Included VC 2021 Reflection: Israel Sotonwa
Israel Sotonwa joined Tenzing in August 2021 focusing on Portfolio Growth & Value Creation.
Although Israel went down the Private Equity road by joining Tenzing, he still found so much value in Included VC and learnt many valuable skills that he has taken into his role. Furthermore, the foundations of Included VC and the community aspect will stay with him as he continues his personal career mission to support Black founders
Highlights include:
- 🚀 How Israel’s second shot applying for Included VC paid off
- 🌟 Two ways in which the Fellows contributed to Israel’s development: collaboration and confidence
- 🌎 How Israel is continuing to diversify the VC and startup world
INVC: What were you doing when you were in the process of applying to Included VC?
IS: I guess I was in the middle of a quarter-life crisis! Obviously, we had the first bout of COVID and lockdown, but then we went into another lockdown after restrictions started to ease and I realised I needed to focus on my career and pursue VC fully whilst being remote. So applying to Included VC was me trying to explore, just trying to get applications out there.
I had applied for Included VC the year before but I hadn’t got through to the next round. I was in a very much explorative phase when I applied for the Fellowship the second time around and thought I would give it my best shot.
INVC: What are three things (mic drop/knowledge bomb moments) that Included VC taught you that you will remember forever?
IS: You are hired for your opinion and conviction. I think that was key for me, it helped change the way I looked at my role. I realised that the value I’m going to provide to my employer is not just because I’ve done something loads of times, they want me to show my intellect in a certain way and come up with a different view or opinion. This comes with reading and doing extra work. This made me change my view a little bit, and it made me realise that I need to be well read, and really understand what’s going on, so I can provide some value to the employer.
Stephen Millard, Operating Partner and Chief Platform Officer at Notion Capital, said this great quote: “good founders obsess on products, great founders obsess on problems.” He said, “product is finite, but problems are infinite”. So, focus on problems, and then you’re going to succeed!
Included VC also made me realise that if you’re already doing the work required in the role, then that’s how you’re going to get the role.
I realised this in an interview I was doing with a fund where I was asked to explain what I thought I’d be doing as an Analyst/Associate. I had already been doing all of the things I mentioned and I was able to give specific examples. After I gave my answer the interviewer was a lot more interested in the conversation and invited me to join one of their investment committees. That’s when the ball dropped, that if you’re doing the work already, then they’re not really taking a risk on you and it enables you to really progress the conversation. You get as much as you put in with Included VC, so I really had to roll my sleeves up and do the job before I got it.
INVC: In what two ways have the fellows contributed to your development, learning, current role or just life in general?
IS: Collaboration. Up until I joined Included VC, I think I had definitely been relying mostly on myself to figure things out as I didn’t have the huge network, I now have, to depend on. I remember in my first few months on the Fellowship, I didn’t apply for anything because I felt quite overwhelmed. I didn’t think I was in the position to apply, so I just took a step back from applying and focused on communicating with the Fellows and asking for help when I needed it. It was the help and encouragement of the Fellows and Nikita that had me up early on Saturday mornings drafting applications!
For example, my co-Fellow Ken sat down with me and told me ‘this is how you think like an operator’. From that conversation, I was able to completely change my CV and my storytelling because he explained to me how to frame it. This stuff is maybe half an hour to 45 minute conversations, but it was so invaluable. Collaboration is key for Included VC.
The Fellows have also really contributed to me growing in confidence. Comparing myself now to November when I first started is completely worlds apart. We would always be encouraged to ask a question or share a view, and because everyone’s so open, even if it feels like a stupid point, I felt comfortable saying it.
INVC: Are there any memorable speaker AMA session moments?
IS: Firstly, Andres Bilbao’s, co-founder of Rappi, AMA session was insane! At that point, I’d been talking to a lot of Black founders, and they all seemed to have the same issue with traction being a roadblock to securing investment. I asked about this, and Andres pointed out that if you don’t have the traction then you have to be a really great storyteller to convince anyone to follow your journey. I find it frustrating that investors say they want to fund Black founders, yet they’re not giving them the investment unless they’ve got traction, but in many cases it’s harder for them to obtain traction. But Andres just said “well, you have to be a better storyteller”. I had to be very good at storytelling to convince Tenzing, a PE firm, to support me in my journey which up until then had been focused solely on VC. So, Andres’ words really stuck with me and helped me.
Another memorable AMA session was with Mac The VC. Again, I asked the traction question as well, because I felt frustrated that traction seemed to always be a hindrance to some Black founders. Mac is a brilliant Black VC. He said, “it’s not the job of your investors to solve your traction problem.” If you need investment to solve your traction problem, then you probably shouldn’t be given investment. He was very blunt about it, but it made me think differently, and I realised that I needed to be really pragmatic. My aim and my mission is to support Black founders, but I have to realise that I also need to find companies that are going to fit the thesis of my fund. My job isn’t to find suitable companies that I would invest in, but suitable companies my fund will invest in.These AMA moments definitely matured me a little bit and it was due to brilliant advice from underrepresented Founders and VCs.
INVC: Were there any pieces of advice or wisdom or guidance that you got from any of the Partners that you’ve taken into your role?
IS: I had a really great 1–2–1 chat with Nicholas Krawinkel, Partner at Mangrove Capital Partners, where he gave me some great advice. At the point when I spoke to him, I was concerned about my career journey and whether I needed to get a bit more operator experience. I asked Nicholas and he was very clear cut. He said that it really depends; if you want to be the youngest person to get to partner in a fund, then don’t get operator experience because that will take a few years. He made a point that it’s all about how quickly you want to get to the stage you’re aiming for and the impact you want to make. This conversation made me realise that everyone’s journey is personal and different. I knew that personally, I wanted to go and get more Operator experience because I feel it’ll make me a better and more confident investor.
A nice concise piece of advice from Matthew Goldstein, Managing Director at M12: “Live your life trying to be the dumbest person in the room”. This tends to happen to me a lot these days so I must be doing something right!
INVC: Are there any ways that you will continue to contribute to diversifying VC?
IS: My career aim is to support Black founders, and to help them in their entrepreneurial ambition. Outside of Tenzing, I’ve got a couple of startups that I’m advising and I made an angel investment recently too. Hopefully I’ll always be in a position to be supporting and investing in Black founders and it will easier for me to provide advice because I’ve actually got the experience now, I can actually go in and say ‘this is what you should do’.
I am also a school governor, so giving back to my community will always be a constant in my life as it’s so important to me. Fortunately, Tenzing are very committed to giving back to the community and paying it forward.
INVC: Three words to describe Included VC
IS: Open, Collaboration, Inspiring
