment of very, very early on of like,
761
00:29:04.280 --> 00:29:05.400
God, that really sucks.
762
00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:08.160
And I'm like one-on-one with these companies.
763
00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:11.560
I'm going to say way more knows than yes is it just feels unfair to me.
764
00:29:11.560 --> 00:29:13.200
How can we solve for that?
765
00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:16.480
And we have a massive network, a massive database,
766
00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:20.600
the podcast, the newsletter, like all these channels,
767
00:29:20.600 --> 00:29:24.200
all of our social channels that have a lot of visibility to it.
768
00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:29.240
And I thought to myself, if part of my core value here and core mission
769
00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:31.600
is to support these diverse founders,
770
00:29:31.600 --> 00:29:32.920
it can't just be with a check.
771
00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.120
It has to be with the tools of the platform that I've been so lucky to have
772
00:29:36.120 --> 00:29:39.120
built in my previous company.
773
00:29:39.120 --> 00:29:44.720
And so that was when the idea of opening a pitch day to everyone came about
774
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:49.400
because most GPs still do close room pitches, right?
775
00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:51.840
Like if you're an LP, you're invited in that room.
776
00:29:51.840 --> 00:29:53.840
If you're a prospective LP, you're invited in that room.
777
00:29:53.840 --> 00:29:57.280
Or if you're another GP or another VC, you're invited in that room.
778
00:29:57.280 --> 00:30:00.680
But I don't know if I've seen anyone other than like,
779
00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:05.040
women founders networks and like the big organizations that do open pitches.
780
00:30:05.040 --> 00:30:06.920
And I thought, why not?
781
00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:07.920
Like that doesn't make sense.
782
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:09.600
Why does this have to be a closed room?
783
00:30:09.600 --> 00:30:13.880
Again, that's part of the old way the way to keep people.
784
00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:15.480
Yeah, that's the way to get key.
785
00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:16.000
Right.
786
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:19.120
And so many people and women in particular that I talk to,
787
00:30:19.120 --> 00:30:21.240
they just don't have the knowledge base.
788
00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:24.320
And so just to even get them in that room, watching pitches,
789
00:30:24.320 --> 00:30:27.120
hearing the feedback, hearing the questions.
790
00:30:27.120 --> 00:30:30.800
And the responses is a learning tool for them.
791
00:30:30.800 --> 00:30:34.360
And so much of what we've done is education and empowerment.
792
00:30:34.360 --> 00:30:37.400
I said this to you, like, it's the work in the work.
793
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:40.040
I didn't realize this was going to happen.
794
00:30:40.040 --> 00:30:42.880
But so much of what we needed to do was to get women,
795
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:47.560
and specifically women of color, because again, those stats are even less.
796
00:30:47.560 --> 00:30:48.320
Yeah, yeah.
797
00:30:48.320 --> 00:30:52.600
To understand how to have conversations about this table.
798
00:30:52.600 --> 00:30:54.480
Now, people keep saying you want to get them to the table.
799
00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:56.880
I say, fuck that, we need to build our own table.
800
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:05.040
And part of that is the languaging and the jargon around it is, again, it's all bullshit.
801
00:31:05.040 --> 00:31:08.040
Like, if I can do it, anyone can do it.
802
00:31:08.040 --> 00:31:09.560
Really.
803
00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:13.040
So that's why we decided to open it to everyone.
804
00:31:13.040 --> 00:31:20.240
And what do you see, if what do you see as strategically some of the sort of best practices
805
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:25.160
for people who are like going in front of people to pitch?
806
00:31:25.160 --> 00:31:27.720
And that context, like, what are some of the best practices?
807
00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:29.320
Like, what are some of the things?
808
00:31:29.320 --> 00:31:34.600
Like, if you could tell someone three things to do before they get in front of that crowd.
809
00:31:34.600 --> 00:31:35.720
What would they be?
810
00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:37.480
Practice based on your timing.
811
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:42.920
I've been in so many pitches, not just ours, but others, where you have five minutes
812
00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:45.360
or 10 minutes or 5, whatever that is.
813
00:31:45.360 --> 00:31:50.960
And this person clearly has not timed themselves to that, like, that makes no sense to me.
814
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:51.960
Like, that makes no sense to me.
815
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:57.640
So practicing your pitch and asking someone for feedback, right?
816
00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:02.360
Like, those are two things you could do so easily and should always do, because it also
817
00:32:02.360 --> 00:32:06.000
shows you that someone is coachable or thinking about how to better themselves and doesn't
818
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:11.840
have so much ego as to think, well, I've got to work out the right way the first time,
819
00:32:11.840 --> 00:32:12.840
right?
820
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:21.360
And then to me, it's about, to your point, cadence and presence and having feeling your
821
00:32:21.360 --> 00:32:26.600
power in that room, right, making sure that you can own that space.
822
00:32:26.600 --> 00:32:31.920
And I talk really fast, so, but I think because of my energy, people like are into it.
823
00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:39.160
But when I'm really trying to make a point, I make sure people lean in and listen to
824
00:32:39.160 --> 00:32:40.680
what I have to say.
825
00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:46.040
And there is a power in understanding how to use your voice in so many different ways.
826
00:32:46.040 --> 00:32:47.040
Mm-hmm.
827
00:32:47.040 --> 00:32:50.480
Yeah, I have to do the same thing because I'm also a fast talker.
828
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:51.480
Yeah.
829
00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:52.480
I'm out of my New York.
830
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:53.480
And Jay, right.
831
00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:54.480
We have a problem.
832
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:55.480
That's what we do.
833
00:32:55.480 --> 00:32:56.480
Yeah.
834
00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:57.480
It's the way I like each other immediately.
835
00:32:57.480 --> 00:32:58.480
Totally.
836
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:02.240
And when I have to do a pitch, because also too, a part of why I have to rehearse too is
837
00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:05.120
because when I'm nervous, I'll talk even faster.
838
00:33:05.120 --> 00:33:06.120
Oh, yeah.
839
00:33:06.120 --> 00:33:07.120
Yeah.
840
00:33:07.120 --> 00:33:08.120
It doesn't ramp down.
841
00:33:08.120 --> 00:33:12.080
It's only one and a half, but it only goes up.
842
00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:17.120
So I have to really, I have to practice in order to be like, oh, let me, like, it has to
843
00:33:17.120 --> 00:33:21.600
practice slowing down because if I get to a moment, I'm not ready, I'll know I'll just
844
00:33:21.600 --> 00:33:22.600
speed up.
845
00:33:22.600 --> 00:33:27.640
So, um, but I love that you said that, um, I'm going to say the outcome of that is like,
846
00:33:27.640 --> 00:33:31.600
people can't consume not much content that quickly.
847
00:33:31.600 --> 00:33:32.600
Right.
848
00:33:32.600 --> 00:33:35.240
So I think people think, well, I'm, what I'm saying is really smart and important.
849
00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:39.040
I need to get all of it into one thing, but the other side of that coin is that people
850
00:33:39.040 --> 00:33:41.000
are not, they're not digesting it.
851
00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:42.000
So, right.
852
00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:43.000
They'll do yourself a disservice.
853
00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:44.000
So I'm really excited.
854
00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:48.720
I'll start elevating my volume of my voice and I get, and my brother's like, Shauna,
855
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:49.720
microphone off.
856
00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:50.720
Please.
857
00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:51.720
Inside voice.
858
00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:55.000
And my husband will be like, I'll be talking to you.
859
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:56.000
He's like too fast.
860
00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:57.000
Too fast.
861
00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:58.000
Okay.
862
00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:59.000
Start again.
863
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:00.000
I call it the wrong.
864
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:01.000
We're on Burgundy.
865
00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:02.000
And watch the rubber.
866
00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:03.000
I can't control the.
867
00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:04.000
Oh, yes.
868
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:05.000
Yes.
869
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:06.000
Exactly.
870
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:07.000
Exactly.
871
00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:08.000
Exactly.
872
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:09.000
We're on the freestyle.
