WEBVTT

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Welcome, everyone. So week 10 of our GBR masterclass. I am excited to have this masterclass because

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we are having a conversation specifically for founders. Last year in our GBR program,

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I think you all remember me talking about one of the members who was pitching. Her name

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is Veronica, and she was pitching for a grant. But Arian was so impressed by her knowledge

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and skills and her business that she deemed her to be venture ready and invested in her

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business. And so I'm excited to bring Veronica up here to talk to you all about what it looks

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like for founders after you get that investment. I think sometimes we are so eager to get that

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venture investment that we don't necessarily think through what that looks like. So Veronica

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is going to talk to us a little bit about what it looks like after they invest in your business.

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Now what? What do they expect from you? Lessons that she learned. So Veronica,

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welcome to our Get Venture Ready masterclass. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

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Of course. Okay. And I guess I'll just go ahead and take it from here. So thank you, ladies.

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Thank you so much for having me. I would love to tell you a little bit about myself and a little

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bit about my journey. So I'm Veronica Woodruff. I'm a mom, a CEO, a daughter, sister, cousin,

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just like you, I'm regular. And my journey started off as a flight attendant to having

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a seat at the table with leaders in corporate travel innovation for over a decade. So when

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we first launched Travel Assist, it was 2018, and we went to market with a B2C solution,

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providing baby gear rentals to families arriving at Atlanta airport. And since then we've evolved

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into something much bigger. Now we're partnering with some of the biggest airports and leading

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airliners in the world by creating seamless travel experience for all who travel and need

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assistance. And we do this through automation, AI, machine learning. And I can go on and on and

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talk to you about Travel Assist because that's my baby. But today I'm here to share with you

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my founder experience, my experience from my journey as a founder and where I'm at right now.

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And what I hope for is that you can take something away from this conversation, whether it's a lesson

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learned, inspiration to keep going, or motivation to bridge that gap between female founders

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securing funding for their companies. What I like to do is I want to tell you a little bit about

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what led me to our first investment. As Siobhan said, there's nothing more than having a woman,

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a Black woman, investing in an Afro-Latina. I consider myself a Black woman. So another Black

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woman investing in another Black woman. There's nothing more powerful than seeing and receiving

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that. So again, I like to tell you what led to that first investment, what it was like actually

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receiving that investment. Because you all know that the offer publicly was one number,

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but we were able to even receive more than what was originally offered. And I cannot have done

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that without my team. And what it's like now, after raising capital from additional investors

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and building your team, you raise all that money so that you can hire more people, so you can scale

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your business and grow from there. And the reality is that we do all this work just to pitch,

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and pitching never ends. You're going to constantly pitch throughout the lifetime of

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your business. So I'll just get right into it. Just like you all may or may not be, but I was

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at a point in my company where we were, in order for us to hit our next milestones, we needed to

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raise capital. I was bootstrapping. We received non-dilutive funding. But all of that was coming

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to an end. And in order for us to secure our first customer, our first partner, we needed to have

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money and financial backing to support us and scale from there. So I did the GBR program,

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just like the one that you're in today. However, the difference was that program was 12 months,

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and I think yours is a little shorter. I think yours is maybe 12 weeks. I'm not sure.

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But the biggest benefit about being in that program was that I was able to build relationships

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with the Fearless team by asking questions. And as I was asking questions, I was giving them a

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bit of knowledge.

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about myself and my company and where we were.

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So it was more like an update.

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It was a question and an update.

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And I was also able to utilize the chat

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and connect with founders and actually

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take that initiative of building relationships with them.

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So when I say, I would see certain names in the chat,

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and I would connect with them on LinkedIn and just say,

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hey, do you want to meet for virtual coffee or stuff

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like that?

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And I would meet with them, and I would just

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listen to what they're doing, where they are in their company

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stage, what investors they're talking to.

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I would get to know what they were going through,

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and I would share what I was going through.

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And then we would keep in touch.

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And the reality was that what we were doing,

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we were building this relationship that ended up

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turning into a friendship.

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These connections, these peers, they're real life relationships

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because I know that you all are very similar to me,

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where the company is like your baby,

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and it takes on a large percent of your time.

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And so no one loves to hear more about you talking business

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than other female founders, because that's what they do.

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They're talking about their business all the time.

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So I surrounded myself with female founders.

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Sorry about that.

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My computer went out.

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So anyway, I was at the time where I was hungry,

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and I was committed to actively participating in this cohort.

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But at the same time, I had went through the Women's

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Entrepreneurship Initiative.

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I had went through Techstars.

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So I went through the Techstars Female Founder Catalyst

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Program, it was Techstars and JPMorgan and Chase.

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And I'm just going to spend a little bit of time

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talking about this program, because when

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you think of Techstars, you think of Techstars

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being one of the leading global accelerators,

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and they invest in founders.

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A lot of founders, they go through Techstars

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to get their first check.

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So I'm going to talk a little bit more about Techstars,

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and then I'm going to talk a little bit more

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about Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative,

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because a lot of founders, they go through Techstars

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to get their first check.

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But I want to make sure that all of you

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know the difference between accelerators

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and versus incubators.

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And the difference between incubators

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is they help companies start from the ground up.

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So you have an idea, and they help you formulate that idea.

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And most of the time, as you're formulating that idea,

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your mindset has to change.

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You're not thinking of a small mom-and-pop business that's

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generating only a million dollars in revenue

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or hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

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What you're building is a sustainable, scalable business

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model, so that way you can have a successful exit

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and so that you can be venture ready.

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And so I was lucky enough to have coaches and mentors

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to push me.

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Sorry.

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OK.

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I was reading the chat, but I was

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able to have coaches and mentors to push me

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and to give me the idea that, OK, I

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have to go to market with not just one,

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but several different revenue streams

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to see which one was going to scale and scale

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the largest and the furthest.

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And so if I didn't have those mentors in the beginning,

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I would have been a mom-and-pop shop running baby gear

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rentals out of the airport here in Atlanta.

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And that's not what I signed up for.

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I went through way too much going through a divorce

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and sacrificing a lot just to keep this company,

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so that way it can be something that I can pass down

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to my daughter, something that I can actually

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exit from and walk away from and walk away from

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by creating opportunities for not just me,

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but many other people.

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And that's the goal, ladies.

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That's the goal with our businesses.

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It's not just for us to take care of our family,

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to create generational wealth for our immediate circle,

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but it's to build and create legacies for other women

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to follow.

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We have to break these barriers, so that way it

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can be easier for the next group of women

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to raise venture capital.

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Because right now, you hear all of the,

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if we listen to all the statistics,

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if we see all the data, and I don't live like that.

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I live off the grid.

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I hate when people tell me stuff like,

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you need to only pitch to investors

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that will invest in women or women of color.

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And you need to, I remember early stage,

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there was a coach who came up to me and he told me,

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you need to focus on.

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on creating social capital.

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If you focus on social capital, then people will invest.

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Or why don't you consider donating half of your revenues

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to a nonprofit?

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And it made me question what I was building.

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And you have to be so confident, and so absolute, and so sure.

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Because we're creators.

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I knew that I was creating a sustainable, scalable business.

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And I knew that I was providing an exit to not just one,

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but many investors.

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And I was creating a lot of opportunities

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for not only myself and my team receiving a good contract,

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but we were also creating economic.

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We're aiding economic development.

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We're creating jobs for the city,

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creating jobs for the community.

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We're doing a lot of things that had more

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to do than just driving revenue.

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And sometimes you have to block those opinions.

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You have to block those feedback.

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And you have to stay on course.

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And that's very hard when you're participating

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in a lot of accelerators and incubators.

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And people don't really get what you're building.

