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OPEN TRANSCRIPT

00:01
thanks for attending the disruption now
00:03
summit
00:04
2020 we are proud to bring you this
00:08
first meeting family feud style
00:12
today's summit has been brought to you
00:14
in a partnership with
00:16
fifth third bank google
00:19
and proctor and gamble
00:23
today's feud will be team founder versus
00:27
team capital
00:31
now let's meet today's moderators
00:37
an experienced data software and
00:39
technical product account executive
00:41
currently working at quest software her
00:43
roles encompass data analytics
00:45
disaster recovery performance monitoring
00:47
and cloud optimization
00:50
among her many leadership engagements
00:52
you can find her championing for
00:53
underrepresented groups in stem while
00:56
also presenting businesses with
00:58
impact data on the importance of driving
01:00
social change in the columbus technology
01:03
community
01:04
she is mimi salash
01:07
working with her we have the six foot
01:09
six big man in the middle
01:11
elected as the youngest chair in the
01:13
history of the university of cincinnati
01:15
he was responsible for leading the
01:17
search for the 30th president of the
01:19
university
01:20
he also established the uc scholars
01:22
academy which helps in leadership
01:24
development
01:25
and academic preparedness for students
01:27
in the cincinnati public schools
01:29
he's raised hundreds of thousands of
01:31
dollars for student scholarships
01:32
including the largest corporate
01:34
diversity scholarship
01:35
at uc he's also run as the statewide
01:38
democratic nominee
01:40
for ohio treasurer and championed his
01:42
vision of
01:43
economic equality and innovation and
01:45
continues
01:46
to disrupt common narratives as the host
01:49
of the disruption now podcast
01:52
rob richardson
01:54
[Music]
02:02
[Applause]
02:03
[Music]
02:11
welcome to the family feud style
02:14
disruption now
02:15
disruption now summit we are happy you
02:16
can join us here today
02:18
you know we are one of our most
02:20
important things we want to focus in
02:22
this conference is about
02:23
access to capital and we want to disrupt
02:25
the narrative we know that
02:26
unfortunately one percent of venture
02:28
capital funds goes to
02:30
uh black businesses and then it's even
02:31
less when you talk about black women
02:33
businesses i think it's some
02:34
dismal stat of like .006 anyway
02:37
unacceptable numbers that we are here to
02:39
disrupt and change you're going to learn
02:41
from people that have
02:42
done it that have gotten past the
02:44
constructs that have succeeded and the
02:46
people that are here to help you but we
02:47
want to do so
02:48
in a fun way don't you think it's a good
02:49
idea mimi what do you think i'm excited
02:52
i think it's also important to clarify
02:54
that we want it to be collaborative and
02:56
engaging
02:56
so not only do we have the expertise of
02:59
our contestants today but we also have
03:01
the survey data
03:02
from all the registrants who had an
03:05
opportunity to take it so
03:07
let's get started all right so we got a
03:10
chance i'm gonna be
03:11
i'm gonna give you my best version of
03:12
steve harvey i don't have the i don't
03:14
have the flashy suit so
03:15
but i'm gonna try to give you guys the
03:17
best version i can of it and we got a
03:19
chance to survey
03:20
uh entrepreneurs investors really all
03:23
across the country to get
03:24
to get a real insight into the struggles
03:27
the opportunities that
03:28
uh that it actually means to be a
03:30
diverse founder to be a black and brown
03:32
founder
03:33
and struggles they've had but also
03:35
opportunities they've had in that
03:36
because we don't want to just accept the
03:38
narratives that have been
03:39
assigned but we want to figure out how
03:40
to overcome them and really kind of
03:42
reject them so
03:43
that's why i'm excited and we have two
03:45
teams here today we're gonna have
03:47
team founder i'm gonna start with team
03:48
founder who is uh
03:50
travis holloway and carmen west they are
03:52
the founders they've started their own
03:54
companies they got their own gigs so
03:56
that's team founder i wanna introduce
03:57
you to them everybody say hello
03:59
say hello team founder hey hi
04:02
looking forward all right in team
04:05
capital we have kevin cadet kevin how
04:07
you doing with black angels miami
04:09
i'm good i'm good happy to be here
04:12
all right and of course we have collage
04:14
gibson with fifth third bank one of our
04:16
partners
04:17
one of our sponsors we're glad to have
04:19
him cola how you doing man
04:20
hey i'm doing great rob thanks for
04:22
having me all right you are
04:23
you ready to win we are ready to win all
04:26
right all right that's what you're
04:27
supposed to say be confident all right
04:29
all right so one of our one of our first
04:31
questions we surveyed
04:32
uh we asked we asked participants what
04:35
is the hardest part of accessing capital
04:37
that was the question we had and here
04:40
are some of the results of the answers
04:41
that mimi's going to read that i will
04:42
show on the screen
04:44
so you guys could uh see it so the
04:46
audience can see it
04:47
and but mimi will read the answers to
04:49
you and then we're going to let team
04:50
founder go first on this one
04:53
to get first shot at telling us who
04:55
which answer do they think
04:56
ranked the highest so mimi yes and so to
05:00
clarify there will be five options
05:02
and we did ask everyone to just pick one
05:06
so overcoming rejections
05:09
lack of resources and or network
05:13
uncertainty of income
05:16
developing a business strategy or
05:19
identifying a competitive advantage
05:22
so out of the five what do we believe is
05:25
the hardest
05:26
obstacle to overcome uh team founder you
05:30
get first shot at saying what is the
05:32
what is what is the answer that was
05:33
picked most often so
05:35
um carmen i i think that the majority of
05:39
black and brown founders don't first
05:41
attempt to raise venture capital
05:43
i think that the majority of them first
05:45
go to traditional banks to obtain some
05:47
type of business loan
05:49
or financing uh a lot of times
05:52
the issue there is if they go to a big
05:55
bank
05:55
um such as colas bank um
05:59
they are usually turned down because
06:01
they don't have enough
06:03
income um or enough revenue there's like
06:06
very very you know stringent revenue
06:08
requirements
06:08
uh income requirements et cetera that
06:10
many small businesses just don't have
06:12
um so i would say that it's probably
06:15
that
06:18
i concur with you um however i think
06:21
there's one that may be just as
06:22
significant
06:23
and that is the lack of resources you
06:25
know as as an ethnic-owned businesses
06:28
we don't always know where to go uh
06:30
especially when it comes to debt and or
06:32
equity
06:33
because we have never had a relationship
06:35
with money we tend to go to what we see
06:37
and what we know
06:38
which is normally our family and friends
06:41
um so
06:42
i think you have a great point i'm with
06:44
you the uncertainty of income
06:46
we have to choose um at least one
06:50
you have to choose one you have to
06:51
decide which one you're going to choose
06:52
between the two
06:53
so so happy happy too happy to to to
06:57
follow your
06:58
your lead uh partner uh we can go with c
07:02
uncertainty of income final answer
07:05
that's our final answer all right final
07:08
answer are okay
07:09
all right team capital tell me what you
07:11
think
07:14
what do i think i am 100 sure of this
07:18
answer
07:19
all right 100
07:22
because we're going to win right with
07:24
the money side i am 100
07:26
sure that the answer is b lack of
07:30
resources network
07:32
um for for the for the same reasons uh
07:36
already outlined if we don't know where
07:40
to go
07:41
then we we can't get there and if you
07:44
don't have that relationship
07:46
you're not going to get there this is b
07:49
100 you're with me
07:52
i would say rob uh 100 agree with my
07:55
partner
07:56
all right um i would tell you and i'll
07:59
use a recent example with ppp
08:01
um we saw a lot of uh minority-owned
08:04
businesses women-owned businesses
08:06
and particularly african-american home
08:08
businesses and african-american owned
08:09
women owned businesses
08:11
struggled to get access um to that money
08:14
and the reason they struggled was
08:15
because they didn't have
08:16
the resources of the network to actually
08:18
get in with these banks so
08:20
they thought they had a relationship but
08:22
then when push came to shove
08:23
realize they didn't often happens with
08:26
that doesn't it yeah
08:27
