Defying the odds
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones”
Nelson Mandela
Opening notes:
Being a venture capitalist, writing white papers, journals and blogs is an essential part of the role. Putting key to screen and creating commentary on specific market trends and portfolio performance updates in a timely and coherent manner is critical to the success of our business and, rightfully, expected by our investors and portfolio companies.
On November 10th, at the California City Correctional Facility, I had one of the most profound, emotional and overwhelming experiences of my life. Since then, the numerous attempts I have made to write an account of this day, has has resulted in my usual goals of coherency and timeliness to fly straight out of the window. But, I owe it to the EIT’s and Defy Ventures to try and create a piece that gives a taste of what we all went through, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, in November.
As a bit of background, I have spent the last seven years working with disadvantaged youth in some of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods and I have frequently heard students talking about their fathers/loved ones being in jail and unable to support their family, both financially and emotionally. Until now, like many others, this caused me to harbor some resentment to these men and the devastating results of their actions on their families. These feelings, after the visit to Cal City, could not be more different.
If all this post achieves is for some of you to spend a few minutes of deep thought on how you regard incarcerated individuals, then my Base objective has been met. If this post results in you researching Defy Ventures (that was easy, right?) and its work, my Maximize goal has been achieved. If however, this post makes you want to gather some courage and come with me on a future Defy Ventures EIT coaching session, then you have made my dreams come true and smashed my Exceed goal.
Here’s to Exceeding goals!
Rob Vickery — Co-Founder of Stage Venture Partners
Defy Ventures?
Founded in 2o10, by Catherine Hoke, Defy Ventures is a non-profit organization focused on creating and expanding entrepreneurship, employment, and character development training programs for currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, and youth.
Currently, Defy has over 1,000 volunteers at correctional facilities all across the US, helping thousands of incarcerated individuals to become better humans while serving their sentence or upon release.
EITs?
Defy re-classifies these people from ‘incarcerated individuals’ to Entrepreneurs In Training (EIT’s). The entrepreneurs I met varied in age from young adults through to retirees, serving time for offenses ranging from theft all the way to murder.
After spending time with the EIT’s, I have experienced some what of a Damascus Moment that was centered around a realization that these people represent one of the most latent and forgotten sources of talent in the market place.
The Journey to my Damascus Moment
I was introduced to Defy Ventures by my good friend, Janine Davis, who has an uncanny knack for bringing to my attention interesting volunteering opportunities.
After completing a painless security questionnaire and consuming some useful content offered by the Defy Ventures team, I found myself at 6:45am on a bus, traveling out to the Mojave desert. Joining me on the journey were approximately thirty other individuals who were mostly from the tech and venture industries in some shape or form. The conversation on the bus was a mixture of nervous anticipation of what is to come, some light networking and lots of curiosity about Defy, which was deftly answered by Danielle McMorran, who is Defy’s Head of Executive Relations.
After about two hours of driving through the desert we arrive at the gates of the California City Correctional Facility, which is a privately owned prison, run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Warden David Long. Cal City is home to over 2,300 male inmates and is Category II level prison.
To describe the setting of this facility as bleak is an understatement. Surrounded by miles of inhospitable desert and mountains, this is not a place that anyone needs to visit on their vacation to California.
After a twenty minute check-in process by the polite Correctional Officers, including the surrendering of our possessions (cellphones, jewelry etc.), we were escorted into the main facility and through an impeccably clean corridor. It was at this point that I heard an incredible, raucous noise. The sound, which at first was difficult to decipher, was in fact coming from over hundred men, cheering and welcoming my fellow volunteers and I into a large communal room. I was taken aback by how quickly they read our name badges, spoke to us using our names and greeted us by shaking our hands. I also noticed that, like me, they had a lot of trepidation in their eyes and some of their hands were shaking when they were welcoming us to the group. As per the heavily curated and biased NatGeo “documentaries” on prison life (Hard Time, Locked Up etc.). these men were wearing prison uniform, pretty well worked out and adorned with tattoos (some of which were really quite impressive!).
After some brief conversation and networking, we then sat down with the EIT’s and received a briefing from the Warden and the Defy Team on the objectives of the day and the agenda.
Sat on my left was an EIT, who was probably 300lbs, 6ft 5in and with a shaved, tattooed head. His behavior starkly contradicted his appearance as he was visibly shaking and profusely crying. I was surprised not only by his emotions but also by the fact that he was being consoled by other EIT’s, of varying ethnicities, who touched his shoulder and gave words of support. This was contrary to the typical portrayal of segregated and aggressive inter-prison race relations. Being a man who is not afraid of being in touch with his emotions, this was the kick-starter for my first set of tears, which were repeated many times throughout the experience.
