obviously. Okay, welcome. So excited that you all are here.
My name is Siobhan Jones. I am the director over the GVR
program. I have been working with fearless and the fearless
fund and Arian for quite some time now. And so we are excited
to start cohort one for this year. So I have a lot of things
that I want to go over with you all. But I obviously want to
leave, leave it open for you all to ask questions. And so
that's why we're kind of in this platform so that you all can get
the information and ask the questions that you need. So I'm
going to go ahead and get started. Give me one second to
share my screen. Okay, can you all kind of just give me like a
thumbs up if you can see my screen? Okay, perfect. Okay. So
as I said, this is cohort one, we had a full cohort last year.
So we went through GVR last year for a full year. And we, we
learned a lot from the program. We learned so many different
things about what worked, what didn't work, didn't work, and
which brought us to here. Last year, we had the GVR program
ran for 12 months. So we had one large cohort of about 500
women for 12 months, that we went through this large program
with, we learned that having 500 women in a program with for 12
months is a long time. And so our thought process was, we took
the feedback and said, you know what, let's make it a smaller,
more, more of like a intense program. And let's do it for 12
weeks so that we can have more, more cohorts and more women. But
they still get the same amount of information, just not for the
full year in 12 weeks. So the GVR program was started, really
because of COVID. So last year, we noticed that, you know, as
everyone else did, a lot of businesses had to pivot. A lot
of businesses had cash flow issues. And we wanted to be able
to provide a program that helped with financial stability. So
giving you the information that you needed when you went out
there to look for funding for your business. So this program
is really designed to give you that. It's a 12 week intensive
training program for women of color business owners to acquire
the needed training, mentorship, knowledge and skills needed to
gain access to capital. And let me just say this, as I'm going
through, if you do have questions, please don't feel
free to raise your hand there's, you should be able to access
those emojis on the screen, but just raise your hand. If you
don't have it, you can take yourself off mute and ask me if
there's something that comes up. Um, go ahead.
Hi, can you hear me? I can.
Um, are you guys focusing more so on VC? Or do you mean capital
just in general? I will get to that. Okay, should I just put my
questions in the chat box? That's fine.
So yes, so we are providing, providing education around
venture capital. That is the fearless fund is a venture
capital firm. So that is what we are doing. But we also know
that businesses need access to capital in a variety of other
ways, too. So we also provide information around grant
funding, debt based financing. So you'll hear if we have
resources about pitch competitions, if there's grant
applications out there, our partner for this cohort is
Allied Bank. And so they'll be sharing some of their resources
as well, as far as the debt based financing goes. So you
will get a lot of venture capital education, but you will
also be able to get some of that information around other ways
to gain access to capital as well. So that was a good
question.
Okay, so just a few things that we will go over in here. So the
fearless fund, you all obviously are familiar with the fearless
funds, because you are here. And so the fearless fund invest
in women of color led businesses seeking precede seed level and
series a financing. Our mission is to bridge the gap in venture
capital funding for women of color founders, building
scalable growth aggressive companies, fearless fund is
built built by women of color, for women of color by women of
color. And I'm just a little bit off of this, we noticed that in
our last cohort, one of the things
that came up a lot where some of the companies
were not in a position to be able
to receive venture capital.
They were service-based businesses.
And so you'll notice that on the application,
that was one of the things we asked about.
Is it a CPG company or is it a tech company?
And so those are the two categories we had for this cohort.
And I'll kind of fast forward.
The good thing about this program,
because it is ran by the Fearless Fund,
at the end of the program,
we were able to, we have a pitch competition
and I'll provide more information on that.
But at the end of the program,
you're able to pitch your business for funding,
grant funding.
So you'll be able to pitch for a grant.
We'll have like three different levels of grant funding.
But what was the great thing about this program?
We were able to provide investment
for one of the participants of the program.
And so Fearless Fund invested in one of the companies
who are a part of Get Venture Ready.
They were able to take the information they had learned,
applied it to their business,
and they were in position to receive investment.
And so our goal is to be able to position you
to receive access to capital.
If it's venture capital, great.
We wanna be able to provide you information
on grant funding.
We wanna be able to provide you resources
from our partners.
Whatever we can do to put you in a position
to be able to get that funding to be sustainable,
that's what we're gonna do.
Hold on one second.
Go ahead and ask your question, Isis.
Yeah, so my question, I also dropped it in the chat.
Is there a reason that there was one participant
out of 500 that received funding?
Well, yeah, so she actually applied to pitch.
So what we did was, because it was a 12-month program,
you had to apply to be able to pitch.
So there's some criteria for,
even though you're in the program,
there's some criteria of things,
minimal, you had to, in that program last year,
attend at least six of the masterclasses,
six of the coaching classes, and you had to apply.
Everyone didn't apply to pitch.
She actually was applying for the grant.
And so we didn't even, we were actually not even
looking to invest in a business.
However, Arian was on the call
and two of the members from the Fearless Fund,
and after everyone pitched, they were like,
hey, she would be great for a grant,
but she would be even better for us
to be able to invest in her business.
