Women Leading The Finance Industry: Katie Dunn of Power to Pitch On The 5 Things You Should Do To Increase Your Financial Literacy
Spend money on trustworthy experts like financial advisors and tax accountants while you’re young. Find a financial advisor five to ten years older than you who can advise you on life changes, like buying a home, investing in an IRA, setting up education and investment accounts for children, and planning for retirement. It may seem easy to manage investments or do your taxes yourself these days, but having a trusted person you can talk to is invaluable. Getting an expert to focus on their expertise will significantly benefit you in the long run.
As a part of our series about “Women Leading The Finance Industry”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Katie Dunn.
Katie Dunn spent 25+ years financing over $10 billion in commercial real estate for various banks and financial institutions. She has now pivoted full-time to her global angel investment portfolio, focused on funding underrepresented founders in CPG and tech, and helping founders get funded faster by advising them on their pitch, deck, and fundraising strategy with Power To Pitch.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the finance field?
I was a math and science girl in high school and even had my own scientific research project at the University of Minnesota as a senior. However, based on that experience, I decided I didn’t want to make a career out of science or medicine — it’s a long story, so let’s just say research wasn’t my thing — so I studied finance and computer applications in college.
I inherently knew that if I understood and could speak about numbers and finance, it would put me in a situation where I would always be valuable. To me, the numbers tell a story, and they never lie.
Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
Three years into my career, I moved to New York to work on Wall Street, literally and figuratively. The team I worked for was young, and we were the growth area of an established business. Our role was to originate, underwrite, close, package, and sell commercial real estate loans as securities on the secondary market. It was long days and nights, and we quickly bonded, working hard, and playing hard together, making the grueling hours worth it.
Around the New Year, a few of us chatted about resolutions over lunch. One of my cleverest colleagues looked at us and said, “I’m giving up TI/LCs and Replacement Reserves for the New Year.”
For context, TI/LCs are Tenant Improvement and Leasing Commissions, and, together with Replacement Reserves, are dollar amounts put into escrow monthly and held by a lender for owner/borrower to pay for improvements to their building. They are an underwriting standard in the industry and can’t be “given up.”
It was a ridiculous statement that had us howling with laughter in the diner. We could not control ourselves. We made a huge scene. Tears were streaming down my face. I didn’t stop giggling for hours.
It is a silly inside joke, but 20+ years later, thinking of this still makes me laugh out loud. It reminded me then and now that nothing is really that serious. There is always time for humor, lending millions of dollars can be fun, and having a witty coworker willing to make you laugh is priceless in stressful environments.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Yes! Power To Pitch is launching a second community in the coming months that will focus solely on how to source and write grant applications. Our offer will include education, formulation of a pitch script, reviews, community engagement, ask-us-anything sessions, and a source of grant opportunities. We hear from founders that this is one of their most significant pain points — they want the free money but don’t know where to look.
The fundraising environment for early-stage startups is really tough right now. According to Carta, pre-seed companies raised $1.8B in the first half of 2023 vs. 2.94B in 2022. So, there’s less money to go around.
Women founders have it even harder. In 2021, women received 2.3% of VC funding; in 2022, women received 1.9%; and in the first half of 2023, they received 1.6% of money put out by venture capital. It’s an abomination, frankly, and my business partner, Kat Weaver, and I are passionate about changing these stats.
We’re also committed to teaching people about the fundraising “game,” so they don’t waste time or money — their two scarcest resources — paying large sums to consultants who make big claims and don’t deliver.
In the meantime, we can bring grant opportunities to founders in a simple, effective, and results-driven way.
Anything we can do to get money in the hands of worthy founders is a win for us.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Power To Pitch provides early-stage founders with fundraising education and strategy. Founders produce two pitch scripts, a deck, and a 1-pager and then receive introductions to grants and investors that fit them as a founder, their industry, and their stage.
Two things make us stand out.
First, we offer lifetime access to us and our program throughout fundraising. Most accelerators kick founders out after a certain amount of time and provide no post-program support. We know founders need to refine, pivot, and re-draft their pitch and deck. We know getting that first check requires a different strategy than the last. We know they require support, whether answering a simple question, making a new introduction, or offering encouragement and reminding them they’re a star.