873
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:10.000
We're together.
874
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:11.000
We're in love.
875
00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:12.000
We're in love.
876
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.000
Yeah.
877
00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:17.000
It's a top 10 re-watch that movie.
878
00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:19.000
I love it so much.
879
00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:21.000
That's so funny that you represent.
880
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:26.480
But I love that you also said, too, which I think, um, uh, is a very important point and
881
00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:31.480
it has nothing to do with even like, well, here's my, you know, here's my like market cap
882
00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:36.480
and here's, you know, like the, the facts and figures as you talked about, literally, like,
883
00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:41.480
almost the space that you're filling up in the room, like how you have to kind of, like,
884
00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:43.480
walk in the room a certain way.
885
00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:48.480
And that is a space that exists really in your own mind before the pitch even happens
886
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:51.480
that a lot of people don't necessarily unpack.
887
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:52.480
But I've seen it.
888
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:54.480
You've seen it because you see people live pitch.
889
00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:56.480
That help people pitch and train people for pitching.
890
00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:01.480
And I'm like, the pitch happens before the pitch, like the way you walk into that room,
891
00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:08.480
your mindset is so important because there's the, there's a third rail that you don't see
892
00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:12.480
that actually helps you build trust with the audience or with the people you're pitching
893
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:17.480
or both, really, if in this context, that's just, do you believe it?
894
00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:18.480
Do you feel it?
895
00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:19.480
Do you know it?
896
00:35:19.480 --> 00:35:22.480
Um, and so it was just interesting to hear you call that out.
897
00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:26.480
I think it was about 80% of communication is nonverbal.
898
00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:27.480
Period.
899
00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:28.480
Period.
900
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:31.480
There is also the physical component.
901
00:35:31.480 --> 00:35:34.480
And we talked about this a little bit earlier, but it's like you're a woman,
902
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:37.480
you use your assets, you come in, you like to dress to the nines,
903
00:35:37.480 --> 00:35:43.480
but there's also an opposing opinion of that that people suggest that no,
904
00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:47.480
you shouldn't like lean into the sexuality of being a woman.
905
00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:50.480
And then there's the Gary Vies of the world who just like we're a fucking baseball
906
00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:53.480
cap and a t-shirt and they can get away with it.
907
00:35:53.480 --> 00:35:55.480
But the majority of the world cannot.
908
00:35:55.480 --> 00:36:01.480
And so what's sort of your advisement if there's, you know, a founder who's maybe not as polished,
909
00:36:01.480 --> 00:36:05.480
superficially, um, what's your advice?
910
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:07.480
I mean, that cannot be bought.
911
00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:08.480
You know what I mean?
912
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:10.480
Like, if you know that that's a, a, a weak point.
913
00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:13.480
And if it matters due to like some people, it doesn't matter to you.
914
00:36:13.480 --> 00:36:16.480
They're like, I'm going to speak to my mirror and that's all that I care about.
915
00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:18.480
I don't care what I look like.
916
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:22.480
I would say that that is like you don't have to be had to tow Gucci out.
917
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:24.480
Like it doesn't have to be that.
918
00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:28.480
But there still is something like, again, the nonverbal cues, right?
919
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:34.480
If you have stains on your shirt or rips and things or your hair is messy or your,
920
00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:39.480
if you're just a mess, my assumption is that the rest of your life is a mess, right?
921
00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:41.480
And that's how the world perceives you.
922
00:36:41.480 --> 00:36:46.480
And unfortunately, especially in LA, we're in a very visual society.
923
00:36:46.480 --> 00:36:51.480
But it does have subconscious impact and through lines.
924
00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:55.480
And they've done studies around it, frankly, about how you sharpen those rooms.
925
00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:59.480
So I would say, you don't have to be perfect, but you can also go to like,
926
00:36:59.480 --> 00:37:03.480
I don't know, a gap and get basics that make you look put enough together.
927
00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:06.480
But there's no excuse to not look polished in those rooms.
928
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:09.480
And, um, and you can hire people to do that.
929
00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:14.480
That's like the great part is like you could even have Chanchee BT build your clothing wardrobe for you.
930
00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:17.480
I mean, there are so many ways to do that.
931
00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:20.480
Ultimately, you still need to be authentically you.
932
00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:23.480
So to me, fashion is an expression.
933
00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:25.480
And that is why it's so important to me.
934
00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:28.480
Like, even my nails, I feel like are an extra.
935
00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:29.480
Love your day.
936
00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:30.480
I love it.
937
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:32.480
But that's not the case for everyone.
938
00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:35.480
And a lot of people judge it too.
939
00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:36.480
I will tell a quick story.
940
00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:40.480
I was at an event in San Francisco when I was very early days raising the fun.
941
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:42.480
And I was at a woman's only event.
942
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:43.480
Uh-huh.
943
00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:44.480
A dinner.
944
00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:47.480
And this woman who I've known for a little while, she's French.
945
00:37:47.480 --> 00:37:49.480
And she is very snotty.
946
00:37:49.480 --> 00:37:52.480
Um, and she's raised a big fund.
947
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:54.480
And I was in head to toe hounds to the suit.
948
00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:56.480
I was feeling my oats.
949
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:57.480
I was like in it.
950
00:37:57.480 --> 00:37:59.480
And I love this look.
951
00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:02.480
And at the very end, after I smoothed with everyone,
952
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:05.480
and I was like feeling really good, she pulled me aside and she goes,
953
00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:07.480
honey, you should not just add this.
954
00:38:07.480 --> 00:38:10.480
No one would write you a check if you look like this in this room.
955
00:38:10.480 --> 00:38:13.480
And I was like, it like, it felt like it's smack in the face.
956
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:16.480
And for a moment, I was like, it took me down.
957
00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:18.480
I get popped my mold in a little bit.
958
00:38:18.480 --> 00:38:20.480
And then I was like, fuck that noise.
959
00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:24.480
I'm going to show up exactly how I need to be for me in this room,
960
00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:28.480
because that's how I can come across as authentically as possible.
961
00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:32.480
And what I now realize is that that world was just super intimidated by me.
962
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:34.480
And it happens.
963
00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:36.480
I hope that I don't come across intimidating,
964
00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.480
because I also think that I'm very authentic and very warm.
965
00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:42.480
But she did not like that I was able to own that room.
966
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.480
And that's why she needed to call me out.
967
00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:47.480
But it's not because in my career working in finance,
968
00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:51.480
there were some people that never hesitated to make a comment
969
00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.480
about my high heels and how high they were.
970
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:55.480
And how tall I was.
971
00:38:55.480 --> 00:38:58.480
And I was just like, and this of course was like a shorter person.
972
00:38:58.480 --> 00:38:59.480
And I was just like me.
973
00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:00.480
It's just grow a little bit.
974
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:03.480
Like, you just hopped on the head.
975
00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:06.480
Do you want to try the mod?
976
00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:07.480
Yeah.
977
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:11.480
My version of that is like, people will talk about how loud it was like,
978
00:39:11.480 --> 00:39:14.480
oh, you know, like, you might want to tone it down.
979
00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:17.480
I'm like, what about, what about anything that's going on here?
980
00:39:17.480 --> 00:39:18.480
No.
981
00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:20.480
If I'm too much, go find my.
982
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:22.480
It says, no.
983
00:39:23.480 --> 00:39:26.480
We always on 10 is going to be it's up at its stuff, baby.
984
00:39:26.480 --> 00:39:29.480
And if you don't like it, stand on that side of the room.
985
00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:31.480
But no, but there are always those times where some like,
986
00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:33.480
like you said, you're like, in particular,
987
00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:35.480
when you're like feeling good and you're like, okay,
988
00:39:35.480 --> 00:39:37.480
this is good and it's working and things are connecting
989
00:39:37.480 --> 00:39:39.480
and someone just comes and they're like,
990
00:39:39.480 --> 00:39:40.480
they kind of shank you.
991
00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:42.480
You know, and it has that moment.
