Finding the Right Investors for Impact Startups | Kendall Bedford, Jason Ray & Emily Watts

Oh, today on the show we have special episode. This is a recording of a live panel with three amazing guests. We have Kendall Bedford, senior associate at Sustainable VC. We have Jason Ray, founder of Zenith Wealth Partners, and Emily Watts, founder of the company Cobbler. Panel was a part of uh a conference that happened here in

Philadelphia called Founders Alley and it was all about getting your money. So the title of it is get your money and it is about how to fundra uh successfully in climate tech. So as we say at nauseium and we'll continue to hammer home throughout this next season is that there is a lot of opportunity a lot of

different ways to fund a deep tech company going to market in a critical industry taking a long time to uh de-risk your technology get to market all of these common things but VC is not always a good fit. There are a lot of other opportunities um to fund your business and understanding what is a

good VC model, business model and what is not is important and what other money is available to you uh and when to do things like like finding find grants approach private investors, family offices, uh project financing in some cases and understanding the applications of these things. So I'll let them talk more about it. Uh but we do have uh

specifically a VC perspective, a private investment perspective and a founder perspective. So I learned a ton. Uh it was very funny uh and nice and relaxed and uh I was very honored to share the stage with them. So shout out as always to our sponsors, Clean Tech Growth Lab.

If you're looking to grow in clean tech, they're the people to do it with. And the producers of this podcast, Craz Friends. And with that, I give you Kendall, Jason, and Emily. All right, welcome everybody. >> Can everybody hear me out there without the uh without microphone? You guys can hear me? Okay,

>> absolutely. >> All right. Well, this is a this is a panel. This is a very special episode uh of the Grove Climate Podcast. My name is Blake. I run a company called Earth Onward. We do commercialization for uh companies uh early stage companies in critical industry. And today we're talking about money because it is uh

misunderstood by a lot of the people that need to understand it better. So I have three of the most knowledgeable people in Philadelphia to talk about uh how to fundra, how to manage money um uh from different perspectives. So uh we'll just go one by one. You guys can uh introduce yourself and talk about what

you're doing. Start with Kendall. >> Uh it's great to meet you all. I'm Kendall. with Sustained VC. We're an early stage multi-theatic impact fund focused on benefiting all Americans and hoping that everyone can have access to a healthy, more equitable, and sustainable future with a focus on climate and climate justice, healthc care, workforce development, and

education and just general economic empowerment. Um, and my background, I used to work at a climate tech startup. And my fun fact is that I used to study ecology. >> Thanks. >> Uh, my name is Jason Ray. Uh, I actually rode my bike here. I live down the street with my um with my wife and kids,

but I grew up in Michigan. Uh I work towards really redefining the wealth management industry uh by delivering relatable advice um to folks that have been overlooked by the industry. Uh we work with ambitious people that are trying to unlock their potential and wealth generation and that's how we track our progress. Um we just crossed

200 million in wealth period for our clients on a boat a bill. Woo. Um yeah and Kendall and I are friends. Uh, she majored in what was that? Ecology. >> Ecology and evolutionary bow. >> Okay. I was a politics major. We went to the same school and we're in the same >> club. No.

>> What club? >> We were in the can club. >> Best food. >> Nice. >> So you guys were going to clubs? >> No. >> Oh, you're just going to eat it? >> We were eating too. >> Yes.

Um Emily Watson, the CEO and founder of Cobbler. Um and at Cobbler, we are building basically the infrastructure to bring the repair economy online for the first time. Um it is a very important uh pillar in circular commerce. But unlike every other kind of part of circularity, um there is no tech. And so we are

basically building the the tech for the businesses that do the repair work and connecting them to the demand side. So brands, consumers so that it just becomes easy and accessible. So a lot of impact obviously like the more you repair the less is in landfill. Um the more accessible it is, the more it

becomes mainstream. Um but then also because we are driving uh business and uh giving software to to these repair businesses, there's also a local economic development impact as well. Um which we're really excited about and workforce development because it's a unlike a lot of traditional trades. Um when it comes to the artisan and repair

trades, there is no um formal resources to build that kind of next generation and and we're also involved in that as well. So >> pulling together a lot of that's beautiful. >> Yeah. >> And then just just quickly uh we'll start with you for the first question, but how long have each of you been

doing? >> Well, we're currently doing about four years. >> Four years. >> Yeah. >> I've been in the industry for 12 years, but I've been running for seven. >> Seven. >> So we launched our tech a little over a year ago. Um but I actually started running a repair business three years ago.

