Good Life Project - Arlan Hamilton | It's About Damn Time

Episode Date: August 17, 2020

As a kid, Arlan Hamilton loved music and eventually found her way into the world of live concerts, working as a tour manager. Along the way, she also published a magazine and wrote the popular Your Daily Lesbian Moment blog, that drew a large, devoted community, before pivoting into the world of venture capital where, with no connections, degree or experience, she built a fund from the ground up, while homeless.Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are People of Color, women, and/or LGBT. Started from scratch in 2015, Backstage has now raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies led by underestimated founders. In 2018 Arlan co-founded Backstage Studio which launched four accelerator programs for underestimated founders in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London. Arlan was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine in October 2018 as the first Black woman non-celebrity to do so, and her new book "It's About Damn Time" shares powerful moments and insights from her incredible story. Her book, It’s About Damn Time (https://amzn.to/2WmeXk3), takes you behind the scenes of the many moments along her journey.You can find Arlan Hamilton at:Website : https://www.itsaboutdamntime.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/arlanwashere/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So in 2015, Arlen Hamilton was sleeping on the floor of the San Francisco airport with nothing but an old laptop and a dream of breaking into the venture capital business. She was coming off of a year spent touring with bands as a manager, publishing her own magazine and blogging, and she started to get really curious about the world of startups. She just couldn't understand why so many of the people who were starting companies and getting funding were white and male. And she wanted a chance to invest in the ideas

and people who really didn't conform to this image of how a founder is quote, supposed to look. Problem was she had no experience, no connections, no degree or track record, but that didn't stop her. So Arlen devoured everything that she could. She became a learning machine. And in 2015, she launched a venture capital fund, Backstage Capital, on a mission to minimize funding disparities in tech by investing in people of color, women, and the LGBTQ plus community. So Backstage has now raised more than $10 million, invested in

more than 130 startups led by underrepresented founders, and also launched four accelerator programs in Detroit, LA, Philadelphia, and London. And in October of 2018, Arlen was the first black woman non-celebrity to be featured on the cover of Fast Company Magazine. And in her new book, It's About Damn Time, she shares so many powerful moments and insights, sort of the backstory of this incredible journey, many of which we touched down into in today's conversation. So excited to share it with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever.

It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10, available for the first time in glossy jet-black aluminum. Compared to previous generations,

iPhone XS or later require, charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday, we've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. you describe yourself as i think i quoting it, kind of a weird kid. Yes, I think so. How so? I mean, tell me in your own words. I'm sure people can relate to feeling awkward and outsidery as a child. I think on top of that, I saw the world very different than a lot of my peers.

And starting in first grade, I can remember sitting, like leaning against something on the playground and just watching kids play and being incredibly interested in what they were feeling and what they were thinking and what their lives at home were like and just kind of following a character at play and just really hoping that everything was okay and that they were. I just wondered if from a very early age, if your outsides matched your insides, if your smile matched your feelings.

It was fascinating to me. So that was that. And I used to hold office hours starting in the first grade. And then, you know, I was wearing six watches in the third grade because I became obsessed with time zones. And once I understood what see. And, you know, the internet, of course, was like manna to me. You know, it was just so incredible because even as a really young child, I wanted to talk to people from around the world. And so I think from that point of view, I also have a very strange sense of humor that was developed very early and the type that it is, it's observational and it's sarcastic and it's, it's, it's kind of too real, you know, it can make an awkward situation more awkward or make it really, really comfortable, you know, hit or miss. And so I was sort of trying

out my material on these kids and, you know, most of the kids were just like, what are you doing? Like, who are you? And I had a lot of negative connotations to it being weird. You know, I was bullied quite a bit from a young age all the way up to high school. At the same time, I could, once you got to know me, I could really get along with a lot of different types of people because I was never held back by a fence of who I should be talking to or who is worth my time. I was always with different groups. And so it was a, just a mixed bag of experience as a child. Yeah. I mean, I'm really curious what you said about, especially when you were much, much younger, you looking at kids outside and wondering if their insides match their outsides. That's an unusual perspective. Even as an adult, a lot of adults

aren't sort of like wired towards that level of curiosity and inquiry beyond the surface. Yeah, I just, I remember it so vividly. I can see it right now. It was just, I was walking around as a pretty, I guess, okay, normal child. I was participating. I wasn't sort of drawn back or anything. But it just dawned on me very early that people were not robots. And people were people. People were adults. People were children. They were teenagers. They were elderly. We were all wired with something. And so I just always found it intriguing to figure out what a particular person was really thinking at the time that they were saying something. Because I knew myself, I knew that it was almost impossible for me to say something out loud and mean something else inside. It was like I had figured that out too. And I wondered, okay, am I the only one who thinks that? And then I always

