20VC: Arlan Hamilton: "We Have Come For Cake, Not The Crumbs", Arlan's Plan To Return $1Bn in 10 Years, Why Arlan Plans To Giveaway or Invest 90% of Her Wealth & What The LP Class Can Do To Ensure More Under-Represented Managers Get Funded

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Arlan Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner @ Backstage Capital, the seed fund that has paved the way investing exclusively in startups that are led by underrepresented founders. Backstage Capital also expanded their model and now have Backstage Accelerator working with companies across 4 cities. Last month, Mark Cuban gave Arlan $6M to invest in underestimated founders (ArlanWasHere Investments Fund I). Arlan is also an Author of "It's About Damn Time". If you would like to invest with Arlan, you can, check out BackstageCrowd.com with over 2,000 accredited and non-accredited investors, they just completed their 6th deal and $1m raised within 3 months of launch.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Arlan made her way from the airport floor to founding her own venture firm, Backstage Capital and writing a book, "It's About Damn Time"?

2.) How does Arlan assess her own relationship to money and wealth? What is Arlan's thinking around her desire to give away 90% of her wealth? How does Arlan evaluate her own appetite for risk? How has that changed over time?

3.) From a strategic perspective, what are some core elements to Arlan's strategy that are not obvious? What are the main misconceptions that remain with regards to under-represented founders? What does Arlan believe are the leading indicators when assessing founders today?

4.) What does Arlan believe have been the biggest challenges in building the firm that is Backstage? What have been the core breaking points in the scaling of people and strategy? How does Arlan think about the relationship between brand vs reputation? What does Arlan believe are the main misconceptions people have about her?

5.) How would Arlan like to see the world of venture change over the next decade? What can LPs do to encourage more under-represented founders are backed? How can this be measured? Who should be held accountable?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Arlan’s Fave Book: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's about damn time. So this probably is the most anticipated show that everyone has been
0:05.0	waiting for, and as I said, it's about damn time. So here we have it. Joining me on 20 VC today,
0:10.3	we have, you guessed it, Arlen Hamilton, founder and managing partner at Backstage Capital,
0:14.7	the Seed Fund that's paved the way, investing exclusively in startups that are led by underrepresented
0:19.6	founders. Backstage Capital has also expanded their model and now have Backstage Accelerator working with companies
0:25.0	across four cities. Last month, Mark Cuban gave Arlen's $6 million to invest in underestimated
0:30.5	founders. Arlen was here in Investments Fund One. Arlen's also an author of It's About
0:34.5	Damn Time. If you'd like to invest with Arlen, you can check out
0:38.2	backstage crowd.com with over 2,000 accredited and non-accredited investors. They just completed
0:43.6	their sixth deal and $1 million raised within three months of launch. I'd also have to say
0:48.0	a huge thank you to Mark Huberon, Christy Pitts and Chacho Valdez for some fantastic content
0:52.3	suggestions pre this episode happening. I so appreciated
0:55.1	those. But before we move into the show today, I'm sure you've heard about it, but my word, I love a
0:59.3	product called Carter. Carter simplifies how startups and investors manage equity, track cap tables and
1:05.0	get valuations. Go to carter.com forward slash 20 VC to get 10% off. More than 800,000 employees and shareholders
1:13.0	use Carter to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity and Carter now offers fund
1:17.6	administration so you can see real-time data in the Carter platform and work with Carter's team
1:22.3	of experienced fund accountants. Go to Carter.com forward slash 20 VC to get 10% off. And if you've been listening to
1:29.0	our show, you've probably heard of Brex, the first corporate card for startups, with no personal
1:33.3	guarantee or credit check, up to 20 times higher credit limits than traditional cards, plus
1:38.4	rewards like 3x on eligible Apple products and 7x points on tools like Zoom and Slack.
1:47.7	Brex has helped thousands of companies scale faster to reach their potential.
	...

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