WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.960 we explore the journeys that lead to success. 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:10.220 I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:13.859 Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you 00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:17.100 insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:20.820 and experts who will share not just their expertise, 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.120 but the milestone moments that have reshaped 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.059 their journeys and led to significant achievements. 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:30.359 So if you're looking for motivation, you're in 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:33.560 the right place. Subscribe now and discover the 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:40.420 milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:43.619 to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business 00:00:43.619 --> 00:00:46.520 and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick, your host. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.659 And today, my very special guest is venture capitalist 00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:55.460 and educator Brandon Nong. With over 25 years 00:00:55.460 --> 00:00:58.880 of experience of a career spanning in education, 00:00:59.219 --> 00:01:03.700 marketing, and startups, Brandon has helped companies 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:07.640 achieve remarkable exits and then growing another 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:13.859 company 1 ,400 % in under three years. Brandon 00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:17.459 has also helped hundreds of young adults reach 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:21.819 their initial educational milestones. at Stanford 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:27.260 Online HS, Yale, Andover, and more. Welcome to 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:30.079 the show, Brandon. Well, thank you, Sheila, for 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:33.280 having me. I'd love to first hear your origin 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:38.459 story. What led you to become a VC? Walk me through 00:01:38.459 --> 00:01:41.340 that journey. Sure, sure. To be honest, it's 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:44.599 a long story, but I'll... Try to encapsulate 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.519 it as short as possible, because obviously we 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.299 don't have a ton of time here to listen to my 00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:53.540 entire life story here. But briefly, in 2020, 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.180 when I was doing my own startup called When I 00:01:56.180 --> 00:02:00.439 Leave .com, I encountered VCs in the industry. 00:02:00.739 --> 00:02:04.420 And at the time, I didn't know where VCs were 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:07.260 as far as. the time you should actually contact 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:10.199 VCs because what people don't realize is you 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:13.060 don't go straight to a VC if you have an idea 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:15.639 or you have a business that is even doing well. 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:19.719 You wait for venture capitalists to be a part 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:22.199 of the equation when you're ready to basically 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:24.680 scale because the difference between obviously 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:27.819 a startup and a small business is that startups 00:02:27.819 --> 00:02:31.069 can scale, whereas small businesses... They're 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:33.289 kind of limited to their markets or their different 00:02:33.289 --> 00:02:36.289 niches. But personally for me, I got into the 00:02:36.289 --> 00:02:40.770 industry because I saw how, frankly, it's more, 00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:43.229 I don't know if the right term is parasitic or 00:02:43.229 --> 00:02:46.389 it's more like vulture -like. I mean, the V in 00:02:46.389 --> 00:02:49.189 my mind is like a vulture because what ends up 00:02:49.189 --> 00:02:52.069 unfortunately happening is these venture capitalists 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:54.870 that are out there are all about... They won't 00:02:54.870 --> 00:02:56.650 say it to your face, by the way, that they're 00:02:56.650 --> 00:02:59.310 all about trying to extract as much value from 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:02.129 your organization. And in the end, it doesn't 00:03:02.129 --> 00:03:05.050 feel like what I hope that we will be doing. 00:03:05.069 --> 00:03:07.289 And that is to do it kind of like in a family 00:03:07.289 --> 00:03:11.030 manner where we're helping one another rise together. 