>> Nice. and I pivoted into building attack. >> So, >> but I I feel like I have to say something, a fun fact. >> Yeah, >> um >> Oh, you don't like to eat? >> I know. I love to eat. Um I guess like for me, my my major is Latin American studies and I'm not doing that

obviously. And I just think it's funny like we're educational background what you end up doing like >> I also studied uh international finance and economic policy not doing that either. >> Yeah. Right. >> Well, I think that's that's an important lesson. We could talk about that the whole time.

>> No, I joked with someone earlier uh that I didn't even know what a startup was when I graduated college and then I my first job was at Starbucks. I found out actually after I left the company that I was at.

>> Yes. So our next panel would be a benefit. >> Yeah. So, so, so I'll start with that thing about uh financing this idea. So, you're coming from the founder perspective. >> Uh, you're passionate about this tech about tying all these uh diff threads together. How are you going about financing the company from? You said

you're in the middle of a raise. Uh, where's this money coming from? How are you now getting these conversations these? >> Yeah, so we've raised a couple rounds. Initially um I worked two jobs uh in order to just give myself the the runway to start my repair business and focus on that. Um so that was kind of my own

personal financing that went in and then we did a very small friends and family just to build out basically our beta and then um really just trying to find like missional aligned investors um which is not easy. I think you know there's a lot of investors out there and I think we initially made the mistake of kind of

going to a lot of generalists and wasting or I don't want to say wasted we wasted our time but it just there was a lot of time spent explaining things um whereas like if you go to a specialty investor who understands the market it's they just get it a lot faster. Uh so the

kind of first VC funding was through Slawson and Co. um through their friends and family accelerator out in LA. >> Oh, how did you find them? >> Um just a lot of stalking on the internet. [laughter] >> Okay, good. Good. Yeah.

>> Um not scientific unfortunately, but um I really like them because they were mission aligned. They are mission aligned and the people who work there are just fantastic humans. And so it was just a great fit and it was also >> um you know really friendly terms for startup.

>> So it was a $300,000 investment and that enabled us to go from like our alpha to public launch. Um and then we kind of got up got to a certain point with enough traction we're like okay let's raise our pre seed. Um and I mean it is not easy.

>> Yeah. Um I was joking with a investor friend yesterday like I just now I have like outater skin nothing >> yes >> nothing impacts me anymore I'm just like oh >> a rejection okay >> right >> the next um but yeah so we knew that for this round we wanted you know it's 1.5

million so we knew the venture uh venture funding but wanted to ensure like saw we were mission >> with our investors and so That's kind of where we focus. >> So, so then uh in the similar theme of finding investors that are aligned, Kendall, you look for founders that are aligned. A lot of times uh I don't know

about all of you, but uh a lot of the conversations that I hear from VCs are about what to do. So on the inverse of that, what what kinds of founders are not the right fit for you specifically or just VC in general? What types of businesses?

>> I think yeah, I I'm glad that I'm getting qualified with the for you because every VC fund is different and I'm speaking today purely from my own perspective of someone who's investing at sustained VC. So just because I say I can't do something doesn't mean there's not another fund out there that can. And

I think to Emily's point about lesson learned, finding a mission and vision aligned VC is like the number one thing you can do. The only companies that shouldn't talk to me are the ones that didn't do their homework to know that they shouldn't talk to me. So like as an example, Sustain BC invests 500k checks

into people raising$2 to5 million. If you're raising a $10 million round into a deep tech space exploration device, you should not be coming to talk to sustain me. And that doesn't mean you have to do your diligence on me. Like I mean I think you should because your time is precious. I also like even said

time wasted. Time's never waste connected with another human being. However, your time could have been spent more productively than sending me an email that I'm going to use an email signature that says, "Sorry, not a fit as opposed to talking to someone who is interested in that." >> Um, but to answer your question more

concretely about who should raise venture and who shouldn't, I think there's venture is a really tough kind of capital because if you think about it, every dollar that we as venture capital give you, we want it back. So, if you think that your business isn't meaningfully going to be able to give us

back our money and then probably multiply that kind of minimum by five times, don't raise venture capital because you're not going to be able to walk away with anything and that's not why you're doing it. Alternatively, if you don't care about, you know, where the money ends up and you say, I believe

in this company, I want to run this company for the rest of my life, you also shouldn't raise venture capital. you shouldn't run that business because that's your baby and that's what you want and then you don't have anyone breathing down their neck saying give me back my money or give them back their

