Podcast Host (30:58)
Because I just didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know, like, I was just randomly put together like a little deck and just sent it to some people even before we launched. And I think I got maybe one or two calls and everybody was like, you don't know what you're doing. I'm like, you're right. And so. But you don't know what you don't know. So I was just like, okay, I'll bootstrap it and eventually, like, I'll raise. And so I basically tried and failed, like, sporadically throughout the time until we raised our first round, which was 2021. So from like 2018 to 2020, I would just like, you know, go out there and try to pitch, but I didn't really have any, like, much guidance and know how to how I was doing it. But then in 2020, I ended up meeting Isaac and he's the. He was the previous manager of techstars Seattle. And he had done like, there was a whole list of, like, people who were opening office hours to black founders post George Floyd. And he was one of the people who had opened up office hours to talk to black founders. And so I just told him about my business and all that stuff. And he was like, oh, this was really great. And I was like, yeah, I've tried to raise money. It's not working. Da, da, da, da. He's like, oh, you should join techstars. And I was like, I've Tried to do the whole accelerator. He wasted my time, flew me all the way out there to tell me I need a co founder. You knew I didn't have a co founder when I came out there. I was like, I don't know if that's, like, for me or whatever. And he ended up, like, really encouraging me to apply, end up getting in there. And basically, he had told me, once I got in, he goes, stop fundraising. He goes, because what you're doing is not working. I'm going to teach you how to actually do it. And that's what happened. Like, basically, to me, it was like startup boot camp where, like, forgot it was a few months. The program back in 2021, where, like, they actually said, this is what you do. And that's all I needed at the end of the day. Like, I'm like, a pretty quick study. It's like you telling me what I need to do, and then you're giving me additional people who've done it before for me to ask those questions. And so part of, like, that techstars mentor madness thing that we did, they let us pick our mentors based off of the conversations we had. And I picked four, or we were supposed to do, like, around five of them. Four of them or three of them I picked were white guys who have raised capital before. And I did that on purpose because I said, I want to come in with the type of energy and arrogance y'all come in. I said, yes, I want you to tell me what you say, because I do feel like, you know, oftentimes as, like, black women, we're a little bit, like, afraid or apprehensive about. And even, like, women in general about our language and like, even what we're asking for. And, you know, like, they say, like, part of the reason why there's a wage gap is because women also aren't asking for raises in the same way that men are. It's like, we've kind of been a little bit more, like, reserved and not taught to, like, ask for what we really want or what we deserve. And so I was like, I want to go in with, like, the attitude of a white man raising capital. And so I was like. Like, I literally would do role playing with them, like, where they would be like, okay, I would say this D. And I'm like, bet. I'm saying that, like, you know, some of the greatest things were like, look, if you. You know, we're closing around at this. At this date, so you're in or out, and, like, that's A risk. Most of the time, you're not going to say that, because if they say they're out, they're out, and now look at you. But, like, that's how I was able to raise my rounds, where I literally went into it. I had, like, complete notes of, like, if they say this, say this in return. If they say this, say this in return. And I definitely feel like that's what set me apart from, like, there's only a few black women who have raised, you know, a million dollars. Even less people who've done it in this industry or, like, have been able to, you know, do subsequent rounds. And I do feel like it's because, you know, I really. I played the game the way that the white men who are raising money played the game. And of course, I still didn't get the same results because at the end of the day, like, I'm still a black woman. But, you know, and just purely from like, a. They just aren't looking at us the same way. But when I got into the rooms to be able to pitch and do what I needed to do, that was kind of the approach that I took. I was very organized in what I did, too. Like, I very much only focused on people that I've seen invested in a similar type of company, invested at the sim at a similar stage. If I would see that they've never invested in a woman in their portfolio or never invest in a black person, I don't believe that this fashion company is going to be the one that changes the tie for them. Like, so I was also, like, very intentional, very organized. Like, I'd had, like, you know, a list of, okay, these are my tier one, tier two, tier three. I reach out to this. Here are all my materials. Like, my investors ask me to send them my air table for how I run my process. Because I would say we're launching our fundraising at this. This month, and we're closing it here. And, like, each time, it's like, keeping everybody on the cadence. That. And, like, again, it's like, the audacity for you to be asking for money, but you telling me what I need to, like, do and by the deadline, and it's like, no, that's what I needed. I needed to have that audacity. Right? And also think about it as, this is an investment that's going to make you money in the long.