oh yeah no absolutely absolutely and i
08:29
think the second piece too because we've
08:30
talked about access to capital
08:32
and to your point kevin before you get
08:34
to the capital piece it has to be access
08:37
to the resources in the network
08:38
to actually figure out and find out
08:40
where these capital sources are so
08:42
i'm going with my partner would be okay
08:45
so that's
08:46
we got our answers so we have uh uh team
08:49
capital chose lack of resources
08:51
uh team founder chose was it uncertainty
08:54
of income correct
08:55
so you know let's go let's put up what
08:57
was the highest
08:58
what was the highest rated answer for
09:00
this for this question was what
09:02
i need a drum roll so overwhelmed with
09:05
almost
09:05
54 percent agree
09:09
lack of resources and network now i do
09:12
want to call out that the second
09:14
highest was actually uncertainty of
09:16
income yep
09:17
that's next what was the third and
09:19
fourth go let's go to the list that was
09:20
second
09:20
third is third is developing a business
09:24
strategy
09:26
fourth is identifying a competitive
09:28
advantage and what i don't think anyone
09:30
is surprised to hear
09:32
is that overcoming rejections was less
09:34
than five percent
09:36
meaning marginalized entrepreneurs
09:40
are very well versed with adversity and
09:42
overcoming religions
09:49
one point to teeny capital so look
09:51
carmen you were you were right you were
09:52
right with your instinct
09:54
i mean i don't want to i'm trying to i'm
09:57
not doing that i'm not trying to do that
09:59
i'm not trying to cause drama
10:01
too late i have to be a good team player
10:04
you know
10:05
i've been doing this for a very long
10:07
time so
10:08
you know i i i want to be a good partner
10:10
and i did see value
10:12
uh in his response
10:16
it was the second one it was the second
10:18
one and it was close
10:20
hey hey we gave them one but that'll be
10:22
the last one
10:23
[Laughter]
10:26
we'll we'll dig out of the hole we'll
10:27
dig out so
10:29
yeah i am curious to hear everyone's
10:31
feedback because
10:32
one of the other questions that was
10:34
listed on the survey is
10:35
how important is having a network
10:38
and social connections as it relates to
10:41
accessing capital and almost
10:42
70 percent said it's extremely important
10:45
they rate it at the highest
10:47
so there's a clear understanding that
10:49
resources and network is number one
10:51
and yet it is also the biggest hurdle
10:54
why
10:54
[Music]
10:56
that's for anybody well i know why what
10:58
do you think
11:00
well i i think the the again it goes
11:04
back to what i said before is that
11:05
you know we are not most small
11:08
businesses are not accustomed to having
11:10
relationships with money
11:12
and so in order for them to be able to
11:14
find that level of success they have to
11:16
build through those relationships
11:17
and so if they're not in your immediate
11:19
circle then you become almost
11:21
nascent when it comes to trying to
11:23
identify who and where to go
11:25
so um i i think that it's you know
11:28
exactly going back to
11:29
you know my first premise is that you
11:31
know you you have to have
11:32
the game plan the platform the guide the
11:34
road to be able to get there
11:36
and if you're not accustomed to it you
11:38
can't find it without that network
11:39
and carmen you had experience in this i
11:41
mean speak a little bit to that the fact
11:43
that you've
11:44
you've raised before come and get some
11:45
barriers and had to
11:47
figure out how to get past that like
11:48
speak to your experience on that because
11:50
i think
11:50
i think i think it's very informative to
11:52
this point sure sure
11:53
absolutely you know as a small business
11:55
owner who who
11:56
raised 40 million dollars and you know
11:59
who's had 40 million dollars in in
12:01
revenue
12:01
i thought raising capital would be quite
12:03
easy um and to be honest with you
12:06
i'm one of those unique individuals i'm
12:07
a member of five stone country club uh
12:10
you know i go to all the the places
12:12
where other people
12:13
that you would think would navigate and
12:15
be able to congregate in those spaces
12:16
so i thought raising funds would be easy
12:18
and it was not
12:20
um you know even though i had a very
12:21
robust relationship and and partnerships
12:24
with people in this space
12:26
but i lucked up and found a single
12:28
investor that said hey you know i'll
12:29
give you 4 million because i like what
12:31
you need to do
12:32
but because we need to be able to trust
12:34
you you got to raise another 21 million
12:36
before you can use it
12:38
and i just thought to myself wow you
12:40
know
12:41
does the other non-minority individuals
12:44
get the same type of
12:45
treatment and this was this was pre
12:47
arlen hamilton right
12:49
so arlen camp comes in and busts open
12:51
the doors and provides
12:52
you know better a better pathway for
12:55
people like me
12:56
but yeah you know i think in my mind i
12:58
did everything right
12:59
um but it goes to show you that again
13:02
even those
13:02
who think that they have the right
13:04
relationships you may not
13:07
yeah yeah anybody else want to speak to
13:09
that point before we move on to the next
13:11
question i think these are
13:12
really kind of important i would throw
13:15
something in there just from
13:17
your traditional kind of financial
13:19
services so some of this
13:20
has been systemic you know when you just
13:22
go back to
13:23
how financial institutions were lying as
13:25
we go back in the 70s and some of that's
13:27
still happening now quite frankly right
13:29
so there's been a group of people who've
13:31
been cut out of the entire financial
13:33
system
13:34
right and so they just don't have the
13:36
relationships
13:37
let alone just the knowledge base to be
13:39
able to take their business to that next
13:41
level so
13:42
it's really going to take kind of what
13:43
you mentioned carmen people actually
13:45
coming in and trying to open up those
13:47
doors for folks
13:48
you know we need people i always say
13:49
this i'm always trying to recruit
13:51
more folks that look like me at the bank
13:53
because the more you have at the bank
13:54
the more you'll be able to open up those
13:56
doors but
13:57
it's going to be hard and it's trying to
13:58
reverse i mean years and years and years
14:01
of institutional discrimination and
14:03
racism towards a specific group of
14:05
people
14:06
to actually get there yeah i'd like to
14:09
i'd like to add so i work primarily with
14:12
c
14:12
precede companies companies that haven't
14:15
reached the stage of being a small
14:17
business
14:18
pre-revenue or even a little bit of
14:20
revenue and and and you're
14:22
building something it could be a tech
14:24
idea
14:26
mostly for the most part why would we
14:28
think that this entrepreneur
14:31
would have their rolodex of angel groups
14:35
or venture capital to to go to if you if
14:38
you're not
14:38
connected in that space if you don't
14:41
know
14:42
about the space so you don't have no
14:43
segway in then
14:45
this is going to be the challenge you're
14:47
not even in a position to present
14:48
never mind all the things you need to do
14:50
to present
14:52
you're not even at the first step um if
14:55
you went to you know an ivy league
14:56
institution you might
14:58
have infinity groups or come from an
15:00
institution where there's some
15:01
things close to you where you might get
15:04
a little step
15:05
but then you still got a challenge of
15:06
actually talking to the right people
15:08
um different angel groups different
15:11
different groups of people
15:13
invest in different ways some may say
15:15
you need to have a certain amount of
15:16
revenue even if you're small
15:18
some may say that i do convertible notes
15:21
or different
15:23
amounts of equity i mean there's so much
15:25
to go through
15:26
before you even start pitching
15:30
but if you don't know who to pitch to
15:32
you don't have a chance
15:34
so i mean this is good i mean that's why
15:36
i was 100
15:37
sure like i've been through it i mean
15:40
i've been
15:40
i've pitched from 1998 it was the first
15:43
time i i've gone in front of angel
15:45
investors
15:46
um did i know what i was doing back then
15:49
absolutely not but i had the opportunity
15:52
and
15:52
and you know all the way up through
15:54
today i mean
15:56
when i think of how much i've learned it
15:58
it's
15:59
this is a big challenge for people who
16:00
are just trying to get started
16:02
yeah there's no connection between main
16:04
street and wall street
16:06
and i think that's what plagued us as
16:08
minorities is because
16:09
we we've nev we've not been to wall