So instead of taking the route of just providing a grant,
they decided to move forward
and provide her an equity investment.
Does that answer your question?
It does, thank you.
You're welcome.
Okay.
So Fearless Fund, we have our general partners,
Arian Simone, she's the president
and chief executive officer of Fearless Fund,
and we have Ayanna Parsons,
who is the chief operating officer of Fearless Fund.
You will see, I'm sure many of you may follow Arian on social
and she may pop into any of our coaching calls
that we may have.
So you may see Arian.
Ayanna sometimes will come into our coaching calls
really just depending on her schedule.
But those are the two that you will see for the most part
as part of the, who are a part of the Fearless Fund.
Ally Bank is our partner this year.
So last year, MasterCard was our partner for the program.
And this year, Ally Bank, who was actually the lead,
who was the lead investor for Fearless Fund,
they partnered with us on this cohort.
And Ally Bank, they offer in-home loans
along with a full side of banking products.
You can read that here.
And we're really excited to work with them
because we have worked with Ally
on a number of different projects.
They worked with us on our VC week that we had last year,
and they are working with us on our VC summit this year.
We've done quite a few different projects with them.
So we're excited to continue the partnership with Ally
and to leverage their resources to our,
hold on one second, I'm sorry.
Sorry, y'all.
Instead of having a kid right here,
I have this dog right here who wants to be on the camera.
So I apologize.
But they are leveraging their resources
to be a part of this program.
I'm really excited for them.
They want to be as involved as possible
and help as many businesses as they can.
Hold on one second.
Okay.
So Ally Bank is an amazing partner and they are excited to really leverage as many resources
as they can.
They will be teaching some of our masterclasses, at least two of the masterclasses, but any
resources that they have, we will be providing that to our cohort members.
So anything that they have to share, anything they have going on that you all will be the
first to be able to get access to that.
So the program overview, we have our masterclasses.
So every Tuesday at 7 p.m., we will have a masterclass that is led by an industry expert.
Accompanying the masterclass, there may be assignments, there may be resources, there
may be something to help further facilitate learning.
For instance, the first masterclass is about creating the perfect pitch.
And so Shelly Prevost will be going over really putting in the elements that investors are
looking for in your deck, but also even if you're going to a pitch competition, what
that needs to look like so that you can secure funding.
And so after that, we want you to be able to tweak your deck or put together a deck
and for us to be able to review it, to be able to help you to make sure that you have
a deck that is actually working and that you're actually able to submit a deck that's going
to be able to generate results.
In addition, we have coaching calls.
So these coaching calls will be every month and there will be the last week of the month,
either on a Thursday or a Friday.
It really depends on the teacher's schedules, but it will be at 7 p.m.
Now because there are 50 of you and we learned from our last cohort is that smaller groups
actually work a little bit better.
So out of 50, we'll be splitting you all into two groups.
You will have the opportunity to sign up for which one you would like.
So we'll have two coaching sessions and we will put it out there and say, hey, these
are our two teachers.
These are the two topics that they will be exploring in their coaching call.
The coaching call is different than the, I see your hand, give me one second.
The coaching call is different than the master class.
The master class is set up more so like a webinar.
So you can always, you're going to be able to ask questions in the chat, but the teacher
is providing you information.
They are giving you information about whatever their topic is, and then they'll have a section
at the end where they're able to answer questions.
The coaching call is a little bit less, a little bit more informal.
It'll be on Zoom just like this, and you'll be able to ask questions.
So on that day, you'll come into the, we'll all come into Zoom and we will, you'll be
put into breakout groups with your particular coaching, your coach.
And so the, for May, the coaching session is led by Shelly Prevost, who is the pitch
coach.
And then we have Kim Seals, who is an investor in the, in the, she has a fund and it's called,
it's the Jump Fund.
And so each coaching session only allows for 25.
And so you'll be able to pick, but once we get to 25, that's the limit for it because
we want to be able to keep it as small as possible.
And for that hour, for you to really be able to ask specific questions that target your
business and things, make those connections specifically for your business, diving in
a little bit deeper.
So if you're looking for having more, you know, more conversation, information around
your pitch deck and pitch, Shelly would be the person for that.
If you want to talk to an investor and really talk and kind of get to the nuts and bolts
of what investors are looking for, what are some of the questions you need to be asking?
What are some of, what does that look like?
Kim would be the person that you would want to spend your coaching hour with.
So each month, that is how it will be separated.
Alexandria.
So, I mean, you answered some of it, but I just wanted to check, can we bring our pitch
a check to these coaching calls to showcase what we have put in place already, in addition
to a performer and forecast, just to have a bit of direction on, you know where we are,
and if it's a fit for VC versus grants and how we can better improve that pitch deck.
You can keep in mind that it is an hour and everyone will not be able to show their pitch
deck so that would take a lot of time.
But I would suggest if you have specific questions from your deck, you could ask those questions
there.
