Mindy Tucker Fletcher is a partner in Crux Partners,a San Diego based venture capital firm. She has been a communication strategist to a president, governor, numerous companies and non-profits.
She advises,works and promotes San Diego’s Young Scrappy start-up companies. She is a believer of the potential of San Diego’s startup ecosystem.It is her mission to tell a story of ideas , technologies and businesses growing up in San Diego.
In this episode, Mindy shares ways on how a startup can grow its network and make it robust.
What We Covered
01:48 – Mindy walks us through how she partnered with Crux Partners.
03:37 – How she finds and selects the startup niche that you want to work with?
07:25 – How does she help connect startups to the right network?
10:15 – 3 Things an investor can do to grow his network and be more robust?
11:46 – Startup Buzz: Inclusion, Equality, and Sexism in the San Diego Startup Ecosystem
17:00 – How do you support thriving women-founded startups?
21:00 – Ways to increase female investors exposure to the ecosystem whether it be women-owned companies or women directed startups.
24:00 – Ways to support ventures that are serving a larger women’s audience
25:32 – What can Mindy say about the emerging market of businesses shifting to the female space?
Have you ever heard, “build your network before you need it?” Have you also heard, “your network is your networth?” Well, building bridges and strengthening relationships across the venture table is what the Hera Venture Summit, an annual venture conference now in its 4th year is all about. On Saturday, September 16, 2017, over 200 female founders and female funders will be convening to connect, become more equipped, start funding opportunities, network, and pitch.
I decided to dedicate a special She Invests! podcast episode to the women who are pitching for funding and those women who are taking a seat at the venture table and funding startups!
This special Hera Venture Summit “She Invests!” podcast episode is all about how to build relationships and grow your network of investors and entrepreneurs that support one another. This results in better venture deals, a stronger ecosystem both locally and globally, and more diversity around the venture table.
Get your Tickets to Hera Venture Summit, today! The agenda is packed with high-level entrepreneurs and global investors wanting to build relationships and grow our global economy.
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Terri Mead is an angel investor, IT consultant, expert witness, speaker, angel investor and a startup advisor.
She is President of Solutions2Projects LLC a consulting company for IT project management and IT compliance for life sciences and high-tech companies.
She is the former VP of Sand Hill Angels in Silicon Valley. She is an advocate of supporting start-ups that offer products and services that improve people’s lives and supports the female founders.
In this episode, Terri shares how having a diversity of thought can be an advantage in having new business perspectives. Also, she shares how she advocates female investors and help them penetrate the male dominated investment industry.
What We Covered
01:55 – Terri walks us through how she accidentally stumbled upon angel investing coming from IT and entrepreneurial background?
03:14 – What is Terri’s investment thesis about?
04:38 – How did she transitioned from being an individual angel investor into VP of Sand Hill Angels?
10:36 – Terri shares how diverse thought can bring new startup perspective.
11:36 – What are the challenges faced by the Silicon Valley angel invertors and what value have you’ve seen you brought to the ecosystem?
22:15 – Why Terri chose to advocate in supporting startups with female founders or co-founders?
25:00 – What is Terri’s investment portfolio looks like? What kind of startups does she advocate?
Kim Folsom is a serial entrepreneur and BC fund manager. She founded two accelerators, The LIFT Development Enterprises, Inc. and co- founder Founders First Capital Partners, a small business growth accelerator and revenue based venture fund focused on helping underserved employer-based small businesses with funding to meet exponential growth.
She is a high-tech executive and serial entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience growing pioneering tech companies. She has experience founding, leading and building startups for where she has raised over $30 million an institutional venture financing.
In this episode, Kim shares tips to up level your start-up and how to build up the next generation of diverse start-up leaders.
What We Covered
02:21 – Kim walks us through how she gets involved in the diversity space of investment.
03:52 – Kim talks about gender investing gap and its impact on woman entrepreneurs
05:22 – How the sibling rivalry of being a middle child helped Kim thrive on the industries that she chose.
06:57 – How having that big hairy audacious goal can help as a motivator and driver for you to reach your goal.
08:40 – How gender gap inspired Kim to put up her accelerator companies?
12:40 – How mentoring underserved diverse business owners with a coach same as their ethnicity can help them succeed.
17:29 – What is results driven financing is all about?
24:44 – How revenue based accelerator differ from a traditional business model?
26:16 – What type of investors do you see in the asset class revenue based private equity funds?
28:14 – What are the new solution that is entering the market for gaining access to risk capital for diverse founders?
Xandra Laskowski is a startup consultant, angel investor, and startup advisor. She offers unique expertise from her 25 years of diverse entrepreneurial experience with large multinational tech companies as well as start-ups.
As a startup consultant,angel investor and advisor, she works directly with entrepreneurs to develop their startup roadmap and help them identify the most critical next steps for the business. She helps and educated them to understand the early stage business aspects and offers an advisory framework to build and support the startup roadmap.She helps them with their business, strategic and revenue plans, company messaging and key connections.
In this episode, Xandra shares her wonderful insights into angel investing and how her ecosystem continuously grow, continuously educated other angel investor and continuously build their membership. She also shares how grit and determination help get funding.
What We Covered
02:14 – Xandra walks us through how she started in the startup ecosystem.
04:11 – How do she advocate for an angel investor to be a board member in their portfolio company?
05:55 – How important is a board seat role for check and balance of a company?
07:37 – Define smart money.
17:21 – Why does having grit and determination an advantage for startups to close funding deals?
19:36 – How can an angel investor know what event or conference to go to for them to be exposed in the ecosystem?
22:06 – What is your innovation ecosystem and how to you chose the industry you will venture in?
24:56 – What is your investment thesis?
26:12 – How long is your due diligence process before qualifying startups?
27:51 – Why is it important to have a lead investor other than yourself?
35:00 – Importance of active networking and connections to be able to pitch your business and get funding from investors
This is an invaluable resource to me as an entrepeneur! Getting to peek into the heart and mind of investors is SO incredibly valuable to me. Thank you for bringing such a fantastic podcast to life!