had these like, these grand thoughts about, you know, I'd write this poetry in the fourth grade that was about the world crying, like the earth itself shedding tears. And all of this poetry came out of me. And that's how how I thought that's what my inner monologue was like it was an interesting time and then by the time I was 13 I was pretty much like outside of school only talking to other adults like talking to adults because I I found their conversation was more interesting to me I can relate in a lot of ways, actually. But it's interesting how so often it's the kids who are different in some way, who maybe even consider themselves a little bit different, a little bit weird,

who at a young age so often that's devalued and you're attacked for it or bullied for it, like you're socially outcast for it. And it's so interesting to me how very often those exact things later in life are the very things that become the greatest assets. Sure. I think about it like a lot of people at that age or that young age are showing the first signs that they may be really interested in and good at something. And there are people who are going to be tinkering with electronics or computers and, you know, they go on to do these things and they're trying to figure out the guts, the inner guts of computers. And then there are people who are going to be figuring out sports and others are going to be thinking through theater and musicals and all of that. And I think mine was just people, other people. Like I was trying to figure out other people.

And it might just be that I was on a track to I probably should have gone to college for like philosophy or something like that. It probably is just that. And it certainly has served me well in anything that I've done as an adult when it comes to different circumstances and turning different circumstances that could have gone terribly poorly into much better outcomes. Just that intuition to be so in tune with people, at least try to be. I'm no oracle, so I don't know exactly what people are thinking. I just care to know. And so that helps a lot. Yeah. I'm often curious about the why behind when somebody sort of like naturally gravitates towards really wanting to deconstruct somebody's behavior and know what's happening inside them. I'm often curious about the why behind it. Is it whether it's more of just an innate organic sense of curiosity about human

beings and the human condition and behavior, or whether it's driven by vigilance, by concern, by desire to sometimes be able to figure people out so that we can control a certain circumstance because we need that sense of control. I'm curious with you, do you have a sense for what was underneath that? It's mostly curiosity. It just really is. I'm the kid who never stopped asking why in all things. It really is. And it's concern.

I have a deep empathy, but I think it comes across. I've been reflected. I know that some people don't. They think it's across, I've been reflected. I know that people, some people don't, they think it's too good to be true. They think I have an ulterior motive a lot of times. And I've been told by friends who've known me for 20 plus years, every once in a while, they'll pull me to the side and say,

the reason this person reacted this way, this negative way is because they don't realize that you really meant everything that you said and your outsides match the insides, right? So for me, it's just a dogged curiosity, almost an obsessive curiosity. So it's not necessarily 100% positive. Some of it is compulsion. And I've come to realize that at 39, that I do have compulsive behaviors. But it's ultimately just, it's just what everybody's trying to figure out. I think it's like, why are we here? What is our purpose? All of that. Instead of thinking that as a midlife crisis as I am today, I'm thinking of it as a five-year-old in the playground. Yeah. I mean, what an amazing lens to be able to sort of to have for that also.

And it's interesting also, because it feels like that very quality has been the thing that you have at various sort of like moments along your journey in your professional life. It's always been central to it, like almost like no matter what you have done, in some way, shape or form, you can strip it back to that. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I mean, I started working when I was 15 to help with family build and expenses. But even at 15, when I was working at the first pizza joint that I worked at, you know, I was just observing everybody that worked there. I was observing customers. I was making sure that the $7.50 an hour I was making or $6.25, whatever it was at the time,

was compounded by the information that I was gaining and insights I was gaining. And this is like 15 knowing, knowing that somehow, some way I was going to own businesses as an adult and I needed to know the ins and outs of things. And I was sort of, I knew that I was doing it in stealth. I knew that I wasn't going to just go to the very frazzled owner of this franchise and ask him to learn at his feet. Instead, I was going to observe and learn more by what he was doing than what he was wanting to share with me. And then those types of things happened. It was very mundane data entry, et cetera, et cetera. And then when I hit at 21, I hit on working with a Norwegian pop punk band.

That, that is probably the first time it really was obvious to me that the skill that I would have would just be being able to work with all types of people or many types of people under very unique circumstances and somehow keep it all together and be the glue there. Yeah. And I mean, you working with a Norwegian pop punk band was also not out of left field. I mean, there's clearly, you had love of music yeah for your whole life i know you share a story about an experience that never left you when you were 13 at a janet jackson concert yeah it was my first concert janet was and still is my favorite musician an artist and i just you know starting at 12 or 13 just started loving everything about Janet and she was coming to my town in Dallas

we couldn't afford a ticket at first but um my mom surprised me with with lawn with a lawn seat and then right before the concert I won another seat uh uh closer to the to the stage but not terribly close but it was just just like something was making it so that I would be in that room or in that amphitheater, as it were. And I was there super early, and someone came up to me and this couple of teenagers that I'd run into,

and he seemed nice, but he was offering us front-row seats, and I couldn't understand why. So again, I'm observing people. I'm trying to suss people out. So I'm like always looking at the angle, right? So after I told him that we were not going to fall for that, he smiled and gave us an option. He said, you know, why don't you take these tickets?