Shelly is an amazing resource so if there's something you specifically, and I'll get that
I'll hit on that in the next one.
So our monthly check ins, these are really designed for us to what we will, so we will
email you either myself or our program, our community manager who are onboarding will
check in with you.
Do you have specific questions, you know, is there something that you need answered
and during that time, I may not have the answer but I know I can get the resource who can
get the answer for you.
And so we'll be sure to make sure you have that ongoing.
If you have a question, the GVR inbox is the perfect place to send your question, so that
we can make sure you get the answer that you need.
There's also another platform that I will show you all later in the presentation, and
there'll be a place for you to be able to kind of ask questions.
Our goal is to be able to be as hands on as possible.
Obviously we can't, we aren't working 24 seven, but if you have a question, we probably have
a resource for you.
If you email and say hey can you take a look at my pitch deck, we can make sure that someone
looks at it and possibly can give you some corrections.
Now everybody don't send 50 pitch decks to me, but if there is something that you need.
Please feel free to let us know because we have lots of resources between the fearless
fund and our partner Ally Bank, and we want to be able to extend that resource to you
all.
But also you all be of a resource to each other as well.
You know as as a cohort.
The idea is for you to network with each other to some of you are at different places in
your business.
And so we want, if you have a, you know your pitch deck is stellar and you win every pitch
competition that you go to, and you have all you are an expert in that share that, you
know, ask each other, we want, we don't want us, the fearless fund to be the only ones
with the answers because you all have a lot of answers amongst yourself as well.
But I'll get into what that'll look like in a little bit further in the presentation.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
So let's talk about the schedule.
This is gonna look a little overwhelming, but it's a lot and I try to put them as organized
as I could, but people like to have schedules in advance and it just makes life a lot easier.
Obviously we're here for the kickoff session, week two on May 10 at seven, all of the classes
are on Tuesdays at seven.
We have crafting the perfect pitch.
Week three, how to prepare your business for investment.
This is from the founders perspective.
So we have a, yes.
Can I take a picture of this?
I just wanted to ask beforehand.
You're actually going to get it.
I'm going to send it.
Okay.
Thank you.
No problem.
So you'll get the recording and you'll get this presentation as well.
And there's another place where all the dates are housed as well.
And I will show you that too.
So I promise I got y'all covered.
So week three is how to prepare a business for investment.
This is from the founders perspective.
And so we brought in one of our portfolio companies who actually went through fearless.
So before fearless had probably three pitch competitions, no, yeah, three pitch competitions.
We had a pitch competition at Spanx headquarters in 2016, maybe 27, no, 2018, I believe.
Then we had a pitch competition at Facebook headquarters in 2019.
Then we had another pitch competition actually during COVID on, we actually broadcasted it
from the gathering spot, but it was really, it was two companies that pitched.
So Alicia Scott, who is the founder of Range Beauty actually pitched at all, at two of
our, she flew, she came to Spanx headquarters, pitched and did not win the grant.
She flew to LA for our pitch competition at Facebook and she did not win it there.
She came back for a third time for our pitch competition that we had in 2020.
And she actually won that equity investment.
And so now she's one of the portfolio companies.
She was just on Shark Tank as well.
And so I thought she would be the perfect person to really take you through what that
is like as a founder, but also helping you to.
understand where you can, how you can prepare your business for investment, but she also
has amazing resources for grants as well and pitch competitions.
So her information, I think, would be really, really invaluable for you all.
In between there, we have our coaching sessions with Shelly and Kim Seals on Friday, May 27th.
And week four, yeah, week four, we have, why do I, okay, the date, I swapped that, my apologies.
So May 24th is Kim Seals, and she'll be doing Venture 101.
I love this class because, and when she teaches it, is because it really gives you information
about what venture is.
Something that we learned, which was another reason why we started the Get Venture Ready
program, was because we noticed that a lot of people weren't really versed in what venture,
what it is, how do you even prepare your business, what investors are looking for, what are some
of those terms, all of those, all of those things.
And so Shelly really, I mean, Kim Seals really breaks it down from an investor point of view
for you to really understand what that looks like.
And then we have week five is getting your business in front of investors.
So Cameron, who is a business investment analyst here at the Fearless Fund, he sources deals
all day.
He goes through diligence for our portfolio companies, and he has, he has a really good
knowledge of what it is that you need to know that investors are looking for, what they
are looking for to be able to put your business in positions for investment.
And so I thought it was a great idea to have one side from the founder, but also one side
from an investor, so that you can see what both of those perspectives look like as you
are moving forward.
Week six, we have Dave Parker, who's going to be teaching product market fit.
Week seven, we have preparing for the diligence process.
I don't, I'm not, I'm not sure, I can't remember from the applications if any of you have received
any kind of venture capital investment, but there's so much work that goes into it after
you get the investment.
You know, after you get the investment, there's a full process that you have to go through.
And if your business starts with some of those things in place, it'll make it so much easier.
So Sam is going to take you through that.
Week eight, Ally Bank is going to present a workshop for you, a masterclass for you
all.
