Currently, black women are starting businesses at 6 times the national average but are not seeing the same receipts as other founders. There are 3 major areas where women of color require support: access to capital, access to influential networks, and the ability to hire employees. The lack of access to capital for women is becoming a more prevalent part of the entrepreneurial conversation however solutions to solve the issue are still evolving. Black Girl Ventures is specifically focused on creating access to capital for women. All programming is centered on addressing this issue head-on.

In this episode of the podcast, we sit down with Omi Bell, an entrepreneur and founder of Black Girl Ventures, to discuss her journey to success and the challenges faced by black women in the startup world. Omi shares her story of pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams after a difficult breakup and job loss, and how she founded Black Girl Ventures to provide resources and funding for black women interested in launching their own startups. We learn how her organization has funded over 300 women founders, generating about 10 million in revenue and creating over 3,000 jobs, and how talent is the biggest culprit behind why startups fail.

If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development. 

Founder Bio:

Omi  Bell is the Founder/CEO of Black Girl Ventures, the host of The Omi Show on SiriusXM Urban View, and the creative director of Omi’s World Media. She has been named one of the top 100 most powerful women in business by Entrepreneur Magazine, Entrepreneur of the Year by Technically DC, and a Rising Brand Star by Adweek. She has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and Refinery29; also been seen on Good Morning America, Vice TV, Cheddar, Bloomberg, Fox Business, Nike billboards and ads. Her work with entrepreneurs has been revered and honored by two murals in Washington, DC. Under her leadership, Black Girl Ventures has funded over 300 women founders representing about $10MM in revenue and creating over 3000 jobs for the US economy. Omi’s story and efforts have directly impacted over 20,000 people across 64 countries through training, mentoring, and speaking. 

Show Notes:

03:28 Omi Bell's background in computer science

06:06 reflection on teaching computer science to a diverse classroom

08:30 Combining creative and analytical thinking to create Black Girl Ventures (BGV) 

11:45 Exploring access to capital for black entrepreneurs

14:14 BGV pitch, fellowship program, and emerging leaders program overview

16:31 Leadership, business, and equity in the tech industry 

19:12 Industry agnostic and focused on specific verticals

21:37 Investment opportunities and donor-advised fund

25:30 Investment strategies for women-led companies at the million-dollar mark

30:29 Positioning a company for sale or merger

33:58 Advice for founders seeking investment

37:10 Preparing for enterprise sales: what you need to know

40:42 Omi Bell's new book context 

46:47 How to get in contact with the BGV team

Resources:

Company website: https://www.blackgirlventures.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackgirlventures/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blackgirlventures/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BGirlVentures

Many healthcare organizations are required to conduct time studies to document the time their practitioners spend on contracted activities. The resulting data is crucial for financial and cost reporting, as well as operational efficiency and workforce effectiveness initiatives. However, the discontinuous data reporting schedules and inefficient data collection workflows associated with traditional time studies can make them a burden for practitioners and result in low response rates.

On today's episode, we're joined by Kishau Rogers, CEO and founder of TimeStudy, to discuss how her AI-powered platform is improving productivity and creating competitive advantages for healthcare organizations. By leveraging machine learning and natural language processing, TimeStudy streamlines the time study process, making it less burdensome for practitioners and increasing response rates.

In addition to discussing the benefits of TimeStudy, Kishau shares her journey as a tech entrepreneur, her fundraising experience, team-building strategies, and advice for engaging with customers and minimizing investment risks. We also explore the use cases for time analysis in healthcare finance.

Join us for an insightful conversation on the future of time studies and their impact on healthcare organizations.

If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development. 

Founder Bio:

Kishau Rogers is a technology entrepreneur using computer science, systems thinking, and common sense to create intelligent human-centered solutions. As the Founder and CEO of Time Study, Kishau is one of the first Black women in the state of Virginia to raise millions in venture capital to scale her tech startup. Headquartered in New York City, Time Study is a platform that uses artificial intelligence to help enterprises understand the impact of how their employees spend their time. Time Study serves many of the largest health organizations in the US. Kishau’s work has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and Black Enterprise. She holds a Computer Science degree and has over 25 years of technology and entrepreneurial leadership experience.