You keep your own tickets and go check it out. And if I'm wrong, if I'm lying to you, you can just come back to your seats here right so I thought that was pretty reasonable and I took him up on it and I told the other two older teenagers they could trust that I like that deal and we started walking towards the front of this 15,000 or so seat amphitheater in Dallas and nobody stopped us and we got all the way to the front and there we were front and center for the concert, the very first concert of my life for the artist who was my favorite at the time and continues to be. And a couple of things happened in that moment.

First of all, the reason that happened is because at the time he was her husband and I didn't even know who he was at all because I wasn't looking at her personal life at 13, but it was her husband and he would do that from time to time. They're no longer married. But the couple of things I learned and figured out there were, A, I've got to do this. Whatever this is, I've got to be part of this world. I don't even know what I'm describing but I have to be part of this and that turned into as an adult being on the road and being part of live music events and working on in live music and the second part but not the lesser important part or a less important part was

looking back and yes looking back because I was in the front row and I was just so excited but looking back and just seeing a sea of people holding up lights and dancing and crying and dancing and crying and just but every it was such a diverse sea of people and it was so and not only um race which which really tripped me out because I couldn't believe all, like, frankly, I couldn't believe all these white people had shown up to this black woman's concert and paid good money to be there and then dance to every song. I just thought there was something so powerful about that when I hadn't really seen that out in the real world. And then just across orientation, like at that time, I didn't know I was gay, but I just remember knowing in the religion that I was in at the time, I remember knowing in my mind like practically homosexuality was wrong.

That's what I had been taught. But then looking and seeing these two, I remember very clearly seeing these two white men who were clearly a couple, holding hands, kissing, you know, just pecking, you know, so excited to be there, and they just seemed so normal and non-dangerous, and I thought, why am I supposed to not like that again? What's so, okay, and you know, I just kind of put that in a folder to return to sometime, and that was one of of the those sort of symbols started collecting and then and then yeah it made a lot more sense a few years later as to why I didn't have any issue with that and also because I just think I'm a kind person

so I didn't have the same thoughts that this religion did so that that that day and that night were so impactful to my life that they're the reason that I got into live music, which was a huge part of my life. They're the reason that I started a music magazine, which was a huge part of my 20s. This concert, this one moment was the reason that I found the courage to eventually leave that religion that I was in. It's the reason that I eventually, I just felt so confident in a certain way, not in every way. I was still had body issues, but like as a black woman, I didn't feel any sort of subservience to anyone as I thought, you know, other people might've felt they should and that that was taken away that moment when I saw this black woman just owning this arena or this amphitheater and it was like okay you know so that night I mean

couldn't have I mean hopefully you know if there's ever a movie about it 50 years from now they they get that part right because man that was such an impactful time the apple watch series 10 is here it has the biggest display ever it's also the thinnest apple watch ever making it even more comfortable on your wrist whether you're running swimming or sleeping and it's the fastest charging apple watch getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required,

charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between meman. I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg.

You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. It seems like on so many levels, right? And I'm fascinated.

I've asked a number of people this over the years. Fascinated by the concept of sliding doors. You know, if a particular moment hadn't happened. And I'm always curious whether when people experience something that is so fundamentally transformational in their lives, kind of like opens a door to something new, whether you ever reflect back on like, what if that night, if never happened what if that one person who you didn't even know who this person was you didn't trust that person enough to like take a shot and like walk up to the front row yeah i think about those moments i think about that a lot in my because i reflect almost too much so i think about it a lot that moment in other moments i you know some could argue that there's a spirituality there. There's a, there's some sort of fate that's going there. I don't subscribe to that

particular, but I, I also feel like things happen for a reason. So that's probably my version of that. I feel like things happen for a reason. I was supposed to miss that flight. I was supposed to be in this room or be in that situation, even if at the time it's tough. And of course, that's one way of just being okay with it and not falling apart about it. But honestly, that's how I feel. And I think about sliding doors, butterfly effect, all of that. It's so fascinating because first of all, who knows? Who knows what the answer is?

So it's a puzzle you can continually think about which is fun and then second of all it has to be it has to be the case that choosing this door that door putting these shoes on versus that shoes and you step on the pebble and you can feel this one but you can't feel that one you know there has to be some rhyme and reason to how things play out and i think about that when I think about my wife, Anna. If I hadn't decided to post on my blog that I was going to take office hours for anyone who was starting a blog or any kind of creative thing, and if she hadn't decided that I was worth her time and signed up to it six years ago, would we have ever known each other, known of each other?