16:12
street
16:13
because our wall street no longer exists
16:16
so because there's no connection between
16:18
the two
16:19
then navigating that road you know makes
16:21
it a little bit more difficult
16:23
i concur yeah no i mean i think
16:26
you know one of the final points as we
16:27
move on to the next one let's travis you
16:29
have something else on this
16:30
um this is why this is why we're doing
16:33
this summit
16:34
and this is why we're starting uh this
16:36
network to really
16:37
uh capitalize on the virtual uh
16:40
technology that we can do we can't we
16:42
can now create
16:43
our recreate because we did have a black
16:46
wall street but we can recreate that
16:47
right now
16:48
and really really figure out ways to
16:50
build empower connect
16:52
and really get to that next level
16:54
because it's you know i think if all of
16:56
us do what we need to do in the places
16:57
that we're in we can get there because
16:59
there's no
17:00
you've probably heard me say this before
17:01
on my shoulder captain america is not
17:02
coming black panther's not coming
17:04
the hulk's not coming like that's all
17:06
for the comic books like we have to we
17:08
have to create wakanda we have to create
17:10
that and be intentional about actually
17:12
doing that
17:13
and the tools are there the ability is
17:15
there for us to at least know how to
17:17
get access to those who are who have who
17:20
want to be intentional about this
17:21
because lots of people don't
17:22
but we just want to focus on those who
17:23
do and then actually teach people how to
17:26
build their network to go out and
17:28
actually do
17:29
they can do crowd funding too there's
17:31
the way you can now fundraise you know
17:33
this karma you're in politics you can
17:34
fundraise you have to go through some
17:35
things but
17:36
we're going to help people there you can
17:38
fundraise now through your network and
17:40
get people to invest
17:41
and you don't have to just rely on you
17:43
still need institutional
17:45
backing but if you're able to get some
17:47
of those millions in other ways without
17:49
having to just rely on that
17:51
uh i think it increases our chances so
17:53
look this is why we're doing this is why
17:54
we're having these conversations so
17:56
i mean i think it's a really important
17:57
point so let's go to the next question
17:59
all right
18:00
uh the second question we asked is what
18:03
advantages
18:04
do entrepreneurs of color have over
18:06
non-marginalized groups so we asked the
18:08
we put this survey out and these were
18:10
the what were the five options for
18:13
uh answers mimi four options four
18:16
okay i got it wrong see help me out
18:18
correct me it's okay
18:20
overcoming adversity is a frequently
18:23
used
18:24
skill diversity of thought
18:27
in creativity and market strategy
18:30
diverse research and buying demographic
18:35
or representation in drastically growing
18:38
among socially conscious buyers and
18:41
influencers
18:42
so again out of the four what is the
18:44
greatest
18:45
advantage so to clarify when we say for
18:48
example
18:50
the third one which is diverse research
18:52
and buying demographic
18:53
that would be identity and
18:55
representation meaning
18:57
if you are a marginalized group
18:58
therefore your buying demographic
19:00
would identify with such
19:04
all right so going first on this is
19:06
actually team capital because team
19:08
founder went first
19:09
the last time so team capital you guys
19:12
have at it
19:14
what's your answer i'm gonna have to
19:17
lean forward
19:18
but but i'll let my my partner speak
19:20
first
19:22
i'll go with diversity of thought and
19:25
creativity and market strategy
19:29
okay what's your thoughts kevin
19:32
agreement yeah you guys
19:36
this one is definitely not a hundred
19:37
percent
19:39
um no i i could see b
19:42
um
19:47
good thing you haven't got me in like a
19:48
10 second timer um you might be a good
19:52
idea the way i'm thinking right now
19:54
um
20:01
i don't think it's c
20:05
i don't know i don't think it's a
20:09
i agree um all right we're going
20:13
we're together i can see
20:16
some people saying d
20:20
um and i think all of these are going to
20:22
get a better percentage than than last
20:24
time
20:25
um
20:29
um i'm going with my partner b
20:32
final answer all right
20:36
all right cool team founder where we at
20:39
what are you guys doing no pressure this
20:41
time um
20:44
carmen i'll let you leave
20:50
[Laughter]
21:00
i i definitely have input but i'm going
21:02
to let you let you like kind of give
21:04
your feedback first right
21:05
ladies
21:08
well thank you so much so so i have i
21:10
have i am between
21:12
actually c and d and i'll tell you why
21:15
one of the things that we as
21:17
african-americans or minorities have
21:19
over
21:19
non-minorities is that there are
21:21
set-aside programs
21:22
specifically for us so when you're
21:24
talking about buying power strategic
21:26
decisions
21:27
what we have is the ability to
21:29
participate in
21:30
different types of programs that may
21:32
give us a leg up
21:34
not a handout but a leg up so
21:37
c kind of makes sense but deet was also
21:41
just that significant because we do have
21:43
the ability
21:44
to have some of those social structures
21:46
in place um
21:47
hence you know you right now you have uh
21:50
organizations that are
21:51
committed to a mission of helping
21:53
diverse owned businesses expand and grow
21:55
um you see a lot of uh of
21:58
uh content now being created
22:00
specifically for ethnic founders
22:02
um etc so i'm between c
22:05
and d um the average person
22:09
probably wouldn't see the set-asides
22:12
you know as an advantage like i do so i
22:15
would lean for the masses to be d
22:18
um but i think it's cnd travis what do
22:21
you think
22:22
yeah um i think when we look at this
22:24
from the masses uh
22:26
i'm gonna go with d so i think
22:29
i think your your intuition on the
22:30
masses thought is correct so let's go d
22:33
all right so what do we have we had d
22:36
for
22:37
team founder and what did team capital
22:39
choose
22:40
e that's what they chose is b you guys
22:43
need
22:43
the results because you're both
22:44
incorrect yeah so at least though let's
22:47
put the toppers off
22:48
the top is all right we'll see who got
22:50
the point but what was the top result
22:52
i'm gonna i'm gonna say the order from
22:54
kind of highest ranking to lowest
22:56
ranking so
22:57
overcoming adversity as a frequently
22:59
used skill was
23:00
almost 50 percent of responders so 48.7
23:05
said that that was their main advantage
23:08
the second is b which is diversity of
23:11
thought and creativity
23:12
strategy the third is representation
23:16
drastically among socially conscious
23:18
buyers and then
23:19
the least which was actually at less
23:21
than three percent 2.4 percent
23:23
said diverse research and buying
23:25
demographic as it related to them
23:28
yeah interesting thing i think i think
23:31
the correct answer
23:32
is b um but
23:38
um that's interesting but tell me why
23:40
tell me why because
23:41
this is obviously a survey it's not uh
23:44
so it's but there's different
23:45
perspectives that
23:46
that you all have being actual people on
23:49
the ground dealing with this as
23:50
investors as founders travis tell me
23:53
tell me why you believe
23:55
b is the right answer at least from your
23:56
perspective yeah i mean i think b is the
23:58
right answer because
24:00
a lot i think what our competitive
24:01
advantage is is that we see the world
24:03
from a different lens because we've been
24:05
marginalized in different ways
24:07
um so there's different pain points that
24:09
we feel you know as
24:10
you know black and brown people um
24:12
collectively that
24:14
i think give us a different perspective
24:16
on things that we know
24:17
should be uh optimized and should be
24:20
changed
24:20
um and i i just i think about
24:24
just examples such as like twitter is
24:26
one of the biggest companies in the
24:27
world today but what about black planet
24:29
or you know youtube versus worldstar
24:33
um there's just so many examples um
24:36
of what we saw first those companies
24:39
were before
24:40
those other companies or facebook even
24:41
you know when you look at black planet
24:43
um you know those were all first but we
24:46
were unable to take advantage
24:48
take advantage of of certain
24:50
opportunities because we either lacked
24:52
resources or
24:53
um or just didn't you know really know
24:56
how to bring those
24:57
products and and things to life but you
24:59
know the final example of that would be
25:01
like the number of barbershop apps that
25:03