And we will have a coaching session in between there.
In June 28, we will have kind of a special masterclass fireside chat with our GVR participant
who is actually one of the Fearless Portfolio Companies now.
And I wanted her to come back and talk to you all about what that process looked like,
how to, how she went from being, you know, a participant to a Fearless Portfolio Company
and her, and what, how to build up your, your business for that.
And so she will be coming to speak on that.
Week 10, we'll be having a branded and marketing for your business, getting really the social
media part of it, the marketing piece of it, honing in on that.
Ally will do another, another presentation, and then we will have our pitch competition.
And then later that week end with a coaching session.
And so those are the sessions each week.
Like I said, there was another platform that I'll show you where all the dates are housed.
So don't feel like you have to write everything down.
You will get a copy of this and you will also be able to add things to your calendar as
well.
So these are our teachers, Shelly Prevost, she's a pitch coach.
We have, excuse me, Alicia Scott, who's the founder of Range Beauty, Kim Seals.
We have Cam, Cameron, who's an investment associate, Dave Parker, who was a senior associate
here at Fearless Fund.
We have Sam Sugarman, who's also an investment associate, Veronica Woodruff.
She is a portfolio company and Alicia Danielle, she is a marketing strategist.
So the closing pitch competition, there are some requirements for you to be able to pitch.
So you have to attend at least 10 out of the 12 workshop masterclasses, 10 out of the 12
coaching calls.
You have to have submitted the surveys that will be sent out at week three, six, and 12.
Submitted any kind of class assignments that were asked of you, and then you submit your
application to pitch.
They're super simple requirements, but we wanted to...
really hold people accountable to really staying engaged and participating and not just showing
back up for the pitch competition. What we typically do is have it tiered. It could either
be, you know, two prizes or the overall pot of the invest grant is $25,000. And then from
there, the fearless fund will decide if they want to do two, they want to do three. It
really just depends. But I will say from last year, I think Erin, you gave away like
four grants, just depending on what it you know, what everyone sounds like when when
she gets on there. And here's the here's the pitches. So once you submit your application
to pitch, we will review those applications. And then we will make selections of the group
that will that will be pitching. You can go ahead and ask your question.
Thank you. I was just wondering for clarification, the surveys, do you mean months or weeks
while we're in the cohort?
Yep, I'm gonna get to that next. I think. Okay. Okay. In one of these slides, but I'm
gonna answer that question. Okay.
So the surveys will go at week three, week six, and then week 12. So May 23, June, so
it's really at the months, the not the weeks, the months that it is of the program. So May
23, June 20, and July 25. Well, the surveys will go out. And they're simple surveys, they
really are just for us to gather information about your progress through it, but also to
gather feedback. We'd love to do the surveys, because one, it helps us to tweak things.
If something's not working, tell us, let us know if something's not working. We can
make adjustments. We've made adjustments for this cohort from feedback that we received
from the cohort last year. So definitely let us know. And you also don't have to wait until
we send out the the evaluations. If you have some kind of feedback, or have a question,
some suggestions, let us know. Let us know something that isn't working. For the most
part, most things can be tweaked. Not everything, but most things can be tweaked. But definitely
let us know. But it'll be sent out the last Monday of every month. You'll get that via
email. And then you'll have until that Friday to submit it back. So the cohort classroom.
So we, last year, we went on, we went on a platform called Teachable. And so people had
to, we would upload our replays on there. And then you would get an email link the day
of the masterclass. And sometimes it got a little confusing. Sometimes the emails went
to spam. And it just became a lot to keep up with. And so this year, working with our
production partner, West Peak Ventures, we have this, we have created a platform where
you will watch the live masterclasses. But this is also the same platform that you will
use to actually enter into the masterclass. So you won't have to go to too many places.
You'll be able to actually log in, create a login into the program, into the platform.
And the plat, the login screen will actually be on the Fearless Fund website. If you scroll
to GVR program and click down to cohort, don't do it yet. Click, hold down the cohort portal,
you will be able to create your login. I'm going to have, Trevon, are you on? Trevon,
are you on here? Yes, I'm queuing up the example right now. Perfect. So we're going to do a
walkthrough of what that looks like. Just so you're clear on what, what it looks like.
So each time that you log in, this is where you'll be watching the masterclasses live.
And this is where you'll watch the replay. So this replay from the, from this session
will be housed there as well. So you don't have to go a lot of places. You don't have
to wait for us to email. Well, you have to wait for us to email to let you know it's
there, but that's where it's going to be housed. So you don't have to download anything. You'll
be good to go. And just let me know when you, it should let you share when you're ready.
Trevon, do you mind if I speak for a quick second? Oh, yeah. You know, I don't mind.
She says Siobhan.
Go ahead, Arianne. Where are you?
I'm Arianne Simone, you guys. I'm the CEO and co-founder of the Fearless Fund. Yes.
I just wanted to stop in and say congratulations to the Ally Bank cohort for GBR.
Yes.
We are so happy to have you guys. You have earned these five.