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So you have to learn how to filter out

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the good and the bad.

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And I'm not saying that it's bad,

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but it's not going to elevate you to your next level.

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And so the difference between incubators are simply,

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they help entrepreneurs with their business ideas

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from the ground up.

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But accelerators, they're like consulting firms.

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So they invest in you.

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And they invest in you.

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And they're not giving you money for free.

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They're investing in you for equity.

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So they're on your cap table.

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And usually that equity is very expensive.

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But what it does for you is you're

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able to leverage their network.

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You're able to get access to mentors.

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You're able to have access to their strategic partners.

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So if your customers are larger corporations,

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if your customers are, you wonder

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how people reach the CEO of Coca-Cola,

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or how certain people is able to be three people away

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from Obama.

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It's because they go through, they're

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a part of those networks.

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And if you're like me, I didn't have that.

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I didn't have these networks.

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I didn't have this community.

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I didn't come from wealth.

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My parents, they worked.

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And they worked very hard.

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We are a middle class family from California.

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But I didn't come from a family where my dad was a CEO,

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or we're millionaires, and we live this certain lifestyle.

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I had to make a name of myself.

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And I had to build those relationships on my own.

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So when you hear about those white boy founders who

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are in the Silicon Valley, and they

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raise all these millions of dollars just based off

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of their ideas, what you don't know

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is that their father was so-and-so, and so-and-so,

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and so-and-so.

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And because their father is all these people,

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or their mother is all these people,

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then it de-risks an investor from investing in them.

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And so for most Black female founders, we don't have that.

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But we're getting access to that because there

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are more funds like Fearless Fund, and Zane Venture,

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and Collab Capital, and all these different funds.

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But even outside of that, we're making some waves

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with our ideas.

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We're making some waves with our businesses.

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And people who wouldn't normally invest in us,

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now they're looking at us.

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And so it's very important for you

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to not accept the statistics and the terms,

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and not get discouraged, but to keep going.

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So anyway, that's the difference between an incubator

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and an accelerator.

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When we did the JP Morgan and Chase and Techstar's

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accelerator, they didn't offer us any money.

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And a lot of people went to Twitter with that.

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We were the first ones here in Atlanta.

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A lot of people went to Twitter.

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And you know how Twitter gets.

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You get the good, the bad, the ugly, the people

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crying and complaining.

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But what it did for us is we didn't

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have to give away any equity.

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But what we had was access to their network.

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So I utilized the hell out of that network.

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As soon as they had their mentor calendar call,

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I booked meetings for the whole entire time

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I was in that call.

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I think it was three months.

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I booked meetings every week.

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And every time I met with whoever would meet with me,

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I kept giving them updates.

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And I would set my meetings with airports and airliners

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right around that time, because I

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knew I was getting ready to meet with a certain mentor or coach.

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And I would be able to ask them questions.

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OK, what should I do?

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And what I learned is these people,

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they gave you so much knowledge through their experience.

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Because the mentors that were in their program,

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their founders.

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who had not just one exit, but multiple exits. They're investors who were founders, you know,

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who raised their own funds, and they still had an entrepreneur mindset, you know. And what I was

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lacking when I was going through these local accelerators were people who were able to give

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me advice that was a good, clear distinction between travel and tech. I couldn't find those

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people. But what I realized is the people in Techstars, they were just, they just had a

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different level of communication, you know. It wasn't like you had to be pretty and polished,

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you know. It was, you know, you're speaking on a call with millionaires, with people who are

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lending you their advice, their wisdom, you know, that want to meet with you, that will work for

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you. I had a woman, a mentor, she wrote my whole branding strategy with me. We did like a two,

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two and a half hour workshop, you know. And she did that for me. And that's her business,

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that's what she charges people for. But she did that because Techstars has this give first

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mentality where they help other founders in their community because these people helped them,

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you know. And they helped them be successful. And when you think about it, every leader that's

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successful, they didn't reach their level of success alone. It took a village. So,

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it made it clear. Well, that time, I was running out of money. And it was so important for me to

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raise money. So, what I did was I pitched to all these people. And I let them know my situation.

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Like, if I don't raise money in the next 30 days, then I don't know what's going to happen. But I

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can't play my employees. You know, we're not going to be able to scale. We're not going to,

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sorry, I'm going off slides. But we're not going to be able to scale. I'm not going to be able to

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feed my family. I'm a mom. I have my daughter. And I'm a single mom at that. So, I wear all

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these different hats. And everything was coming to an end. And what I did was I pulled my team

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from their normal roles. And I said, look, you know, I was honest with them. I was like, if we

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don't raise this money, we're not going to be able to continue. You know, we have to get an

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investor to say yes. Because everything before then was no's. And so, we ended up, you know,

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working and honing in on our pitch. And we went through tech stars. We graduated. And it was

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around the same time that Fearless was offering, you know, the pitch competition for a 5K non

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dilutive grant. And at that time, I was like, it's, you know, it's 5K. And I had all my doubts,

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you know. But I just kept getting signals, you know. I kept getting emails from Fearless to

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apply. And so, I finally applied. And we went through the pitch. And it was it caught me off

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guard. Because I don't know, that day, a lot of different things were going on. You know,

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things weren't going quite my way. And I still pitched. And I, you know, and then I didn't win

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the 5K when Ariane announced the winner. I didn't win the 5K grant. And I still remained positive.

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I was like, okay, you know, that person must have needed it more than I did, you know. And

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then they even offered a $2,500 grant. And I still didn't win. And I just thought again, okay,

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you know, maybe they just didn't get it, you know. And then when Ariane came to the stage,

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it was like they had it planned. And she was like, you know, we want to invest in you. And

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like my heart hit the ground. Because I don't know if you guys know, when you pray for something,

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like I was literally on my knees praying every night, like on my knees praying, like, God,

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why did you give me this idea? Like what, you know, I need, we need, we need funding, you know,

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we need, I need, there's so much that I needed. And to actually have that happen, I didn't know

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what to do. Like I was shocked. And it was like shocked, exciting. And, and my team, everyone was

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screaming, and I was screaming, you know, of course. But I want to tell you one thing.

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One thing is, if you are serious about raising money, you need to do everything that it takes

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to get to that yes. And when I say everything, I mean, and we'll go back to this slide. But I mean,

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you have to get your legal, you have to get your legal in order, your counsel. So start building a

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relationship with your, your legal team, because whether you're raising on a safe note, or a

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convertible note, or if you're, you know, if you're that advanced, and you're, you're raising a price

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round, you want to be able to have your advisors, you know, have your, your loyal, your lawyer,

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you know, you want to have your team.

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together, where when you're accepting that money, you're able to make a wise decision.

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You know, luckily, you know, Fearless Fund, you know, they invest on founder, founder,

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founder, they're, they're pro founders. So their terms aren't, you know, they're not

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aggressive or predatory. But there are some other investors who they smell your desperation,

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they will come to you, especially angels, you know, they'll come into you because you need

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money. You know, I remember this, this, there's this one investor, and he offered $10 million

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for our company, 10 million to invest $10 million for 50%. You know, and that's what you call

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predator, predatory lending. And that was just that was just a big red line. There were more

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details in that term sheet that were so wrong. There, I couldn't believe that, that that that

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investor tried to invest in us so early with those terms, you know, but they're out there.