you know are created now because
25:05
it's very different when you grow up in
25:07
a black community and you're used to
25:08
spending three to four hours five hours
25:10
in a barber shop
25:11
waiting to get your hair cut that is
25:14
very different
25:15
than the experience at best cuts so you
25:17
know i know of people who have started
25:19
platforms to make scheduling your
25:20
haircut
25:21
you know easy easier um and i think you
25:24
know
25:24
having that pain point that experience
25:27
gave them the advantage to do that
25:29
before covet happened
25:30
where we're having a lot of issues with
25:32
people you know getting
25:33
grooming appointments and things like
25:35
that um so that's uh that's
25:38
that's my that's my thought process no
25:40
that's a great point
25:42
yeah with that i would agree with that
25:44
i'm shocked by the overcoming adversity
25:47
as being number one
25:48
because that appears to be one like
25:51
you're going to get some business
25:52
because i believe you can take a beating
25:54
better than everyone else right
25:56
he comes back but the diversity the
25:59
diversity of thought is we think about
26:01
creativity and innovation it comes from
26:03
different perspectives right and
26:04
different perspectives
26:05
is where diversity comes in right so i i
26:08
jump right at that one and then
26:10
the idea about the demographic piece i
26:12
mean people can hire folks for that in
26:14
research
26:15
that may not be an entrepreneur of color
26:17
right i mean research is research
26:19
yeah they did the last piece around the
26:21
representation of
26:22
socially conscious all black folks
26:25
aren't
26:26
socially conscious this is to be happy
26:28
that's right
26:29
so it's kind of hard to say that but if
26:32
if you're an entrepreneur of color the
26:33
one thing we
26:34
say is that you're diverse you're going
26:36
to have a diverse perspective based on
26:38
um based on your skin and where you're
26:40
from and you're gonna be able to use
26:42
that
26:43
to help a company to be better right in
26:45
all different
26:46
kind of channels right so not just
26:48
marketing but just overall
26:50
innovation um and ideation um
26:53
if you have a diverse group of people
26:55
working for you or working with you
26:57
i'm aligned yeah i would say like
27:00
when i think about this and how i viewed
27:03
it
27:04
a doesn't surprise me because i think a
27:06
and b
27:07
actually tie together overcoming
27:08
adversity is a frequently used skill and
27:10
at having to overcome adversity means
27:13
that you're going to have to figure out
27:14
how to maneuver situations and come from
27:16
different perspectives that others don't
27:18
think of
27:19
so i can see a and b really closely tied
27:21
together
27:23
because i honestly think if you're able
27:25
to process this is the hard part to be
27:27
able to process and get past the
27:28
adversity
27:30
you're able to go back deconstruct it
27:32
and figure out ways to
27:34
be innovative and from a different
27:36
perspective that others
27:37
can't so i do think that i think i think
27:41
partly a feeds into b like overcoming
27:43
adversity
27:44
helps you to become more creative in
27:46
solving problems because you know
27:47
if you have to survive how to how to how
27:49
to live how to how to eat
27:50
how to do things and then you get to
27:52
this point where you're solving business
27:53
problems people like you can do it the
27:54
problem is most people
27:55
it's very hard to get past that point
27:57
but if you've if you've if you've been
27:58
able to overcome a lot of adversity
28:01
it helps you to be creative in solving
28:02
problems you figure like look there's
28:03
going to be a way like i know it's we're
28:05
up against the wall now
28:06
but hell i've been through much worse so
28:08
i can we're going to figure out
28:09
if option a doesn't work we'll go to
28:11
option b if option b doesn't work we'll
28:12
go to c d
28:13
e f there's always another option so i
28:15
think they kind of play into each other
28:17
a little bit but maybe
28:18
maybe maybe i'm overthinking it i do
28:20
want to highlight one point
28:21
that mimi and i saw and i think i want
28:24
to discuss that about the the diverse
28:27
uh the the the diverse research and the
28:30
buying demographic because it's
28:31
i mean that was almost nothing and i say
28:33
like when you talk about that question
28:35
it's like
28:35
are people going to be uh just because
28:39
you're black does that mean people are
28:40
going to help you more
28:41
are you going are they going to buy from
28:43
you uh i i think
28:45
people's experience with that that's why
28:47
i got almost nothing was no
28:49
talk to me about why you think that is
28:51
and is there any opportunity to improve
28:53
that
28:54
loaded question but go i'll let anybody
28:56
go
28:58
well i i think the reason why it is is
29:01
because of experience
29:03
um you know historically um
29:06
you know we left the um
29:10
we never got chances in corporate
29:12
america to be the ceo right that's why
29:14
you see so many
29:15
black businesses where they we've
29:17
created our own opportunity to be ceo
29:19
and so
29:20
out of you know out of mere experience
29:23
we're accustomed to being rejected
29:24
however my lens from that is that
29:28
there are opportunities specifically for
29:30
us
29:31
um that we can again get that leg up
29:34
but again it's just being able and being
29:37
ready to be able to debate on it so
29:39
you know in short it's it's just again
29:41
it's it's how how we see the world
29:44
i can see why no one uh thought to
29:46
thought to
29:47
um you know choose that as as one of
29:49
their primary reasons but i think it's
29:50
more experience
29:52
yeah i have a quick question carmen
29:54
because i'm interested in kind of the
29:56
perspective as it relates to women
29:58
so with women do you find that as a
30:01
woman
30:02
founder that other women are more likely
30:05
to support because
30:06
it's a marginalized group so i i i would
30:09
say from my personal experience
30:11
and some of the survey data that we've
30:13
seen is that it is not
30:15
kind of an immediate correlation that
30:16
women are therefore going to support
30:18
other women or that marginalized groups
30:19
are therefore going to support other
30:21
marginalized groups is there something
30:23
systemic there is there a barrier
30:25
whether it's conscious or unconscious
30:28
that says
30:29
i don't know if i want to support until
30:30
i see that they're successful
30:32
or i don't know if i want to support
30:34
because i wasn't able to go
30:36
and pursue something of that nature do
30:38
do we believe that there is more to it
30:40
than just
30:41
maybe experience
30:44
from that lens i think yes i think that
30:47
we are conditioned
30:48
to want to see something be great first
30:51
before giving it an opportunity
30:53
and that's what make investing so hard
30:56
because you're you're really
30:58
going off of risk and it's how much risk
31:01
you really want
31:02
to participate in but as women you know
31:05
we are uh we we have been conditioned to
31:08
be very hard on ourselves
31:10
um and therefore we're hard on each
31:11
other um
31:13
but i do see that changing uh you know
31:15
believe it or not
31:17
um and you know not to have a political
31:19
stance one way or another
31:21
but um i think that as we've seen some
31:23
of the things that's happened
31:24
with civil unrest and you know the
31:27
current um
31:28
political environment um with you know
31:31
women of color getting opportunities
31:33
that they haven't in the past
31:34
we've become more appreciative of each
31:37
other and we've become
31:38
more interested in supporting one
31:40
another
31:41
so in short i think that you know um
31:45
we we we are you know i think
31:48
almost always a little bit harder on
31:50
ourselves which caused us to transfer
31:51
that but i see that changing
31:53
and i see greater opportunities for us
31:55
working together yep and i think that
31:57
carries across
31:58
to black and brown communities as well
31:59
we are i think we are tougher on each
32:02
other and we need to
32:03
re-examine why that is uh i i
32:06
i know travis we had this conversation
32:08
like you did get black investors but not
32:11
before
32:12
white investors or other people
32:13
validated the process i can tell you
32:15
running for office
32:16
it was the same thing like i i certainly
32:19
got
32:19
some black support but it was i got a
32:22
lot of support from a lot of other
32:24
people first and it was like this effort
32:26
where he had this well
32:27
you go out and prove yourself first you
32:29
go out and you know raise
32:31
three million dollars and then i believe
32:33