That's we get thousands of applications anytime we announce something so definitely feel special and pat yourself on the back.
We expect great things from you guys, you are on our name, the fearless fun, so we expect you guys to take this journey seriously learn as much as you can and continue to grow and scale your businesses.
We are cheering you guys on I can't wait to show up for the competition to see how all of this works in about two weeks, but.
You all are more than welcome, but everything that you are receiving and yes congrats again, I have to hop clearly I just ran to the car just.
else but to you guys, but again congrats i'm so excited to see all of the progress.
Thanks Aaron Thank you, thank you.
So we are, as you can tell we're excited that you all are here, we are excited and she is right, we went through.
Thousands of applications like thousands of applications going back and forth, so you all have earned every spot.
For all 50 of you that are here, and we are so excited that you are here so excited so it's Ron do you want to turn on if you want to go ahead and share your screen, and I will let you take over.
Perfect perfect can everyone hear me am I good am I live all right perfect all right well Hello ladies.
Let me first start off by, of course, saying congratulations on being a part of this program is our second year producing.
And we're really excited because as Siobhan mentioned we've added a lot of innovation to how you all will be able to access.
Not only the live sessions, but also your recordings, because this year, they will actually be in the same place, so let me start off by showing you how you will log in so.
Directly following this call we're going to give you a follow up email, this is a one time login link that you'll be able to use.
Once you click on the link, it is going to take you to a screen that looks just like this.
you'll be able to identify that you're in the right spot by the glaring pink we wanted to make sure that it was extremely obvious.
So from that point, you will just simply put in your full name your email address and then your hope you'll see it now, and you are looking you'll put in your name your email and your password it's super simple.
there's going to be a really you know convoluted link you'll notice that populates your URL.
So this is why it's a one time link that you're going to be able to use and so from there, it will automatically put you into the correct cohort and put you in the correct system from there, let me show you you all will get access to a back end the back end looks like this.
The back end looks just like this, so when you go into your back end you'll see that it's nicely branded it'll have your name it'll say welcome back.
Welcome back Alexandra and then from that point you'll be able to see your home you'll click on home whenever you want to come back to your you know the homepage.
The first cohort, as you can see, is the noted here at the bottom.
Each one of your sessions that you're going through will be visible and then the next session upcoming will be.
Visible So if you get to the platform you realize like oh my goodness I am only seeing you know X amount it's simply because those haven't been.
published yet, so let me give you an example today's kickoff class is happening right now right, so if I click on it i'm not going to be able to see exactly.
The class itself because it's being recorded but directly following this once you all sign up, you will be able to see it on that page right and you have to forgive me i'm in a hotel room somewhere wi fi is going in and out.
But from there, let me go back and give you all a preview whenever you all are going to the next week that's upcoming you'll see that there's going to be a placeholder.
That placeholder is going to look very similar to what you all just saw accepted also have a quick description and the date and time, just to remind you that it's on the way.
Once it comes back you'll be able to see that there is also a here we go here's example, one of those placeholders.
So here's a placeholder when this one is live which you'll do is you'll come back to this page you'll see that the page basically where this.
graphic is held that's where the screen will be you'll have a chat here on the side and because you're already logged in everything will be preset for you.
So you won't have to kind of do anything on your end to kind of engage in the post itself.
Everything again is live and in real time, unless there is a annotation saying that it is a pre recording or a past recording.
So then you'll be able to know that again your your chats and lives and things of that nature are being recognized by the current speaker for your.
own kind of pleasure, you all can kind of you know go through and note which ones, you have already finished right so let's say you may you may miss one and you want to come back.
This is a quick way for you to just make sure.