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And we call those we call those people tigers. So you know, you have your sharks,

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but those are a tiger, like that person, he was a tiger. And those tigers, they always come around,

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because he's come around again, and again, and again, still trying to invest, but on different

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terms. But what you have to remember is that those tigers, they never lose their stripes,

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right. And you have to always trust your gut. Because even when I was meeting with him,

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something wasn't right. You know, and, you know, I had the whole team meet with him, you know,

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and the majority of my team are men, you know, there's still investors who are male investors

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that try to take advantage over, over women, and you have to make sure that you have your team

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to be a shield for you, you know, so it's okay to have, you know, if you don't have a team member,

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you know, bounce, bounce, be open and honest with your investors, let them know what those

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conversations are that you're having. I'm sorry, with your advisors, let your advisors know what

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type of conversations you're having with these investors, because if they're really a truly a

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good advisor, they're going to give you feedback, and they're going to help you navigate through

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those conversations. So that way, when it comes time to, to signing your term sheet, you know,

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you're making the right decision for yourself and the company. And also pray, you know,

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when I tell you that things happen faster, and I'm not all weirdy spiritual, but when you manifest,

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you know, when you when you when you actually bring your thoughts on paper, when you're praying,

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when you're communicating with your team, when you're driving that momentum to a yes to a win,

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to a customer to a contract, you know, you have to pray I before my feet hit the ground in the

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morning, I'm constantly praying because this life that we chose to live is not easy. You know,

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all of the stress that we take, we carry it in our guts. And the own that the reality is,

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is it's unhealthy to keep it there. So in order for us to release it, we have to pray or we have

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to write it down, we have to release all of all that we take in, and we take in a lot,

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we take in a lot just being black women, you know, we take in a lot just being mothers,

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we take in a lot being CEOs, we take in a lot having to make every decision that we have to make,

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because at the end of the day, we're responsible for all of those things and nobody else.

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We can't blame our team member, we can't blame, we can't blame our employees, we can't blame our

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counsel, you know, the only person that we can blame is ourself for making the wrong decisions.

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And I'm not saying that we make the wrong decisions, but that we're not going to make

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the wrong decisions because you do, but you have to turn those mistakes, those wrong decisions

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into gains. And when I say gains, I mean, you're, you know, you learn from them, and you keep going.

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So at the end of that program, back to that, you know, we got our first investment, right?

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And we ended up receiving more than what the initial offer was. And now that you have your

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money, you know, let's talk about what other people think. So Pete, everyone's exciting,

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it's very exciting. It's a very exciting feeling to read, you know, to be a part of that small

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percentage of female founders who actually raise money, right? But what comes with that is everyone

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knocking on your door, you know, and everyone thinking that, okay, you know, you have all this

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money, you can hire me, you know, and that's why it's so important to build those relationships

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before you have money, you know, converting the people who are your mentors into sponsors,

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because the reality is, is

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You want to hire your mentors because they are so familiar with your business, you know, they understand what you went through and what you're going through now what you're facing. And these ended up being the, they end up being, you know, the perfect, you know, team members or employees to get your, your company to the next milestones that you're trying to reach. The only downside about that is sometimes you have to let those people go.

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So everyone wants to come in and they want to be a CMO, CTO, you know, all of these big, you know, C-level, they want this big title, right?

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Because not only does it look good, you know, professionally on their resume, but it looks good on LinkedIn.

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You know, everyone wants to be a part of a thriving startup, you know, but not everyone is, is not everyone is qualified.

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You know, they may be qualified to get you to your next milestone, but they're not going to be qualified to scale your company once it reaches a level where you have product market fit to the next level after that.

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And so, you know, there's a lot of weeding through, there's a lot of testing. And for me personally, it was very hard to let go of some of my, you know, first employees.

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But, you know, that's necessary to get, get a right fit. The downside of that is everyone wants to work for you.

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Okay. Everyone says that they'll solve your problem, especially when it comes to technical development.

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And what I found is key is to have a product roadmap built out already, you know, and when you hire your technical development team, whoever's leading that team, whether it's your CTO, or whether it's your head of engineering, or whether it's just, you know, a senior developer,

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you want them to write out a product roadmap and you want them to follow it. Because what that does is it saves you, they're on a schedule, they're hitting their KPIs, they're hitting their targets, you know, and it saves you a lot of time from, you know, from wasting time, you know, and it saves you a lot of time from losing money.

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Because what I had very early on was dev shops, you know, saying they can do all of these things, you know, yes, of course, they want to build our platform, they want to do all these things. But then, you know, when once they got into the middle of the term, they couldn't build out a solution, you know, and then hands were in the air, and I lost money, you know, and I can't afford to do that. You can't afford to do that even after you raise money.

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The other thing is, is also, you know, now that you have investors, you feel like you have all of this pressure, okay, now I have to close this contract. Now I have to get, you know, reach $100,000 in revenue, you know, you have all of these things going on that, that will stress you out. But really, these investors, if they're, if they're pro founder, they want to do everything that you want that they can do for you to succeed.

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So you're no longer the relationship is no longer, okay, these are my investors, I report to them, I work for them, you know, your relationship is these are my partners. Now they own a piece of my company. And now we together have to do everything so we can reach the next milestone so that we can succeed, you know, and it's, it's, it's being open and honest with them, it's being able to, you know, to let them know when you're giving them updates, you know, what you need help on what you need them to do.

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They now own a part of your company. And, and it's not, they, you don't work for them, you know, you're, they're your partner. So you have to be able to ask them for things and, and talk through things, you know, the good, the bad, the ups and downs, and the ugly. The other thing is valuation, valuation matters. So a lot of people tell you to take money from anyone who's ready to invest in you.

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That's not a good idea. Because that's how founders end up losing or selling half of their company. And, you know, they raise all this money, you know, I don't care if it's 150 million, and then their profits are only 600k, and they have to close up their company. That's, that's not healthy. That's not true. That's not a good start.

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You know, and you hear that from you hear those stories from a lot of other non black founders, but that's what happens, you have to listen to the experiences you have to, you have to listen to when people talk, when they when they're sharing their, their journey, their stories, how I built this was like my church, my Bible. So I listened to that every Sunday when I was hiking or walking, I still listen to it now.

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You listen to these founder stories. You know, just like you, you know, we we hear from Tope all the time with Calendly and how long it took him to reach

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his first customer, or even, you know, Arthur Blanks in Home Depot, you know, he didn't

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have a customer for months. And finally, his first customer came in, and they only spent

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a dollar. But that was that drove momentum for him to keep going. And, and sometimes

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it's like that, you know, but you have to continue to believe and you have to continue

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to feed that energy to your entire team to keep going and, and watch what happens. Um,

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so I know I'm running out of time, and I can talk to you forever. But I want to really

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stay focused. So you know, Jay Z talks about this all the time, there's the grind in this

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the glory. And the reality is, is that even though after you receive your first check,

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it is not the glory, you are still grinding, you have to keep creating traction, you have

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to keep reaching your milestones, and you have to keep sending updates. Because what

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those updates do is those investors that told you know, when they see an update, they're

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like, Oh, she's still there. You know, they tell you no to test you, I just want to let

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you know that. And you need to know that they're meeting with you for a reason. You know, it

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takes a lot for someone to give you the time to listen to you, right. So that means they're

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somewhat interested. When you have that chance to pitch to them, that is your opportunity

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to convert them, convert them the minimum, even if they tell you no, you convert them

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into a supporter, you get them so interested in what you're doing, that they're going to

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want to meet with you and meet with you again, and meet with you again. And they're going

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to be damn that they did not invest in you the first time when you're when you're priced

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that first time was probably a three or $2 million valuation. And today's price is 26

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or 25. You know, so you have to, you know, it's fun, because let me tell you, those

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people, those same nose, they come back around, and they come back around again. So, so it

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all goes back to building relationships. And at the end of the day, you know, whether it's

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the investor testing to see if you're ready, whether it's you pitching and communicating.

401
00:32:05.120 --> 00:32:11.120
Yes, Julia, these are from my own experiences and also experiences from other founders.