One of the many introductory exercises, was for the volunteers to dance (yes, dance) up to the front and give a 60 second overview of themselves, describing one thing that they are proud of and want to brag about. Being no stranger to public speaking and conversing with all types of people, I usually wouldn’t have an issue with this. However, with the thought of the EIT to my left and the rush of emotions flowing through me, I was unable think of anything to brag about.
How could I stand there and boast about my achievements in life knowing that many of these men had not seen the outside world for many years?
Entrepreneurs in Training
At around 10am, we got into what I would call the ‘meat and potatoes’ of the event.
The rest of entrepreneurs and I were invited to meet the EIT’s, one-on-two, and to provide feedback on their business plans, their personal statements and resumes.
The business plans represent the EIT’s strategy for employment and entrepreneurship upon release. In pretty much all of the cases they clearly articulated their vision, objectives and why their idea will be a success. This was not all that unlike the pitches we receive, at Stage, from entrepreneurs seeking venture capital and probably a big reason why Defy is so popular amongst my industry peers.
Two concepts that shone out to me were a platform to help music artists launch their careers and also a personal training business. The music tech platform was from an EIT who is a talented musician and is hoping to restart his career , which was starting to bloom just before he was incarcerated. The personal training business originated from an EIT who was a former Hollywood stunt man and professional mixed martial artist/coach. He was looking to leverage this unique experience to build a roster of personal training clients. After speaking with both of them and learning about their backgrounds, they firmly answered one of the key questions that any good venture capitalist should ask an entrepreneur seeking money — “Why You?”
The majority of the conversation covered typical topics within any coaching session, however here some of the things that I was not prepared for:
- A number of the EIT’s have never held employment outside of the prison system. Their roles inside included catering services, construction and engineering.
- Interestingly, some of the business plans were articulating ideas that had already being created and serviced by technology companies such as Pinterest, Uber and Taskrabbit. It had passed me by that the EIT’s were not aware, due to their incarceration, of the fundamental change that technology has had on our way of life in recent years.
- All the EIT’s I met were extremely receptive to the comments and suggestions made and were hungry for as much feedback as possible, no matter how harsh.
The personal statement reviews offered an insight into how EIT’s are preparing for discussing their incarceration with potential employers and investors. It is clear from the repeat offenders that I met that there are overwhelming barriers that EIT’s face on the outside when trying to find work and to make a living for their family.
The statements I heard struck a fine balance between being sincere and humble, yet without seeking pity or offering excuses for their past crimes. It was evident that these are Entrepreneurs that are hungry for honest work and a chance to turn around their lives.
Being an employer, finding highly motivated candidates who are looking for long-term careers, is highly desirable and often a challenge in today’s workforce. We anticipate that a certain percentage of our future hires will consist of individuals that will spend 2/3 years at our firm and then move on to the next rung of the ladder at another company. While these transitioning employees still offer considerable value to any company, when I saw the EIT’s and their passion to work, I realized that I was looking at a unique, highly valuable and long-term committed opportunity pool of talent.
I walked away from this section of the experience with a clear understanding of Defy’s mission and the huge opportunity that EIT’s could offer businesses who are looking for hard working and committed talent.
After this session, the volunteers and the EIT’s were handed raffle tickets, whereby both groups were asked to distribute them to person(s) that impressed them the most and had the most impact. During this exercise I felt that the roles were reversed and I was now keen to gain the EIT’s approval. I was genuinely surprised by how much I felt the need to offer as much value as possible and, in return, to be valued by the EIT’s by collecting as many tickets as possible.
While I didn’t collect the most votes, I certainly did ok ;)
I handed mine to four EIT’s and I really hope they look me up upon their release and, yes, one of them is you, Randall!
Breaking down barriers
After a wholesome lunch of some fine pizza and a lot of discussion with the EIT’s about their backgrounds and plans for the future, we then started the final and most eye-opening part of the experience.
It all started with the volunteers being invited to stand in a long line, standing face-to-face with all of the EIT’s. Cat, Defy’s Founder, then walked between us asking many questions about life experiences and to step forward if we had ever done one of these things. These were some of the most deep, meaningful questions I have ever been asked:
- Have you ever done anything that you regret?
- Have you ever been suspended from school
- Have you ever been abused as a child
- Have you ever seen someone die of aids
- Have you ever committed a crime
It was question 3 that truly hit home and made me realize the type of childhood that the EIT’s had led. There was one inmate who had been abused at the age of four. Four years old.
I realized that I had shared more of the same experiences with the EIT’s than than those that I had not.
This session made me recollect one of my favorite quotes from President Obama:
“The forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us”.