And I think she would have known of me, but I would have been in the background and I would have never met her. And then this incredible journey that we've been on the past six years would have happened. Yeah, it's amazing. I love, I think some people think, well, there's no value in thinking about that stuff. But I am kind of fascinated by those moments also, and sort of thinking about like, what would things have been different? Not necessarily worse or better, but just like how my things have been different and how much was that truly completely outside of my control? And how much, you know, was it about the actions that

were taken leading up to that moment? You mentioned a couple of things. One is that became your entree into the world of music. And you also mentioned the magazine. And so you ended up, it sounds like there are sort of different things happening in a bit of an overlapping way for a number of years for you moving forward, certainly once you're out of high school. Yeah, I graduated high school. I did really well in school academically. Like I could keep up even if I wasn't necessarily there every day or doing the homework because I could test really well, and it was just not challenging to me in a lot of ways.

Some things were. I'll tell you what, algebra and on and math, forget about it. You could go somewhere else, but a lot of things that were just kind of in general. And I constantly was kicked out of class for asking too many questions. And so I just was very bitter towards that whole thing. And I didn't see the value in signing up for four more years of being told where to be on a certain hour. And I just didn't. And also was like, well, who's going to pay for it all? You know, there's scholarships, but who's going to really pay for all of the expenses and who's going to help with rent and there were all those things I was thinking about at 18 and so I didn't go to college I went to like a few community courses at community

college which I enjoyed photography and business and German and which is interesting because my wife is German and I've always somehow been drawn there too so i did i did that and then uh you got many many jobs and data entry because i could type fast one of my mom's claims to fame yeah and um i'm listening to music to pass the time and then this norwegian pop punk band called golden boy pops up on whatever i'm listening to. And I think their music is cute. You know, I think it's catchy and cute. And I'm like, what is this? It's different than American radio. It's just a different feel to it. So I go on AOL and I asked them if I can book some shows for them, basically. That's a short version of it. And they agree to that. I don't think they

believed it. I'd have to ask them. I'm going to interview them soon and find out but they agreed to it and then I ended up just teaching myself how to book a tour across the country with phone books and paper and I don't even think Google Maps was a thing at the time or something that I knew about but just by calling people over and over and over and over again and learning and booked a summer tour two summers in a row, brought them over, was their tour manager, left the data entry job. We had no money, but we we made it work and it was fun. And then a couple of years after that, I started a music magazine and same thing, had no money, didn't know how to do it, taught myself to do it, got people involved. It was always about getting the right people involved. You know, that's where the intuition about people came into play again.

It's just like, who do you get involved in this? Who can elevate what you do? I had a lot of friction, I think, with the magazine because the person who I guess you could consider as a co-founder although I didn't know the terminology back then we did not get along very well but we made an amazing amazing content it was so weird like we argued like crazy but we the finished product was always so wonderful that we just said okay I guess we guess we're going to do this again. But it was just a wonderful experience and taught me a lot. And then had the magazine for a few years off and on. Yeah, I kind of went back and forth into those two worlds. And in the middle of all of that, in my 20s, I had a five or six year blog called Your Daily Lesbian Moment that spoke to uh what i called lesbian and lesbian adjacent women mostly women

some men 50 000 unique a month who would listen to me talk about daily stuff about being a lesbian so all of that was my 20s it was like these different indie musicians i'd work with and then the blog and then the magazine and living mostly in California, but bouncing around like to Columbus, Ohio and Chicago and different places. And then early 30s is when I really start making a living in live music. Really take it, not that I wasn't taking it seriously before, but finding a way to really make it a career rather than just something, a gig here and there. Yeah. I mean, what's so fascinating about that also is that you have a fearlessness. I don't know if you would label it fearlessness rather than you just see something that can be done

that sounds interesting to you. So you just you know go and do it but you know somebody who basically says oh this band is kind of cool it would be neat to bring them here and travel across the country and manage them and like run the entire thing oh i i've i've never actually done that before and instead of you saying i can't do it or i have to go and you know intern with someone or train with someone, you're just like, there's something in you that says, I'll figure it out. And that seems to be like the perpetual thing that keeps repeating itself of, you know, a fearlessness, along with a confidence that you have the ability to just figure it out along the way. Yeah, because I think, I don't think higher of myself than other people i just think higher of other people than they may have themselves right i think that

we all can do that and i just to me that's the default i'm always um a little i have to kind of recalibrate when someone points out that it's different because it just seems isn't what are we doing if we're not if we're not taking chances and I don't know I just feel like there's just there's just so many years that we have here so why not go for things that we want and experience things so that we can so that we can not feel too much regret so there's always going to be regret and you're always going to want more, always, I think. And the older I get, the more I know that. But I can look back on almost 40 years and say, you know, circumstances, I would have loved different circumstances a lot of times because I was poor for 35 years.