402
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Okay, I'm going to keep going. But whether it's your investors, communicating, communicating

403
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from I lost my train of thought, but whether it's, you know, anyway, you, you have to,

404
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you have to keep going, keep sending updates, keep building those relationships. Because,

405
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you know, again, you know, at the end of the day, these investors are going to invest in

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you because you're you and because they believe that you can actually do what you're saying

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that you will do. So diligence goes both ways, you have to vet your investors, you have to

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vet your stakeholders. So I mean, any advisors that you bring on, and you add them to your

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board, you want to do background checks, you know, you want to you want to even your first

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employees, you want to do background checks to make sure, you know, nothing will tarnish,

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you know, the integrity of your company. That's very important early stage, because when

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you're early stage, you want to just hire on anyone that will work for you. And, you

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know, traditionally work for you for, you know, a non competitive salary, because you

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don't have enough money to pay them. And you're getting them to buy into what you're

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building. But a lot of times, you know, we overlook things, because we just need someone

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to come in and, and take on a job for us. So it's very important to vettie these people,

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especially your investors. And a good way to vettie your investors is by asking, you

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know, following up seeing, you know, looking on Crunchbase, looking on PitchBook, and

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seeing who what other companies that firm invested in, and, you know, reaching out to

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them on LinkedIn and saying, Hey, can you have a quick conversation, and most founders

421
00:34:00.360 --> 00:34:04.960
are very open and willing to sharing, you know, what their experience was, receiving

422
00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:09.679
investment from that firm. And don't forget that everything is negotiable. So whether

423
00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:14.760
you're hiring on your first employees, whether you're, you know, bringing on an advisor

424
00:34:14.760 --> 00:34:22.880
for equity, you know, all of those terms are negotiable, and make sure that all of all

425
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:27.920
of everyone is on the vesting schedule. So anyone that you bring on your cap table, make

426
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:32.679
sure they're on a four year minimum vesting schedule. And if sometimes they want to

427
00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:37.600
negotiate, that's up to you. But I suggest four years, it takes a long time to know

428
00:34:37.600 --> 00:34:43.840
someone. And that's, again, why, you know, it's important to have legal, because your

429
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:48.080
attorney is going to know things, a good attorney is going to do everything that it'll

430
00:34:48.080 --> 00:34:52.560
take to protect your company from being sued in the future. You know, everything

431
00:34:52.560 --> 00:34:59.640
happens for, you know, everything happens, you have to plan for the unexpected. So I've

432
00:34:59.640 --> 00:35:00.000
been through

433
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:05.680
divorce. So I know what it's like to separate from a relationship from a person that you

434
00:35:05.680 --> 00:35:10.360
once loved. And so even though you have your employees whom you love and they're

435
00:35:10.360 --> 00:35:16.160
outstanding, you have to be prepared that this person may or may not want to walk away

436
00:35:16.160 --> 00:35:20.280
someday. And at the end of the day, it's up to you to protect yourself and the company.

437
00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:28.240
So sometimes legal is a very expensive price, but there are some things that you need to

438
00:35:28.240 --> 00:35:35.520
have legal advisement on. There is also Rocket Lawyer and Canva. I put Canva, I'm sorry.

439
00:35:37.640 --> 00:35:45.280
It's not Canva, it's CARTA. So CARTA allows you to draw issue states, you know, and

440
00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:50.520
manage your cap table. So you can issue states without a lawyer. But it's, you know,

441
00:35:50.520 --> 00:35:55.640
very highly advised that you still have, you know, a legal team review your documents in a

442
00:35:55.640 --> 00:36:01.840
good way of not making, not having to pay so much for legal services is to make friends

443
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:05.840
with your attorney. So that way, you can just bounce off, you know, ideas or what you're

444
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:09.360
currently going through with the attorney, if they're your friends, you know, sometimes

445
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:17.880
they'll just give you advice without charging you their hourly rates. Some of the ups and

446
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:23.680
not so ups, I don't like to say the downs. You know, the, you know, the reality is, is

447
00:36:23.680 --> 00:36:28.200
that, you know, we do all this work to pitch, and you're always going to have to pitch, it's

448
00:36:28.200 --> 00:36:32.720
going to be a continuous basis. You know, you're always going to be pitching for sales or

449
00:36:32.720 --> 00:36:39.760
competing for sales, you're going to have to consistently fundraise. And then also, you're, you

450
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:44.960
still have to pitch, you know, whether it's employees that you're hiring or development team,

451
00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:49.640
you have to pitch to them so they can, they can understand and validate your idea. And they can

452
00:36:49.840 --> 00:37:01.880
build technology based off of it. So pitching never ends. And so the best way to go through,

453
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:07.760
you know, your whole founder journey is to learn from experiences, not just yourself, your own

454
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:12.560
personal experiences, but also listening to what other people went through, you know, and

455
00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:16.960
being open, you know, and vulnerable and sharing what you're currently going through,

456
00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:23.720
because it allows people, you know, to the opportunity to give you feedback on, you know, what

457
00:37:23.720 --> 00:37:29.240
they went through, and, and what to watch out for. And sometimes that's hard, you know, everyone

458
00:37:29.240 --> 00:37:34.320
thinks that you have to be perfect, and, you know, 100% ready. But for most of us, we're

459
00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:40.480
startups, you know, and this is our first time doing this. And for a lot of people, this is their

460
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:46.000
first time, you know, they're breaking into their first adopters into the industry. So no one is

461
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:50.440
going to be able to coach you and tell you how to do things. You know, you have to actually walk

462
00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:56.000
through your experience on your own. And the only way that you're going to be able to navigate that

463
00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:02.160
is to get advice from other, you know, other coaches or other people who actually did it, not

464
00:38:02.160 --> 00:38:09.320
people who studied it in books, and have Harvard degrees and all of these things, you know, they

465
00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:13.560
have, you know, they went to Stanford, they went to Harvard, you know, they, they worked for all

466
00:38:13.560 --> 00:38:18.080
these corporate companies, you need people with startup experience who been able to build a

467
00:38:18.080 --> 00:38:25.840
company from the ground up to be able to help advise you and help you have a mindset that's going

468
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:32.600
to help you scale and get through these hurdles. So some of the lessons that you know, I've

469
00:38:32.600 --> 00:38:38.040
learned from raising capital is when you have to be fearless, like you, you can't have fear, you

470
00:38:38.040 --> 00:38:41.560
know, before people would tell me, you know, you're lacking confidence, you need to be more

471
00:38:41.560 --> 00:38:47.600
confident. And the reality was, it was a battle for me to understand it, because I was confident in

472
00:38:47.600 --> 00:38:53.680
so many other things, you know, I was a confident mom, I am a confident mom, you know, I'm not that

473
00:38:53.680 --> 00:39:00.240
bad looking, you know, and I, I, um, you know, I, there's a lot of things like I'm an athlete. So

474
00:39:00.240 --> 00:39:05.680
I'm naturally I was born an athlete, I'm naturally competitive, you know, and I know, you know, when

475
00:39:05.680 --> 00:39:10.760
I know I'm gonna win, I know that I'm gonna win, you know, and so I knew, like, I believe in

476
00:39:10.760 --> 00:39:18.000
travels is 100%, 1000%, you know, and I knew, and I believed in what I was doing. But what, there

477
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:23.640
was something blocking me every time that I pitch, you know, where I would get timid, or if I was

478
00:39:23.640 --> 00:39:28.600
speaking with a man, a white man, you know, I would have all these doubts and fears, like, he's not

479
00:39:28.600 --> 00:39:34.200
gonna invest in me anyway. And it, it just it displayed itself in the rarest forms where all of a

480
00:39:34.200 --> 00:39:40.080
sudden, I had a shaky voice, or, you know, all of a sudden, I started blanking out and, you know,

481
00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:46.920
things that just happen, you know, when we get fearful. And so because, you know, what I know now

482
00:39:46.920 --> 00:39:54.000
is, if God gave you this idea and put this on your lap, you better go with it. Okay, you listen to

483
00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:59.280
the signs, there's a reason he will bring you the customers, he will bring you the investors, he will

484
00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:00.120
bring and drive

485
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.520
have everything that you need to scale this business forward.