992
00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:45.480
Yeah, but that's what I'm not about you.
993
00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:49.480
You know, somebody called me, hey, maintenance once and in the workplace.
994
00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:52.480
And I said, yeah, and I mean, I'm maintaining it myself.
995
00:39:52.480 --> 00:39:53.480
Thank you.
996
00:39:53.480 --> 00:39:55.480
My husband and I had that conversation many times.
997
00:39:55.480 --> 00:39:57.480
And I was like, honey, I make money.
998
00:39:57.480 --> 00:39:58.480
I'm maintaining myself.
999
00:39:58.480 --> 00:39:59.480
Yeah.
1000
00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:00.480
Right.
1001
00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:01.480
Right here.
1002
00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:03.480
I'm not trying.
1003
00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:04.480
No, I love it.
1004
00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:06.480
I mean, like, literally, we walked into the, like,
1005
00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:07.480
we walked in it.
1006
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:09.480
Like, could you say it's at the fur?
1007
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:10.480
And I was.
1008
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:11.480
I loved it.
1009
00:40:11.480 --> 00:40:13.480
Literally.
1010
00:40:13.480 --> 00:40:18.480
I'm genuinely like, I live for everything that this is.
1011
00:40:18.480 --> 00:40:20.480
It should know, like, I'm not a fashion person.
1012
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:24.480
And I'm now suddenly getting into fashion because of the podcast and Keisha knows.
1013
00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:26.480
So now I pay like extra attention.
1014
00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:28.480
And I'm just like, see, like, she's got it.
1015
00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:29.480
She's got it.
1016
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:32.480
It's a lot.
1017
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:33.480
It's a lot.
1018
00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:34.480
It's a lot of work.
1019
00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:35.480
You know, I mean, but whatever it does.
1020
00:40:35.480 --> 00:40:38.480
And I think let us say that obviously women, we have less wiggle room.
1021
00:40:38.480 --> 00:40:42.480
Like it said, the guys could show up making look like who shot John.
1022
00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:47.480
You know, they have a different level of wiggle room than we do.
1023
00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:50.480
Um, and yeah, and I'm just like, listen, do it all.
1024
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:54.480
You know, listen, honey, if I could wake up in the morning and there was a team of people waiting for me,
1025
00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:58.480
it's like, whatever I get some real money, that's where it's going.
1026
00:40:58.480 --> 00:40:59.480
Yeah.
1027
00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:00.480
The last one.
1028
00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:03.480
It's going to be a full-time staff.
1029
00:41:03.480 --> 00:41:08.480
It's the only job it is to make me look as good as possible.
1030
00:41:08.480 --> 00:41:09.480
Um, so.
1031
00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:10.480
Yeah.
1032
00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:12.480
Well, God bless you.
1033
00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:13.480
God bless you.
1034
00:41:13.480 --> 00:41:14.480
Um, but we'll take it.
1035
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:17.480
We'll take all the help we can get.
1036
00:41:17.480 --> 00:41:20.480
Um, I'm curious what, what for you?
1037
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:22.480
Like, where do you see your fun going?
1038
00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:28.480
Like, what are some of the like ambitions and like hopes and dreams for like the growth of the fund?
1039
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:31.480
And, and what, what would you love to see happen in the future?
1040
00:41:31.480 --> 00:41:33.480
Oh, I'm very clear on this.
1041
00:41:33.480 --> 00:41:35.480
I'm sure you're shocked.
1042
00:41:35.480 --> 00:41:39.480
But, you know, the idea is a billion AUM in the next 10 years.
1043
00:41:39.480 --> 00:41:42.480
And if people don't know what AUM is, it's assets under management.
1044
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:45.480
We always want to de-jorganize this conversation.
1045
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:50.480
Um, you know, we know with a $10 million fund, which is the fund we're raising now.
1046
00:41:50.480 --> 00:41:51.480
We've raised now.
1047
00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:52.480
Oh my god.
1048
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:55.480
It's like, yeah, it's so wild.
1049
00:41:55.480 --> 00:41:56.480
Ever.
1050
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:57.480
Oh my gosh.
1051
00:41:57.480 --> 00:41:58.480
That's amazing.
1052
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:00.480
Maybe sweat a little bit.
1053
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:06.480
So with a $10 million fund, we know we're moving grains of sand for a few handful of founders.
1054
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:12.480
With a billion dollars, we will be moving mountains and we will be undeniable that this is a model that works.
1055
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:13.480
Right.
1056
00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:14.480
That's the vision.
1057
00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:15.480
Right.
1058
00:42:15.480 --> 00:42:16.480
Just to prove out the model.
1059
00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:19.480
And our founders ready to go pitch to you.
1060
00:42:19.480 --> 00:42:22.480
Oh, I don't know.
1061
00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:24.480
I mean, we do like very early checks.
1062
00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:31.480
So seed and free seed when in the next funnel, we do more series A larger checks because it'll be a larger fund.
1063
00:42:31.480 --> 00:42:32.480
When are they ready?
1064
00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:35.480
Um, it depends on the fund.
1065
00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:36.480
They're talking to me.
1066
00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:40.480
So this first fund, we, well, we were last checks in on almost every round.
1067
00:42:40.480 --> 00:42:45.480
And that was an intentional thesis that I had because I was like, I'm a first time GP.
1068
00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:47.480
I don't want to mess this up.
1069
00:42:47.480 --> 00:42:51.480
I'm going to ride the coattails of other really smart GPs and DCs out there.
1070
00:42:51.480 --> 00:42:57.480
And also come in with allocations that we otherwise wouldn't have received were it not for the marketing expertise.
1071
00:42:58.480 --> 00:43:00.480
Fund to will be a little bit different.
1072
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:05.480
I still don't know if we're going to lead rounds, but we're definitely going to be a little bit more up market.
1073
00:43:05.480 --> 00:43:08.480
We'll do some follow on to our existing portfolio as well.
1074
00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:11.480
So I, it's a hard question to answer.
1075
00:43:11.480 --> 00:43:16.480
I think I would say as early as possible because it's about building relationships.
1076
00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:18.480
That's the real answer.
1077
00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:19.480
Yeah.
1078
00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:22.480
I want to talk about leadership for a moment.
1079
00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:25.480
You have your marketing agency company.
1080
00:43:25.480 --> 00:43:39.480
And then you also now are doing the VC and you're emesiting the two by providing some of the services to the VC to the to the companies that are going into the VC.
1081
00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:49.480
How do you have that conversation with your team and then how do you bring them along without making them feel like, oh my gosh, this is overwhelming.
1082
00:43:49.480 --> 00:43:51.480
That's a great question.
1083
00:43:51.480 --> 00:43:57.480
When I decided I was going to launch the fund, I made the agency an ESOP.
1084
00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:06.480
And for those that don't know, an ESOP is an employee stock option plan, meaning they could, if they were with us long enough, own the agency.
1085
00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:08.480
And that was very intentional for a few reasons.
1086
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:12.480
I was going to be focusing a lot of effort on this side of the fence.
1087
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:19.480
I needed to know that they had ownership and control and could really run the day to day there.
1088
00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:21.480
That was one, two.
1089
00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:23.480
They're the ones that are scaling the agency.
1090
00:44:23.480 --> 00:44:25.480
So they deserve a piece of the pie.
1091
00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:29.480
And three, that was also in furtherance of our social and financial equity mission.
1092
00:44:29.480 --> 00:44:35.480
So it was really a confluence of all of those things together that made it the right mode and model for us.
1093
00:44:35.480 --> 00:44:42.480
And then we did an analysis on the team, the hours that we had bucketed on that side.
1094
00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:53.480
And we decided that we could in three to five years offer a maximum of two million dollars of sweat equity to the portfolio on the right hand side of the fence.
1095
00:44:53.480 --> 00:45:08.480
So we were very intentional and very operational about thinking through what that would look like, how not to overwhelm that side of the team because we still had to be conscious of making money and cash flowing that business and support the fabric VC founders.