if other people believe in you
32:34
but that's not how it works for other
32:35
communities i say this is that's not how
32:37
we're for jewish communities right
32:38
there's a reason
32:38
people work together and that's a good
32:40
thing and they trust each other they're
32:42
willing to take the risk and that is how
32:43
we build and i'll say
32:45
uh to travis's earlier point about you
32:47
know uh you know
32:48
black planet and some of the other
32:50
things that we came up with
32:52
there there was enough money probably to
32:54
invest in that
32:55
because we're not all poor we're just
32:57
sometimes poorly organized when it comes
32:59
to
32:59
investing in each other so i just like
33:01
to just reiterate that point and i look
33:03
collague
33:03
you had some some points you want to
33:05
make on that so uh
33:06
look like you are agreeing or no yeah no
33:09
i'm 100 agreeing and you're right and
33:11
we we are so hard on ourselves and you
33:14
know we we think about how we used to be
33:16
so back when you talked about the old
33:18
black wall street right in tulsa a lot
33:20
of that was created because there
33:22
weren't any options you aren't going
33:23
anywhere
33:24
right and now we're trying to bring that
33:26
back and it's so difficult because
33:27
you're right we're just
33:28
extremely hard on ourselves and you
33:31
always use this analogy and it happens
33:33
all the time that you'll go to a black
33:35
owned restaurant
33:36
and they'll mess up something and you'll
33:38
say you wouldn't say i'll never come
33:40
back to this restaurant you're like i'm
33:41
never going to another black restaurant
33:43
like no black restaurant not that black
33:45
version right no black restaurant
33:48
why would we do that right no one really
33:50
does that if you go to mcdonald's you
33:52
just i'm not going to that mcdonald's
33:53
again right you're not saying i'm never
33:55
going to mcdonald's ever so
33:56
i i don't know where that comes from but
33:58
you're right we have to reverse that
34:00
piece
34:00
and if we're going to do this and do
34:02
this together we do have to show each
34:04
other some grace
34:05
right and work together to get to a
34:08
better outcome versus just
34:10
canceling people out like i'm done i'm
34:12
not going back to that place
34:14
yep yeah yeah i would say
34:18
i know where it comes from i mean it's
34:19
something that's been conditioned on
34:21
this show
34:22
about disrupting narratives and
34:23
constructs and that's why it's so
34:25
important to identify them and identify
34:28
uh the things that we accept and say why
34:30
do we accept this and
34:31
we and we shouldn't and because it's not
34:33
true we are harder on ourselves
34:36
uh in two ways and i had this on on on
34:38
one other panel i was on i said you know
34:40
we also put this thing up that we have
34:41
to work
34:42
and we say this twice as hard to get
34:44
half as much i'm like no
34:45
we should work twice as hard to get
34:47
twice as much like we should work hard
34:49
and expect that we're going to get twice
34:50
as much when we work hard like
34:52
changing how we view these things
34:54
matters
34:55
uh because it it i need to think about
34:57
it to someone pointed out to me i'm like
34:58
yeah that's a that's a really good point
34:59
i mean it's actually
35:01
kind of destructive to think of it like
35:03
okay i have to work hard and just expect
35:04
that half is coming like no i'm not
35:06
expecting i want
35:07
if i work hard and i work just as hard
35:09
as a billionaire i want a billion
35:09
dollars like
35:10
yeah what's wrong with that yep
35:14
all right so all right our third
35:15
question so we got right now you know
35:18
all right team founder y'all gonna have
35:19
to bring yourselves back here give me
35:21
some points
35:21
you know you guys got a shot it's two
35:23
nothing but we increased the points a
35:24
little bit so you got a chance
35:26
to still maybe pull this off how does it
35:28
go on
35:36
[Laughter]
35:40
this is the only time being wrong still
35:41
makes you right i got you
35:45
oh man all right so this is all right so
35:48
look
35:48
the third question we asked the survey
35:50
is what paths have you experienced as
35:52
most resourceful
35:54
when assessing extra capital for your
35:55
businesses and
35:57
mimi will go through the answers yep
35:59
there are five options and again
36:01
our registered attendees could only pick
36:04
one so mbe funding
36:08
small business grants equity
36:11
financing credit cards or online
36:15
lenders or alternative lenders
36:19
all right team founder this is all this
36:21
is on you guys all right let's
36:22
let's take one no pressure let's try to
36:24
get a point man let's make it happen
36:25
come on
36:26
carmen you guys travis you know i i'm
36:29
gonna let i'm gonna let you
36:30
start since you were so gracious to
36:32
start with me i i have my own
36:34
perspective but looking forward to
36:36
getting yours
36:37
who who went first on the oh yeah it is
36:40
you guys
36:40
sorry carmen you
36:44
you actually might have more insights on
36:46
this particular question than me but
36:48
like i i've only raised venture capital
36:51
um that's kind of all i really know um
36:55
i have heard about experiences with
36:58
you know small business grants
37:01
but particularly um you know experiences
37:04
trying to obtain
37:05
loans from you know banks which which
37:08
i've heard is very difficult
37:09
i've just never attempted um i
37:12
i would say what i don't think it is i i
37:15
don't think
37:16
that it's equity financing uh
37:19
understanding that one percent of that
37:21
goes to people that look like us
37:23
um i i don't think that
37:26
it's mbe funding um
37:30
if i had to guess i would say that
37:33
it's either b small business grants
37:37
uh or d credit cards um
37:40
and if i were betting my own money i
37:43
think i would probably go credit cards
37:44
but
37:45
um i i just know the number of small
37:48
business grants has to be
37:50
few and far between as well so i don't
37:52
know that's my thoughts i definitely
37:53
don't think it's online lenders either
37:55
yep yep i'm in line you know access to
37:58
capital is the number one impediment for
38:00
ethnic-owned businesses and you know
38:02
when you look at all of these items that
38:04
are in the group
38:06
um it's really hard to access all of
38:07
them but most of us have a credit card
38:10
you know and and most of us have been
38:12
able to you know
38:14
obtain one even if it's one with higher
38:16
percentage rates so
38:18
i'm going to agree with you and i'm
38:19
going to say credit cards
38:21
all right final answer that's our final
38:25
answer
38:26
all right team capital you're next
38:29
so i'm a little disappointed right now
38:32
because
38:34
i was going to say credit cards as well
38:36
but
38:38
and you guys do nothing man you're
38:40
greedy don't be greedy
38:42
but one of the one in the uh
38:46
a natural question it said extra cat it
38:48
said extra
38:49
and it's it's when i'm thinking extra
38:51
you know when i'm looking for a small
38:52
grant i'm not looking
38:54
extra i'm looking for capital to you
38:57
know operate my business
38:58
when i when i need a little bit of extra
39:00
cash or i need some cash quickly
39:01
i'm thinking credit card and i think
39:03
it's universal
39:05
uh significantly more people have credit
39:07
cards and not
39:08
um so but you know what do i think could
39:12
be
39:12
the crazy wild card right or the one
39:15
that
39:16
sneaks up and surprises us
39:27
maybe c
39:31
and and the only or oh it's going to be
39:33
something crazy like doesn't make too
39:35
much sense i think everything else
39:36
doesn't make sense but
39:37
you know maybe people looking at this
39:40
forum and this disrupt now thinking okay
39:42
how do people get
39:43
capital it's going to be something more
39:45
mainstream than
39:46
maybe credit card yeah so
39:49
um so credit card you're right credit
39:52
card was my
39:53
number two actually uh tied right
39:56
i i think in in this environment because
39:58
you you just recently took this poll
40:00
right this was a recent poll
40:02
it's a recent poll um you know one of
40:03
the hottest things that's out there
40:05
right now
40:06
is alternative finance options so online
40:09
lenders
40:10
cabbage what have you so i'm uh
40:13
i'm thinking e because equity i mean
40:16
nobody's getting equity it's like
40:21
it's a little it's a little bit harder
40:23
right yeah
40:25
so so i i was thinking it was e
40:29
but um i mean what's your thoughts
40:31
priorities i think no
40:33
i don't think i don't think it's equity
40:34
i agree i don't think it's equity but i
40:36
don't
40:37
but the question is what second so i'm
40:40
yeah i mean the other ones i don't