money early or something but that's something the exit is something that early stage founders don't think about enough and they really should because it really determines whether or not we should take venture dollars >> that was so cool I'll just stop right there and uh watch that again so similar question for you Jason but from a

different perspective because um which seriously really well appreciating all that information. I think a lot of people have V VC is very like sexy. >> It shouldn't be though. Crazy. It's not sexy. >> We got some venture capitalists on the back and it's it's fun for a very specific kind of person, but it's not

that sexy. >> So, so then uh raising money from individuals or family offices, which is what you have a lot of experience doing. How do how should people understand who is Bob Fuzza? Yeah, I want to triple click on, you know, finding missional investors that Kendall and Emily both have raised. You know, being able to

communicate your vision and plans as a founder or a leader company um and having the investor resonate with that and support you. You know, we just worked with uh one of our clients is raising money for an early stage company. It's probably not venture financing, but it's, you know, kind of like growth stage. The company's done

well. um they've had some early success, but they want to continue to expand. And he had a conversation with a potential investor that he was introduced to. And um you know, the person brought up all these, you know, additional terms, a side letter, all these other things. And you know, when we caught up about it, it

it felt like some of that negotiation, you know, from a warm introduction wasn't really the right fit for them to continue talking to. And these were terms that the founder couldn't agree to. And I think that's a core example of just like well if the investor believed in the founder all these other things

are probably can be understood rather than paper. Um having trust and alignment is critical you know and um I agree you know I think venture investors uh are probably the most out there and easy to reach as well. Family offices tend to be behind the scenes, right?

Yeah. >> Foundations and endowments, you don't typically know what they're investing in versus it's publicly stated that kind of an investor. So, I would hope that founders would reach out to you. [laughter] >> Um, I sort of knew it, right? So, yeah.

So, u, I do think there is like finding the right audience for you and your business type is critical. It has a huge impact on your wealth as a founder, right? If you are not going to raise a, you know, a huge business that has a $100 million exit, >> yeah, >> you know, uh, you shouldn't raise all

the vententral financing, get high valuation caps because you're not going to be able to lead out and everybody's going to be stuck. >> Okay. So, so staying with you then because I think it was u important what you said about early stage founders. If you're raising VC funds, you should have the exit in mind. If you're raising a

different kind of capital, what happens after like what are the expectations that come with that money? Because to my understanding, it's not the same as 5x 10x exit as soon as possible, but there are expectations of return. But you know, what is it like for a founder uh to manage the relationships uh with

investors that are not uh VCs? >> Yeah. Well, I mean maybe going back to like having the vision alignment is critical if you know there's a huge you know goal from a founder to say hey we want to redefine you know the checking account right and like go to all these things that you need to it's [snorts] a

huge market right but there's stages it's like when you raise your preede you're not going to you know be raising to solve a problem ultimately right there's like projects and stages that have to occur for you to actually have that outcome so if you're not thinking about it in those stages, right? And

your business is something that is maybe a little bit more predictable. Um, you know, or you you have a you have a capital campaign and you need to like purchase a building or some kind of equipment. um those are signs that you know you probably shouldn't work with venture investors and um you should

start with you know I think your local foundations and endowments are really the ones that um can provide alternative kinds of you know kinds of capital along with certified development financial institutions CDFIs and others um but yeah I think it's right where you know >> don't don't uh don't founders still have to be conscious of um I mean strings

attached sounds negative but it's just about the expectations that come with uh receiving receiving uh grants or things fundations. I mean there's still reporting that needs to be done and like still management of that relationship, right? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Um you know reporting standards very um uh venture investors also require you know

reporting. Uh I think the element one of the core elements of being a great founder in in in my experience is not how you get the investment, it's how you act once you receive it and the post investment process and relationship that you build with your investors and stakeholders, how you report out. Um so any type of

money I would I would suggest that people take a real approach to keeping people informed. >> Can I also follow up on that? like we're talking this is about capital and we're talking a lot about capital today and once again not all VC funds are contributed to your company in the same way you know sustain VC we like to sit

on boards we like to contribute and help build the business but not all VCs do that that's why there's something called the spray and brain method right and working with a local foundation though you might be asked for more reporting but you also might get more support >> sometimes they'll have you know like

founder readiness programs where they introduce you to other founders if they're a foundation that has like a well-built out venture ecosystem or they'll introduce you to other venture capitalists like myself. Um there's a lot more things that are of value in my opinion. I don't know. I'd love to hear if you feel differently than just money