1096
00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:18.480
So it was a little bit of a building the plain while you were flying it situation when we were executing, but we were very thoughtful in the beginning on the structuring of the relationship.
1097
00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:23.480
Talk about the structure of your leadership team at the marketing agency.
1098
00:45:23.480 --> 00:45:26.480
Yeah, so we're pretty flat organization.
1099
00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:34.480
I'm obviously the CEO and founder, but my top two folks there who are now owners of my partners happen to be a queer man and a black woman.
1100
00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:42.480
And they have their own C suite level titles, even though they're again, it's a very flat organization, but they really run the day to day there.
1101
00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:54.480
This is considered the account director and she really distributes the the opportunities that come through to the agency to the team on the outside.
1102
00:45:54.480 --> 00:46:02.480
And then Cody on our team is the content or creative director and he does all of the creative visioning and a lot of the operations side of it.
1103
00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:10.480
So again, very intentional about who handled what so that I can feel confident to step into my power on the fun side.
1104
00:46:10.480 --> 00:46:19.480
I certainly come back and I'm a part of culture closing big deals, making sure that the team is operationally being efficient, hiring and firing things like that.
1105
00:46:19.480 --> 00:46:30.480
We really have done a good job and by week they did a really good job because I was going to give credit where credit is due of operationalizing that business and having been around for 17 years.
1106
00:46:30.480 --> 00:46:44.480
You can do a lot of look backs and building out we have like an internal wiki that is like if this then that so everyone that comes into the agency knows that they can go to that document to a search for pretty much anything and they'll be able to find an answer.
1107
00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:47.480
So it was it's kind of self-sustaining now.
1108
00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:57.480
Oh, that's fascinating where there are other kind of structural things that you did along those lines to sort of like help sort of institutionalize knowledge.
1109
00:46:57.480 --> 00:47:09.480
Uh, that wiki's really yet honestly and making sure that it's updated and there are so many links and connections within that document to the contracts, the scopes, different types of scopes.
1110
00:47:09.480 --> 00:47:11.480
Right.
1111
00:47:11.480 --> 00:47:25.480
Onboarding and offboarding, training modules, all the software programs that we use, how best to use them, how to onboard people on and how to, I mean, you could ask me any question and I would, I literally could hand you this document you could do a search and figure it out.
1112
00:47:25.480 --> 00:47:28.480
That's that's really impressive.
1113
00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:37.480
For as you being the founder of this company that you had had for a very long time, there's an identity component to it.
1114
00:47:37.480 --> 00:47:46.480
How was it knowing that you're going to let this go a little bit and then focus your attention over here into something new that you don't know right away is going to be successful.
1115
00:47:46.480 --> 00:47:49.480
What was that internal dialogue like?
1116
00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:52.480
It's fine. I was fine.
1117
00:47:53.480 --> 00:47:58.480
It's hard. It's really hard. I feel very connected to both companies.
1118
00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:05.480
And also I'm starting to think about what my next, you know, period of my life will look like, right.
1119
00:48:05.480 --> 00:48:11.480
And so the hope is in the next five years that the team on the agency side really owns the, the agency.
1120
00:48:11.480 --> 00:48:14.480
And I don't have to be really involved in that at all.
1121
00:48:14.480 --> 00:48:18.480
And so in doing that, I have to, by necessity, remove myself.
1122
00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:23.480
And I think by building those processes, those operational processes, that's helped to do that.
1123
00:48:23.480 --> 00:48:27.480
And having been in market for this long, people know elevate.
1124
00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:30.480
And I did that actually very intentionally from a branding perspective.
1125
00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:35.480
I didn't call it the Laurelman's agency or, you know, agency by law or whatever.
1126
00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:41.480
I made sure it was a branded name so that I, whatever that, if I sold it, if I walked away, that it would stand on its own.
1127
00:48:41.480 --> 00:48:47.480
But it's definitely, I have, I had an identity crisis for sure when this first happened.
1128
00:48:47.480 --> 00:48:51.480
And then you like might go back and you micromanage and you like oversee things.
1129
00:48:51.480 --> 00:48:56.480
And you're like, I wouldn't have done it like that. And then you have to know girl, like get over yourself. Nobody cares.
1130
00:48:56.480 --> 00:49:00.480
You are the only person that cares about that. Get over yourself.
1131
00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:04.480
It's great that you have that internal dialogue because that's like to show us what it's like.
1132
00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:11.480
It's a really hard thing to do to really, you know, like structurally, you know, take a new role and walk away.
1133
00:49:11.480 --> 00:49:14.480
But you feel like, well, there's a part of you as much as you want to do it.
1134
00:49:14.480 --> 00:49:19.480
Like there's a part of you, I'm sure that always goes like, but no way can they do it without me.
1135
00:49:19.480 --> 00:49:24.480
Nobody sells your business like you can, but having ownership like they now do.
1136
00:49:24.480 --> 00:49:27.480
It's a different, it's a completely different energy from the team.
1137
00:49:27.480 --> 00:49:33.480
Right. Right. And it was important for you to give them ownership to maintain at the, the caliber that you expect.
1138
00:49:33.480 --> 00:49:36.480
And for them to have the same amount of care.
1139
00:49:36.480 --> 00:49:48.480
Because I think that's part of it, right? As a founder when you're letting go of the reins or succession planning in a sense, it's trust of quality and care.
1140
00:49:48.480 --> 00:49:51.480
It's absolutely right.
1141
00:49:51.480 --> 00:49:57.480
And yeah, to your point, like, I just needed to get over myself because nobody's going to do anything the exact same way that you're going to do it.
1142
00:49:57.480 --> 00:50:01.480
And for you to think that that's going to, that's a reality is impossible.
1143
00:50:01.480 --> 00:50:06.480
So you're always going to be disappointed unless you can remove yourself.
1144
00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:11.480
And was how you did that was that something you like modeled from someone else or you always knew or like.
1145
00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:19.480
What were the avenues? Lots and lots of martini lots of martini.
1146
00:50:19.480 --> 00:50:25.480
No, I mean, just like on the fund, I certainly have mentors and folks that have done things that are similar.
1147
00:50:25.480 --> 00:50:30.480
No one's done this model. This was just felt what felt organic to me.
1148
00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:35.480
And I would talk. I'm super transparent. You guys know, I have, I have zero filters.
1149
00:50:36.480 --> 00:50:39.480
And so I would talk to my team and I would say, this is what I'm thinking is that makes sense.
1150
00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:46.480
And they know that they have enough power in their cells and their ownership over the company to say, I don't think that's the right approach.
1151
00:50:46.480 --> 00:50:50.480
And I sometimes all accepted and sometimes I'll say, you know, I'm going to do it that way anyways.
1152
00:50:50.480 --> 00:50:55.480
And it'll either be the right model or I mean, I've definitely been wrong before, not often.
1153
00:50:55.480 --> 00:50:57.480
Not often.
1154
00:50:57.480 --> 00:51:00.480
But I really is a democracy.
1155
00:51:00.480 --> 00:51:05.480
Like, I don't want to be the one that's coming in and showing people this is exactly how it has to be.
1156
00:51:05.480 --> 00:51:10.480
And I mean, I'm getting to be on the old side of the digital marketing scale now.
1157
00:51:10.480 --> 00:51:14.480
So they really are the next generation. So I have to listen.
1158
00:51:14.480 --> 00:51:28.480
So for entrepreneurs and founders and people who are trying to improve on their branding, what would you say is like the top thing you should look at first when you're doing a self audit.
1159
00:51:28.480 --> 00:51:41.480
I don't know if I would recommend a self audit. I think when you're so close to a brand, you're too close, like I know I was too close to a lot like we're building the deck for fun to for fabric right now.
1160
00:51:41.480 --> 00:51:46.480
And I have like a meant like I had a glitch out moment because I've been so close to the deck for too long.
1161
00:51:46.480 --> 00:51:53.480
So I would say you need to work with someone that can do an audit with you so that you can be.