486
00:40:03.520 --> 00:40:05.840
You just have to respect.

487
00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:07.840
I mean, you have to listen to the signs.

488
00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:09.360
You have to do what it takes.

489
00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:11.240
You have to take that first step.

490
00:40:11.240 --> 00:40:17.120
If God gives you an opportunity, take action.

491
00:40:17.120 --> 00:40:17.880
Do it.

492
00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:24.360
And at the end of the day, pitching all of that stuff,

493
00:40:24.360 --> 00:40:27.280
all of these fears, it's all psychology.

494
00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:31.040
It's all something that's not real.

495
00:40:31.040 --> 00:40:33.080
All of this doubt is something that you're making up

496
00:40:33.080 --> 00:40:36.520
in your head, and it's just not real.

497
00:40:36.520 --> 00:40:39.280
The other thing is, the other lesson,

498
00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:44.360
other huge, big, hairy lesson is to do your diligence.

499
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:46.840
So don't be desperate for money.

500
00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:48.920
Don't take money from anyone.

501
00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:50.760
Once you receive your first check,

502
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:52.480
people are going to want to come to you

503
00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:54.220
and they're going to want to invest in you

504
00:40:54.220 --> 00:40:56.480
because they think, oh, you have one yes,

505
00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:57.960
one investor invested.

506
00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:00.480
OK, this is something that I don't want to miss out on.

507
00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:03.480
And it's that whole fear of missing out the FOMO.

508
00:41:03.480 --> 00:41:05.560
And you will have money come from you

509
00:41:05.560 --> 00:41:09.960
in different forms.

510
00:41:09.960 --> 00:41:13.440
It's very important to do your diligence

511
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:15.160
on where that money is coming from,

512
00:41:15.160 --> 00:41:20.360
and really, really, really hone in and research the terms.

513
00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:21.800
If you don't understand something,

514
00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:24.480
I tell my attorney all the time, I don't understand it.

515
00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:25.240
Explain it to me.

516
00:41:25.240 --> 00:41:27.440
And that's what you're paying for, right?

517
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:31.540
So tell them to break it down for you in simple terms.

518
00:41:31.540 --> 00:41:33.200
Because a lot of times, we're building,

519
00:41:33.200 --> 00:41:34.740
and we're doing a lot of things fast.

520
00:41:34.740 --> 00:41:39.920
And it's very important to know what you're signing away on.

521
00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:43.080
And oh, the other thing is tribe.

522
00:41:43.080 --> 00:41:46.720
So I surround myself with women who are also raising capital

523
00:41:46.720 --> 00:41:48.880
because it's not easy, right?

524
00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:51.280
It's not easy to get rejected so many times.

525
00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:53.960
And even after you raise, you still get rejected.

526
00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:55.040
They still play that game.

527
00:41:55.040 --> 00:41:59.360
This game, it goes on forever and ever.

528
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:01.840
But what ends up happening is you get smarter,

529
00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:04.680
and you know how to reach the nose faster.

530
00:42:04.680 --> 00:42:08.760
And you know more how to answer questions

531
00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:11.680
and how to get a yes.

532
00:42:11.680 --> 00:42:17.680
So I didn't tell you that my other two investments came

533
00:42:17.680 --> 00:42:21.400
from TechStars and building relationships with TechStars.

534
00:42:21.400 --> 00:42:24.600
So some of the mentors that were investors

535
00:42:24.600 --> 00:42:27.640
that were on the mentor deck for TechStars,

536
00:42:27.640 --> 00:42:29.080
they were an investment firm.

537
00:42:29.080 --> 00:42:32.960
And that firm invested in us after Fearless.

538
00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:36.240
I went to a TechStars event, and I ran into an angel.

539
00:42:36.240 --> 00:42:38.080
The next day, he wrote a check.

540
00:42:38.080 --> 00:42:41.360
He wired a check for $100K.

541
00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:44.560
When I tell you build these relationships,

542
00:42:44.560 --> 00:42:48.040
utilize the network, really, really, really, really

543
00:42:48.040 --> 00:42:53.640
be a part of the community, it makes things a lot easier.

544
00:42:53.640 --> 00:42:56.800
So some of my favorite books are The 48 Laws of Power.

545
00:43:00.600 --> 00:43:02.000
We Should All Be Millionaires.

546
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:04.600
You guys haven't read that with Rachel Rogers.

547
00:43:04.600 --> 00:43:06.400
That's one of my favorite books.

548
00:43:06.400 --> 00:43:08.480
I sent it to all my friends, and I

549
00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:13.400
feel like she's my imaginary sister.

550
00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:14.280
And then Move.

551
00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:16.480
Move will help you with go-to-market strategies.

552
00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:20.000
So it's very important that when you're

553
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:25.240
finding product market fit that you launch a few different

554
00:43:25.240 --> 00:43:29.160
revenue streams just so that you can see what's scalable

555
00:43:29.160 --> 00:43:30.920
and what's not.

556
00:43:30.920 --> 00:43:34.600
That was also a huge game changer for us.

557
00:43:34.600 --> 00:43:37.520
And that's about it.

558
00:43:37.520 --> 00:43:38.800
I'm running out of time.

559
00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:41.760
But again, I'm Veronica Woodruff.

560
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:42.840
Happy to connect with you.

561
00:43:42.840 --> 00:43:44.560
I'm a champion for women, especially

562
00:43:44.560 --> 00:43:46.560
women who are fundraising.

563
00:43:46.560 --> 00:43:49.720
We can have real coffee and conversations

564
00:43:49.720 --> 00:43:53.280
offline if you're in the Atlanta area.

565
00:43:53.280 --> 00:43:55.520
Link in me or meet with me.

566
00:43:55.520 --> 00:43:58.360
I work out of the Lola Switchyards.

567
00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:02.080
And yeah, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

568
00:44:02.080 --> 00:44:03.960
I hope I can be helpful to some of you all.

569
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:15.440
OK, so I'm going to go ahead and start

570
00:44:15.480 --> 00:44:20.680
answering some of these questions.

571
00:44:20.680 --> 00:44:22.840
So this is from Francesca.

572
00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:25.280
What are your best practices when

573
00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:26.800
you feel like you're getting fearful,

574
00:44:26.800 --> 00:44:30.000
especially when you're not seeing the results?

575
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:31.600
So I had an advisor.

576
00:44:31.600 --> 00:44:35.120
She just told me not too long ago, probably

577
00:44:35.120 --> 00:44:36.480
like a couple months ago, she was

578
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:38.440
like, when you feel like you're being fearful,

579
00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:40.800
you need to laugh, like laugh in its face.

580
00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:46.360
Because psychologically, you're accepting like, OK,

581
00:44:46.360 --> 00:44:47.240
this isn't real.

582
00:44:47.240 --> 00:44:48.280
It's a fear.

583
00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:52.520
So when you laugh at it, then you're releasing it.

584
00:44:52.520 --> 00:44:54.480
You're letting it go.

585
00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:58.520
And now, I love to prove those fears wrong.

586
00:44:58.520 --> 00:45:01.240
It's a whole different type of thrill.

587
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:03.800
It's just like a whole different energy.