00:03:11.210 --> 00:03:14.530 And so I got into it that way. To be honest, 00:03:14.689 --> 00:03:17.330 it was a long road up through that time to really 00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:20.490 understand if this made sense. But yeah, in short, 00:03:20.669 --> 00:03:23.930 that was how I got into venture capital. So you 00:03:23.930 --> 00:03:26.909 had your own project. Did you find a venture 00:03:26.909 --> 00:03:30.129 capitalist or no? You decided to start your own 00:03:30.129 --> 00:03:33.550 venture capital firm, Good People's Ventures. 00:03:34.050 --> 00:03:37.550 No, GPV, Good People's Ventures, didn't start 00:03:37.550 --> 00:03:40.409 until, frankly, early this year. In 2020, when 00:03:40.409 --> 00:03:42.710 I was actually approaching venture capitalists 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:46.810 or VCs, I was almost immediately sickened by 00:03:46.810 --> 00:03:50.030 their behavior. I had heard from our accelerators 00:03:50.030 --> 00:03:53.669 stories about what would happen. So we were in 00:03:53.669 --> 00:03:58.050 three accelerators in that year or year, proceeding 00:03:58.050 --> 00:04:00.930 year. And I started to schedule appointments 00:04:00.930 --> 00:04:03.409 with venture capitalists. And in my first meeting, 00:04:03.569 --> 00:04:06.750 I was truly, truly disappointed in the whole 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:09.629 process. I knew I could continue down the path, 00:04:09.789 --> 00:04:12.750 which everybody has the ability to basically 00:04:12.750 --> 00:04:16.230 knock on the doors and pitch all the VCs. Almost 00:04:16.230 --> 00:04:18.189 immediately, I realized this was not the way 00:04:18.189 --> 00:04:20.629 I wanted to fund the organization. We did a crowdfunding 00:04:20.629 --> 00:04:24.230 campaign, which was more for marketing. And we 00:04:24.230 --> 00:04:26.550 also bootstrapped for the most part because I 00:04:26.550 --> 00:04:29.709 just used $100 ,000 of my own money to build 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:32.250 the startup. Unfortunately, the startup had to 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:35.430 be put on pause a couple years ago because it's 00:04:35.430 --> 00:04:38.769 unfortunately a little too early to have when 00:04:38.769 --> 00:04:41.529 I leave. The whole end -of -life industry is 00:04:41.529 --> 00:04:44.769 still... not ready to change. People are not 00:04:44.769 --> 00:04:47.490 ready to change. People don't want to think about 00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:51.329 death, which is what unfortunately, you know, 00:04:51.329 --> 00:04:53.610 becomes a problem as you get to that stage in 00:04:53.610 --> 00:04:57.250 life. But yeah. Timing is everything sometimes, 00:04:57.449 --> 00:04:59.709 especially with startups, right? The market needs 00:04:59.709 --> 00:05:02.870 to be ready. And sometimes it's not the idea 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:06.110 that fails. It's just the timing. Right, right. 00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:09.540 So for listeners who might not be familiar or 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:12.339 perhaps want a little bit more in -depth about 00:05:12.339 --> 00:05:17.459 what a venture capitalist is and what their day 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:20.540 -to -day looks like, can you share a bit of insights? 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:24.160 Yeah, yeah. No, that's a great question. To be 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.860 honest, I think the term... gets easily confused 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:31.800 with money. Like that's the way we grow a company. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.879 But there's four stages, or rather VC is the 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:38.040 fourth stage, I would argue you should approach 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:40.100 when you're building a company. First, like I 00:05:40.100 --> 00:05:42.100 just mentioned, bootstrapping. Everybody should 00:05:42.100 --> 00:05:45.100 use their own money, right? You get full control 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:47.060 if you actually use your own money, right? You 00:05:47.060 --> 00:05:49.199 don't have to give any part of your company to 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:52.279 anyone if you use your own money. Well, if you 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:54.959 get... extended or rather you don't want to use 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.220 anymore and you're starting to open your you 00:05:57.220 --> 00:05:59.639 know company to different ownership then the 00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:02.300 next stage which jeff bezos made very famous 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:04.639 is friends and family so you approach your friends 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:06.720 and family and you basically want to maybe ask 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.040 