1162
00:51:53.480 --> 00:51:58.480
You can see someone else is 30,000 foot view because I think up too often we're too close to it.
1163
00:51:58.480 --> 00:52:01.480
We already have an idea of what we think and feel about a brand.
1164
00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:05.480
And that's very hard to change when you've been in it for however long.
1165
00:52:05.480 --> 00:52:11.480
I would say and again, on the agency side, we have a very simple 30 day startup process.
1166
00:52:11.480 --> 00:52:17.480
It's not expensive to get both the creative pieces flowing and the data side of it.
1167
00:52:17.480 --> 00:52:22.480
So we call ourselves a center of brain agency inspired by the creative but driven by the data.
1168
00:52:22.480 --> 00:52:25.480
And I would say so just really said two things.
1169
00:52:25.480 --> 00:52:27.480
Don't get don't be too close to it.
1170
00:52:27.480 --> 00:52:36.480
Work with someone who can do an oversight audit and two, make sure that you're not just looking at the creative and that you're looking at the data side because we can make things pretty all day long.
1171
00:52:36.480 --> 00:52:38.480
But if they aren't delivering, what are we doing?
1172
00:52:38.480 --> 00:52:44.480
But do you find that that's a mistake that people make they sort of only focus on the creative?
1173
00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:47.480
Yeah, I'm going to rebrand that's going to fix everything really.
1174
00:52:47.480 --> 00:52:50.480
That's not your problem. That's not where you're leaking honestly.
1175
00:52:50.480 --> 00:52:56.480
You haven't done a SEO audit. You don't create any content. There's no organic traffic hitting your site.
1176
00:52:56.480 --> 00:52:59.480
You haven't even tested any advertising.
1177
00:52:59.480 --> 00:53:04.480
Like there's a lot of things that most brands haven't done but they know brand and they know that word.
1178
00:53:04.480 --> 00:53:07.480
And they think a rebrand that's going to fix everything.
1179
00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:09.480
Yeah, it's like a bandaid baby.
1180
00:53:09.480 --> 00:53:10.480
Yeah.
1181
00:53:10.480 --> 00:53:12.480
A branding baby.
1182
00:53:12.480 --> 00:53:14.480
I don't know.
1183
00:53:14.480 --> 00:53:15.480
You're like,
1184
00:53:15.480 --> 00:53:18.480
I'm not going to make that.
1185
00:53:18.480 --> 00:53:21.480
I love it.
1186
00:53:21.480 --> 00:53:29.480
I'm going to make you drink every time you hear this word.
1187
00:53:29.480 --> 00:53:30.480
Seriously.
1188
00:53:30.480 --> 00:53:31.480
What's your take?
1189
00:53:31.480 --> 00:53:33.480
We're going to be so Steve by the end.
1190
00:53:33.480 --> 00:53:34.480
Yeah.
1191
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:40.480
Now, look, here's the truth. It is forever changing how every industry works.
1192
00:53:40.480 --> 00:53:42.480
And we've just scratched the surface.
1193
00:53:42.480 --> 00:53:49.480
Last year was a very challenging year on the agency side because everyone thought they could solve everything with AI.
1194
00:53:49.480 --> 00:53:50.480
Right.
1195
00:53:50.480 --> 00:53:53.480
Not with all the economic headwinds, the fires in L.A.
1196
00:53:53.480 --> 00:53:57.480
Like last year was a tough, tough year.
1197
00:53:57.480 --> 00:54:00.480
But we all now know that it's also the AI slot year.
1198
00:54:00.480 --> 00:54:01.480
And so,
1199
00:54:01.480 --> 00:54:02.480
well,
1200
00:54:02.480 --> 00:54:03.480
the outputs of that work,
1201
00:54:03.480 --> 00:54:05.480
what people's expectations were.
1202
00:54:05.480 --> 00:54:06.480
And now,
1203
00:54:06.480 --> 00:54:09.480
Q one, we're on fucking fire because everyone's like,
1204
00:54:09.480 --> 00:54:10.480
oh, got it.
1205
00:54:10.480 --> 00:54:11.480
I really did need help.
1206
00:54:11.480 --> 00:54:13.480
I really do need support.
1207
00:54:13.480 --> 00:54:16.480
I can't do this on my own with chat GPT.
1208
00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:18.480
It's a great platform.
1209
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:22.480
And there's so many ways that it's going to impact our work forever.
1210
00:54:22.480 --> 00:54:26.480
But you still, at least for now, need a human layer.
1211
00:54:26.480 --> 00:54:27.480
Yeah.
1212
00:54:27.480 --> 00:54:28.480
Yeah.
1213
00:54:28.480 --> 00:54:29.480
Interesting.
1214
00:54:29.480 --> 00:54:30.480
Did the,
1215
00:54:30.480 --> 00:54:33.480
do you feel like there was a big backlash after that like Coca-Cola,
1216
00:54:33.480 --> 00:54:35.480
like AI commercial in your,
1217
00:54:35.480 --> 00:54:36.480
in your,
1218
00:54:36.480 --> 00:54:37.480
in the agency space?
1219
00:54:37.480 --> 00:54:38.480
Definitely.
1220
00:54:38.480 --> 00:54:39.480
And I will say,
1221
00:54:39.480 --> 00:54:40.480
you know, my agency team,
1222
00:54:40.480 --> 00:54:41.480
they're,
1223
00:54:41.480 --> 00:54:44.480
they're young and they are very skeptical skeptical.
1224
00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:47.480
If not maybe a little afraid of what's going to happen with AI.
1225
00:54:47.480 --> 00:54:50.480
Because it's going to impact all of our jobs, right?
1226
00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:51.480
Like everyone's jobs.
1227
00:54:51.480 --> 00:54:52.480
Actually,
1228
00:54:52.480 --> 00:54:53.480
again,
1229
00:54:53.480 --> 00:54:55.480
the multi vertical issue,
1230
00:54:55.480 --> 00:54:59.480
because what it's doing is eliminating the low tier training jobs.
1231
00:54:59.480 --> 00:55:00.480
Right.
1232
00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:02.480
As it can do those skill sets,
1233
00:55:02.480 --> 00:55:05.480
but I was talking to my husband who's a software engineer,
1234
00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:08.480
who uses AI every day to build code.
1235
00:55:08.480 --> 00:55:09.480
Whereas before,
1236
00:55:09.480 --> 00:55:10.480
I mean, even a year ago,
1237
00:55:10.480 --> 00:55:12.480
he was manually creating every single line of code.
1238
00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:13.480
He doesn't do that anymore.
1239
00:55:13.480 --> 00:55:15.480
But the problem with that.
1240
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:20.480
Is that you needed the low tier person to be training with the senior person.
1241
00:55:20.480 --> 00:55:21.480
Right.
1242
00:55:21.480 --> 00:55:24.480
And then I think that's the only way to elevate them into that role.
1243
00:55:24.480 --> 00:55:26.480
And that's a huge missing piece.
1244
00:55:26.480 --> 00:55:30.480
And we are nowhere near upskilling that next generation yet.
1245
00:55:30.480 --> 00:55:32.480
And that's going to be a real issue.
1246
00:55:32.480 --> 00:55:35.480
I find it like as also a marketer and just like,
1247
00:55:35.480 --> 00:55:36.480
you know,
1248
00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:38.480
using different AI tools and testing them out,
1249
00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:42.480
I find it hilarious how it can do some things brilliantly.
1250
00:55:42.480 --> 00:55:48.480
And then it'll like do a single like poster for you with like three typos.
1251
00:55:48.480 --> 00:55:49.480
What is happening?
1252
00:55:49.480 --> 00:55:50.480
18 fingers.
1253
00:55:50.480 --> 00:55:51.480
Yeah.
1254
00:55:51.480 --> 00:55:54.480
It couldn't do hands and you're like,
1255
00:55:54.480 --> 00:55:55.480
oh, yeah.
1256
00:55:55.480 --> 00:55:57.480
So creepy.
1257
00:55:57.480 --> 00:55:59.480
Or as the kids say, so cringe.