588
00:45:03.800 --> 00:45:07.320
But also, what I also do is I'm very,

589
00:45:07.320 --> 00:45:10.560
with my immediate team members, so when I say immediate,

590
00:45:10.560 --> 00:45:19.080
I mean my partners, I let them know, hey,

591
00:45:19.080 --> 00:45:20.800
this is what I'm going through right now.

592
00:45:20.800 --> 00:45:21.920
I'm being fearful.

593
00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:23.560
And they call me out on it.

594
00:45:23.560 --> 00:45:24.840
And we walk through it.

595
00:45:24.840 --> 00:45:28.800
And I cannot be grateful for those people on my team

596
00:45:28.800 --> 00:45:32.000
because they break it down.

597
00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.440
And we go through it together before I

598
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:37.120
have to either meet with an investor

599
00:45:37.120 --> 00:45:38.640
or meet with a customer.

600
00:45:38.640 --> 00:45:40.040
I hope that answers your question.

601
00:45:43.880 --> 00:45:47.160
Oh, what type of plan B options, loans, et cetera,

602
00:45:47.160 --> 00:45:48.800
had you thought through?

603
00:45:48.800 --> 00:45:52.240
So before we raised capital, I applied to everything.

604
00:45:52.240 --> 00:45:55.160
I set days out where I applied to any free.

605
00:45:55.160 --> 00:45:56.960
There's a lot of free money still floating.

606
00:45:56.960 --> 00:46:00.760
Do not listen to the hype saying that investors

607
00:46:00.760 --> 00:46:01.920
are stopping.

608
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:03.800
They're going to stop investing as much.

609
00:46:03.800 --> 00:46:05.480
Do not read into that.

610
00:46:05.480 --> 00:46:10.160
And even if you do want to read into that,

611
00:46:10.160 --> 00:46:11.840
they're still investing in the UK.

612
00:46:11.840 --> 00:46:12.880
They're still investing.

613
00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:14.680
There's investors in other places.

614
00:46:14.680 --> 00:46:17.080
So please do not read into that.

615
00:46:17.080 --> 00:46:18.760
There's still a lot of non-dilutive money

616
00:46:18.760 --> 00:46:21.200
out there that you can apply for.

617
00:46:21.200 --> 00:46:23.800
People are always interested in hearing your story,

618
00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:25.000
hearing what you're building.

619
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:30.280
So my strategy before was applying to everything,

620
00:46:30.280 --> 00:46:32.120
applying to any free program.

621
00:46:32.120 --> 00:46:34.400
Because what I had was the ability

622
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:39.480
to be able to get all those people, all those teams.

623
00:46:39.480 --> 00:46:42.080
So if you apply into Accelerator and you get accepted,

624
00:46:42.080 --> 00:46:45.640
you get five more people who are a part of that Accelerator

625
00:46:45.640 --> 00:46:46.800
to become supporters.

626
00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:49.840
And then you get the whole cohort to become supporters.

627
00:46:49.840 --> 00:46:52.840
And it gives you a chance for them

628
00:46:52.840 --> 00:46:54.560
to get to know you and know your heart

629
00:46:54.560 --> 00:46:55.800
and what you're building.

630
00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:58.000
And you convert all those people into supporters.

631
00:46:58.000 --> 00:46:58.520
So guess what?

632
00:46:58.520 --> 00:47:00.520
At the end of the day, that's 30 more supporters

633
00:47:00.520 --> 00:47:02.200
that you now have.

634
00:47:02.200 --> 00:47:04.320
And these people, they're advocating for you.

635
00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:06.760
What you want to do when you convert these people

636
00:47:06.760 --> 00:47:09.680
is for them to be able to advocate for you in rooms

637
00:47:09.680 --> 00:47:10.760
that you're not in.

638
00:47:10.760 --> 00:47:12.760
And that helps you drive deals.

639
00:47:12.760 --> 00:47:16.640
That helps you secure money.

640
00:47:16.640 --> 00:47:21.040
What are key questions you prepare for in a pitch?

641
00:47:21.040 --> 00:47:22.640
Listen, these investors, they want

642
00:47:22.640 --> 00:47:24.520
to know that you're building something that's

643
00:47:24.520 --> 00:47:26.040
sustainable, scalable.

644
00:47:26.040 --> 00:47:30.840
And they're going to have a nice, healthy exit.

645
00:47:30.840 --> 00:47:36.080
And so I don't know everyone's company is non.

646
00:47:36.080 --> 00:47:38.040
We all come from different industries.

647
00:47:38.040 --> 00:47:39.280
But that's the game.

648
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:41.200
These investors, they're not investing in you.

649
00:47:41.200 --> 00:47:43.040
They're not giving you money.

650
00:47:43.040 --> 00:47:45.880
They need to see how their money is going to grow

651
00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:47.240
and to what extent.

652
00:47:47.240 --> 00:47:50.720
So that's the most important piece of the pitch.

653
00:47:50.720 --> 00:47:53.400
And if you don't have that traction,

654
00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:55.320
because I didn't really have that traction,

655
00:47:55.320 --> 00:48:00.400
you have to explain how you're going to get that traction.

656
00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:06.000
Where did you get the information for events?

657
00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:08.120
So I signed up on LinkedIn.

658
00:48:08.120 --> 00:48:10.760
LinkedIn is gold, you guys.

659
00:48:10.760 --> 00:48:14.480
I follow people who are always posting.

660
00:48:14.480 --> 00:48:20.240
I look at who people who are in my network are following.

661
00:48:20.240 --> 00:48:24.000
A lot of my opportunities I got from people on LinkedIn

662
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:28.560
literally sending me or forwarding me these events.

663
00:48:28.560 --> 00:48:33.880
And if you go on How I Built This

664
00:48:33.880 --> 00:48:36.720
and you listen to Mark Cuban, Mark Cuban

665
00:48:36.720 --> 00:48:40.000
says that the majority of his investments

666
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:42.280
that he made, the most successful ones,

667
00:48:42.280 --> 00:48:43.920
were from cold calling.

668
00:48:43.920 --> 00:48:47.160
So when I tell you I utilize LinkedIn,

669
00:48:47.160 --> 00:48:49.080
it's so easy to get access to the people

670
00:48:49.080 --> 00:48:49.760
that you want to reach.

671
00:48:49.760 --> 00:48:52.800
And when I tell you I get access to the people who

672
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:56.960
are the actual decision makers, utilize the hell out

673
00:48:56.960 --> 00:48:58.760
of LinkedIn, guys.

674
00:48:58.760 --> 00:49:01.400
Just be a part of so many communities.

675
00:49:01.400 --> 00:49:05.560
I know you guys are from all over, but we're virtual.

676
00:49:05.560 --> 00:49:07.120
Apply to stuff that's in Atlanta.

677
00:49:07.120 --> 00:49:10.440
Apply to stuff in California.

678
00:49:10.440 --> 00:49:16.200
Reach out to Sequoia, all of the big VCs in California,

679
00:49:16.200 --> 00:49:18.120
the big VCs in New York.

680
00:49:18.120 --> 00:49:19.440
Reach out to these people.

681
00:49:19.440 --> 00:49:23.760
And when you're sending updates, ask your investors

682
00:49:23.760 --> 00:49:26.480
or your stakeholders to specifically meet

683
00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:28.680
with those specific people.

684
00:49:28.680 --> 00:49:29.960
You have to ask them.

685
00:49:29.960 --> 00:49:36.920
I want to reach out to Henry with Harlem Capital asking,

686
00:49:36.920 --> 00:49:39.320
hey, does anyone know Henry?

687
00:49:39.320 --> 00:49:41.560
Can you make that introduction for me?

