VC Cheat Sheet

Ivan Alo and LaDante McMillon, founders of the venture firm New Age Capital which invest in pre-seed Black and Latino led startups, gave us a reality check on how having self awareness (or being woke) can help you avoid many pitfalls.

On this episode, we feature Brandon Bryant of Harlem Capital Partners. Brandon breaks down what it takes to build a solid team that's ready for investment. Brandon also gave us three keys to have lined up before getting in front of investors with a bonus key to help you long term. Tune in and tell us what you think!

Jopwell is the leading career advancement platform for Black, Latino, and Native American students and professionals. I visited their headquarters in NYC to speak with CEO Porter Braswell. Jopwell to date has raised millions and Porter from has an interesting story about how despite his pedigree he realizes how powerful grit plays a role in getting to what you want.

Nathalie Molina Niño is a powerhouse in the VC community and she believes in ‘outcomes over optics’. Nathalie is the CEO and founder of BRAVA Investments, which targets high-growth, scalable businesses that make an economic impact on women. I spoke with Nathalie about the media and the stories surrounding black and Latino ventures, especially women led ventures. We talked about the struggles of women getting funded and she dropped a few gems on what we can do about it. Listen in.

Today on VC cheat sheet I speak to Dimitris Kouravos and John Lynn about what to expect when you get into an accelerator. Many people think accelerators are an easy way to gain money and access to a large network, but this episode will give you the #facts. We talk about the nuances of accelerators and incubators and how to maximize your experience when you get into one. Dimitris is the program manager for Newark Venture Partner’s accelerator and John Lynn manages a consortium of accelerator leadership NYC innovation collective. Listen in.

Sheena Allen is not your typical tech success story. Her background wasn’t in programming or coding but she was able to build an app company from sketches in her notebook. And she did it from rural Mississippi not silicon valley or new york city. Now, she’s looking forward and executing on a new company, Capway. It’s bigger than a tech company - it’s mission is to bridge the gap for financial literacy to lower income populations here in the US. Sheena talks about life after raising the first time and how she used her previous wins as leverage. Listen in!

In the game of fundraising, the first impression is usually the only one you will get. Kai Bond is an investor at Comcast Ventures and manages the Catalyst Fund - a $20 million fund focused on investing in early stage tech startups led by minority entrepreneurs. We traveled to the Comcast Ventures office to personally learn the art of connecting, emailing, and networking with investors. This is definitely an episode you don’t want to miss.

We all know in life there's levels to everything. So, I sat down with Bradley Miles, Analyst of the Stripes Group to talk through the different levels of funding in the VC world. Stripes Group is not your average VC firm. They exclusively invest in later stage startups. so if you aren't sure what stage you're in, you could be wasting your time reaching out to random VCs. Don't worry, we got you. We’ll talk about the difference between seed stage and late stage startups and get a sneak peek into his book, Break into VC. Listen in.

VC Cheat sheet was created to give you the inside scoop on venture capital. But before we get too heavy, we wanted to explore just what Venture capital was, and what you need to know before you start raising. So we sat down with Phillip Kennard, CEO & founder of FutureStay, to talk through how to prepare before raising your first round. FutureStay puts vacation rentals on autopilot and Phillip has been able to attract just shy of 2 million dollars in venture capital to date for his startup. And since he knows a thing or two about raising capital, Phillip gave us a checklist of do’s, don’ts, and tips he wished someone would have given him. He calls it "proof HELPS." Listen in.