1258
00:55:59.480 --> 00:56:00.480
Yeah.
1259
00:56:00.480 --> 00:56:01.480
Yeah.
1260
00:56:01.480 --> 00:56:03.480
Whatever.
1261
00:56:03.480 --> 00:56:04.480
Whatever.
1262
00:56:04.480 --> 00:56:05.480
What's funny is whatever.
1263
00:56:05.480 --> 00:56:06.480
I say cringe.
1264
00:56:06.480 --> 00:56:07.480
Like, it was like, no, that's.
1265
00:56:07.480 --> 00:56:08.480
Yeah.
1266
00:56:08.480 --> 00:56:10.480
You're saying cringe is cringe.
1267
00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:11.480
Totally.
1268
00:56:11.480 --> 00:56:13.480
cringe on cringe by.
1269
00:56:13.480 --> 00:56:15.480
The unseen violence.
1270
00:56:15.480 --> 00:56:16.480
Exactly.
1271
00:56:16.480 --> 00:56:17.480
Yeah.
1272
00:56:17.480 --> 00:56:18.480
Exactly.
1273
00:56:18.480 --> 00:56:21.480
Um, so for people who are looking to invest and be an investor,
1274
00:56:21.480 --> 00:56:23.480
um, how do they find you?
1275
00:56:23.480 --> 00:56:26.480
How do they find these types of opportunities?
1276
00:56:26.480 --> 00:56:30.480
And how do they decide on a good one versus a maybe not so.
1277
00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:31.480
Bible option.
1278
00:56:31.480 --> 00:56:36.480
I would say it really depends on their knowledge base in investing.
1279
00:56:36.480 --> 00:56:38.480
So if your brand spank a new,
1280
00:56:38.480 --> 00:56:40.480
just be in a learning mode.
1281
00:56:40.480 --> 00:56:42.480
Join us on fabric BC dot com.
1282
00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:45.480
We have three of you to see dot say dot com anymore.
1283
00:56:45.480 --> 00:56:46.480
Yeah.
1284
00:56:46.480 --> 00:56:47.480
I do.
1285
00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:48.480
I do.
1286
00:56:48.480 --> 00:56:49.480
When people say WWW.
1287
00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:51.480
I'm like, oh, we're not there anymore.
1288
00:56:51.480 --> 00:56:52.480
Yeah.
1289
00:56:52.480 --> 00:56:53.480
Yeah.
1290
00:56:53.480 --> 00:56:54.480
I think.
1291
00:56:54.480 --> 00:56:55.480
I think the dot com.
1292
00:56:55.480 --> 00:56:56.480
But not the WWW.
1293
00:56:56.480 --> 00:56:57.480
Yeah.
1294
00:56:57.480 --> 00:56:58.480
So, uh, on the website,
1295
00:56:58.480 --> 00:56:59.480
if you sign up to the newsletter,
1296
00:56:59.480 --> 00:57:02.480
we do a ton of content around.
1297
00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:05.480
KPI is around financing and fundraising.
1298
00:57:05.480 --> 00:57:06.480
And, um,
1299
00:57:06.480 --> 00:57:08.480
the pitch days are really helpful.
1300
00:57:08.480 --> 00:57:11.480
I do a whole series on social called VC vernacular,
1301
00:57:11.480 --> 00:57:15.480
and they demystify all of the jargon around venture.
1302
00:57:15.480 --> 00:57:20.480
So I would say start in learning mode and then right a few small angel checks,
1303
00:57:20.480 --> 00:57:22.480
just to get to know what that's like.
1304
00:57:22.480 --> 00:57:24.480
And there's angel capital association.
1305
00:57:24.480 --> 00:57:25.480
There's pipeline angels.
1306
00:57:25.480 --> 00:57:29.480
And there's so many different angel groups out there.
1307
00:57:29.480 --> 00:57:30.480
Um, but.
1308
00:57:30.480 --> 00:57:35.480
Investing as an angel in one company is the riskiest investment you can make.
1309
00:57:35.480 --> 00:57:36.480
Because if that one company fails,
1310
00:57:36.480 --> 00:57:37.480
your money.
1311
00:57:37.480 --> 00:57:38.480
Uh, investment.
1312
00:57:38.480 --> 00:57:39.480
Right.
1313
00:57:39.480 --> 00:57:44.120
investing in venture, which is pooled capital, means that you're hedging against what will
1314
00:57:44.120 --> 00:57:49.320
inevitably be fail points, but the hope is that you will outsize the returns because
1315
00:57:49.320 --> 00:57:54.360
the upsides the companies that will, you know, have bigger multiples will really lift the
1316
00:57:54.360 --> 00:58:00.360
entire fund. So that's kind of my approach to investing, but I would say the education
1317
00:58:00.360 --> 00:58:05.720
piece has to come first. We do a talk that I'm happy to do with anyone that wants me to join
1318
00:58:05.720 --> 00:58:11.560
called Better Than a Birken from luxury to legacy. Just a very honest conversation around
1319
00:58:12.360 --> 00:58:16.040
the again demystifying venture. So I would say that's the best place to start. Those are the
1320
00:58:16.040 --> 00:58:22.680
best places to start. What are sort of red flags if somebody's pitching to you that you should look
1321
00:58:22.680 --> 00:58:30.280
out for? On the, as a company or on? No, as an investor. If someone's pitching to me to invest
1322
00:58:30.280 --> 00:58:35.880
in me or someone wants me to invest. If like someone's pitching to me to invest in a VC fund,
1323
00:58:35.880 --> 00:58:41.240
what are some of the red flags that I should be aware of? That they've never had any fail points
1324
00:58:42.920 --> 00:58:48.360
that their multiples are crazy because we all know, especially on a fund one, which usually has
1325
00:58:48.360 --> 00:58:53.960
better economics. Fund ones are all projections, right? Because you don't have any real track record.
1326
00:58:53.960 --> 00:58:57.720
I would say making sure that they at least have an investor track record, and that was something
1327
00:58:57.720 --> 00:59:03.960
that I had to overcome because while I had been an LP in like three or four funds at that point
1328
00:59:03.960 --> 00:59:08.600
and done a couple of smaller investments, I'd never been a GP. And being a GP is a totally
1329
00:59:08.600 --> 00:59:15.800
different energy and experience and being an LP. So I think it's about experience, track record,
1330
00:59:15.800 --> 00:59:23.400
and then what is the value at? People are like, we're not just done money. 95% of the funds out
1331
00:59:23.640 --> 00:59:29.640
there are. And so unless there's some special sauce like they've got this marketing expertise or
1332
00:59:29.640 --> 00:59:35.960
now my coGP who has an outsource CFO firm, so he has this deep financial expertise that we're
1333
00:59:35.960 --> 00:59:40.520
also layering on. Like what is the thing that's going to make them win? Everyone's going to say
1334
00:59:40.520 --> 00:59:44.920
it's relationships. Everyone's going to say it's deal flow. Everyone's going to say that they're
1335
00:59:44.920 --> 00:59:50.440
better pickers. And that may or may not be true, but there needs to be something layered on top
1336
00:59:50.520 --> 00:59:55.880
of that that is a major differentiator. Otherwise, just go index, go get an index fund.
1337
00:59:57.880 --> 01:00:01.000
That makes sense. I would go ahead and go have fun with your index fund. I said that in a
1338
01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:05.640
WhatsApp, in an investor WhatsApp group, and I had a couple people that were mad, mad, big mad about
1339
01:00:05.640 --> 01:00:11.000
it. Oh really? Oh yeah. What do you do when people give you a lot of shade?