for a certain amount to help you get to the next 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:12.500 stage and you can decide at that point like whatever 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:15.180 percentages seem to make sense. I think Jeff 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:17.160 Bezos' brother probably benefited really well 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:20.500 from Amazon because he got in on early and I 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:22.720 think a lot of his family. And then the third 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:27.379 stage is angel investing. So at that point where 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:29.579 let's say your friends and family either say 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.420 no or they've only funded you to a certain degree. 00:06:33.209 --> 00:06:35.529 People can or rather startup founders can approach 00:06:35.529 --> 00:06:38.470 these people who have high net worths and are 00:06:38.470 --> 00:06:40.829 willing to put anywhere from, what, 10 ,000 or 00:06:40.829 --> 00:06:43.509 25 ,000 on up and sometimes even in the millions. 00:06:44.670 --> 00:06:49.029 They are not as. vulture -like, in my opinion, 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:52.870 as the VCs. But at the same time, you know, it 00:06:52.870 --> 00:06:54.930 really depends. Everybody wants a return on their 00:06:54.930 --> 00:06:58.350 money. And so the term angel might not be so 00:06:58.350 --> 00:07:01.149 angelic with some angel investors, but it is 00:07:01.149 --> 00:07:03.310 what it is. And they're easier to deal with because 00:07:03.310 --> 00:07:05.689 you're talking about individuals, right? But 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:08.709 then if you want to scale, which is what the 00:07:08.709 --> 00:07:12.509 famous story of Uber or Microsoft or Google is, 00:07:12.649 --> 00:07:16.379 or even Facebook. you will approach VCs, venture 00:07:16.379 --> 00:07:19.139 capitalists, who have larger check sizes because 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:23.740 these VCs have typically large funds. And so 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:25.839 like our initial fund is going to be $50 million. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:29.319 That's what our goal is. These other companies 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:31.839 might have funds as little as $10 million on 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.800 up to, let's say, $310 million. So, for example, 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.300 there is a fund out there or the first one for 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:42.000 a VC I know. And you can find out by Minnie Ingersoll's 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.160 podcast. It's called LA Venture. And she interviews 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.860 Mel Tang, I think is his name, the co -founder 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:50.980 of Ring. Everybody knows Ring, right? And the 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:54.399 front door thing. His first fund was... 310 million 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:57.899 from what I recall. And so he has literally 310 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:00.040 million to distribute to all these different 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:03.079 startups. And what they will do is, you know, 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:05.980 strike an agreement, a safe or whatever version 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:08.819 of the agreement is, and they'll give you, let's 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:11.920 say, on average, like $2 million for a percentage 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:15.040 of your company. So VCs are there to help you 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:17.560 with what they call the hockey stick of growth. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:21.160 So you better be ready for the ride of your life 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.290 once you... contact a VC because once they give 00:08:24.290 --> 00:08:26.490 you that check, they're going to be writing you 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:28.329 to the end. Because, I mean, the goal for the 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:32.129 VC is to probably get you to IPO or some form 00:08:32.129 --> 00:08:35.289 of liquidity event. Right. So they want to exit 00:08:35.289 --> 00:08:37.250 from their two million. They want to turn that 00:08:37.250 --> 00:08:39.809 into 10 million or 100 million. In the case of 00:08:39.809 --> 00:08:41.570 Google, Facebook and all these other companies 00:08:41.570 --> 00:08:44.440 who got in early. It probably was like a hundred 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:47.059 times their initial investment, which is what 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:49.379 they're trying to do. Right. But, you know, there's 00:08:49.379 --> 00:08:51.360 other ones that fail and don't don't succeed. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.600 And that's why they're able to basically give 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:55.740 out all those checks is because one or two become 00:08:55.740 --> 00:08:57.799 a quote unquote unicorn, which is what their 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:01.480 goal is. That helps. It does. And it also helps 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:03.980 to clarify, like I had mentioned before, being 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:06.879 a business consultant or even as a score mentor, 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:09.519 a lot of people are under the impression that 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.480 the process is immediate. I'm going to form a 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.580 company or I have an idea and they're immediately 00:09:15.580 --> 00:09:18.460 in their minds thinking I'm going to fund it 00:09:18.460 --> 00:09:21.720 either with grants or look for venture capitalists 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:25.639 to fund it. And it requires a couple of steps 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:29.340 before it gets to that point. Exactly. And I 00:09:29.340 --> 00:09:31.820 might have mentioned it maybe before our interview 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:35.399 here, but there's crowdfunding options now. There 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.980 are syndicates that are kind of versions of angel 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:41.460 investors. There's so many different types of, 00:09:41.460 --> 00:09:44.840 you know, like funding. If you read Brad Feld's, 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:46.960 I can't remember what the name of his book is. 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:49.299 He's a very famous person who kind of outlines 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:52.559 a lot of the finance, financial aspects of funding. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.100 He can give you an idea. One of my recent interviews 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:00.210 with Kimberly. She's the CEO of Renew. She has 00:10:00.210 --> 00:10:04.330 this rich history in VC funding and the cap table, 00:10:04.490 --> 00:10:07.389 which we haven't talked about yet. And she outlines 00:10:07.389 --> 00:10:11.649 a lot of the most amazing kind of ways of actually 00:10:11.649 --> 00:10:14.309 getting funding, including from what I remember, 00:10:14.429 --> 00:10:17.470 she said something about in -depth notes or some 00:10:17.470 --> 00:10:21.909 kind of like bond or something you convert from 00:10:21.909 --> 00:10:24.730 an agreement where, you know, you automatically 00:10:24.730 --> 00:10:27.500 give them equity. you could do something where 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.519 they have the right to equity, which I don't 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:32.440 know if your listeners understand what equity 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:35.580 is, but basically a share of the company. And 00:10:35.580 --> 00:10:38.360 so sometimes you can do things very creatively 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:42.320 to get what you need. Is that the same as vested 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:46.879 equity? I've heard the term vested. No, the concept 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:50.649 of vesting is basically when you... obtain the 00:10:50.649 --> 00:10:53.669 equity, right? It's like when you actually buy 00:10:53.669 --> 00:10:56.889 the equity or the equity is finally in your rights. 00:10:57.009 --> 00:10:59.669 Like for example, when I joined Amazon years 00:10:59.669 --> 00:11:02.850 ago, so I joined in 2001, if I recall correctly, 00:11:03.110 --> 00:11:07.370 I got a thousand shares as options, right? And 00:11:07.370 --> 00:11:10.830 it vested over a period of four years. So I got 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:14.289 25 % every single year. And so I had the right 00:11:14.289 --> 00:11:18.600 to buy it at $12 a share. And so if I would have 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:20.639 known that it would have been two, three thousand 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:23.460 dollars a share in 20 years, obviously I would 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:26.100 have probably invested and purchased the stock. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.779 But I didn't know at that time we were actually 00:11:28.779 --> 00:11:30.639 under the impression that eBay would take over 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.279 the world at that time. And we were actually 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:36.360 worried more of our collapse than we were of 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:38.899 our success, or at least the employees were. 