40:42
they're not i don't see them but i i i
40:44
agree
40:45
let's go the alternative that's what the
40:47
wild guy is out there
40:49
i don't know what mbe financing is
41:00
that's why i just said mbe because i was
41:02
like i don't even know what that is
41:06
i will say a fun fact my first job out
41:09
of college was at toyota and i was hired
41:12
as a diversity
41:13
supplier specialist my job was to ensure
41:16
that toyota sourced five percent of all
41:18
indirect and direct procurement
41:20
from minority business enterprises
41:22
believe it or not
41:25
you know what's funny i agree with that
41:27
maybe so i sit on the national minority
41:28
supply and development council's board
41:30
and there's another connected to it
41:32
organization
41:34
the business consortium fund which is
41:36
mbe financing
41:37
yes that's what exists so it actually
41:38
does exist i think
41:40
i think toyota is probably the leader in
41:42
that i don't think that's
41:43
good for all and just it's interesting
41:46
the way our experiences shape our
41:48
narrative because that was my first job
41:50
out of college i was like this is great
41:51
all corporate america loves and
41:54
i'm excited that's not reality that was
41:57
my experience
41:58
what i was thinking what i was thinking
42:02
oh sorry what i was thinking at first
42:04
was that it was
42:05
minority depository institutions right
42:08
so we have 179
42:09
black owned or woman-owned banks across
42:12
the country
42:13
and so i was thinking that maybe that
42:16
was you know dollars specifically for
42:19
you know set aside
42:20
that uh you know or maybe i know here in
42:24
the state of ohio
42:25
uh we have a capital access fund where
42:28
those are specifically for
42:30
you know minority-owned businesses so i
42:31
was thinking of something like that
42:34
at first but then i started thinking
42:36
that yeah no that that would be too easy
42:40
all right so we want to see what the
42:42
survey says somebody says
42:44
highest right to answer is what did you
42:45
do drum roll
42:47
so the highest rank is actually small
42:50
business grants
42:51
came in at 30 percent 34
42:56
okay
43:03
um credit cards is the second so that
43:06
was 27.3
43:08
and believe it or not equity finance
43:10
scored higher than online
43:12
or ultimately oh wow wow
43:15
i'm shocked by the small business grants
43:17
because i for you know being in the
43:19
industry
43:21
there aren't any they don't really exist
43:24
right i need to find out when your
43:27
audience comes in rob i want to talk to
43:29
him
43:32
every source falls yeah yeah i could
43:36
i was going to say the mbe funding as
43:38
you all kind of
43:40
allude it was the absolute minority at
43:43
three percent so i don't think anyone
43:45
knows about mbe funding
43:46
i even know who the three percent was
43:49
because
43:51
you got someone who works at a bank you
43:53
got you got
43:54
you got other founders you got you got
43:56
angel um
43:57
you got people running angel networks i
43:59
worked in finance for almost eight years
44:01
and i run a fintech now i've never heard
44:03
of it
44:03
um
44:04
[Laughter]
44:06
i
44:09
[Laughter]
44:13
oh man that's true that's pretty funny
44:15
so wait who won that round who do we get
44:16
who would get the poop clothes
44:18
the credit ralph okay yeah i thought you
44:20
guys wanted i want to make sure
44:22
all right good all right good well we
44:23
get to make it interesting because
44:25
you know this one we're going to make
44:26
worth more of the points so we'll make
44:28
it worth three points so whoever wins
44:29
this wins
44:30
the next question so there's some real
44:32
pressure some real
44:33
so you know team capital don't you know
44:35
don't don't get sloppy
44:36
all right all right you guys ready for
44:38
the final all right let's let's see who
44:40
takes home the prize all right
44:41
our fourth question that we asked that
44:43
we asked the audience in the survey is
44:46
what do entrepreneurs do wrong when
44:48
approaching investors and mimi will give
44:50
the answers yes so we have a few
44:53
different options so again keep in mind
44:55
what do entrepreneurs do
44:56
wrong is it lack of information
44:59
regarding
45:00
the investor or fund that they're
45:02
pitching
45:04
underestimating the amount of capital
45:06
needed
45:07
in the initial proposal could it be
45:10
lacking
45:10
a clear and concise vision for the
45:14
business
45:15
is it limitations or resistance with
45:18
accepting
45:18
or asking for constructive feedback
45:21
all right this one is for this is uh
45:23
this is team was a team
45:25
was team capital on this one right first
45:28
yep wait which one is listed twice i
45:30
don't see it oh actually yeah that was
45:32
my oversight so it looks like
45:35
resistance with accepting constructive
45:37
feedback
45:38
or not asking for rejection
45:41
feedback or why they were rejected yep
45:45
good catch travis yep worse
45:48
all right so this one is on this is this
45:52
is team capital this one
45:54
yep yep team capital go ahead
46:00
well first i'll say that all of these
46:04
answers are very valid um
46:08
which one do i think won out
46:11
with this poll um i would say the
46:17
i would say
46:18
[Music]
46:22
see
46:26
i i think the other ones are pretty
46:28
specific but
46:29
i think c is a little bit universal in
46:33
that
46:33
it may be not being able to
46:37
well one not having a clear vision not
46:39
having a clear understanding of the
46:40
financials not
46:41
having a clear understanding of the
46:43
market they're going into
46:45
um i think it covers more bases than the
46:48
others
46:49
um and i think it's just a general lack
46:53
of not being ready to pitch
46:56
um so i'm i think
46:59
c panna what are you thinking
47:02
you know what i was thinking c as well i
47:05
was i was
47:06
jumping between c and b because i'm also
47:10
saying again
47:11
it's difficult because it's approaching
47:12
investors so then i kind of put banks in
47:14
there i'd say
47:15
you know yeah and so i i was thinking
47:18
that
47:19
um you know underestimating the amount
47:21
of capital that they actually need
47:23
which then kills the deal altogether but
47:25
i think to your point
47:26
all of that ties into c with the lack
47:28
and a clear vision for the business so
47:30
where the business is going
47:32
what's going to be the value prop their
47:34
competitive advantage
47:35
and then what's going to be the capital
47:37
source to actually make this work so
47:39
i'm going with my partner on c
47:42
all right all right
47:48
okay okay partner travis
47:52
i've done this a lot and i do this on
47:54
investment so i'd love to hear your
47:56
perspective
47:58
um i likewise but i think we do it in
48:02
slightly different ways so i definitely
48:03
am looking for your feedback on this um
48:06
in a significant way
48:07
i mean i i know for a fact the the
48:10
answer that you know a
48:12
is it happens a lot you know people are
48:15
going to investors that they think
48:17
could be like you know you're like oh
48:19
andreessen horowitz is a great investor
48:21
let me go talk to them but
48:22
you you all you have is a pitch deck um
48:26
and you look like me and that will never
48:28
happen with andreessen you need to go to
48:30
the angel group first
48:32
um but so they're actually knocking on
48:35
doors that actually can't be helpful to
48:36
them yet
48:37
um because of the stage that they're at
48:39
um
48:41
and they also might not know what
48:42
industry that
48:44
or or yeah is that investor industry
48:47
agnostic or are they specialized um
48:49
we don't know that um a lot of times um
48:52
when i look at b i do think
48:54
underestimating or overestimating
48:57
um the amount of capital needed um in
48:59
their proposal
49:02
they might people might say i'm just
49:04
thinking of what people might say
49:06
i don't think that they would say hey i
49:07
think i don't think that they know that
49:09
um for b i think that they might have
49:12
gotten that feedback where
49:14
you know they went somewhere and said
49:15
hey i need to raise this much money or i
49:17
need a loan for this much and
49:19
either they're told you don't need that
49:20
much or you actually need
49:22
more um and maybe gotten that feedback i
49:25
do think c is a strong answer but d
49:28
uh i don't think d and e from my
49:31
perspective
49:31
people are self-aware maybe you're not
49:34
honestly self-aware
49:36
enough to say that in a survey
49:40
so where they don't accept taking
49:42
constructive feedback
49:43
most people think that they take
49:44
constructive feedback well but many
49:46
don't
49:47
uh and then as far as e um
49:50
i don't know if the people who don't ask
49:52
