Brittany Davis and Christie Pitts, general partners at Backstage Capital, join the show with Scott Kitun. Brittany and Christie talk about the present day investing landscape and why the future of VC will trend towards inclusiveness (or lose). The group shares their thoughts and experiences with the top VC firms, why so many are resistant…
Gabby Cazeau, Principal at Harlem Capital, joins the show with Scott Kitun. Harlem Capital is a venture capital firm with a core mission to invest in a thousand diverse founders (including Chicago’s very own CASHDROP) over 20 years and change the faces of entrepreneurship. Gabby shares her journey from intern to Principal at Harlem Capital…
Former NBA basketball player turned investor C.J. Watson joins the show to talk to Scott about his business pursuits after basketball. C.J. talks about how his parents were entrepreneurs and having the “entrepreneur gene” was always interested in things outside of sports and started getting into angel investing halfway through his playing career. C.J. shares…
It’s said these days that the pandemic moved the world forward five years in five minutes, and companies like CASHDROP are the ones leading the charge by rapidly adapting to people’s needs. CASHDROP helps you create custom, shareable store links that link to your store and can create “drops” by revealing new products, foods, courses…
CEO of Rheaply. Garry Cooper started out studying Parkinson’s disease in his lab at Northwestern when he noticed there were a lot of underutilized resources that other departments on campus could use. So he started piling tools and goods onto a cart and walking by other teams to pick up what they need. When he…
Tyla-Simone Crayton, the 16-year-old founder of Sienna Sauce came up with her delicious formula while her mom was hosting Wine and Wings. After the initial taste test stunned the room, Tyla-Simone recreated the sauce with better ingredients that cut out the excessive sugar and sodium than your regular bottle of ketchup or other condiment, and…
“Uber for ‘x’” is the most overused, maddening phrase in startup land. It’s hype-marketing shorthand for just about every business idea that leverages the sharing economy. That’s why co-founders Keithan and Quiante Hedrick were initially wary of framing their live-translator-on-demand app, Instaspeakers, as “Uber for translation” to potential investors. But the VCs they spoke…
Equity crowdfunding can help bridge the funding gap for underrepresented founders. It’s no secret that starting and investing in businesses has long been reserved for wealthy white men. In 2017, the funding given to female founders in the United States was higher than in years past, but accounted for only 2.2 percent of total funding given.…