688
00:49:41.560 --> 00:49:45.080
Don't be afraid to ask because closed mouths don't get fed.

689
00:49:45.080 --> 00:49:48.040
And people want to help you.

690
00:49:48.040 --> 00:49:53.600
We have to take out that mindset out

691
00:49:53.600 --> 00:49:59.080
from our thinking that we're competing with each other.

692
00:49:59.080 --> 00:50:01.160
OK, sorry.

693
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:09.600
Yes. Do we have any advice for pre-revenue fundraising?

694
00:50:09.600 --> 00:50:15.020
So, if you're pre-revenue, you have to tell the story.

695
00:50:15.020 --> 00:50:20.540
You have to tell the story how you're going to reach your first profits, you know,

696
00:50:20.680 --> 00:50:21.880
how you're going to reach revenue.

697
00:50:21.880 --> 00:50:25.260
You have to, you know, you have to really execute and hone

698
00:50:25.260 --> 00:50:26.920
in on the problem that you're solving.

699
00:50:27.180 --> 00:50:32.440
You have to talk through, you know, the traction that you've made so far,

700
00:50:32.660 --> 00:50:38.780
and then how you're going to, how you're going to generate your first, you know,

701
00:50:38.780 --> 00:50:41.680
your first revenues and scale from there.

702
00:50:42.100 --> 00:50:44.280
So, you have to, you have to tell that.

703
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:50.880
And an easy way to tell that is to be able to tell that story through your financial model.

704
00:50:51.200 --> 00:50:56.400
So, if you utilize your financial model, you're able to walk through those early revenues,

705
00:50:56.400 --> 00:51:00.080
you know, how much money you're spending on technology, how much money you're spending

706
00:51:00.080 --> 00:51:04.580
on operations and marketing, it just helps you tell the story easier.

707
00:51:05.260 --> 00:51:09.620
How often would you recommend to apply for funding?

708
00:51:10.520 --> 00:51:15.440
I do weekly and a few times a week, but I wanted to know if you,

709
00:51:16.060 --> 00:51:18.400
if I should be pushing for it more.

710
00:51:18.840 --> 00:51:24.780
It depends, like, how bad you need it, you know, because if you need, if you need money,

711
00:51:25.260 --> 00:51:29.240
then you need to apply for every opportunity that you can.

712
00:51:29.660 --> 00:51:35.600
And what a lot of these, what a lot of these companies or corporations are doing is

713
00:51:35.600 --> 00:51:38.260
when you get the denial letter, they're also giving you feedback.

714
00:51:38.600 --> 00:51:42.120
So, listen to the feedback and maybe changing, you know,

715
00:51:42.120 --> 00:51:44.400
a sentence or two when you're applying for those things.

716
00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:49.360
Also, like, don't be afraid to get help from people, you know.

717
00:51:49.380 --> 00:51:55.180
So, you know, what I do with my circle, with my circle of founders is, you know,

718
00:51:55.180 --> 00:51:59.260
the founders who did receive a grant the year before me, you know, I asked them,

719
00:51:59.260 --> 00:52:05.860
what did they put in their, you know, that, there's always a paragraph that allows you

720
00:52:05.860 --> 00:52:08.020
to tell you more about their company, you know,

721
00:52:08.020 --> 00:52:09.760
what was something that they did differently.

722
00:52:10.440 --> 00:52:16.260
And, you know, it's just good to bounce ideas off of other founders who either had a grant

723
00:52:16.260 --> 00:52:21.840
that you're applying for, or, you know, have received investment from an investor, you know,

724
00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:24.960
because they can tell you what they're looking for and what they're not looking for.

725
00:52:25.460 --> 00:52:33.700
Okay, how do you go about asking when rejected, how can, how can you do better?

726
00:52:34.360 --> 00:52:44.080
I don't, I don't know when, let's see, when you get rejected.

727
00:52:44.080 --> 00:52:51.560
Um, you know, it's sometimes it's really hard for, it's hard for people

728
00:52:51.560 --> 00:52:57.240
who are rejecting you to give you feedback, you know, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't,

729
00:52:57.240 --> 00:53:03.440
you know, but if they do give you give you an opportunity to ask, you know,

730
00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:08.720
a lot of investors that I met with, luckily, they told me, you know, why they wouldn't, why,

731
00:53:08.720 --> 00:53:11.080
you know, you sometimes you have to ask them, okay.

732
00:53:11.160 --> 00:53:16.680
So what I do when I meet with investors, I asked them, I said, you know, are you willing to invest

733
00:53:16.680 --> 00:53:20.800
in me now? Or if not, what will it take for you to invest in me?

734
00:53:21.520 --> 00:53:26.440
The other thing I did not mention is, it makes it a lot easier when you have an introduction to an

735
00:53:26.440 --> 00:53:33.920
investor than to cold call them, in most cases, you know, but unlike, you know, what Mark Cuban

736
00:53:33.920 --> 00:53:37.600
stated on how I built this, you know, he he loves cold calls.

737
00:53:37.640 --> 00:53:43.040
So you just have to spark his interest through your value prop, you know, make it very interesting

738
00:53:43.040 --> 00:53:44.680
where he's going to want to meet with you.

739
00:53:44.920 --> 00:53:50.640
And once they give you, you know, that 15 minutes, it's up to you to convert them in that 15

740
00:53:50.640 --> 00:53:54.960
minutes. But I hope I'm answering the questions to your liking.

741
00:53:55.760 --> 00:53:59.840
Or, you know, I hope I'm answering them in a way that you find value.

742
00:53:59.840 --> 00:54:03.360
But I think I answered everything.

743
00:54:07.600 --> 00:54:19.040
Oh, what what are your tips for evaluating your own company?

744
00:54:22.680 --> 00:54:30.560
So they have you mean when it comes to investment, they I don't know if you all know about the

745
00:54:30.560 --> 00:54:40.320
Abaca, the Abaca scale, they have that where it comes, you know, where it shows, you know,

746
00:54:40.320 --> 00:54:46.640
different levels of different ranges where your company is ready to receive investment from

747
00:54:46.640 --> 00:54:51.600
either angels or VCs or, you know, Series A investors.

748
00:54:51.600 --> 00:54:59.720
So, like, I, I needed we needed a we needed capital.

749
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:01.080
So I didn't go off of that.

750
00:55:01.080 --> 00:55:04.560
I just started meeting with VCs and I met with them early.

751
00:55:04.560 --> 00:55:08.240
So I met with VCs out of, you know, when I was in,

752
00:55:08.240 --> 00:55:11.160
when the company was in, you know, very early in ideation

753
00:55:11.160 --> 00:55:12.780
and I didn't even have a team.

754
00:55:12.780 --> 00:55:15.900
I met with American Express when I didn't have a team.

755
00:55:15.900 --> 00:55:18.440
You know, I met with, you know, airport leaders

756
00:55:18.440 --> 00:55:19.820
when I didn't have anyone.

757
00:55:19.820 --> 00:55:22.520
You know, it was just me, you know,

758
00:55:22.520 --> 00:55:24.780
pushing baby gear rentals by myself

759
00:55:24.780 --> 00:55:26.380
off of Facebook Marketplace.

760
00:55:26.380 --> 00:55:29.180
And what that did was it built relationships.

761
00:55:29.180 --> 00:55:30.980
And at the end of the day, you know,

762
00:55:30.980 --> 00:55:33.800
you can mark off all those check boxes

763
00:55:33.800 --> 00:55:37.340
that would say you're investor ready for a VC

764
00:55:37.340 --> 00:55:38.780
and they still won't invest in you

765
00:55:38.780 --> 00:55:40.660
because they don't have a relationship with you.