that you can get from an investor and I think that foundations and sometimes family offices are really well positioned to do that in ways that funds might not always. >> That was my next question. Sounds perfect. >> Yeah. No, I think for us, you know, every investor that's on our cap table, it's for a reason. So, um, we've been

very selective in trying to build a group of investors who help us in different ways. So, Alante, our lead, uh, they only invest in sustainable uh, companies, right? So, that could be sustainable materials to something like a tech platform. Um, so they have seen this before, right? They know what it takes to build in this space. Um, but

they also are very well connected with our target brands. Um, and [snorts] then other kind of like force multiplier people in their network who you connect with them and they give you access to lots of other people. So they're really they they're really there as like you know subject matter experts. they've due

diligence probably 10 other repair tech platforms passed on all of them except us. Um so >> that's huge. >> They they have that expertise. They have the network. Um and also they're just there's also a certain amount of like I really like you as people. Like we were talking about them earlier. They're just

like very exceptional human beings. Um and that really matters because it's not just like me sending them an email every quarter month. It's a deep relationship. >> So, so quickly about the founder perspective is that um cuz I think you guys are 100% correct in everything you're saying. You know, be completely intentional about the investors to

reaching out to um you know like look at the spread of support that you could potentially need like recording standards. I think about all this from a founder perspective. How do you um how do you how do you handle all of this while also prioritizing running business because it is literally a whole job

itself. I mean a lot of the founders that I speak to that are early stage and uh you know more the deep the deep technical space don't even want to talk to their customers in the first place like the people using the tech you know they just want to build the tech and so

to think about uh doing sales outreach in the first place is daunting and now we're talking about another type of outreach which is investor outreach. So, how do you handle fundraising? You know, being intentional about it, managing the business, you know, your personal life, which I hope you still have after all of

this is um, you know, done with. So, yeah. How do you handle that? >> Um, you know, when I was in the accelerator with Slawson, we all like all the founders, we kind of came to this consensus that you just have to be a little dulu to do this, right?

Delusional [laughter] as a translation. Yeah, those are sort of events. [laughter] >> Um, so yeah, I mean it's really hard. I'm not going to like say otherwise. Um, you know, [snorts] luckily I have an amazing team. So I my uh CTO, not only is she an exceptional technical person, but she also understands

business. Um, and then the chief of staff who through this raise has just kind of like leaned in wherever I've needed her to lean in. Um, so you know, there was like a few months where I was like really heads down on raising and she just leaned into the places that I couldn't um, give it the time, but

inevitably you still have to like build the business and if you just take the your foot off the gas while you're raising it, then it's going to be even harder to raise, too. So, it's like this kind of like weird cycle. Um, so you just have to be like really cutthroat about how you're spending your time. Um,

and what you're spending your time. >> You mentioned the alligator skin. >> The alligator skin. Cut throat. Yeah, I know. Like >> just just projections don't matter anymore. >> I mean, I'm not going to say it doesn't like hurt a little, but at a certain point, you're just like >> you you see why, right? You're like, I

understand. Like you're just, you know, you're not a fit or oh, I could fine-tune this a little more next time. Like, so I record every conversation with Granola and afterwards ask Granola like how did that go? How could I have done better and take that feedback and then refine for the next time?

>> Cool. Does anyone have questions out there? Because I do have a couple more questions, but I want to save time in case everyone does. >> You have one. Anyone else? >> Okay. So, I'll ask this real quick and then then we can get to yours. Um, I am curious about uh again other ways of

finance business. So we talked about raising from VC, raising from private individuals. Um there's also uh just taking on debt uh in general. So if I'm correct, let me know you have a background in project financing. So when is that the right decision or other avenues like that?

>> So to to make it very short and clean, I was talking about this with someone in the back earlier today. I think that venture capital and once again there's a lot of different funds that do it differently, right? So, like this is just my perspective and there's probably some bunch of capitalists out there who

will disagree with me, but like project finance is debt that is structured around uh money that you know for a fact you're going to receive. It's based on contracts and typically you do it when you're building like a facility. So, the best way to think about venture versus project finances venture is for people

and projections and project finance is for uh stuff and a plan. Uh, so if you're raising a lot of money to make a lot of stuff, you might want to raise based on just that one specific thing you're building as opposed to giving away 20% of your company versus if you're like, "This is going to be huge

and the people are going to accelerate this growth meaningfully and I know how they're going to do it." But there's some wiggle room because it's people, right? Like then you might be more well positioned for venture. But I'm also a venture capitalist that believes in not raising excessive amounts of capital because I want the founders we work with