But, like, the things that I went after and that I attempted, and even the things that just failed, just blatantly failed, I'm so, so happy that I tried. I'm so happy that I tried. Yeah. The blog you mentioned also, it wasn't just about you creating content and putting it out for a community. I mean, this really became something that was a genuine community. I mean, you start to say, hey, what would happen if I actually, you know, there are all these people reading my stuff and there are all these people commenting and sharing in the comments. And what if we started featuring people? And what if we started creating ways to essentially make this

a place where people could get to know each other and eventually become community, eventually become friends, eventually become community, eventually become friends, eventually become lovers, eventually become partners. So it's amazing that you, I mean, you step into that again, not having done it, but saying, I'll figure it out. And then it taps into you really being able

to share who you are fully. And at the same time, that lifelong curiosity about people and how they relate to each other and how they build relationships on every level. It's like it becomes this engine to just bring it all together at the same time. Yeah, I think that's a really amazing way of describing my blog. And it's one of those things where I think about fondly very often. And for so many years, it was my life. But I feel like because of my new world that I'm in, it often gets put to the side as not as important as it was. And it really was just such a huge part of my life. But also this was a time, your Daily Lesbian Moment blog,

this was at a time when most people didn't see themselves reflected on television or movies. Or if they did, it was sort of underground or it was indie. And if they did, it was also they would watch the movie or they would see the thing or know the person and have these people that they could look to. But they were still going home to their isolation. They didn't have the communities in person for a lot of people. And that's what I think resonated so much. I started it by accident, actually. So I won't take so much credit but I did start it by accident after having a really bad

breakup thinking I'm either gonna like burn this down go crazy or I can do something I'm gonna just like talk about it online I'm just gonna talk post something you know and that that just turned into more and more people wanting to see what I posted in my take on it they liked that little blurb that I would put with it and that became something and then I saw oh it's thousands of people are watching this now and over the years so many people were just talking to each other organically and comments or that myspace days is where it started or in myspace I man, there's so many people who are just like isolated

and so many people who are finding their friendships here. It was kind of like Reddit before Reddit was a thing. It was like a part of it. And so I said, why don't I just see if I can do some matchmaking? And not just girlfriends or wives at the time, girlfriends because we couldn't get married, but what about just friendships and business partners and kind of just connect people like i've always wanted to and that turned into this a very bustling part aspect of the blog and to this day

i mean as recently as yesterday i had someone say that they read the blog 15 years ago, 12 years ago, 10 years ago, and they got this, this, and that from it. In fact, the person yesterday was at a major company that had me come in and speak virtually, and I didn't know that when they asked me to come. And at the end she said, you know, I read your blog when I was going through a really a time where I didn't really know myself and it was so helpful and I'm thinking this woman is like running this show here she's like an executive at this company and I wouldn't even have thought about like where the people are today where what are they thinking today but I get these messages

in the dms all the time because the profile is a little bit higher so people can find me again. And they're just like, you know, I was in high school when I first started listening to you. And now I have a family and my wife and I do this and that. And I'm just like, wow. So that tells me that what I'm doing today, no matter how difficult it can be at times, I should keep going. And that you can do things that really have a sustained impact. You're doing that. As you shared, you really start to sort of like move up and create your own thing in the music world.

You're humming along, making a name for yourself in that space also. And then something happens because you, I guess, get curious in some way, shape or form and get exposed to this other world, the world of venture capital, the world of tech entrepreneurship, the world that most people associate with Silicon Valley. And a light bulb goes on. Yeah, I had worked my way up. This was post-magazine, post-Your Daily Lesbian Moment. I had made the decision to do more in music and had started really working on some major concerts and major events with artists that are well-known. And I was a production coordinator and a road manager and all types of things.

And I thought my path would be I would be you know one of the the earliest and most powerful black women in live music at arena level stadium level tours and that was exciting for me going into my 30s but again I'm still really really living paycheck to paycheck and paycheck to paycheck didn't mean on you know with with any sort of certainty it was just it was just you're out there and I had the experience with your daily lesbian moment in those connections and I said you know I'm seeing people like Ellen DeGeneres and Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber and Troy Carter who used to manage Lady Gaga. It's a black man who did that.