1340
01:00:13.400 --> 01:00:17.320
Depends on the person. Sometimes I know them and sometimes I don't. If I know them,
1341
01:00:17.320 --> 01:00:23.320
I'm like, that's fair. Your opinion is valid. And my opinion is valid and they don't have to be
1342
01:00:23.320 --> 01:00:27.960
the same clearly. And then if it's someone that I don't know that just wants to pick a fight,
1343
01:00:27.960 --> 01:00:35.320
like happens a lot on my content, I just ignore it. Yeah, there's a lot of egos in the space that
1344
01:00:35.320 --> 01:00:43.400
you're in, like people who it's funny because the people who speak and handle business with
1345
01:00:43.400 --> 01:00:48.200
a kind of absolute certainty. But like the first thing you learn about, like the marketing
1346
01:00:48.200 --> 01:00:53.640
investing is that there is no such thing as absolute certainty. But there seems to be a dynamic
1347
01:00:53.640 --> 01:00:59.960
where the the the the leaders or the titans of industry seem to have to present or front in a way
1348
01:00:59.960 --> 01:01:06.280
where they it's it's I know that I know. Like it's like everything is like full stop in the period.
1349
01:01:06.280 --> 01:01:13.320
So they don't like to be challenged. They do not and around those point. Honestly,
1350
01:01:13.320 --> 01:01:18.760
though, is it demoralizing those seeing so many like people who want don't want this to succeed
1351
01:01:18.760 --> 01:01:27.160
and aren't supportive of minority funds and or minority founders? No, I eat negativity for dinner.
1352
01:01:27.720 --> 01:01:33.160
You know what I mean? Like feed my fire because it just shows how weak they are. And then I've
1353
01:01:33.160 --> 01:01:37.000
heard this many times. Like this is the last death rattle. They're so loud and so angry right
1354
01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:41.880
now because hopefully the last death rattle. Yeah. God willing, you know. Yeah.
1355
01:01:42.920 --> 01:01:47.080
How did you you mentioned that that was a challenge that you had to deal with with your fund in
1356
01:01:47.080 --> 01:01:52.120
terms of like like a certain kind of track record? How did you how did you overcome that with your
1357
01:01:52.120 --> 01:01:58.840
fund or what was your how did you what was your sale sort of work around for for whatever perceived
1358
01:01:58.840 --> 01:02:05.720
deficits? Yeah, I had a woman named Jehara to reach join me as my principal. And she had a very
1359
01:02:05.720 --> 01:02:12.440
traditional VC background. She was at, I'm not a 16, but one of the, oh my god, I'm totally
1360
01:02:12.440 --> 01:02:17.400
blanking right now. She was at Atlas Peaks moon shots and one of the other big ones. So she did
1361
01:02:17.400 --> 01:02:22.440
did have a very traditional track record. I added my investments and I was super transparent. And
1362
01:02:22.520 --> 01:02:28.680
even on my data rooms, I had my personal investments in there so people could see how I invested.
1363
01:02:29.320 --> 01:02:34.760
And then started doing FPVs really, really early. So I could prove that we were building this
1364
01:02:34.760 --> 01:02:40.440
in real time. And as soon as I had a couple of deals under my belt, I could speak to what we were
1365
01:02:40.440 --> 01:02:45.800
doing, not what we were projecting to do. And that's also why I decided to do it as a rolling
1366
01:02:45.880 --> 01:02:51.400
raise rolling to play fund. Nice. Yeah, really fucking hard, though.
1367
01:02:55.160 --> 01:03:01.480
It's like it sounds good when you say it in a sentence, but no, I get it.
1368
01:03:02.200 --> 01:03:07.480
Where do you go to seek your own council when you find yourself in a blind spot?
1369
01:03:08.440 --> 01:03:15.240
I have an amazing advisory board, an amazing advisory board. In fact, so this is a little aside,
1370
01:03:15.240 --> 01:03:20.040
but when I said, like, if I can do this, anyone can do this. I told you that the company was over
1371
01:03:20.040 --> 01:03:26.040
leverage when I took over my dad's company and it really messed me up in terms of my understanding
1372
01:03:26.040 --> 01:03:30.520
of finances because we grew up in upper middle class. I went to private school and then my parents lost
1373
01:03:30.520 --> 01:03:35.320
everything. Had to declare bankruptcy. We helped them now, which I'm happy to do. But it was a
1374
01:03:35.320 --> 01:03:40.440
mind fuck around money for me at that point. So when I started making money at the agency, I have
1375
01:03:40.680 --> 01:03:45.560
bad ladies in the room. I didn't know what to do. I was so terrified. Like the energy that we give
1376
01:03:45.560 --> 01:03:51.640
to money is very real. And I was smart enough to know that what I was feeling was not healthy.
1377
01:03:51.640 --> 01:03:57.880
So I joined a women's investment group. I was the youngest person in that group by like 15 years.
1378
01:03:57.880 --> 01:04:03.640
And I would sit there and I would take notes and I would like not long and pretend like I knew
1379
01:04:03.640 --> 01:04:08.040
what they were saying when I absolutely did. No. And then I would go home and I would Google and I
1380
01:04:08.040 --> 01:04:13.000
would educate myself. Like that's why I believe in education piece so much. Right. So cool about
1381
01:04:13.000 --> 01:04:20.280
that story is the woman who started that organization is an investor in this fund and sits on my
1382
01:04:20.280 --> 01:04:25.560
store. So it was like a very much of a full circle moment. Wow. That's amazing. But those are the
1383
01:04:25.560 --> 01:04:31.240
kinds of people that I've had been lucky enough to have in my life. Women like Jesse Draper who we
1384
01:04:31.240 --> 01:04:36.760
we helped to vet a lot of her consumer deals on her fund one. We came in as LPs and her fund two.
1385
01:04:36.760 --> 01:04:40.680
She was one of my first calls when I was starting this and I said, Hey, Jesse, I think I'm going to
1386
01:04:40.680 --> 01:04:44.520
launch a venture to fund. What do you think? And she goes, fuck yeah, I'm in here's a check. Go raise a
1387
01:04:44.520 --> 01:04:49.480
fund and sitting on your board. We need more women like you doing that. I was like, oh, I'm really
1388
01:04:49.480 --> 01:04:54.440
I'm really doing I'm really doing this. Okay. Right. So those are the kinds of incredible women I've
1389
01:04:54.440 --> 01:04:59.720
been lucky enough to have in my circle. And my husband is brilliant financial mind to his mother was
1390
01:04:59.720 --> 01:05:04.840
actually brilliant and taught him everything. He knew amazing. Yeah. And what was
1391
01:05:07.800 --> 01:05:12.120
when did the penny drop free? Because you mentioned like just like having a lot of bad energy
1392
01:05:12.120 --> 01:05:17.080
around money. Was it in the process of just learning and investing that that just change it for
1393
01:05:17.080 --> 01:05:23.880
you? Or was there something else around that that kind of shifted it for you? Like what was the
1394
01:05:23.880 --> 01:05:28.520
was there kind of an aha moment that you had around your shift around how you felt about money?
1395
01:05:29.320 --> 01:05:34.840
Yeah, it was probably a few years into being in that women's group. They brought a late stage carve out
1396
01:05:34.840 --> 01:05:39.560
from a VC fund. It was it was like a hundred million dollar fund and we had a million dollar carve
1397
01:05:39.560 --> 01:05:45.480
out for this group. And I came home to to my husband and I said, I know that I knew at this,
1398
01:05:45.480 --> 01:05:50.200
but I've been watching this diligence process. I think that we need to do this deal and we scraped
1399
01:05:50.200 --> 01:05:57.720
together everything we have liquid at that time. This was 12 years ago and our 13 of 12 because we
1400
01:05:57.720 --> 01:06:01.560
because some of you know venture funds are 10 year terms, but because of the pandemic people
1401
01:06:01.560 --> 01:06:07.880
have had to extend. Uh-huh. Now don't quote me on this, but we will be exiting that position at an
1402
01:06:07.880 --> 01:06:13.560
eight and a half x at least on paper right now at the end of this quarter. So I would say doing
1403
01:06:13.560 --> 01:06:19.160
that first deal was probably the scariest step I ever took. But now seeing that that has is going
1404
01:06:19.160 --> 01:06:24.440
to have such a huge positive outcome. I mean, it's paper returns until it's not. All right,
1405
01:06:24.440 --> 01:06:28.920
let's be very clear. But I think that was like a big aha moment for me.
