HBCUvc — Fixing Venture Capital. Starting With Students.
On October 11, 2018, a unique group of handpicked students from 11 Historically black colleges and universities gathered to learn and share ideas about venture capital through the HBCU.vc Fellowship. This would not have been possible without the vision and relentless work of the HBCUvc team — Hadiyah Mujhid, Founder & CEO, Jorge M. Torres— Managing Director, Amira Ouji— Marketing Manager and Cynthia Dixon — Program Assistant.
HBCUvc is an experience-based learning opportunity in venture capital and tech entrepreneurship. The venture capital fellowship works with students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to teach investment fundamentals and entrepreneurship. Thus empowering the students to act as investors to fund local tech entrepreneurs and build startup communities in and around their campuses. They also hold tech conferences at HBCUs and conduct venture capital workshops.
You might be wondering why this fellowship should be existing, according to The Road to Zero Wealth report published by non-profits, Prosperity Now and Institute for Policy Studies
“If the racial wealth divide is left unaddressed and is not exacerbated further over the next eight years, median Black household wealth is on a path to hit zero by 2053.”
During the course of the event, which lasted from 10/11/18 till 10/14/18, we had carefully selected professionals in venture capital and entrepreneurship deliver highly informing and interactive presentations — how much did I learn from this? a lot. We kicked off the summit with a surprise visit from Arlan Hamilton , a superwoman bringing change to the VC landscape through her venture firm Backstage Capital. If you doubt me, check out the link below.
Structure of the Venture Capital Industry
On Friday, Eric Woo a principal at Top Tier Capital Partners kicked off the day with the structure of the venture capital industry and spoke extensively between limited partners and general partners within a venture firm. It was exciting to learn about the breakdown of how VC’s identify potential investments, make investment decisions, raise funds etc. His advice to founders seeking funding? Equity over cash payments.
Developing an Investment Thesis
Noramay Cadena, Co-founder and managing partner of Make in L.A. shared a lot of information on the importance of an investment thesis and how critical it is to every venture capitalist and entrepreneur. An investment thesis is a document prepared by an investor to assess a potential investment against a given set of investment criteria such as venture stage, venture product/service, target market, founding team etc. Her session was unique because she explained almost everything from both the standpoint of an entrepreneur and investor. Her advice to investors? High empathy and long-term outlook are key attributes and bring good karma. Her advice to entrepreneurs? Be stubborn with the vision and flexible on the journey.
Navigating an Ethical Dilemma
As if I was not having a great enough day, Jorge took over the show to dive deep into navigating an ethical dilemma in venture capital. Sounds exciting right? you bet. Ethical dilemmas are part of our existence, we all share different values and opinions-- cannot be escaped. We were split up into groups and like VC general partners we all had an option to vote invest, do not invest or pass on an investment with an ethical dilemma. Key takeaways from the session:
- Treat people how you want to be treated
- If your gut says you should not be doing it, then you probably shouldn't
- Remember your stakeholders
- Go back to your why
Between Friday night and Saturday morning, we were privileged to have dinner with Keith Shoates, Vice president at Vista Equity Partners. Keith delivered a powerful speech on his background and how vital it is to take opportunity aggressively because of a future that arrives relentlessly. Keith said " Success is being significant in the lives of others", if you ever get a chance to listen to his story then this statement might hit you harder.
Intersectionality - A Panel Discussion on Race and Gender in Venture Capital
It is not every day you get to have a panel of Monique Woodard- Venture Partner 500 Startups, carolina huaranca- Principal Kapor Capital, Consuelo Valverde - Founder & Managing Partner SV LATAM Fund and Hadiyah Mujhid. Four women, four unique backgrounds, four aligned goals. This panel discussed race and gender in venture capital through a highly interactive Q&A.
Key takeaways:
- It is important to have allies. People who support you in and out of the room
- Be Open minded and value every voice, because we all have blind spots
- Your identity is your superpower
Breaking into Venture Capital
Kudos to the HBCUvc team for setting the incoming fellows nicely for the other engagements to come. After learning what VC is about and what happens in the world of VC, It was time for Brittany Davis, Director at Backstage Capital (sound familiar? Arlan Hamilton... remember now? ) to shed some light on how to break into VC. Brittany explained how connecting and understanding the gaps in the startup ecosystem gives you an edge in the venture capital journey. By the way, designing and starting a campus startup ecosystem is an expectation in this fellowship. In short, Brittany let us know we can create our path in VC through networking and recognizing our strengths to know how we can best add value.
How to be the VC Every Founder Wants to Work With
If you like books like I do, be on the lookout for a book from Kanyi Maqubela -entrepreneur and investor i.e if he ever writes a book, because it will be worth every penny. Kanyi was extremely visual with his thoughts and responses to questions, like a nice song with incredible punchlines --Kanyi filled up his engagement with a thousand and one qoutes and advices while speaking about becoming a VC every founder wants to work with. He spoke extensively on the power of networking, the right way to network as an entrepreneur. Like any serial businessman, Kanyi believes it is all about buying and selling.
Almost all pain is good if you are able to get to the other side of the pain - Kanyi Maqubela
Key Takeaways:
- Assume your investments as a VC will give little or no return, but one great investment can have a higher return than the other investments combined (explained using the power curve)
- Think about an outcome that will make the world a better place
- Be clear about expectations and money as a VC
Founder Perspective
At this point we were empowered as students with a lot of valuable insight from experienced VC’s and entrepreneurs, there would have not been a better way to end this summit than to listen to a founder perspective from a founder — James Jones Jr, Co-founder Courtbuddy.com. From his experience, putting together a founding team involves communicating your why — shared values make stronger teams. He gave a lot of tips, including this one — research your competitors.
I have never been more excited for an opportunity, seeing and understanding the role of VC’s in entrepreneurship and innovation is really amazing — I am certain I want to pursue a long-term career in venture capital. To put things into perspective Eric Woo said “VC is not a job, it is a way of life”
Big thanks to the HBCUvc team for giving me and other students an opportunity to test waters most of us would never have thought of. Shoutout to the fellows class 2!!!