I'm seeing them make investments in a place called Silicon Valley. And they're investing in these small companies, these small tech companies. What are they doing? So I was like following the trail. And I said, wow, well, maybe I should start a company based on the matchmaking that I did with Your Daily Lesbian Moment. So I had, right before I stopped really blogging in earnest, I had created a matchmaking site as MVP, really, that was called Juliet and Juliet. One of my readers named April came up with that name and

I just loved it and I kept it. So I said, what if I make Juliet and Juliet like a full-on, and this was at a time where like dating sites were pretty hot. And I said, why don't I make Juliet and Juliet a thing? That could be really interesting. So I started researching about that, about raising money for it, about putting together a team. I did all that very innocently. And that's when I came across. So it was like these investors who were from my world, sort of. I was, you know, bottom rung in their world. But these investors, they drew my attention to what tech companies were to begin with.

And then I said, well, why don't I start? And I researched. And then in that research, I found out 90% of all venture funding, all investment funding for high growth tech companies, really, goes to straight white men in the United States. And I was like, okay, I'm black, I'm gay, and I'm a woman. What's going to happen next? So I thought, well, that's odd. That doesn't make any sense. I was just looking at it very practically and pragmatically.

I was just like, this doesn't make any good business sense. It flies in the face of what I've just learned venture capital is supposed to be and to do. How can you call yourself the most risk tolerant asset, part of the asset class of private equity and tout yourselves as just, you know, king makers and queen makers if you're not looking everywhere? I thought of all people, venture capitalists should be looking everywhere they possibly could because they were going to prove big brother private equity wrong. But instead, it was just as homogenous,

if not more than private equity. I know more people of color who have high positions in private equity as a full asset class, hedge funds, mutual funds, all that, then I know in venture. So that stopped me in my tracks. And I said, okay, I could probably hack my way because I've done that before. I could probably hack my way to raising. But then what? I'm now in a system that wasn't built for me and is not really made, like really accepting of me as well.

And what happens next? If I don't do perfect out the gate, am I going to be stopped in my tracks? Am I going to be pushed out? And then on top of that, even if I could do well, where's my competition? Where am I seeing myself? I can play with all kinds of people.

I want to see diverse competition. That's what makes this worth it. So I made a decision in 2014, after dabbling in both for a few years, I made a decision in 2014, I would have been 33, to go all in on a fund that would invest in people of color, LGBTQ, and women just like me, who were starting companies and they were looking for venture capital. They were looking for outside capital. And the reason it was venture and not angel and venture and not philanthropic and venture, it was just all the research I had done for years led me to this path of this is going to be the best chance I have of accomplishing the thing I want to accomplish,

which is to get more funding and resources into the hands of underrepresented, underestimated people. That's it. It wasn't that venture was this calling of mine. It wasn't that it was, I held it in such high regard. It just, to me, seemed like a very apt tool to do the thing that I wanted to do. And it was so ripe for disruption because they had become complacent. And that's like, perfect. It was perfect for me. It was like, okay, that's where I'm going to get in. And so I tried for years to get any sort of backing. And Brad Feld actually was one of the first people to take my email and to respond to me and to make introductions. I don't think at the time he quite knew how important it was to

have a fund like this. I don't know if he quite understood that I would be the one to do it, even if he understood the mission behind it. But he sort of does what I think a good venture capitalist does, which is like, leave yourself open to curiosity and to flexibility and to being wrong. And making introductions and being open to like, prove me wrong, prove me wrong wrong it turned into quite a relationship where he became an investor in our fund later down the line in the meantime couldn't get anything and then September 2015 things changed I found my first investor who was an angel investor a woman in Silicon Valley named, actually she's in San Francisco, named Susan Kimberlin. And she kind of, she too was in this boat of, I don't know exactly what you're wanting to do. And I don't know if you can do it if you're the one, but you're going to do something.

Like I'm going to back you because you're going to do something. So she backed me with my first sort of seed money to get into operations and the first check I could write to someone else. got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not. Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die.

Don't shoot him, we need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch,

getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Brad's been a guest on the show in the past, and he's an unusual, I feel like, voice in the world of venture capital, in the world of VC. And he's very conscious and conscientious and sort of broad and open-minded in the way

he lives his life also, and the way that he... There's interesting parallels with you also like brad's been blogging daily for years yeah and sharing you know and and he's not blogging about the world of venture capital and business and entrepreneurship it folds into it but he blogs he shares very very personal deeply intimate things you know he went he's gone through long windows of really deep clinical depression that he has shared, you know, like along the way. So there were, there were interesting parallels between you and him about your decision-making and your willingness to be transparent and honest