for rejection feedback know that they
49:53
should
49:54
um so i don't know those are those are
49:58
my thoughts i think personally i think b
50:01
might be the strongest answer but i
50:03
think that we could be surprised by any
50:05
one of these
50:07
no i totally concur um you know you're
50:10
exactly right
50:11
with a um often times what i see
50:15
is that a lot of founders don't know
50:18
that there are
50:19
institutional investors they're private
50:21
equity groups
50:22
there's venture and then there's vc
50:24
right and so each one of those
50:26
have a different uh industry in mind as
50:28
well as risk return
50:30
and so not often are early stage
50:33
businesses even taught to think about
50:35
evidence or cash flow and so when you
50:38
don't understand the financial
50:40
workings of a business then you tend to
50:42
go to people that you think have the
50:43
largest purse
50:44
not knowing that that purse isn't open
50:46
for you so
50:48
um i'm with you with a um but b
50:52
you know we also don't know how much to
50:55
ask for
50:56
sometimes we go in saying okay i just
50:58
want to you know pay myself for five or
51:00
six years
51:01
so that i can create this type of
51:03
product um you know or
51:05
use that money for whatever the
51:07
technology need
51:09
is uh to help grow it they may not think
51:11
about
51:12
back office uh travel and
51:15
you know other uh significant um
51:18
line items uh on the balance sheet so
51:21
i'm between
51:22
a and b as well um
51:25
so what do you think about this for b um
51:28
what i've also seen
51:29
is that we are so nervous
51:32
to secure capital that we tend to ask
51:35
for less
51:36
just because we think it'll give us a
51:37
better chance of actually securing it
51:40
um so i think that that's where the
51:42
underestimate
51:43
underestimation um could also play
51:46
yep oh i totally agree with that we do
51:48
the same thing for contracts
51:50
we just want a deal so we'll bid on a
51:52
contract knowing that we're going to
51:53
lose money just to say that we got it
51:55
so yeah i i i'm with you on that um
51:58
so you want to let's go with me then i'm
52:00
with i'm with you on that all the way
52:02
partner
52:02
okay win or lose we're together final
52:06
answer then all right b is the answer
52:09
so we got c for team capital and b for
52:12
team founder is that correct
52:14
all right we're there uh let's go
52:16
through the survey says what are the
52:17
results mimi
52:19
drum roll so just to clarify this was
52:22
actually a question that had a sliding
52:23
scale where people could say never
52:26
sometimes or often so i'm going to base
52:29
these readouts off of the often
52:32
column and indeed it was b with 54.8
52:36
percent
52:37
of everyone saying underestimate the
52:40
amount of capital
52:41
needed in their proposal now it's
52:43
interesting team founder found a way to
52:45
pull it out
52:46
all right
52:49
[Laughter]
52:57
is travis you made a comment about kind
53:00
of
53:00
our ability to have introspective
53:01
analysis well almost 50 percent
53:04
48.4 of people said not asking for
53:07
rejection feedback or why they were
53:09
rejected
53:11
interesting very interesting you've got
53:14
some very special people taking this
53:18
that is that is a very mature
53:21
very important thing to do and and i'm
53:24
pleasantly surprised
53:25
so that's great yeah yeah or it could be
53:27
a lot of investors that were answering
53:29
the questions
53:33
you know it could be that people take
53:35
that but you know what was interesting
53:36
because
53:37
back to how i was trying to figure it
53:38
out with cnb and so take
53:40
like as i take the investor out and when
53:42
people are coming to banks asking for
53:44
money
53:45
one of the things is that particularly
53:47
for small businesses and i would say
53:48
even more minority businesses that we
53:50
borrow less
53:51
than non-minority businesses and a lot
53:54
of that is
53:55
we don't think we're going to get it or
53:57
again sometimes we just grossly just
53:59
underestimate what we're going to
54:01
leave and when i'm meeting with people
54:03
and i meet with folks you know on my own
54:05
to try to help people on the side
54:07
and i'm always just turned away by how
54:09
their capital analysis of what they're
54:11
looking for is like way off
54:13
it's like way off so then you start to
54:14
question the rest of the business plan
54:17
you're like okay well now
54:18
if you don't know how much money you
54:19
actually need to run your business
54:21
now explain to me how you gonna make
54:22
this business actually work right so
54:25
then this is downhill after that so
54:27
i i can see that i can see that how that
54:29
can occur
54:30
i would say but so my i have a challenge
54:32
on that so how do you how do we go about
54:34
that
54:35
let's say you have someone that is has a
54:38
good idea
54:39
but perhaps they have to build the right
54:40
team around them and a bank might not be
54:42
where they start
54:44
uh but if they're starting with venture
54:45
capital like venture capital
54:47
like no one has this stuff tested no one
54:49
no one knew
54:50
that mark zuckerberg was going to create
54:52
a multi-billion dollar business
54:54
approaching trillion dollar business
54:56
like no one knew that going in google
54:58
google almost sold their business for a
54:59
little over a million dollars they just
55:00
people just didn't give them enough so
55:02
like people
55:02
don't always know uh you know everything
55:06
in advance sometimes people bet on
55:08
people based upon their vision
55:09
and based upon being able to put the
55:11
right people around them so
55:12
how do we get to the point where we're
55:14
able to i mean this is all risk
55:16
but this is less for a bank point of
55:18
view because the bank point of view is
55:19
you know you guys are risk adverse just
55:21
by your nature
55:22
but how do we change the perspective in
55:25
investing in people from the same
55:26
perspective as you would a
55:28
mark zuckerberg if you believe this
55:30
person believe
55:31
travis's idea and his concepts and his
55:34
in his in his
55:35
past align with what he's doing how do
55:38
we
55:38
i guess change the narrative and and
55:40
create more opportunities for people so
55:41
they don't have to have
55:42
because everybody somebody can be great
55:44
at a vision
55:45
but i consider myself in this camp but
55:47
not necessarily in the operations
55:49
and so like how do we how do we also
55:51
help people to make sure that we are
55:53
setting them up for success
55:55
um before they get to those places
55:57
because if you don't know
55:59
how do you get there so like what so
56:01
this is the question unpack
56:02
from your experience as investors when
56:05
you've seen this
56:06
or even as entrepreneurs when you've
56:07
done this
56:09
what would you advise people to do
56:11
differently
56:12
now and what would you advise people not
56:14
to do that you've seen done
56:16
in terms of when you when people
56:17
approach you for
56:19
money for advice so on and so forth so
56:22
what would you like to see what would
56:24
you have them do differently what have
56:25
you seen done right that's actually
56:26
sealed the deal so anybody can do that
56:30
then so in my experience i mean you
56:33
brought up facebook right
56:35
i remember when i was doing my nba one
56:39
we actually had the facebook right and
56:41
it was a very simple site and
56:44
and i you know i'm not sure how the
56:47
financing happened for the company
56:48
but the site was very very simple i
56:51
could have built i mean it was simple
56:53
very simple but the vision and where it
56:55
went to
56:56
um was obviously immense so
57:00
you're saying you know what do you need
57:02
to be able to get that capital
57:04
well i would say at the very beginning
57:05
do as much as you can without raising
57:07
capital
57:08
right latent capital is the last thing
57:10
you want to do
57:12
um now the issue is
57:15
if you've got a if you've got a great
57:17
idea and you're trying to
57:19
get capital and you're looking for the
57:21
small amount of capital
57:23
people in finance recognize that you
57:25
know
57:26
you're probably gonna need more than a
57:28
little bit to really
57:29
capitalize on a small idea that's why i
57:31
say do as much as you can before asking
57:33
for that capital
57:34
but once you're at the point where you
57:36
need capital
57:38
you need enough capital to actually um
57:41
get over the hump and i think
57:42
that's the issue we have in in
57:45
our community where we don't have as
57:46
much access to friends and family and
57:48
the money at the early stage
57:50
to put just put yourself in the position
57:52
to get the bigger rounds of capital