to walk away with something. But like that's a generalized rule. But there's also like not just venture debt. There's recoverable grants. Um I mean there's also just regular debt. There's credit based debt. There's like a lot of different ways that you can raise capital. It's just like as Jason said, venture is obvious. But do you have any

other ones that I didn't mention? >> Yeah. Well, I mean, maybe to level set a little, um, you know, you I think like as you look at raising money as a founder, a lot of the investors you're potentially dealing with have multiple layers of approval and decision-m, right? So, you may talk to Kendall, then

you get her investment committee, then you get a limited partner advisory committee, and like all these people have to approve. A foundation has a staff, a finance committee, a board of directors, all these people have to agree to invest in what you're doing.

Um, so I would recommend that you not go in there alone, right? Like there's other adviserss and people that can help you craft the right instrument for you to present to these different types of investors. Uh we just launched a website local capitalarkets.com to help entrepreneurs think about the ways to um think about the ways that they can

access capital markets effectively and not you know only rely on what they receive from investors but instead come to market with what's best for them and their company um and convince folks to kind of join the bandwagon. We see so many entrepreneurs going into pitch meetings and then you know they get a

term sheet right and it's not what anybody expected but when you look at what they ask they didn't ask for anything specific so you know I think being specific about what you're looking for frames the conversation and also probably makes it easier for a VC to say like that's not the we don't do those

kind of structures or that's not how like go talk to this person. Um Kendall probably knows and you tell her the terms she probably knows the investor there's a lot but you know you probably can match it right so being clear about that is really really crucial >> super cool >> um I mean I would say you know we've

gone pretty traditional in terms of venture capital >> um but one [clears throat] area too is like are there corporates as well that would invest um so that's that's another avenue >> so like for us it would be a brand which can be a structured like a venture like venture capital but other times they're

just investing um because they want a tattoo. >> Yeah. Cool. But yeah, what was the question? >> Yeah. So it's funny because kind of came up from what something Kendall said about kind of value ad, right? silly could be that those support accelerators that they might have access to other founders, you know, having this

community, but then everything you're talking about just now being specific to what you're looking for as a founder. So my question is, you know, when I guess now it could be like a true, you know, how do you start thinking about what you want as a founder? It can be you know from your

investor besides just firms you know from what you've seen and that would be for for you Emily when you starting to think about oh I wanted to do that accelerator and then what is you know what is what's important to you and making those decisions but then also what do you bring that up with the

investor in the first conversation uh like you know what I'm looking for but all these other things of how you want them to kind of engage with you when they start having those types of conversations of those of those value ads or that extra support of what's important to you.

>> So is is is the question about like not just uh the money conversation but then it just additionalities. Yeah. >> Gotcha. So when when to have that conversation >> you start thinking about what you might want. >> Yeah. I mean most VCs we've talked to ask directly like how would you like who

are you looking to have on your cap table? like what do you want them to add? Um and so that I mean it's just a very like straightforward conversation there. Um [snorts] and then with you know with our uh and then others it's just like however you need us but typically like if it isn't asked by the

VC I will ask like how how can you help me >> um beyond money obviously and yeah so that's it just kind of comes up in the conversation or you have to ask >> I think regarding that too about like how to get people to add value um you know just maybe start doing it like I I

an interesting tactic actually from a leader, a founder of a non well it's actually a capital project in West Philadelphia, the Cops Creek Foundation. It's $200 million project. It's the largest environmental project in the state. Um actually port group today we are announcing a partnership with Comcast which is huge.

>> Nice. >> Yeah, it's a transformative moment in the in the journey. Um but the leader and the founder, you know, kind of the the foundation and the overall effort um did something really interesting. We were on a like a site tour with like the governor and their his team and we're trying to like ask them for state

financing to fund the like taxpayer money and you know I'm like in the back I I'm a volunteer on the board and stuff but I'm not in the middle of the conversation but I was listening and we're standing over this view of like the city and you know it's in West Philly so you can see the city because

it's high up all this grass and stuff and the leader of the foundation like asks Governor Shapiro for an introduction and a referral and like words of wisdom for the Bank of Philadelphia. >> And it's like that's the asking for value ad right there.

