VCs Off the Record with Gayle Jennings-O'Byrne

On this week’s episode, we sit down with Oliver Libby, co-founding Managing Partner of H/L Ventures and CityRock Venture Partners. The H/L family of companies represents a new kind of venture firm, dedicated to building high-growth businesses that add value to society, with a strong preference for diverse founding teams.  In addition to H/L Ventures, Mr. Libby is also Chair & Co-Founder of The Resolution Project, Inc., a non-profit which works with undergraduate students launching new socially-responsible ventures.  Resolution supports hundreds of young social entrepreneurs in more than 80 countries and across the United States.

Mr. Libby was recently recognized by Crains New York Business’ first ever diversity program awards and has been featured in the New York Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Reuters for his work as an impact leader. 

Listen in as we dive into the issues in Venture Capital world today, the new face of innovation, and how diversity is everyone’s responsibility.

You won’t want to miss this!

We are back for Season 3 and we are SO excited! We are kicking it off with an amazing entrepreneur, Courtne Smith, founder and CEO of NewNew, a social decision-making app that lets you vote to control the outcome of other people’s lives. 

Prior to NewNew, Courtne spent over a decade on Grammy-award winning artist Drake's management team where she handled his business endeavors and special projects. She is a born entrepreneur with a flair for fashion and innovation and attributes her success to her relentless and resilient spirit. Alongside her business partner, Filip Diarra, Smith has founded a hair-extension line called Tharen, a giveaway game app called Suprize. Her latest innovation, NewNew, has been backed by huge investors like Will Smith, Andreessen Horowitz and more.

Courtne is also one of less than 20 Black female founders in tech to have built an eight-figure, venture backed company. She is a true WOCstar! 

Join us as we get real real with Courtne about everything from raising those first dollars as WOC in Tech to what has led to her continued success in all of her endeavors. Listen now!  

For far too long, implicit bias and systemic racism have created huge gaps in the VC and startup world —favoring white, male founders, while ignoring the brilliant minds of so many others in our diverse world. The data is out there but yet we still aren't seeing capital deployed to the underrepresented. 

As a former tech founder himself and a relentless advocate for underrepresented founders, Brian Brackeen has witnessed the difficulties of raising capital while black and has made it his mission to provide meaningful mentorship and funding in and outside Silicon Valley. Last year, Brian, alongside his wife and co-General Partner, Candice, launched Lightship Capital, a first-of-its-kind $50 million venture fund for underrepresented founders in the Midwest. The groundbreaking partnership with SecondMuse Capital will invest in early-stage startups launched by people of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities in the Midwest and the South (“all the places other investors fly over or vacation in, including Miami,” Brian said).

Their hope for the fund is to make the VC world accessible to all founders and to provide much-needed funding that allows minority-founded startups not only to survive, but to thrive, and to create a more equitable future.

Join us in the first of our new series, Raising While Black, as we chat with Brian about his experiences as a black male founder and investor. This is one you won’t want to miss!

We all know you need money to make money but you also need to "bank" money to use it especially as our world becomes more reliant on technology and touch-free. However, many lower-income, immigrants, and even young people do not have access to traditional financial services like banks. This week’s guest, Capway founder Sheena Allen, hopes to change this for the “underbanked” by restoring trust in and a fair banking system with her latest app.

Allen, a serial entrepreneur at heart, grew up in a small town with one bank. As a result, the people in her community, including family and friends, would keep their money in their home or use other fee-heavy alternative banking options.

She created her very first app with little tech experience and has since developed into an app machine, with five apps under her belt to date. In 2016, Allen had the idea to create the app and digital bank, Capway, which gave Sheena the title as the youngest female in America to own and operate a digital bank. The fintech company connects underserved millennials and Gen Z to today’s cashless economy.

Join us as we chat with Sheena about the challenges of banking while Black as well as what it takes to launch an app in this digital world. 

Entrepreneurs and investors - you won't want to miss this! 

One of the biggest myths in impact and gender lens investing is the lack of data showing the power of investing in diverse and inclusive ventures or those with a gender lens. Investors tend to think “impact” or “gender specific” means soft and small and pass on these opportunities. Although this mindset is slowly changing, many still need data and facts to change their mind.

Well, the data is out there! A new report, Project Sage 3.0, from the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and consulting firm Catalyst at Large finds a dramatic increase in gender lens investing over the last few years, and helps to demystify the stigma around impact and gender lens investing.