yourself that you are kind of keeping up in case there's anything that you have missed so you can
always go back to the portal and on your own account be able to check them off and on. The
last thing I wanted to show you is that from here on the actual website on the GVR programming if
you go down where it used to say application now it says portal cohort portal right and when you
go to cohort portal again you'll be able to go directly to that page right so now this kind of
eliminates the need for you all to have a specific link for a specific day you can always just go
back here I would suggest that maybe you bookmark it or whatever the case is whatever works best
for you but we'll also be sending out emails again on a weekly basis that will have a lot
of this information in there as well so the big thing big takeaway for today and of course if
there's any questions I can take those but the big takeaway from today is that you'll get an email
with the link following this call which will be just for your sign up right so you don't have to
save that one that's just to make sure that we can get you all signed up and in a queue
after that to enter the portal you'll simply just go to the website and go down to
the cohort portal from there you'll be able to have access to all of the
sessions that are upcoming and the ones that have already been past recorded so hopefully
that was simple enough but if there's any questions I am open to answering them
how long will we have access to the portal even after the venture program is over
that is a great question technically you should have access to the end of the year
we'll have to kind of go back with the fearless team and see if we're going to be moving
any of the information over we may transition it over to like drives or something like that just
to make it make you all the actual owners of it so you all don't have to go back to the site each
time but currently you know it'll be available between now and you know is it December 31st
2022 no worries everybody else good perfect okay Siobhan I'll pass it back to you
sounds good can you all hear me good all right let me pull my screen back up
okay so that is the classroom from there so we have a GVR cohort one group and so before you
all scan this QR code I want to show you all what it looks like so what we decided last so last year
we had a Facebook community where you would go on Facebook and it was the GVR community
what I learned is that everybody doesn't have Facebook anymore and everybody doesn't like how
and everybody doesn't like having to go to Facebook which is fine but it also makes it
hard to kind of keep up with things when they're trying to get up when people want to get updates
and if everybody's not in that one that one space and so we have a platform it's through
mighty network and I'm going to share my screen of what that looks like
so
where is the
one second
so
okay I'm gonna show you all this one then let me know if it is sharing if you do you all see my
screen okay do you see the web screen that says welcome to get venture ready
can someone let me yes yes okay perfect so when you scan a QR code this is what you will come to
it's going to say you know welcome to get venture ready cohort one in partnership with ally bank
and you'll hit join on here is really just kind of an intro tells you about the program who we are
thanking our partners I would also advise you to put your number in to get to download the app so
that you have the mighty network app but this is what that screen will look like once you log use
the scan the QR code so once you get into the probe get in there this is what it's going to
look like on the back end it is really this is where you can talk to each other already have a
poll in there that you can
That you can be a part of, but the events tab is where you probably are going to can you all see it okay it's telling me that it just now showed it so here are all the events for me.
And you can go into it, you can add it to your calendar to say that yes you're going it tells you the time who's teaching it all of that.
This is a I would add them to your calendar so just so you can have that, but also know that.
i'll put the link in here as well, where you can go to your to log into the portal, but know that this is just a very giving you the reminder and when you get the reminder you'll know where to go into.
The only difference is when we have our coaching sessions and they have a zoom link, and so the zoom link will be inside of the calendar invite.
And also, I want to you see that on here, it says RSVP RSVP are closed for the coaching calls and that's because i'm going to open them up the week of the coaching call.
As it both of them say it's a limited 25 only 25 people can be in each of these sessions, and so, if you come to sign up and you see that there are 25 don't add yourself to number 26.
go to the next 125 in each of them um and honestly it's for your benefit, so that you can get as much direct hands on.
participation as needed if there's something say you don't get into the coaching call that you want to, but you have a specific question about your pitch deck.
send it to me, let me know I can connect with Shelly and I can see what we can so we can do from there.
So don't feel like just because I didn't get into where i'm not going to get my question answered, you can always get your question answered, we will make sure you get what you need.
So don't feel the pressure that you have to have everything answered because in that one session also um so there's different topics, so when you put post things you'll see, we have different topics.
What I want to highlight is parking lot, so if you go and you say you're on the homepage and you have a question you're typing you're typing it in.
It says add topic add parking lot, so when I go to it and checking it weekly if there are questions there we can add we can answer those questions we can talk about those things when you go.
To topics and you go into parking lot you can specifically answer things underneath put your questions in underneath there.
i'm going to be checking the parking lot frequently and responding back, but also you all have this you all can respond back to anyone engage with each other, if you have the answer to a question and I haven't come in to answer it feel free to answer it.
If you have a specific question about a master class put it underneath the master class the topics help to just keep it organized and so that people can follow along.
As much as possible, but I will try, I will make a point to when the master classes are uploaded and they're ready for you to go view this is where i'll let you know hey you can go view your master classes they're uploaded.
So all of that will be housed in here, this is the perfect place for you all want to get to know each other, but for all of the information to be in one spot.
There are there is the who's online now you want to know the Members you want to know someone's in your area, everyone will show up here once we.
upload that you add in your profile when you come in introduce yourself, let people know who you are what your business is.
We really want you to engage like I said as much as possible with each other, so that you can continue to.
build on your business i've already started, I will add resources I started adding some resources in here already, we have a venture capital glossary a venture readiness presentation.
So as resources come available, you will see that house tier and if you go to topics if you just want to look at resources or assignments it'll be under that tab.
So you can always go to topics to kind of quickly sort through things to get to where you're trying to go, but definitely ask questions all of those things if there's something you need, let us know.
So that we can make sure we get we can at least attempt to address it for you, and so that is i'm going to pull back up the presentation, so that you all can scan the qr code um give me one second.
And I will let you into once we finish this, I will you know, let people in, but this is the qr code again if you don't um if you're if you're if you're joining from your phone and you're not able to do it, no problem everything will go out in your email.
And I will make sure that you get you get into it, I'll send the link via email for you all to join the group, but there's also an app you can download on your phone.
If I were you, I would definitely choose what kind of notifications you want because I'm in a group that has mighty network I've had to silence the notifications because if you choose everything because it defaults to everything, anytime that anyone post
anything in the group is going to notify you on your phone so just, you know, be mindful of that. I have a question, and it's asking for to choose a plan for access the same thing.