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:41.179 Jeff, on the other hand, was probably a little 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:43.919 bit different in terms of mindset. If you were 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:48.870 advising a bootstrapped. SAAS or software as 00:11:48.870 --> 00:11:52.649 a service founder in their first year, what two 00:11:52.649 --> 00:11:55.690 or three metrics would you tell them to obsess 00:11:55.690 --> 00:11:59.769 over in order to succeed and then start looking 00:11:59.769 --> 00:12:05.250 for an investor? So, Sheila, I would say maybe 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.570 not obsess over the metrics as much as obsess 00:12:09.570 --> 00:12:11.909 over a couple of different things that I think 00:12:11.909 --> 00:12:14.909 most startups who succeed potentially. obsess 00:12:14.909 --> 00:12:19.169 over those would be the team because to be honest 00:12:19.169 --> 00:12:23.409 if your team is not effective at you know executing 00:12:23.409 --> 00:12:27.190 on the different aspects of growth or finance 00:12:27.190 --> 00:12:32.590 or maybe even legal Unfortunately, you won't 00:12:32.590 --> 00:12:35.509 be able to grow the startup in the way that most 00:12:35.509 --> 00:12:38.509 startups want to succeed. Right. As the CEO or 00:12:38.509 --> 00:12:40.690 maybe even the co -founder, you can't do everything 00:12:40.690 --> 00:12:43.250 on your own. So your team is actually very, very 00:12:43.250 --> 00:12:45.610 important. So, I mean, if you had to delineate 00:12:45.610 --> 00:12:48.870 to a certain metric is maybe. growing a team 00:12:48.870 --> 00:12:51.610 to a certain number and then tying it to perhaps 00:12:51.610 --> 00:12:54.450 revenue. I mean, maybe that's maybe the other 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:57.789 metric if you want to keep track of metrics is 00:12:57.789 --> 00:13:01.809 making sure you are profitable. Because one thing 00:13:01.809 --> 00:13:04.149 that I think a lot of companies in the early 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:07.629 stages fail to do is they don't operate like 00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:09.990 a traditional business, which is you got to make 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:13.389 money, right? They have this perception that 00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:14.990 you can just borrow the heck out of the world 00:13:14.990 --> 00:13:17.529 and then write it to the end. And And that your 00:13:17.529 --> 00:13:20.870 check will be basically what takes care of you 00:13:20.870 --> 00:13:23.610 till the end. It's not true. You have to have 00:13:23.610 --> 00:13:27.210 a sound business that will operate all across 00:13:27.210 --> 00:13:30.250 the entire path until the end. So those are a 00:13:30.250 --> 00:13:33.090 couple of things that I would say. Again, I wouldn't 00:13:33.090 --> 00:13:35.789 focus on the metrics as much because here in 00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:38.110 the beginning, you need to have a solid foundation. 00:13:38.389 --> 00:13:41.049 And I think that's what, unfortunately, a lot 00:13:41.049 --> 00:13:43.350 of these companies fail to have. And part of 00:13:43.350 --> 00:13:45.789 it is because they have one missing piece, which 00:13:45.789 --> 00:13:49.399 is grit. And that's something that a lot of companies 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:52.519 or rather startups don't talk about. But I will 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:56.840 tell you, every single VC that I know will be 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:59.879 focused on the founder. And what they won't tell 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:03.200 you is possibly the secret is which founders 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.629 actually have grit. and are able to basically 00:14:05.629 --> 00:14:09.230 get back from any potential setback. Because, 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:11.929 you know, I just did another podcast interview 00:14:11.929 --> 00:14:15.570 recently. And what she specifically said is the 00:14:15.570 --> 00:14:17.669 most successful startup founders. And by the 00:14:17.669 --> 00:14:20.389 way, she's invested in so many of them. And she 00:14:20.389 --> 00:14:22.850 was on Wall Street for many, many years. But 00:14:22.850 --> 00:14:25.490 her thoughts were the most successful startup 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:28.049 founders are the ones that bounce back. The ones 00:14:28.049 --> 00:14:30.710 that... don't get stressed out about losses. 00:14:30.850 --> 00:14:33.029 They don't get stressed out about product market 00:14:33.029 --> 00:14:35.230 fit not happening right at the beginning, right? 00:14:35.350 --> 00:14:37.169 Or they don't get stressed out about the fact 00:14:37.169 --> 00:14:40.110 that they have to pitch 2000 VCs. So the ones 00:14:40.110 --> 00:14:42.850 that have the grit or the ability to persist 00:14:42.850 --> 00:14:44.870 through this stuff are the ones who succeed. 00:14:47.169 --> 00:14:50.769 Interesting. So data shows that women -led startups 00:14:50.769 --> 00:14:55.799 receive a lot less funding. than their male counterparts. 