Show Notes:

02:38 Becoming a tech entrepreneur background

06:33 Leveraging relationships to start a business

08:48 Understanding the role of a founder in building a solution

10:38 Discussion on services business vs. start-up mindset for software development

14:11 Working hand in hand with initial customers

18:12 Benefits of machine learning, clustering, and natural language processing

20:03 Exploring the benefits of speed, contextualization, and standardization

23:26 Use cases for time analysis and predictions in healthcare finance

26:15 Benefits of healthcare ai for financial operations and workforce effectiveness

27:42 Team building strategies at time study

31:22 Fundraising and capital funding journey for time study

42:00 Strategies for de-risking investment and engaging with customers

44:56 How to get in contact with the Time study team

Resources:

Company website: https://timestudy.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/timestudycom/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timestudycom

Twitter: https://twitter.com/timestudy

Cybersecurity is at the forefront of today's news as the frequency of cyber-attacks continues to escalate alarmingly. Statistics reveal that the number of global cyber-attacks rose by a significant 28% during Q3 of 2022, compared to the previous year. The shift towards remote work, the rapid pace of digital transformation, and the emergence of highly sophisticated threat actors have made ensuring the safety of sensitive information a crucial concern for all companies.

In this episode, we discuss Corey's background as a cybersecurity expert, the benefits of combining software and services for cybersecurity solutions, and the go-to-market strategies for such solutions. Corey also touches on affordable pricing options for small-medium sized businesses and the benefits of services-based business models for tech startups. His company offers incident response and managed services solutions, combining both product and service to provide comprehensive protection for businesses. 

If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development. 

Founder Bio:

As a transformative, servant leader, Corey is a proven entrepreneur focused on innovating and creating new paradigms in the security industry and life. His leadership style is focused on an employee first approach because of the positive impact of happy employees on their customer relationships. Corey has chosen to take a people centric approach to life and to let all outcomes be driven by that philosophy. Twenty-five years of experience in the security industry has seasoned him to create the next exponential evolution. As Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Corey has created Cyvatar.ai to enable vendor partners to deliver reliable, repeatable, and measurable business outcomes to clients through an outstanding customer experience. This also allows the partner to engineer out complexity, improve renewal/upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and increase their customer satisfaction and referrals.

Show Notes:

03:03 Background of cybersecurity expert Corey White.

06:18 Cybersecurity incident response and managed services solutions.

09:52 Combining product and service to protect businesses.

11:32 Building a cybersecurity solution with the right team and partnerships.

13:30 Benefits of combining software and services for cybersecurity solutions.

17:10 How everything started from a product perspective.

19:26 Leveraging proprietary technology to create fastest outcomes in the industry.

24:14 Go-to-market strategies for cybersecurity solutions.

28:16 Cybersecurity solutions for startups and small-medium-sized businesses.

30:14 Affordable pricing and direct to customer solutions for small businesses.

35:54 External partners to build a company faster

39:14 Revenue-based financing as an alternative funding model for startups 

44:47 Benefits of services-based business models for tech startups

Resources

Company website: https://cyvatar.ai/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyvatar-ai/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyvatar.ai/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyvatar

Millions of pounds of food are wasted every year in the United States and millions of people go without meals. Bridging that gap has been challenging, but now there are solutions using technology to help solve this problem. Our guest today is at the forefront of this movement to end hunger. 

Jasmine Crowe is the CEO and Founder of Goodr, and she’s working specifically on this food waste problem. Goodr’s mission is to feed more and waste less using their technology platform that connects those with excess food to the people who need it most. In this episode, Jasmine talks in depth about how Goodr started and the challenges she’s faced growing the company. 

Founder Bio

Jasmine Crowe is an award-winning social entrepreneur, children’s book author, TED Speaker, and leader who is working to make the world a better place one cause at a time. Jasmine’s goal is to foster change and create awareness about the leading socioeconomic issues of today, including climate change, food waste, and hunger.  In 2017, after years of feeding people experiencing homelessness from her own kitchen, Jasmine launched Goodr, a sustainable waste management company that leverages technology to combat hunger and reduce food waste. She has been featured on CNBC, Oprah Magazine, Inc., Forbes, Fast Co., NY Times, and named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 100 influential female founders.