57:54
so you have this great idea you maybe
57:56
have a little bit of traction
57:58
and you need you now need a lot of
58:01
capital so how do we bridge that gap
58:04
well you know the institutions are
58:07
looking to put in growth capital
58:09
as opposed to you creating
58:12
you creating that that mvp
58:15
to get the mvp you need to be talking to
58:18
different people and not the
58:19
institutions
58:21
not all money is the same so you know if
58:24
you got friends and family great if you
58:25
don't have friends and family you're now
58:27
in the angel space angel space really is
58:31
a little bit broad from
58:32
pre-seed to seed and maybe series a
58:35
but you're not going to vcs
58:38
forget vcs by the time you're really
58:40
turning the vcs you have an mvp
58:43
you may be having a little bit of
58:44
attraction and and
58:46
you you know you're in a different space
58:49
so taking a step back
58:52
you need to be talking to the right
58:54
people and
58:55
i think it was a very first question is
58:57
that access to those to those networks
58:59
and resources which we lack
59:01
that's why we can't make that jump yep
59:04
so networking
59:06
connecting always networking you don't
59:08
know which conversation is going to open
59:10
that door for you to get that capital
59:12
or even that relationship which is you
59:15
know
59:16
going to support what you're doing it
59:18
may not even be capital
59:19
what your company needs may not be a
59:22
check it may be a relationship it may be
59:24
one introduction so just if you're in
59:27
the mindset of transaction transaction
59:29
transaction
59:30
you're in the wrong mindset you're going
59:32
to be in the mindset of connecting
59:33
connecting connecting because it's all
59:35
based on relationships
59:37
for you to get money you need to have
59:39
relationships you have to have network
59:40
and then once you have something that's
59:42
going to be special
59:44
you're going after bigger money you got
59:46
to have that that foundation there to
59:48
get there and that's the hump
59:50
we need to get over yeah completely 100
59:53
yeah nope no this hundred percent he
59:56
said it all i mean kevin
59:57
killed it it's relationships man you got
59:59
to have those before
60:00
you know before you do anything and and
60:03
to your point rob you said
60:04
you know where did we get that knowledge
60:05
base and where did we get that help
60:07
you get it from your relationships right
60:09
and again i mentioned this earlier about
60:11
giving each other grace when you have
60:12
relationships
60:13
people listen to your story they tell
60:14
you where you know the ropes to skip and
60:16
the ropes to know
60:18
to help you get prepared for when it's
60:19
game time right
60:22
you know you know rob you know i'll say
60:24
this um
60:26
uh only because i i've been there and um
60:29
you know when i started my business in
60:30
my dorm room i started it off of a vcr
60:33
tape
60:34
it was a beta tape i'm telling my age
60:35
right now because i'm really 25.
60:37
um but i i claim
60:41
ordered a beta tape off of tv at late
60:44
night for 29.99
60:46
uh in ore hall at the university of
60:48
akron and that video tape told me that i
60:51
can live the american dream
60:52
and become a millionaire so that my
60:54
family my future family
60:56
could be able to live the american dream
60:58
as well when i made my first 20 million
61:01
dollars after buying the house the
61:02
bentley's and all the shoes
61:04
i didn't have a mentor to help guide me
61:08
and to help teach me how to be more
61:10
financially resourceful
61:12
right when i hit the 30 million dollar
61:15
mark
61:15
we think we were thinking what did we do
61:17
oh my goodness this is great
61:19
by that time the real estate market was
61:21
getting ready to clash
61:22
crash it was near 2008. in 2008
61:26
all of my mortgages i was a real estate
61:28
investor at 200 pieces of property all
61:30
over the world
61:31
all of the lenders said we're calling
61:33
your notes due we need that money now
61:35
i called my accountant he said you got
61:37
about 355
61:38
in the account which one would you like
61:40
me to take it from
61:42
it was devastating to me because i said
61:44
okay who's going to help me get out of
61:46
this rut
61:48
who's going to help me so i went to the
61:50
governor's office and said i need help
61:53
as a business owner
61:54
he sent me to an organization i'm not
61:56
going to say their name
61:57
but he sent me to an organization that
61:59
provided technical assistance
62:01
my ex-husband told me not to do it but
62:04
being
62:05
missed woman that i am i said no i'm
62:06
gonna do it anyway because i think it
62:08
makes sense
62:09
um but that person on the other side rob
62:12
had never been
62:13
ceo cfo had never been responsible for
62:16
anybody's livelihoods they couldn't read
62:18
a p l statement
62:20
and for us that is what we did on the
62:22
daily basis
62:23
we were responsible for people's lives
62:25
their health insurance paying their rent
62:27
their mortgage
62:28
feeding their families making their kids
62:30
have options for going to school
62:32
so it was the council that i received
62:34
that helped me go further downhill
62:37
i went to every organization that you
62:39
can think of i drove from cleveland to
62:41
cincinnati
62:43
and it was a young man his name was ani
62:46
martin
62:47
and i don't know if you know ani but ani
62:50
was a business development guy and he
62:53
basically
62:54
showed me how to turn my business
62:57
into a whole new entity and use
63:00
a sales model not a financial model a
63:03
sales model to pull myself
63:05
out so it saved me from going into
63:07
foreclosure 200 times
63:09
but what i learned through that process
63:12
rob is that it's really about the
63:14
council we receive
63:15
that's why one in five businesses fail
63:18
we don't have enough people like myself
63:20
who's actually done it
63:22
out here teaching these people what to
63:24
do and what not to do
63:25
we have neophytes and those neophytes
63:28
have great ideas
63:30
but sometimes they're too far from the
63:31
mark someone said it very well
63:34
we don't always need money we need to
63:37
learn how to be better operators
63:39
and we need to understand sales and so
63:42
if i was to give an answer to that and
63:45
tears are running down my face so i'm so
63:47
glad that you can't see me right now
63:49
um but it's because i live and i breed
63:52
this
63:53
every single day and it pains me
63:56
that we spend billions of dollars on
63:58
resources and technical assistance
64:01
but we don't think to add those people
64:03
who have some valid
64:04
and real experience to help us do it
64:06
right so it's not an ethnic issue
64:09
it's a business issue and if i had
64:12
one request it would be that more people
64:15
like me stand up
64:17
and give back so for the past seven
64:19
years i've been doing that
64:21
i've been giving back making sure that
64:23
businesses don't lose their business
64:25
make sure that people still have a way
64:27
to pay for people's livelihoods
64:29
because it's the right thing to do yeah
64:30
well that was a good way to that's a
64:32
good way to end listen
64:33
so you can you can preach whatever yeah
64:35
that was good it's a good way to end so
64:37
uh we want to take questions from the
64:38
audience we're going to get a chance to
64:39
do this so we want to
64:40
see what you agree with and disagree
64:42
with we're taking some of the uh
64:43
questions we got
64:44
we're going to make sure that we get
64:46
back to you and we'll be able to talk to
64:47
you and actually meet with you live but
64:48
thank you for your time team team
64:51
founder congratulations you pulled it
64:52
out i was worried about you
64:54
so team capital you gave it a good run
64:56
but you know
64:57
you can't win them all but until next
64:58
time we'll see we'll see everybody next
65:00
time we're going to continue to disrupt
65:02
common narratives and constructs

HOSTED BY

ROB RICHARDSON

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“Times are Tough. They don’t have to be.”

The opening session at the Disruption Now Summit with corporate leaders and entrepreneurs. From survey results, gathered from entrepreneurs we will explore the common questions, pitfalls, and struggles for entrepreneurs seeking access to capital.

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Rob Richardson

Entrepreneur & Keynote Speaker

Rob Richardson is the host of disruption Now Podcast and the owner of DN Media Agency, a full-service digital marketing and research company. He has appeared on MSNBC, America this Week, and is a weekly contributor to Roland Martin Unfiltered.

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