I realized that we are all one second away from being in their shoes. It would take one wrong decision to be on the other side of the line. It is that easy. I believe we all should focus on the ‘uniting’ factors far more than the ‘dividing’ ones.
This remains one of the most emotional experiences that I have ever had and no words that I can write will describe, or do justice, to what the other volunteers, the EIT’s and I went through during that line-up. You will just need to come along and volunteer at a Defy Ventures experience to understand.
Finally, all of us were treated to a guest keynote by the legendary CEO of SAP, Bill McDermott, who shared his experiences as an early entrepreneur and how he conquered many challenges to be the CEO of one of the planet’s most successful companies. While Bill was a great guy and a wonderful storyteller, I must admit his accounts were out shined by the stories I heard through out the day from the EIT’s. From surviving head shots to modern day Robin Hoods, this was the content I wanted to hear.
Summary
When I arrived at Cal City and while I was walking to the hall to met the EIT’s, I thought I would be looking at a bunch of inmates and bad guys. Guys who had left their family behind to pursue a career of selfish criminality. I was wrong.
When I began to interact with the EIT’s and review their business plans, I was able to see that these were a group of people simply trying to make something of themselves. As an entrepreneur myself, I can fully relate to that.
When we broke it down, in the line-up, I realized that I am really not all that different to these guys. We have all made mistakes and have done things that we regret. Unfortunately in the case of the EIT’s their mistakes are much more grave and they are paying for them through long stretches in prison, hated and forgotten by society, ignored and kicked to the curb by the business community and the wider economy.
Economically, we are looking at a shrinking labor pool. People are becoming more educated and are looking for more senior and specialized roles in business. Minimum wage expectations are increasing, raising concerns for some employers. Some lower skilled jobs could either be outsourced to foreign countries or be replaced by emerging technologies.
I can see that EIT’s represent a a huge opportunity to fill the gaps left in America’s workforce and to eventually create successful and profitable businesses of their own.
I firmly believe that the key to this is a focus on rehabilitation that is delivered through training and programs that prepare incarcerated individuals for a release back into the workforce. By not doing this, it is the biggest punishment of them all. By not giving them the tools to adjust and survive in the outside world, we are simply inviting past-offenders to repeat the pursuance of illegitimate means to generate a living.
Defy Ventures offers a vital olive branch to this community and I am fully committed to supporting them on this journey.
Further reading:
About Defy:
What if you were only known for the worst thing you’ve done? Defy Ventures “transforms the hustle” of people with criminal histories (both inside and outside of prisons nationally). Think of Defy like Khan Academy merged with Techstars for people with criminal histories. Defy recognizes the entrepreneurial nature of drug dealers and gang leaders. They equip proven street hustlers to go legit by providing entrepreneurship training, character development, Shark Tank-style pitch competitions, startup incubation, and executive mentorship.
Defy grads have a 95% employment rate and a 3.2% recidivism rate, and Defy has incubated and financed 150 of its grads’ startups. Defy plans to serve 10,000 incarcerated people in the next three years. Defy is backed by the Techstars Foundation, and has been featured on TechCrunch, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Forbes.com, and The Harvard Business Review. Defy’s CEO, Catherine Hoke, was awarded the Make Tech Human award by WIRED Magazine/Nokia for being one of the “Top 17 Global Influencers Expanding Human Possibility Through Technology.” You’ll find the Defy story here (introduced by Seth Godin) and will see three fast pitches by Defy’s incredible entrepreneurs and a recent SOCAP Q&A here. Here’s a podcast of Randy Komisar of KPBC did with Catherine.
About the Author:
Rob Vickery is a Co-Founder of Stage Venture Partners.
Before founding Stage with Alex Rubalcava, Rob created the Entertainment and Technology Division for BNY Mellon and was the North America Director for Lloyds International one of the world’s leading financial institutions, focusing on major corporate entertainment-related investments. He has also spent a number of years working and advising a range of international music and film talent on embracing with new forms of technology.
Rob is also on the boards and committees of the British Academy of Film Television Arts (BAFTA) LA Games, British American Business Council, South Central Scholars and the Chairman of the School of Business & Entrepreneurship at Dorsey High School.
Rob graduated from the University of Gloucestershire in 2003, with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management.
In his downtime, Rob is an amateur paleontologist, snowboarder and gaming addict
About Stage:
Stage Venture Partners is a seed fund in Los Angeles that invests in software startups with defined and creative technology.
We invest around new platforms — new forms of media, new forms of transportation, new ways to analyze and make use of data and new software to solve old problems. We look for companies that already have a minimum viable product and some early customers or users.
We believe in having a concentrated portfolio so that we can be highly engaged with every one of our companies
Please visit www.stagevp.com for more information.
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