Okay, um, let me, let me go into it and figure that piece out and I will go back to so don't. So don't scan it yet, I will send the link in the email, because I haven't seen it from that side.
But I will make sure that everybody gets in and you'll get it in the email thanks for that thanks for letting me know.
So how to stay connected, the mighty network group.
Stay connected, you know, network with each other.
Ask questions all of that in their email, if you need to contact me directly in the mighty network group you can also do private messages so once everyone's in there you can go to, you know, messages and you can direct message.
But if you have something you need to share via email, the GVR at GVR at fearless that fun is the email that you want to some that you want to send it to attend classes, that's the perfect way to stay plugged into the community to be connected
with the resources and the industry experts that we are bringing in to serve you all.
And these are just some testimonials from last year, and I really wanted to put this in here because I've, we really take what people say to really try to tweak the program, and to make it to make it to make it work.
So these are just some of them I just tried to grab in this little space that I had.
So one of the testimonials or the program provided access to a goldmine of business wisdom it was so beautiful to be in a space with no glass ceilings and no secret meetings with locked doors, it was so inspiring inspiring to be encouraged and informed to
win in business by so many amazing women I'm internally thankful, and that I was chosen for this experience.
The GVR program and fearless fun is extraordinary example of the power and influence of black women have to empower all women to provide provide them with the knowledge and tools to step into their financial greatness and make effective world change
with the most powerful tools, money.
One of the comments feedback was that the large group was a little overwhelming for me I'd like to split them to smaller groups based on our service industry. I love the enthusiasm of the program leaders so that was one of the comments we got that actually several
people probably brought it brought it down, literally from 500.
And honestly the program actually was had 1000 women 500 actually were the ones who engaged in the program.
So there were thousands of women in this program.
So just to imagine a little bit of the, although we had great intentions to access as many people.
We were when we got into it I was like area this too many people.
This is a lot of women. And so we brought it down to 500 but even from the 500 everyone it wasn't didn't have the same engagement level.
So from that group we decided hey let's narrow down on the industries.
But also from there, let's be clear on what what level people are in business, you know, making sure that we have people who actually have their businesses already started they started generating revenue.
And they are, you know, they have access, some form of capital like their business is moving. And so it just makes it a little bit easier when everyone is around the same area, as opposed to some people who have an idea for a business, and then some
people who've been in business for 20 years.
So it was just so vast and hard to keep up with I think. And so that really made us say okay this year let's break it down a little bit and even the coaching calls, even though we have 50, let's break it down to even smaller groups, so that people can engage
and ask questions because an hour goes by fast.
When you have that many people, everyone doesn't get a chance to ask their questions.
One of the last one I said during one of the first programs, we were encouraged to search for grants I started my grant search was recently awarded a 9k grant for the Comcast rise program bootstrap solo founder, and just talks about how great it was to be
able to have other avenues for accessing capital. And so our goal is to push you into provide as many resources as possible, so that we can get get you what you need because the end goal is to be sustainable.
You know if God forbid.
another pandemic or crisis happen, we want you to be in a position to where your business
can actually stay afloat, and that you can sustain throughout the crisis.
And so that is really the overall goal of this program is financial stability.
Again, if you need to contact us, gvr at fearless.fund, I'm really highlighting this, because any
other inbox, I will not see it.
So please send your emails here to gvr at fearless.fund.
Even with that being said, I'm going to be transparent, I may not see it immediately
when you send it.
So please give me at least 24 to 48 hours.
Aside from being this, you know, over this amazing program.
I also have a private practice and I'm a therapist.
So sometimes I am in therapy sessions, and I may not see it.
And so I promise to get to you as soon as I can.
And if you if you hit me in the Mighty Network group, I'll see it in both places.
But work with me, there's 50 of y'all and one of me.
So work with me.
But let me see what questions you all have in the chat that I have not answered.
Let's see.
Masterclasses are every Tuesday for the next eight weeks.
Yes, they're every Tuesday at 7pm, 12 weeks, absolutely.
Let's see.
I don't think I missed any questions.
So if you all have questions, please feel free to take yourself off mute and ask your
question.
Or did I answer everything just amazing and you don't have any other questions?
So I have a quick question.
I am in a position where we raised angel investment into the effort.
We're still pre-seed and we're about to launch to market.
But we had two Republican investors tell us that our effort is a liberal agenda and suddenly
bailed on the commitment they made.
And so we're kind of in a weird situation where we're running out of our cash runway
and we thought we had finances committed, but they pulled out.
So in our context, I'm still hustling for getting other angels involved.
But I'm wondering if you know you're already in a context where you're launching towards
seeding equity-based investors in the mix, then would grants and stuff be too small to
go after?
I'm trying to think of what's the best use of your time, because as an entrepreneur, you're
always strapped for time and sleep is completely out of the question already.
So I just want to be super mindful of pursuing the right avenues.
And I don't know if there's a place for us to voice if our case-by-case situation's unique
or different or compromised due to some weird externalities and how we could leverage what
this course teaches us towards actually pursuing the right financial modules or the right investors.