00:14:56.139 --> 00:14:59.559 So from your perspective, why does this gap exist? 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:05.480 Well, unfortunately, The industry or rather business 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:07.759 in general has always been male dominated, right? 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:10.559 And primarily it's because women were doing things 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.440 like raising kids or they were in the traditional 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.139 sense, they were pursuing different things that 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:19.580 were considered female responsibilities. I'll 00:15:19.580 --> 00:15:22.120 be honest, my favorite business people are women. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.779 And the reason is because they're so caring. 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:27.720 They're very caring to the degree that they care 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:30.600 beyond even the business. And, you know, their 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.360 children, the... Startup founder I was just talking 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.080 about, Ellie, was telling me about her daughters, 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:38.159 for example, when we were having the interview. 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:40.320 Like that's one of her most proud accomplishments 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:45.330 is her daughters, right? Male founders. are funny 00:15:45.330 --> 00:15:47.529 to a certain degree because they don't worry 00:15:47.529 --> 00:15:49.409 necessarily because they know that their wife 00:15:49.409 --> 00:15:52.909 is taken care of. So so women have an extra burden, 00:15:53.070 --> 00:15:54.929 I would say. So I think that's part of it, part 00:15:54.929 --> 00:15:57.269 of the challenge. And the boardrooms are male, 00:15:57.389 --> 00:16:01.149 male dominated. You know, the industry's male 00:16:01.149 --> 00:16:03.289 dominated as far as funding. So if you look at 00:16:03.289 --> 00:16:05.070 the VCs that are in the top, they're all male 00:16:05.070 --> 00:16:07.769 dominated and they don't take the same perspective 00:16:07.769 --> 00:16:11.789 of business. And they're very much like sharks 00:16:11.789 --> 00:16:14.289 when it comes to, you know. investing, right? 00:16:14.450 --> 00:16:17.190 It's going to take some time. What can we do 00:16:17.190 --> 00:16:21.549 to help more women be successful with their startups 00:16:21.549 --> 00:16:25.309 or raising their capital? Well, first off, I 00:16:25.309 --> 00:16:28.230 did see this in my Clubhouse days. So I don't 00:16:28.230 --> 00:16:29.850 know if you know Clubhouse, but there was this 00:16:29.850 --> 00:16:33.210 social media, I guess, startup called Clubhouse 00:16:33.210 --> 00:16:35.970 in 2020. I was, funny enough, the reason why 00:16:35.970 --> 00:16:38.330 I got into Clubhouse is I was helping two women 00:16:38.330 --> 00:16:42.360 who were trying to empower other women. to do 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:46.379 e -commerce and other kind of businesses from 00:16:46.379 --> 00:16:48.639 a women's perspective because they told me at 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:49.860 that time, that was the first time I had heard 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:53.200 about this, is that 98 % of the VC funding goes 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.269 to men. And only two percent go to women. And 00:16:56.269 --> 00:16:59.169 so I was shocked so much so that I was actually 00:16:59.169 --> 00:17:01.809 disappointed. And I was kind of on this, you 00:17:01.809 --> 00:17:04.529 know, warpath of I'm going to change this, you 00:17:04.529 --> 00:17:06.890 know. And so I would run into these rooms and 00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:09.049 I would support the women. And then all of a 00:17:09.049 --> 00:17:11.470 sudden they would turn to me and they go, why 00:17:11.470 --> 00:17:16.559 are you here? You're a guy. Why would you want 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.460 to help us? And so I got questioned a lot. And 00:17:19.460 --> 00:17:21.960 it wasn't just towards me. I had a lot of female 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:25.740 founder friends who said they were attacked for 00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:29.569 supporting me. Or they were also not working 00:17:29.569 --> 00:17:31.609 together. They were attacking one another. So 00:17:31.609 --> 00:17:33.529 some of the women were bringing each other down. 00:17:33.609 --> 00:17:36.990 And it's really sad. Now, I won't say that's 00:17:36.990 --> 00:17:38.970 the case across the board because I've been fortunate 00:17:38.970 --> 00:17:41.549 to meet amazing female founders. So I mentioned 00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:45.009 Kimberly Kovacs, for example, or Ellie as far 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:48.869 