On this week’s episode, we sit down with one of the leading experts in the field, Suzanne Biegel, Founder of Catalyst at Large and globally renowned speaker on gender-smart investing. She is also Co-Founder of the GenderSmart Investing Summit and co-author of Project Sage 3.0. Her work spans research, field building, and consulting in the area of gender-smart investing.

Join us as we discuss how applying a gender lens to impact investing and using powerful data can bridge the funding gap and build resilient communities even in times of crisis. The data is there and the time is NOW!

LISTEN NOW! 

On today's episode, Diana sits down with Vicki Vasilopoulos, co-founder of  TheElysians.com, a platform for the U.S. market featuring exclusive, hand-crafted, fashion pieces, jewelry, and accessories made in Greece. These inspiring creators preserve their renowned Hellenic culture by reviving traditional techniques – like weaving and embroidery -- in a contemporary and sophisticated style that appeals to American consumers. Vicki and Elysians co-founder, Athina, recently received a $4,000 crowdfunded loan through WE Fund Crowd and Kiva which they attribute to saving their business during the pandemic. The loan of $4,000 will provide working capital to pay for the rising costs of wholesale inventory, fulfillment, and marketing. Join us in welcoming Vicki and Diana discuss the struggles of entrepreneurship and how WE NYC and crowdfunding has helped Vicki survive this past year.

As with almost every industry this year, barbers and beauticians have been struggling to find creative ways to do business as the pandemic forces shops to close down. Many in the industry have had to pivot but are running out of options. Luckily, our next guest, Shawn Rohder, has developed  the perfect solution for everyone! His company, Nohmad, developed the rohver™ aka the mobile equivalent of the shop or salon. And they will introduce the nohmad™ app in 2021,  a mobile platform that enables clients to connect, select and request a barber.  Think UBER but for haircare! We could not be more excited to share this episode with you as we get real with Shawn about raising money as a brown or black entrepreneur and how he stayed motivated to turn his dream into reality. 

Listen now if you are an entrepreneur or just a creative person enjoys the idea of building businesses!

Check out everything over at Nohmad.Com!

Our next episode is part of our bi-monthly podcast between the WOCstar Fund and the NYC Department of Small Business Services’ WE NYC Initiative featuring the stories of women entrepreneurs in the NYC community! As WE NYC celebrates their 5th anniversary this month, we will wrap our series with a very special guest and one of our personal heroes, NYC SBS Commissioner Jonnel Doris.

As Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), Jonnel Doris is charged with running a dynamic City agency focused on equity of opportunity, that leads to economic self-sufficiency and mobility for New York City's diverse communities. SBS actively connects New Yorkers to good jobs, creates stronger businesses, and builds a thriving economy in neighborhoods across the five boroughs.

We sat down with the Commissioner to chat about the impact of small business owners and the  power of community and collaboration. Doris explains the many ways in which SBS is helping entrepreneurs through amazing initiatives like WE NYC and BE NYC  and how he is committed to raising up our strong and diverse entrepreneurs. To quote the Commissioner, “small businesses are brilliant and resilient and we will get through this!”

Entrepreneurs, allies - you won’t want to miss this one!

Listen now and check out we.nyc and BE NYC for more information!

Our next episode is part of our bi-monthly podcast between the WOCstar Fund and the NYC Department of Small Business Services’ WE NYC Initiative featuring the stories of women entrepreneurs in the NYC community! In part two of this series, we sat down with Deepti Sharma, CEO and Founder of Food to Eat,  an online marketplace where local businesses can order team meals from the best local restaurants, food trucks and caterers. Her goal is to help businesses feed employees great food and build stronger work cultures, while also helping local mom & pop food vendors - many of whom are immigrants - use technology to build sustainable catering businesses. We spoke with Deepti about her entrepreneurial journey and how her mission to serving underrepresented communities led to her involvement with WE NYC and now as a candidate for City Council. 

Entrepreneurs, investors, and allies -  you must listen to this episode!  Check out we.nyc for more information!

Over 70 million Americans are credit invisible which leads to financial exclusion and exorbitant interest rates. African Americans and other minorities are predominantly impacted and this issue has only grown with the pandemic. 

Where you come from, the color of your skin, and your financial identity should not determine where you end up in life. This is beginning to change due to platforms like Esusu, the credit building app that gives renters credit for making monthly payments.  Esusu focuses on unleashing the power of data to bridge the racial wealth gap. This app has the potential to help approximately 45 million Americans, who are currently marginalized from formally entering the financial system.

We spoke with Esusu cofounders Abbey Wemimo and Samir Goel to chat about the impact of Esusu and how their business is helping both renters and property managers during the current economic crisis.