Under Jasmine’s leadership, Goodr has redirected over 20 million pounds of surplus food from event centers, airports, and businesses to people that are food insecure. Goodr has also launched a grocery delivery program that provides free weekly groceries to thousands of senior citizens and students. Most recently, the company implemented its first no-cost, grocery store for a Title 1 school. Goodr clients include Turner Broadcasting, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport, Atlanta Hawks, NBA, Capital One, Six Flags Over Georgia, and many more.

Timestamps

03:26 - How Jasmine’s consultancy led to starting Goodr 

06:59 - The tax benefits companies receive from using Goodr’s platform 

7:37 - The challenges of being a solo founder and how Jasmine built her team

11:00 - Dealing with potential investors’ concerns if you don’t have a team 

14:30 - How Jasmine utilized advice for mentors early on to help grow her team

17:48 - The importance of delegating to the team to be able to actively raise money

20:00 - How Goodr used technology to solve the waste management problem by making the ecosystem more efficient

21:26 - The way Goodr manages the relationships with each stakeholder

24:26 - How Goodr’s platform makes it easy for drivers to pick up and deliver the food 

25:44 - How Goodr gained traction in her early days

28:13 - Using a customer acquisition strategy that includes direct outreach, partnerships, referrals and more

30:00 - Jasmine explains the fundraising journey for Goodr and the type of investors that are a best fit

32:10 How to get in contact with the Goodr team

Resources

Company website: https://goodr.coLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/goodrco/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodrCo/Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegoodrco

The auto-industry has embraced artificial intelligence as a key tool in achieving autonomous driving.  However, we've also got innovative startups tapping into AI to further improve the safety and quality of the driver experience. 

In this episode, we sit with Rashid Galadanci, the CEO, and co-founder of Driver Technologies, an AI-based mobility tech startup that delivers a safer driving experience. He co-founded the company in 2019 based on his inspiration to share the benefits of advanced vehicle technologies without barriers to access, while also improving safety - forever.

The app transforms a driver's phone into a mobile driving assistance system and dash cam designed to make connected mobility technology more accessible. It has users in over 170 countries.

Founder Bio

Rashid Galadanci is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Driver Technologies. He serves as Board Member at Pigeonly as well as a Venture Partner at The Social Entrepreneurs Fund. He has a background in emerging market economic development, technology, energy, and management consulting. Before joining TSEF, he was an Associate at Armonia LLC, an impact investing-focused family office. Previously, he managed global initiatives and operational policy at FINCA International, a leading microfinance institution with 1.7 million clients in 23 countries.

If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development.

2:40 - Rashid's Background and the inspiration behind launching Driver Technologies 

6:56 – Transitioning from investor to tech entrepreneur

12:09 – Overview of Driver Technologies team and how the company was launched

16:43 – How Driver Technologies is positioned in the car safety industry

19:11 – Navigating complex driving conditions in varied geograpic regions

 23:00 – Defining the user experience

 25:48 - Everyday user qualitative perception and reviews of the app.

 27:42 – Who created the first version of the app and how was the process. 

 29:48 – How was the fundraising journey?

 36:42 – How things changed moving from a seed stage to series A.

 37:44 – Seed extension pros and cons.

 39:56 – What’s next for Driver Technologies.

 40:50 – Where to learn more about Driver Technology, download the app, and test the product.

https://drivertechnologies.com/

Financial literacy is important for all ages but particularly for children and young adults. This issue is heightened for minority consumers who work hard but may not have the tools and information needed to ensure they’re making the best choices with their money. 

Daricus Releford is the CEO and Founder of Store Cash, and he’s working specifically on this financial literacy problem. StoreCash is a fintech company that gives users up to 15% cashback on their everyday shopping, and helps young consumers receive vital lessons on financial literacy. 

Founder Bio

Daricus is a serial entrepreneur that started his first business at the age of 12. After college Daricus started an online Berry business called Twiggy's Berries, and with no funding, he strategized free ways to market the business and ultimately made appearances in Kiplinger magazine. 

Daricus was also a guest on the Steve Harvey Show, several other news outlets and almost landed his own reality show on TLC. Seeking funding and expansion of the business, Daricus drove from Pennsylvania to Silicon valley where he landed jobs at Apple, Facebook and Google. He then ultimately founded the company that we'll talk about today, StoreCash.