1406
01:06:29.640 --> 01:06:34.680
But that's interesting. I launched the venture fund. How do I go from like a woman who's family,
1407
01:06:34.680 --> 01:06:38.520
how did you clear bankruptcy to someone who's that's been? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.
1408
01:06:39.480 --> 01:06:43.640
But it's interesting because money is very precious to people. And so when they're investing in
1409
01:06:43.640 --> 01:06:48.200
something that they're unfamiliar with or they don't, it's going to be a long time before they see
1410
01:06:48.200 --> 01:06:54.920
their return on it. And if they end up having a negative return on it, that's devastating because
1411
01:06:54.920 --> 01:07:02.600
it's their heart earned money. So what sort of why should people still be considering to invest
1412
01:07:02.600 --> 01:07:10.520
and dive into alternatives? Well, I obviously think it's a very important asset class, but I also
1413
01:07:10.520 --> 01:07:15.720
tell people that you need to have your financial house in order first, right? So to me, that's your
1414
01:07:15.720 --> 01:07:20.920
401k, your Roth, your public markets, and your real estate play. That's first and foremost,
1415
01:07:20.920 --> 01:07:26.360
only then do you have time to go play in more high risk, high return environments like
1416
01:07:27.240 --> 01:07:35.080
you know, crypto venture, etc. And it's also a matter of age and stage. So because venture is a
1417
01:07:35.080 --> 01:07:40.120
10 year term, you don't want to be investing in venture past like 65 because I mean, hopefully we're
1418
01:07:40.280 --> 01:07:45.640
going to live a really long time, but your risk profile should be a lot less at that stage.
1419
01:07:46.360 --> 01:07:53.400
I really believe in alternative assets as a function of or as a component of your overall
1420
01:07:53.400 --> 01:07:58.440
wealth plan for us. I mean, we're a little over index. And again, I'm super transparent. So we
1421
01:07:58.440 --> 01:08:05.240
about have about 12% of our wealth in alternatives, which is a pretty high number. But we're also
1422
01:08:05.240 --> 01:08:11.160
younger. We don't have kids, which also changes your risk profile. But alternatives have the
1423
01:08:11.160 --> 01:08:16.440
opportunity to return at a far greater multiple than any other asset class period full stop.
1424
01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:23.800
Does that always happen? No, no, but we have a history and it's in our deck that shows public
1425
01:08:23.800 --> 01:08:31.320
markets, venture capital and a couple other asset classes all against each other over a 10 year
1426
01:08:31.320 --> 01:08:38.360
period. And venture has outperformed historically. So that along with so historical metrics,
1427
01:08:38.360 --> 01:08:44.040
along with investing in diverse founders as another kind of secret sauce, the marketing layer,
1428
01:08:44.040 --> 01:08:50.440
and a fun one, fun two, which typically is better economics in. All of those pieces are why we believe
1429
01:08:50.440 --> 01:08:54.520
in fabric, of course, but as in alternatives as an asset class in general.
1430
01:08:54.520 --> 01:09:02.200
So empty my savings account and put it all in crypto. That's that's what I mean with what's
1431
01:09:02.200 --> 01:09:07.880
happening right now. I wouldn't say all, but I would do my take on crypto is that you need to be
1432
01:09:07.880 --> 01:09:12.600
doing dollar cost averaging. You need to be just what is it? I don't even know what that means. Tell me
1433
01:09:12.600 --> 01:09:16.840
you be putting a few hundred dollars in every month and kind of like letting it ride is this
1434
01:09:16.840 --> 01:09:21.720
play money right now. I don't believe in all alts, but I do believe. And again, don't quote me
1435
01:09:21.720 --> 01:09:26.040
on us. We're very interesting in 10 years to come back and look at this. I believe that it's
1436
01:09:26.040 --> 01:09:31.320
going to be like three big winners. I think it's going to be Bitcoin, Ethereum, maybe Litecoin.
1437
01:09:31.320 --> 01:09:36.120
And then I think there's going to be a government alt coin. That is going to be like the new currency.
1438
01:09:36.120 --> 01:09:40.520
We'll see. Yeah, they're already working on that. Yeah. Well, Sam Altman's already creating a new
1439
01:09:40.520 --> 01:09:46.200
currency too. Right, but all this meme coin bullshit. Please don't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1440
01:09:46.200 --> 01:09:50.920
You know, it's so interesting because we we also interviewed an AI expert who's been like an AI
1441
01:09:50.920 --> 01:09:56.120
for 30 years. And she was talking about how like the whole money in general is just going to
1442
01:09:56.120 --> 01:10:02.440
completely change. And the new currency is also going to turn into a component of like you training
1443
01:10:02.440 --> 01:10:08.680
AI. And that's going to turn into like a new form of currency. Absolutely. Yeah. So interesting.
1444
01:10:08.680 --> 01:10:11.800
Is it going to need so much date? They're going to need more data than making gather.
1445
01:10:12.600 --> 01:10:18.760
Should I need people to feed? It's like it reminds me of if you've seen little mermaid Ursula's
1446
01:10:18.760 --> 01:10:26.040
layer, you know, yeah. She's like stealing all the voices, you know, funny random aside to Ursula.
1447
01:10:26.040 --> 01:10:30.360
She we my parents used to buy houses and flip them when that when I was younger and my dad
1448
01:10:30.360 --> 01:10:35.960
lived in a commune. That's why I'm literally Laurel from Laurel Canyon. So I'm literally LA OG.
1449
01:10:36.680 --> 01:10:40.760
And when I was about seven or eight, they went back and they bought the house, the communal house
1450
01:10:40.760 --> 01:10:46.840
that my dad lived in in the 60s. And a woman who voiced Ursula from the little mermaid was the one
1451
01:10:46.840 --> 01:10:55.240
that bought that house. Are you serious? Yes. So we're done. What's your current definition of
1452
01:10:55.240 --> 01:11:01.240
success and has that definition changed or evolved over time? That's a really good question too.
1453
01:11:02.120 --> 01:11:07.400
I think when you're young, you look at a number in terms of success, right? It's about money,
1454
01:11:07.400 --> 01:11:10.840
about money conversation. And if I could just get this, if I can just make this,
1455
01:11:11.560 --> 01:11:15.960
if I could just save this, if my house is just worth this, then that's what success looks like.
1456
01:11:16.760 --> 01:11:23.480
Now that I am closer to 50 than I am to 40, success to me is about freedom.
1457
01:11:24.520 --> 01:11:31.640
It's about having this space to do what I want when I want. And that brings peace. And I think
1458
01:11:31.640 --> 01:11:37.320
as you start to age and you start to think about retirement, it's not about the stuff. And again,
1459
01:11:37.320 --> 01:11:42.760
don't let my husband hear this. But I love, I used to love stuff and things and all this stuff.
1460
01:11:42.760 --> 01:11:48.040
And now that I'm focusing on what the next iteration of my life will look like,
1461
01:11:48.840 --> 01:11:55.160
success to me is slow mornings, being able to drink my coffee and answer if I want to answer
1462
01:11:55.160 --> 01:12:02.280
emails or not, being able to go on a vacation and not have to worry that everything's going to crumble
1463
01:12:02.360 --> 01:12:07.800
if I'm not there. So it's really about time. It's the only resource that you can't make more of.
1464
01:12:10.760 --> 01:12:15.800
Well, Laurel, thank you so much for joining us on the exit interview. It's just great information.
1465
01:12:15.800 --> 01:12:21.000
We love you so much. It's just, I'm so glad we were able to make this time to talk to you today.
1466
01:12:21.000 --> 01:12:25.320
So thank you. Thank you so much for having us. Awesome. Yay.
1467
01:12:26.040 --> 01:12:31.640
Hey, Besties. While you're here, do all the things. Like, share, subscribe, smash the
1468
01:12:31.640 --> 01:12:39.880
buttons. We appreciate your support.