766
00:55:40.660 --> 00:55:42.740
You have to build those relationships.

767
00:55:42.740 --> 00:55:47.060
That's what matters and go off the grid.

768
00:55:47.060 --> 00:55:50.220
Like, don't let these, you know, do, you know,

769
00:55:50.220 --> 00:55:51.900
if you feel like there's an investment,

770
00:55:51.900 --> 00:55:55.100
like I really researched VC firms

771
00:55:55.100 --> 00:55:59.340
just like when this GBR program came out,

772
00:55:59.340 --> 00:56:02.660
I really wanted to have received funding from Fearless.

773
00:56:02.660 --> 00:56:06.900
And I remember writing an email to my mentor at the ATDC.

774
00:56:06.900 --> 00:56:08.780
He sent me the opportunity.

775
00:56:08.780 --> 00:56:09.920
And that's the other thing.

776
00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:11.300
You wanna get everyone involved

777
00:56:11.300 --> 00:56:12.520
because they're looking out for you.

778
00:56:12.520 --> 00:56:13.780
They're sending you grants.

779
00:56:13.780 --> 00:56:17.220
They're sending you conferences.

780
00:56:17.220 --> 00:56:20.540
They're sending you networking events where investors

781
00:56:20.540 --> 00:56:23.580
and, you know, people who, you know,

782
00:56:23.580 --> 00:56:25.100
are strategic partners for you,

783
00:56:25.100 --> 00:56:27.700
they're gonna be at so that you can,

784
00:56:27.700 --> 00:56:29.100
so your business can succeed.

785
00:56:29.100 --> 00:56:33.580
So it's important to convert supporters however you can

786
00:56:33.580 --> 00:56:35.700
because that's how you get access

787
00:56:35.700 --> 00:56:37.060
to all these opportunities.

788
00:56:37.060 --> 00:56:39.180
But I remember emailing him.

789
00:56:39.180 --> 00:56:43.260
I said, I'm gonna go through the program and, you know,

790
00:56:43.260 --> 00:56:45.780
hopefully they'll invest in me, you know?

791
00:56:45.780 --> 00:56:47.100
And we went back and forth.

792
00:56:47.100 --> 00:56:50.860
And it was funny because he was one of the first people

793
00:56:50.860 --> 00:56:55.300
outside of my team that I let know

794
00:56:55.300 --> 00:56:58.420
that we received investment from Fearless.

795
00:56:58.420 --> 00:57:01.660
And, you know, it's just, you know,

796
00:57:01.660 --> 00:57:03.760
everyone wins when you do it that way.

797
00:57:06.900 --> 00:57:09.840
Okay, well, thank you so much.

798
00:57:09.840 --> 00:57:14.780
And I wish you all the best, you know, keep going.

799
00:57:14.780 --> 00:57:19.780
And, you know, be fearless.

800
00:57:21.020 --> 00:57:25.420
Because this is the life we signed up for.

801
00:57:25.420 --> 00:57:28.980
And, you know, if God gave you your idea,

802
00:57:28.980 --> 00:57:32.060
he is going to make a way for you to succeed.

803
00:57:32.060 --> 00:57:32.900
All right.

804
00:57:34.060 --> 00:57:35.580
Thank you so much, Veronica.

805
00:57:35.580 --> 00:57:40.300
That was an amazing, inspirational masterclass.

806
00:57:40.300 --> 00:57:43.460
I really, listening to the comments

807
00:57:43.460 --> 00:57:46.100
from the founders in the chat,

808
00:57:46.100 --> 00:57:49.380
they were really just encouraged by your energy,

809
00:57:49.380 --> 00:57:51.900
your empathy, you being so sincere and genuine

810
00:57:51.900 --> 00:57:55.060
with the information that you were providing them.

811
00:57:55.060 --> 00:57:57.260
So we are so thankful.

812
00:57:57.260 --> 00:58:00.020
I am still trying to work on getting Veronica

813
00:58:00.020 --> 00:58:02.140
time allowed for a coaching session,

814
00:58:02.140 --> 00:58:04.320
because I feel like she just has so much,

815
00:58:05.220 --> 00:58:07.320
so much to offer you all.

816
00:58:07.320 --> 00:58:09.360
So we'll keep you posted on that.

817
00:58:09.360 --> 00:58:11.900
But thank you so much, Veronica.

818
00:58:11.900 --> 00:58:12.980
You all, before we leave,

819
00:58:12.980 --> 00:58:15.460
I just wanted to highlight a few things.

820
00:58:15.460 --> 00:58:19.260
One, make sure that you complete the survey by tomorrow.

821
00:58:20.140 --> 00:58:23.540
So tomorrow is the deadline for the survey.

822
00:58:23.540 --> 00:58:25.380
Make sure you complete that.

823
00:58:25.380 --> 00:58:30.380
Also, Friday is the deadline for you to submit to pitch.

824
00:58:30.680 --> 00:58:33.740
So you have Wednesday for the survey

825
00:58:33.740 --> 00:58:35.740
and then Friday for the pitch.

826
00:58:35.740 --> 00:58:39.440
I encourage everyone to do both.

827
00:58:39.440 --> 00:58:43.820
Also, our next masterclass, as I posted into the chat,

828
00:58:43.820 --> 00:58:46.380
Ally Bank is doing another masterclass

829
00:58:46.380 --> 00:58:48.860
and they want it to be very interactive.

830
00:58:49.420 --> 00:58:51.340
It's really a dry run of a pitch.

831
00:58:51.340 --> 00:58:52.900
So this is your opportunity,

832
00:58:52.900 --> 00:58:54.340
even if you don't want to pitch,

833
00:58:54.340 --> 00:58:56.780
even if you're not gonna pitch this time,

834
00:58:56.780 --> 00:58:59.620
for you to get in front of your peers,

835
00:58:59.620 --> 00:59:04.220
but also others to be able to talk about different lessons,

836
00:59:04.220 --> 00:59:07.980
to be able to help you get your strategy right for pitching.

837
00:59:07.980 --> 00:59:11.620
So this is a great opportunity to come with your pitch decks,

838
00:59:11.620 --> 00:59:14.340
give you some practice before the actual pitch,

839
00:59:14.340 --> 00:59:16.980
but also just for pitching in general.

840
00:59:16.980 --> 00:59:19.220
If you are raising capital, as Veronica says,

841
00:59:19.220 --> 00:59:22.380
you have to be fearless and ready for every opportunity.

842
00:59:22.380 --> 00:59:24.500
Veronica, when she got the investment,

843
00:59:24.500 --> 00:59:26.140
we weren't even there for investment.

844
00:59:26.140 --> 00:59:28.600
We were literally there to award grants.

845
00:59:28.600 --> 00:59:33.600
And so being able to come and be ready, to be ready,

846
00:59:34.060 --> 00:59:36.220
because I think, I'm not even sure Veronica

847
00:59:36.220 --> 00:59:38.980
was one of the people who had applied to pitch.

848
00:59:38.980 --> 00:59:40.420
I think that Arian said,

849
00:59:40.420 --> 00:59:43.180
is there anybody who wants to pitch right now?

850
00:59:44.100 --> 00:59:47.500
And on the spot came up and pitched her business.

851
00:59:47.500 --> 00:59:50.820
So it's really getting all of the practice that you can

852
00:59:50.820 --> 00:59:52.460
so that you can be ready,

853
00:59:52.460 --> 00:59:54.220
and you can be ready for those moments.

854
00:59:54.220 --> 00:59:55.700
So thank you all so much.

855
00:59:55.700 --> 00:59:58.220
Looking forward to next week

856
00:59:58.220 --> 01:00:00.220
and moving forward to our final pitch.

857
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:01.600
Have an amazing night.