as she runs Thrabos. Another one, Kate Bradley, 00:17:49.089 --> 00:17:52.529 she runs a company called Lately, which is a 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:55.630 social media AI company. And all of these women 00:17:55.630 --> 00:17:58.539 are... They were trying to help each other. But 00:17:58.539 --> 00:18:01.220 I did see this kind of infighting, which is unfortunate 00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:03.460 because you guys have to work. As a team. And 00:18:03.460 --> 00:18:06.660 I believe that's the best way. And focus on the 00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:09.160 younger women coming up. Right. And so like our 00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:11.799 first intern and my co -founder are both female. 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:16.700 And, you know, we made sure in our VC that the 00:18:16.700 --> 00:18:20.079 women quotient or the women in the organization 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.599 will always have a certain percentage because 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.880 we believe in women's equity as far as business 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:29.019 is concerned. Well, thank you for sharing that. 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:31.859 And that's pretty interesting how. You started 00:18:31.859 --> 00:18:35.319 getting questioned why you wanted to help women. 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:40.339 So I wasn't expecting that answer. A little bit 00:18:40.339 --> 00:18:44.339 about good people's ventures and how people can 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:48.779 either connect with you or learn more about what 00:18:48.779 --> 00:18:52.970 you do. Sure. Thank you for even asking. So what 00:18:52.970 --> 00:18:55.730 Good People's Ventures basically is, it's an 00:18:55.730 --> 00:18:59.849 accelerator backed by VC funds. And we're currently 00:18:59.849 --> 00:19:02.529 actually positioning ourselves to think about 00:19:02.529 --> 00:19:05.529 maybe incubating. So incubating starting companies, 00:19:05.769 --> 00:19:08.900 accelerating making. them grow faster. And then 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:11.440 the VC component is the funding, right? And so 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:14.400 we're kind of a hybrid of sorts with the hopes 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.940 of actually helping the education industry. So 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:19.099 we've definitely leaned into that and have decided 00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:21.400 that will be the vertical we focus on. A lot 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:25.400 of VCs like to... Work in several verticals to 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:28.940 kind of offset to make sure that they don't lose 00:19:28.940 --> 00:19:30.779 across the board. For example, let's say education 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:33.779 is not the best place to invest in. They might 00:19:33.779 --> 00:19:36.759 invest in, let's say, food services or something 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.180 like that, or maybe entertainment. And so they 00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:41.619 have three different areas to invest in. We've 00:19:41.619 --> 00:19:45.690 decided education is. the primary area that really 00:19:45.690 --> 00:19:48.309 needs the help, despite the fact that it doesn't 00:19:48.309 --> 00:19:51.349 have the most sexy results, you know, at least 00:19:51.349 --> 00:19:55.089 in the United States. We intend to invest in 00:19:55.089 --> 00:19:58.589 that area regardless, because Vicky and I, the 00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:01.210 co -founder, and now we have a new partner on 00:20:01.210 --> 00:20:04.670 our team, have decided that we will do what... 00:20:04.809 --> 00:20:07.990 we possibly can to change that part of at least 00:20:07.990 --> 00:20:10.589 the world, because we do feel like that's very 00:20:10.589 --> 00:20:14.970 lacking right now. And so GPV is focused on education 00:20:14.970 --> 00:20:18.609 using basically three different types of, I guess, 00:20:18.670 --> 00:20:21.049 startup support. We have not raised our fund 00:20:21.049 --> 00:20:23.109 yet. We're still in the process. So one thing 00:20:23.109 --> 00:20:25.529 that people don't understand is VCs actually 00:20:25.529 --> 00:20:28.670 have to go out and beg for the money. So we're 00:20:28.670 --> 00:20:31.210 in that stage right now and approaching a lot 00:20:31.210 --> 00:20:33.470 of people. But we'd love to have anybody, you 00:20:33.470 --> 00:20:35.609 know, be a support. whether it be just someone 00:20:35.609 --> 00:20:38.509 on social media to actually investors. So we 00:20:38.509 --> 00:20:41.170 are currently actually talking to several potential 00:20:41.170 --> 00:20:43.930 LPs. And then the list just continues to grow 00:20:43.930 --> 00:20:46.490 and grow as people learn more about us. So what 00:20:46.490 --> 00:20:50.069 is your next milestone? My next milestone would 00:20:50.069 --> 00:20:53.009 probably be making sure we have, I would say, 00:20:53.029 --> 00:20:57.869 around eight or so LP candidates by 2026. The 00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:00.349 interesting thing is, it's not just one milestone. 