Timestamps

02:30 - Daricus’ childhood and teenage experiences with entrepreneurship 

04:45 - The chocolate covered strawberry business that got them on the Steve Harvey Show 

06:12 - How Daricus broke into the tech industry and landed jobs at some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley 

08:22 - The catalyst for starting StoreCash

11:05 - Breaking down the  StoreCash product and the importance of early financial literacy education 

15:10 - How they utilize the debit card as a core fintech product and financial literacy tool

16:55 - How do users interact with the platform  

18:04 - How they approached building the technology behind StoreCash 

19:58 - Best practices for working with offshore developer teams 

23:58 - How Daricus met his co-founders and the pros and cons of solo entrepreneurship 

30:15 - Darius and Daricus discuss maneuvering through the fundraising process 

34:22 Managing team members, growing as a leader, and how to recruit great talent to your business 

38:38 - How to get in contact with Daricus and the StoreCash team

Many small businesses are cash strapped operations that need access to working capital to take care of everyday needs like payroll and inventory. Sadly, many loan vehicles for small business owners and particularly, minority owned small businesses, do not serve this large and necessary demographic of entrepreneurs. 

Today, I sit with Kenny Salas,Co-founder and COO of Camino financial,  an AI powered community development, financial institution, or CDFI. This FinTech platform fuels generational wealth for America's overlooked entrepreneurs. 

Kenny along with his brother, Sean, Co-founder and CEO of Camino Financial, have built a team of 130 plus associates across the United States and Latin America to fulfill their vision. Since its inception in 2014, the company has financed over $150 million in micro loans funding over 7,000 small businesses resulting in over $100 million in fees and interest saved.

Founder Bio 

Before starting Camino Financial with his brother, Sean, Kenny worked at the private equity firm, Palladium Equity Partners. His responsibilities included investing into middle-sized businesses, managing five portfolio companies and serving on the board of directors for Wise Foods. He also collaborated with his portfolio brands to formulate strategic and financial planning. 

Before Palladium, Kenny began his career as a financial analyst for Barclays capital. He holds an MBA from Harvard business school  and a bachelor's in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley. 

03:23 - Kenny’s professional journey and how him and twin brother grew up pre-Camino Financial 

07:16 - How his mom and family’s entrepreneurial journey influenced his life and career 

11:13 - The pain point for small business owners that became the catalyst for Camino Financial 

13:30 - The first demographic of small business owners they went after and the initial insights they got from the first iteration of the loan service 

17:32 - How they’re utilizing data on their borrowers to automate the loan process and build AI solutions within their platform 

22:19 - The importance of being culturally aligned with their customer base and how that’s influenced them to build an office in Mexico City

24:09 - How they approached building a digital first platform with little coding experience

28:28 -  How they approach team building in Mexico and South America

34:53 - Kenny’s fundraising strategy for Camino Financial and how it changed in different funding rounds

39:48 - Kenny’s advice on preparing for the Seed round vs Series B

43:21 -  Camino’s potential to expand into other international markets 

45:29 - How to get in contact with the Camino Financial team

As commerce becomes more digitized, businesses have both the opportunity and responsibility to create improved experiences for their customers. This can be as simple as shortening the turnaround time on answering a customer’s question to making the customer feel like she or he is having a tailored experience with that business. 

Today, I sit with Charles Ifedi of Ebanqo, who has built a solution that helps businesses and customers better communicate with one another, and simplify a world with multiple messaging platforms by bringing them together under one roof. 

Charles is a serial entrepreneur and fintech unicorn builder who has a thoughtful approach to building products that are supremely influenced by the core needs of its users. He shares with us his entrepreneurial journey, approach to product development, working with offshore developers and team building over his multi-decade career. 

If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development. 

Founder Bio:

Charles Ifedi is the founder and CEO of Ebanqo, an omnichannel customer engagement startup that helps businesses aggregate their messaging channels, including webchat, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. By bundling these channels they help businesses build stronger customer relationships, offer their services on the web, and multiple messaging apps. 

Prior to launching Ebanqo, Charles was the pioneer CEO of Verve, Africa’s leading payment card brand. He was also the co-founder of a fintech company, named Inner Switch that was valued at over a billion dollars after receiving an investment from Visa. He’s also worked with American Express, PWC, and Accenture across Africa, Europe and the US. Charles has a doctorate in Business Administration from Georgia State University, an MBA from Cranfield University, and a bachelor’s of science with a specialization in computer science from University of Ilorin. 