Secondly, we’ve yielded great results. One female founder team had never pitched before, hired us on a Tuesday, got a pitch competition opportunity on a Wednesday, worked with us over a weekend, and won $85,000 the following week. Another female founder had pitched numerous times and never won. She ended 2022 with $30,000 in winnings from various pitch competitions. Despite pitching to numerous angels and VCs, a male founder had never raised, and he secured his first $100,000 check within a month of working with us. Kat and I brought a $250,000 national pitch competition for a VC investment opportunity to a female founder team, and they won.
We see the transformation in founders after working with us; they leave us more clear, concise, confident, and investor-ready than they have ever been.
Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Wall Street and Finance used to be an “all white boys club”. This has changed a lot recently. In your opinion, what caused this change?
I can’t say I have witnessed this change personally. It hasn’t moved enough for me. More women may be hired out of college at the junior levels, but I don’t see them yet at the senior ranks. Of all my female friends in finance, only one was promoted to Managing Director (the highest title before CXO titles on Wall Street) in the past three years.
Retention is still a massive issue in finance. Women leave because they have children and don’t want to return to the punishing lifestyle. Or they go because they get another offer in a less stressful environment utilizing their finance background. Others leave because they cannot see a promotion path and get sick of trying.
I’m hopeful that DEI initiatives at many banks and financial institutions will become less performative and yield actual results. I hope publishing their hiring — and retention — stats on women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ people will lead to increasing figures. However, these metrics require active management and execution and won’t fix themselves.
I anticipated remote work at financial institutions to be a path to retaining female talent, but unfortunately, they’re pulling back on it dramatically. I expect diversity numbers to decline again because of this.
Of course, despite the progress, we still have a lot more work to do to achieve parity. According to this report in CNBC, less than 17 percent of senior positions in investment banks are held by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support this movement going forward?
Individuals need to commit to making space for everyone at the proverbial table. Listening to others, making it safe for anyone to have any opinion, thought, and strategy, and ensuring diversity in the room is critical. We need to be open to new ideas and leadership styles and not just do things the old way because “that’s how it’s always been done.”
Companies should institute mandatory, annual, in-person anti-bias training. The last company I worked for held training in 2018, which the organization embraced. Everyone came away educated, enlightened, and empowered. But then it stopped, even after George Floyd’s murder and a new focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I was on a company-wide task force, and we recommended anti-bias training company-wide for two years, but they still did not do it. It was very disenchanting, unfortunately, and made our work feel very performative. However, the key is that anti-bias work needs to be continually reinforced. Unfortunately, people forget and return to their old ways, but annual sessions would keep it more on their minds.
Society needs to support women overall. Women need to support other women, and men need to support women. It’s like America Ferrara’s speech in the movie “Barbie” where she states: “It’s literally impossible to be a woman…I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.” We must be accepted for who we are — strengths and flaws alike — and celebrated for our accomplishments rather than put down for what we’re not.
Let’s now turn to a slightly new topic. According to this report in Fortune, nearly two-thirds of Americans can’t pass a basic test of financial literacy. In your opinion or experience, what is the cause of these unfortunate numbers? If you had the power to make a change, what 3 things would you recommend to improve these numbers?
The number one cause of Americans’ poor financial literacy is the lack of formal education at an early age.
We see this every day with our founders in Power To Pitch; the number one thing founders need help with is help with their financial model and understanding how to value their company. They have great business ideas but can’t project out their revenues and costs and don’t know what metrics to track to tell their story. (Of course, we help them with this and make introductions to experts in our network who can help.)
Financial literacy — household budgeting, calculating compound interest, basic knowledge of the stock market and alternate investments classes, buying a house, explaining how loans/lending works — especially credit cards — should be taught in school. It should be taught alongside history, science, math, English, and foreign languages. It should not be a “club” or an “elective.” It should be required starting in 5th grade through 12th and then one or two semesters in college.
There should be mandatory training in the workplace as well. Education on taxes, Social Security, healthcare deductions, and how to manage your 401K, especially, should be part of orientation at a new job and ongoing annual training.
Lastly, resources should be available for those who want education. Free lectures should be offered at local libraries, online through apps or courses, community workshops, and through local bank branches.
You are a “finance insider”. If you had to advise your adult child about 5 non-intuitive things one should do to become more financially literate, what would you say? Can you please give a story or example for each?
1 . Don’t “fake” invest. Put some real money into an investment. The best way to learn is to get some skin in the game. So don’t play a simulation game; buy the stock, house, mutual fund, CD, or invest in a startup!
2 . Develop a network. Talk to your friends about their investments. Share your learnings and encourage them to share theirs. Don’t be afraid to talk about money.