and real and open and, and share technologies and write and express yourself in ways to, to, you know, at the end of the day, not necessarily to build an audience, but to help tell the story of, you know, like we're all in this together. I think that's why we get along so well. Yeah, yeah, I would imagine. The world of VC is an interesting place. In a very, very, very past life, I was actually a private equity lawyer. I started out at the SEC as an enforcement attorney, and then jumped into a large firm in Manhattan for a very short stint in private was actually a private equity lawyer. I started out at the SEC as an enforcement attorney and then jumped into a large firm in Manhattan for a very short stint in private equity. So got exposed

to the structures of this world, which if you don't live in it, are really strange and bizarre. But, you know, like fundamentally you have somebody who comes along. Usually they've come out of some sort of really fancy degree, and then they've worked in like the biggest institutions, and they built a reputation and a pedigree, and then, you know, earn the quote, right or privilege to then go to a whole bunch of wealthy people and say, give me your money, and I'm going to pool your money into a fund, you know, and then I will use my brilliance and my experience and all of this to choose the companies or the founders who I believe are going to build

the next big things. And, and like you said, this is a system which is for a long time been largely white, largely male, and largely comes out of a background of degrees and pedigrees and experience. So when you come along and sort of like look at this and say this system is broken and there are people like me, that you're also saying it's not that they're not represented in the group of founders who aren't being seen and funded, but also in the group of funders, like the group of people who are showing up to actually choose these people to receive mentoring and money and backing. Yeah, that's right. And there are, let me be clear, there are many, many black venture investors who came before me in this 70, 75 year venture life cycle, the issues are that A or one,

it's not enough. It's not representative. Even if it's a few, which there are, it's not enough. And some groups have just said, okay, that's enough. Like we're not being prejudiced because they're, you know, we know this one guy over there. It's just not enough. And so when you have not enough, you have some people, some black people are getting funded because you have some people who are funding black people, but you don't have enough. It's just, you know, and so that's a major thing. Another thing is that I came into this without any institution that i was afraid would be upset with me or that i would be flying in the face up like i'm okay with people not getting it i'm okay with people having their personal opinions about me personally all of that and i

think that's the kind the kind of person who had to come in and do what I've done. I don't think the exact results that I am getting could have been accomplished by someone coming in and knocking nicely and tapping the door lightly. And so I came in just ridiculously authentically myself and didn't have an agenda that was about shaming anyone or making it difficult for anyone. I really came in with the agenda of, hey, let's shine a light on the fact that this is ridiculous. Like there's not enough funding going to black and brown founders and to women. Like how can you have almost half half half of the population half of the population more than half actually be women and they get less than at the time I think it was like less than 2% of funding and I don't think it's changed

that much in the last few years it just doesn't make any sense to me and you as you know as I've said things have to make sense to me they have to kind of fit and make some sense and it didn't. And so I think I'm grateful to the people who have come before me. I'm grateful to my peers. My role in all of this, I think, is just to be really noisy and to be unapologetic and to say some of the things that others cannot say because others have gone through these these lengths of let me go through years of training let me go through this exact school let me have this network and let me get to this point so i can have power within a structure and i think

that is just as important and worthy of you as what I'm doing. But I think we're equal in that and no way is better or worse. So we both have to be sort of, both types of groups have to be going at this issue at the same time in a different way. Yeah. You also brought up something interesting. When you were thinking about Juliet and Juliet, so that would have been you in the role of a founder, right?

Yes. That one of your questions in your role of a founder, right? Yes. That one of your questions in your mind was, well, what if I fail? And I think it's fascinating because in the context of Silicon Valley, the culture of failure porn, right, where it's expected that a lot of people who start companies, the vast majority, it's not going to work and that you know in the venture capital world the vast majority of money that's given out to people is going to be lost and you're just betting on a small number of companies really succeeding so there's an expectation of failure and that that's not really looked at as a mark against you in that world providing you don't just always fail all the time forever but i'm curious in the context when when you bring up that question you said like well what happens if I fail were you also in in your mind is is that in the context of just your average founder or

was that in the context of a black woman who's going into this space and will I be judged differently a black woman I we know, we've seen the books and statistics that 50 to 80% of companies fail, quote unquote. They just don't work. And that's kind of the point. You have to try. If Elon had stopped at his failures, we wouldn't have his rockets. You know, if Steve Jobs had stopped at his failures, we wouldn't have what we have right

now. So it's just a known factor. But by and large, black women, and I know thousands of them, I guess at this point, we know that black people, black women, we know that, and I know personally that I am, the expectation is that I will fail. And it will be, I told you so. And there will be no room for redemption. There will be no room for benefit of the doubt. I see it happen all the time. I've had it said to my face. And I know from talking to hundreds and hundreds of black founders and thousands of black founders, actually, that it's the case. But I look at it more like, yeah, invested in at this point 130 companies plus and we