3:08 - Charles’s early career and entrepreneurial ventures in Fintech

4:00 - How Nigeria and the African continent quickly grew into an internationally relevant tech hub and first mover in popular technology trends like payments and instant transfer

9:20 - Origins of Ebanqo

12:38 - How Ebanqo’s core product works and how it helps businesses better serve their customers 

14:59 - Understanding how and when to use AI within Ebanqo’s customer experience, and knowing that a human element is still needed when serving customers

19:37 - How focusing on solving the need of the customer changed his goal of building a fintech business to creating a platform that serves any type of B2C business 21:25 - How Charles learned to sell into industries that he didn’t have previous experience in 

23:06 - Building the Ebanqo product and partnering with a dev shop for the MVP 

26:01 -The most important thing to think about when building a product 

27:03 - How to successfully work with a dev shop 

33:01 - Building the Ebanqo Team 

35:43 - How Charles approached fundraising for Ebanqo 

37:56 - How does Charles and the team differentiate Ebanqo from other players in the market

As business culture evolves, so will the process of developing the next generation of business leaders.  Companies that want to be at the forefront of this next generation will do so by investing in their talent.

Today, I sit with Stephen Bailey, Co-founder and CEO of ExecOnline. ExecOnline is a pioneer in online leadership development for enterprises. Stephen oversees the organization's strategic vision and broader efforts to engage with corporations to create a more diverse pool of future business leaders .

Since its inception in 2012, Stephen has raised nearly $90 million, building the company into a leadership development powerhouse that works with Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, as well as NGOs and government agencies. Under his leadership, ExecOnline has grown to now include partnerships with 12 of the world's leading business schools and is named as a “Top Tech Company to Watch” by Forbes. 

Founder Bio 

Stephen is a seasoned lawyer and operator, and was the CEO of Frontier Strategy Group, a global market intelligence company, before founding ExecOnline. He is an impassioned advocate for the development of more inclusive corporate environments and better development pathways for all leaders. 

Timestamps

02:45 - Stephen’s background and career experiences that lead to him starting ExecOnline

07:49 - The current state of ExecOnline and how they partner with top business schools to train and develop the next generation of leaders  

09:44 - Understanding how the ExecOnline platform works

12:28 - Stephen’s thoughts on the current state of leadership development and how it’s shifting 

16:11 - Organizations that are most excited about this space and see leadership development as a necessary strategic initiative 

20:15 - Understanding how organizations and users engage with the platform

25:32 - How they’ve engaged both business organizations and universities within their business model to ensure that all parties are getting value. 

29:36 - Breaking down the ExecOnline product strategy 

32:30 - Breaking down the ExecOnline fundraising strategy and thoughts on managing equity with subsequent rounds of funding 

38:56 - How to get in touch with Stephen and ExecOnline

There isn’t a single business owner or individual who hasn’t felt the friction created around the tax preparation process.  Even accounting and tax professional get a bit of a headache when thinking about managing tax data.  Today, I sit with Matt Parker of Modern Tax, who is on a mission to automate many of that data intensive processes around tax planning and preparation.

Matt is a former Division 1 basketball player who discovered a passion for entrepreneurship given his knack for creativity and high-performance personality.  He shares with us his journey – from stumbling through corporate America to finding his footing as a tech founder.

Founder Bio:

Matt Park is the founder and CEO of Modern Tax, a startup building a suite of API and no-code solutions that provide a better way to engage with tax data for financial institutions and FinTech platforms. Each product allows businesses to verify income, report and confirm income with the IRS, automate tax service switching and form population, verify identity, and decrease fraudulent income reporting.

Most recently, Matt is running ModernTax, in which he has raised over $3M in venture capital to date. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Whitney and his newborn son Cain.

2:55 How basketball shaped Matt’s early days and his future as an entrepreneur

7:39 How Matt chose his next career path post hoop dreams

9:58 Launching his first entrepreneurial endeavor empowering athletes

13:08 Origins of Modern Tax

15:40 What is Modern Tax and what is the core problem it’s solving?

19:00 Why tax automation software and tax experts work better together

23:15 The value of finding a co-founder with a complimentary skillset

25:36 Building an engineering organization and finding the right talent

28:28 The importance of resilience in a startups workforce

30:31  Approaching Series A | Matt’s thoughts on fundraising

35:24 What is the best type of investor for Modern Tax?