3 . Don’t invest more than you are willing to lose. Balance the risk and the reward. Make sure you pay all your bills, contribute 100% to your 401K, save for a rainy day, and then invest.
4 . Invest in education. If you want to understand something, take a class on it. Don’t do the free one; do the best one. Don’t skimp. Be a lifelong learner open to new ideas, people, places, and things.
5 . Spend money on trustworthy experts like financial advisors and tax accountants while you’re young. Find a financial advisor five to ten years older than you who can advise you on life changes, like buying a home, investing in an IRA, setting up education and investment accounts for children, and planning for retirement. It may seem easy to manage investments or do your taxes yourself these days, but having a trusted person you can talk to is invaluable. Getting an expert to focus on their expertise will significantly benefit you in the long run.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I have been in the workforce since I was 12 years old, and I have been lucky with many people helping me along the way.
Right now, I am particularly grateful for my partner, Kat Weaver.
We met through a founder I invested in who hired Kat to help her with a pitch. This founder said, “You two need to meet. I don’t know what will happen, but you should know each other.”
Fast forward to now, and we’re business partners, friends, and support systems for each other.
I transitioned out of Corporate America to build Power To Pitch with her, and it’s been a breath of fresh air. Because we are so small, we can be nimble and proactive. We text each other thoughts and ideas at all hours of the day and night and can implement solutions quickly. We have shared priorities and goals to keep us focused and results-oriented.
Without Kat, I would not be in the position to have helped (and to expect to help) as many founders as we have. We are making an incredible difference in the education and funding of first-time entrepreneurs, and I am proud of that.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Everything happens for a reason.”
This adage proves itself to me over and over again.
As I weave the story of my life, looking back to see the patterns and reasons why I am where I am now, it’s evident.
I was laid off in 2008 during the financial crisis, leading to grad school and my first work with startups. That time taught me how to be gritty and resourceful, and I learned I had more to offer than just underwriting a very specific type of commercial real estate loan.
I spent 25 years in commercial real estate finance, honing my due diligence, underwriting, and negotiation skills. These are directly applicable to my angel investments.
I was in a male-dominated industry at a male-dominated company in a male-dominated group. I attended Yale University’s Executive Education Women on Boards Program to expand my female network. That led me to join Chief, the executive women’s network. Through a contact at Chief, I took an angel investment class and ramped up my investments and network. One of the founders I invested in led me to Kat, my business partner, and now here we are, helping founders together.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
My “why” is about supporting women founders.
If I had all the money in the world, I would create a team to support and fund female entrepreneurs. Women are responsible for 85% of household purchases. Women entrepreneurs have better exits. But, as stated above, only 1.6% of VC funds go to women founders. I want to participate in the movement to increase women’s share to 50%.
Thank you for the time you spent on this interview. We wish you only continued success.
About The Interviewer: Jason Hartman is the Founder and CEO of Empowered Investor. Jason has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and has owned income properties in 11 states and 17 cities. Empowered Investor helps people achieve The American Dream of financial freedom by purchasing income property in prudent markets nationwide. Jason’s Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ is a comprehensive system providing real estate investors with education, research, resources and technology to deal with all areas of their income property investment needs. Through Jason’s podcasts, educational events, referrals, mentoring and software to track your investments, investors can easily locate, finance and purchase properties in these exceptional markets with confidence and peace of mind.
Starting with very little, Jason, while still in college at the age of 19, embarked on a career in real estate. While brokering properties for clients, he was investing in his own portfolio along the way. Through creativity, persistence and hard work, he earned a number of prestigious industry awards and became a young multi-millionaire. Jason purchased a California real estate brokerage firm that was later acquired by Coldwell Banker. He combined his dedication and business talents to become a successful entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and media personality. Over the years he developed his Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ where his innovative firm educates and assists investors in acquiring prudent investments nationwide for their portfolio. Jason’s sought after educational events, speaking engagements, and his popular “Creating Wealth Podcast” inspire and empower hundreds of thousands of people in 189 countries worldwide.
While running his successful real estate and media businesses, Jason also believes that giving back to the community plays an important role in building strong personal relationships. He established The Jason Hartman Foundation in 2005 to provide financial literacy education to young adults providing the all-important real world skills not taught in school which are the key to the financial stability and success of future generations. We’re in a global monetary crisis caused by decades of misguided policies and the cycle of financial dependence has to be broken, literacy and self-reliance are a good start. Visit JasonHartman.com for free materials and resources.