just signed a term sheet this week so we'll you know that number is great is growing many of these companies are not going to make it past third year or if they have may not even make it past you know fifth year that's okay and it should be okay because that's what this whole world is. This is what this whole ecosystem is tolerant of. And there shouldn't be a second set of rules, but there are. They're not said out loud, but they are. And the goalpost gets moved so often, so often. I've seen it firsthand. I've seen it it through others and so another part of my role is I think you know self-appointed is to myth bust and to make some sense of things to people

if someone is being taken down publicly or taken down for their company not making it or any someone in our portfolio even I'm the first person to stand up and say wait a second let's look at the real statistics and you let me let me see your list of white men who haven't failed. I want to see that list because I've got to meet this superhero that doesn't exist. So that is really something that I think is important not to forget and not to miss. And so I try to make that known in different ways as much as I can. When you think about what you're doing, so you start what becomes Backstage Capital and then Backstage Studio to support your portfolio companies, that's growing. You end up, as you said, it took a lot of work.

And I imagine it still takes a lot of work to continue to raise money to go into this fund to then turn around and fund what you just shared was now like over 130 companies, founders or groups of founders to do this. When you think about, I guess I'm curious what success looks like to you in the context of that. Is it, and just on a personal level, because this is a huge, huge, huge effort. What does success look like in the context of all this? Success is now. Success to me is five years ago, I was living at an airport and I didn't know if I was going to eat on any given day. And today we've invested in more than 130 companies across the country. We have, I have raised about $15 million bit by bit by bit by bit

and deployed much of that into companies. On top of that, we've seen and talked to thousands of companies who now have more information than they had before they met us. And these companies, some of them are doing poorly, some of them are doing okay, and some of them are thriving, absolutely thriving. And they will go on, some will go on to create, you know, they're already creating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Like, we know that. And then the next 20 or 30 years will just be these seeds being blooming, right? And then it'll go past me and it'll go past that. So success to me is we've already reached it. Success to me is someone who is a black woman in Atlanta saying, I can start a company and I didn't know I could. And this happens all the time where people reach out to our team

or to me directly and say, I didn't know that this was an option for me. I didn't know that generational wealth was an option for me. I didn't know that I could have ownership in something that was based on my talent and I didn't have to work for someone else. Or I didn't know that this particular job that I would love to have was even available at someone else's company. These types of soft skills, if you will, and soft metrics are a success

and they will continue to flourish. I also know as much as I knew in 2014 when I had no money that I would invest in 100 companies led by underrepresented founders by 2020 and I saw it as clear as day as clear as I could see the past I know that I will be Incredibly wealthy and

Before my I'm turning 40 this year and before I'm 50 I'll have more money than I'll ever be able to spend and it'll be because of these founders and that money will be recycled and repurposed and reused for more investment and more catalyzing for the rest of my life. When you think about, two more quick questions, the moment that we're in right now, is that changing anything for you? I think it is. I think people are just, you know, we talk about being woke or not.

I think people are just pulled, yanked out of bed right now. There's no way to be napping at this point. And I think everyone is paying attention and everybody kind of is reflecting. And some people are not, but most people are reflecting. And I'm already seeing the change. There's more access. It's making more sense. Things are making more sense.

Even though such a sacrifice had to happen and has to happen for that to be the case, people are getting it now, I think. And I think it's going to make a big difference. I really do. I can feel it. It's different than anything I've ever experienced. And I think that's the case all around. And I can see that it's going to make a big difference. So as we sit here, it feels like a good place to come full circle as well.

In this container of Good Life Project, if I over-wrap the phrase, to live a good life, what comes up? To live a good life, you know, to wake up every day working on something that fuels me and makes me feel fulfilled and to be catalyzing people. That's the word, that's the buzzword for around here. It's like, how can what I do catalyze someone? And that's the benchmark. It also includes being able to provide for my mother and my brother and his children and my wife and to have an RV and have a beach house and sort of use the next half or so of my life on enjoying the fruits of my labor. Sounds pretty good. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. And thanks also to our fantastic sponsors who help make this show possible.

You can check them out in the links we have included in today's show notes. And while you're at it, if you've ever asked yourself, what should I do with my life? We have created a really cool online assessment that will help you discover the source code for the work that you're here to do. You can find it at sparkotype.com. That's S-P-A-R-K-E-T-Y-P-E.com. Or just click the link in the show notes. And of course, if you haven't already done so, be sure to click on the subscribe button in your listening app so you never miss an episode. And then share, share the love. If there's something that you've heard in this episode that you would love to turn into a conversation, share it with people and have that conversation. Because when ideas become conversations that lead to action, that's when real change takes hold. See you next time. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever,

making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary.

Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. On January 24th... Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're gonna die.

Don't shoot him, we need him! Y'all need a pilot?