So are you asking me, should you go after grants or are you asking me what specifically
you need to go after?
In the sense, I think we are more in need of investment from angels
and then leading towards venture capital.
And we're already pitching VC firms that are interested.
But I definitely think it benefits to be A, with other women and B, with having sort of a
systematic input in this space, because I've kind of been learning on the go and doing my
best. But I think having support would definitely make a huge difference for me.
But having said that, I just want to know, how far is this grant and debt financing
focused and how much of it would really equip you more towards being VC facing?
Because I mean, that's primarily why I'm looking to be one of the co-authors, to get
towards being more successful in my VC raises.
Gotcha. So as I mentioned earlier, the Fearless Fund is an investment firm.
So most of the education will be around venture capital investment.
However, capital is needed in a lot of different places.
And people, if we have information on grants, we're going to give you information on
grants. Ally Bank is a bank.
And so if they have resources around debt-based financing, we'll provide that.
And so most of our teachers are around venture capital, but there will be others.
There will be other things in there.
If you have specific questions for your business.
um of what you're looking for you can send it to me and I can see if I can connect you
um with any of our resources that we have here at the Fearless Fund.
Awesome thank you and is that best done through once we log in through your app or should I just
email back through the? You can email me you can email me that's fine. Perfect thank you Siobhan.
No problem um anyone else uh oh thank you guys y'all worked hard on my presentation I was ready
for tonight I was ready um any other questions let's see I will follow up with a pitch deck
perfect um thank you ladies any other questions please feel free our overall goal is to we really
want to help as much as possible um at the end of the day I know that you know some people may be
leaning more towards um venture capital funding some people may need grant funding our goal is
to get you to the cash we want to get you closer to accessing capital whatever that looks like for
your business um so if we have the if we have a resource come up we're going to say hey a pitch
competition is up let's let's provide this um and so we want to get you closer to the cash and that
is our ultimate goal um is it possible you can kind of explain a little bit more what venture
capital is as different to um grant funding because I know what that is because I've you
know done competitions for that but a little bit more with venture capital I'm still like a little
bit confused on what that is so we will do that specifically in some of the um some of the master
classes um and also if you go into the resource that I put in there the uh the VC presentation
and the glossary it breaks it down a little bit um so I don't want to go too too in depth because
we're already at 802 um um but I think I want to say on the fearless website they have that on
there as well but I also want to be transparent I am not an investor I am not an investor I can
connect you to resources I can connect you to the person who is the person but I am not the person
so I am not gonna act like I am an investor or I can break down you know some of the some of the
terms I think that it's I'm really the the liaison over this program to help you to get to where you
need to go but I also want to put it out there the in in that I know that being a founder everyone
is so busy and trying to build and scale their business and I want to make sure also that you
all are taking care of yourself too um because if you're not okay your business is not going to be
okay and so this is the Siobhan the therapist talking as opposed to Siobhan the GVR director
talking you get you get a two for one and so I um I really want to make sure that you all are you are
taken care of and that you all have what you need because that's how your business grows that's how
your business runs you can get all the money that you need for your business but if you're not okay
your business is not going to be okay um and so I really want to encourage you all to take in
everything um all of the information there may be some things that you know already that's cool
but know that other people may not um and so we I want to make sure that we're creating an atmosphere
where people feel comfortable asking questions and knowing that everyone may not be at the same level
and that's okay too all righty well thank you all for being here I am always going to try to get you
in on time and out on time um I know someone asked how we're going to track attendance or
um attracting attendance um so for the not this class but for the master classes they um we get
we get a log of of of that so we'll be able to to see who is who is there um also for the
coaching calls um we'll be able to see that too so trust me we will be able to track your attendance
and know who is there um and also for coaching calls you'll have kind of a sign when we start
there'll be a form that you'll click at the beginning this says like here I'm here um kind
of just kind of checking in um so that's how we'll log that for coaching calls but this call
you can breathe that it's not part of the um a part of that we'll make sure that going forward
it's in there um does catching it count as attended so attending is being live for the classes
I want I'm glad you asked that yes being live so being on here live you can always
watch the recordings but it's being here live I didn't have another question
I think you stated that the coaching calls are once a month, but it says for us to be
able to pitch that it we need to attend at least 10 out of 12 of the coaching calls or
so that's an error.
Thank you for catching that.
That's an error.
That was from last year.
So I will correct that.
Thank you.
Yep.
There are not 10 coaching calls.
Anyone else?
I'll correct that before I send you all the presentation too.
I'm sorry, Siobhan, to interrupt and let you go.
For the QR code, you are going to send that to us later with everything.
I'm going to check on it because I'm not sure why it's asking you all that.
So as soon as I clarify that, I will send it out in an email with all of the links.
Now make sure I explain everything in there.
So you will get all of that.
Okay, thank you.
No problem.
Any other questions?
All righty.
Well, thank you all for joining us and you'll be getting your email shortly and I will see
you next Tuesday.
Bye.
Nice meeting you guys.
Thank you.