00:21:00.650 --> 00:21:03.839 We have several. We are also considering And 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:06.500 I can't tell the whole secret yet, but this is 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:09.960 going to be possibly the most revolutionary accelerator 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:13.500 in history because we have an idea that's combining 00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:17.559 some of my Korean background and which a lot 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:19.460 of people don't realize Korea is one of the most 00:21:19.460 --> 00:21:22.279 tech savvy, innovative countries in the world. 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:24.799 They were rated number one, I believe, by AP 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:28.069 News two or three years ago. I've always known 00:21:28.069 --> 00:21:30.769 how Korea kind of advances along the technological 00:21:30.769 --> 00:21:34.529 path. And frankly, they're very innovative. And 00:21:34.529 --> 00:21:38.190 so we're going to leverage some of that. idea 00:21:38.190 --> 00:21:40.490 ideation kind of stuff with this accelerator 00:21:40.490 --> 00:21:43.970 and so that is also something that would be one 00:21:43.970 --> 00:21:46.390 of the milestones that we're trying to attain 00:21:46.390 --> 00:21:50.569 by spring of 2026 and lastly you know obviously 00:21:50.569 --> 00:21:53.990 it's always good to to have the team formed so 00:21:53.990 --> 00:21:56.089 we're currently looking for a fourth and fifth 00:21:56.089 --> 00:21:59.309 partner and so we're hoping to to have those 00:21:59.309 --> 00:22:02.049 folks on board by the end of this year and what 00:22:02.049 --> 00:22:04.410 are you looking for in regards to the partners 00:22:04.410 --> 00:22:09.569 so Typically, VCs or folks in this industry come 00:22:09.569 --> 00:22:12.509 with two types of really, really useful experiences. 00:22:12.849 --> 00:22:16.490 One is the founder or operator type of individual 00:22:16.490 --> 00:22:19.609 who has figured out how to build and exited a 00:22:19.609 --> 00:22:21.990 lot of times, or at least has learned how to 00:22:21.990 --> 00:22:24.769 operate these companies. The other person is 00:22:24.769 --> 00:22:27.289 the person who's actually been in the VC world. 00:22:27.490 --> 00:22:30.089 So they know how to fund. They know how to raise 00:22:30.089 --> 00:22:33.029 funds. They know how the legalities of raising 00:22:33.029 --> 00:22:36.650 funds are. We would like a mix, somebody who 00:22:36.650 --> 00:22:39.250 has both. And so we're looking for somebody who 00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:42.690 does walk the walk and somebody who is financially, 00:22:42.869 --> 00:22:45.950 frankly, stable enough that they don't need a 00:22:45.950 --> 00:22:49.470 salary. Because in the VC world, VCs sometimes 00:22:49.470 --> 00:22:51.890 come to the table paying for their job. They 00:22:51.890 --> 00:22:54.170 come with a million dollars or two million dollars. 00:22:54.329 --> 00:22:56.289 The good news with our firm is you don't have 00:22:56.289 --> 00:22:59.500 to bring the huge check. We won't be paying you 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:01.960 a salary. We'll be paying you basically the carry 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:04.799 is what they call it. So we'll be investing in 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.119 these companies on the money that we raise. And 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.660 then the benefit to our partners is that they'll 00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:14.859 get a portion of the wins in the VC firm. And 00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:18.720 to learn more, they can visit good peoples ventures 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.759 dot com. Correct. And if anybody wants to contact 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:24.819 me directly, just put Brandon in front of that 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:26.960 domain and you can get a hold of me. Well, thank 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:29.539 you so much, Brandon, for joining me today and 00:23:29.539 --> 00:23:32.519 sharing all of these insights into the VC world. 00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:34.980 Well, it was wonderful spending this time with 00:23:34.980 --> 00:23:36.740 you here today, Sheila. And thank you for your 00:23:36.740 --> 00:23:39.079 understanding and thank you for your time. And 00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:41.680 thank you all for tuning in to another episode 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.220 of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership. 00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:45.960 Until next time.