>> That's it. It's like in these moments where you actually have your investor prospect. >> Yeah. >> Make a very clear ask, you know, for them to do something and test the waters on what they're willing to do. You know, I think be respectful about it, of course, but um you know, ask for it

right there. >> I'll add something else. just as a founder, it's like you always have to shoot your shot, too. So, like just not be afraid to ask for help. Uh, and or an intro or whatever. And I think that always pays off just doing it. I know it's very basic, but >> I used to be like,

>> you know, a little more reserved about asking and and now I'm not. [laughter] >> Well, I just have I I have two final rapid fire questions. The first one is a single because you guys have been I mean this is like a like a co a whole college course on uh on finance and how to

understand it uh and fund your dreams. And so out of all the things you guys are talking about for one thing uh that a founder uh can walk away from speak to another founder. You did just say uh shoot your shot ask questions. Is that the one thing that you'd say or is there

uh anything else I'm going to say? today you guys down. Yeah. >> Okay. We'll start with you. >> I would say I mean I think on both sides venture and the founders we should be honest with each other. Like when you get in that first call at a pretty concrete and clear when I do my

introduction and I go first saying this is what we fund. This is how we fund it. And if we get into a call that's 30 minutes long and I find we are we invest when companies are north of 500k in revenue. Right? And if we're 20 minutes into a call and at minute 20 you say,

"And I have no revenue." >> The conversation could have been really different if you had just said, "Hey, I still want to talk to you. I still think we can get something out of this meeting, but I don't have any revenue, so I don't think you're going to be able to invest right now." And I'll say,

"Okay, well, how do you want to spend this time together because I still want to learn as well?" I never end a call early when I find out that there's no uh it's not going to be aligned. We keep talking and I try and be hopeful. I think I did the same thing in when we

first spoke. I love Cobbler. They're great. Use their business. She uh helped prepare my shoes for my actual wedding this year and my husband's. Um but like we had that conversation and now we have a more meaningful relationship and one day I hope that I can participate. But the conversation is very different when

everyone is honest and transparent about what they mean and what they can do. >> That's amazing. >> Yeah. I would I would say maybe ambition sells like think big and have an alligator spin like that's [laughter] >> um yeah I mean it's kind of a shoot your shot but it's it's to just be bold and

not be afraid to like get out there and like when I first started this journey you know I was in corporate America and that you know it's kind of like padded walls and soft and nothing is that hard >> um and when I came into the startup world it you know I was like afraid to

go into pitch meetings and like I had to go on like live t do all these things and just like the more you get out there and just do these big scary things like I mean you you end up having alligator skin um but it's just it's so important to just get out there and do the scary

things. Um and and earlier when we when we first started I was saying you know when you talk to investors be very targeted in who you know making sure they're mission aligned. But I will say too even the ones that weren't necessarily directly mission aligned in climate tech. I've had I had this like

amazing network now of investors who even though they didn't invest >> um and others it's like they're you know I've actually am connecting some to new jobs and it's just created this like beautiful network of people I really like and they like me hopefully too and so they it's just I don't know it's it's

the beauty of just getting out there and showing up. >> Nice. Well, my final question because I have no idea what time it is, but uh I might hang out for uh the rest of my life in this room. But my last question for you guys is with all the work that you have done and all the work uh that

there is to do uh for you guys to respect, what inspires you? [snorts] >> All right, I'll get spicy. >> Yes. Uh it's been a really tough political environment for a lot of reasons. And I remember in 24 after election day getting up the next morning having to take some calls and just feeling really bummed. But

getting to talk to the founders that morning, everyone was like, "It doesn't matter cuz we're still doing good and we're still getting after it." And I felt like sometimes you get on a pitch and it's not going well. you know, it was hard, but just like every call that morning, it made me feel so good about

the work that I was doing and so proud of the people every day that are out there like actually doing it in the startups trying to make a difference. Like we're just I'm just capital, but like getting to work with founders who have a vision of a dream of a better future. That is what's inspiring.

Um, yeah, I would say, you know, there's so much overlooked talent and visionaries and helping them achieve their goals inve was was really exciting, you know, so I wake up excited every day. I think my team does as well.

It's very clear what we're doing. Um, >> I would say my team, um, they work really hard. Um, you know, we're not a corporate entity, so they work really hard for not that much money. >> Yeah. Um and and then also the businesses that we support. So that has been you know we have one business when

he started he was making about bringing like 20 25,000 a month and now he's north of 40,000 a month. And so just seeing the impact of our tech and our the the revenue we're sending away is I mean it's like my favorite part of the job. um our customers.

>> Nice. >> Yeah. >> Well, thank you guys so much for the work that you're doing and for coming to talk here. If everyone give a round of applause [applause] uh quick if uh best way to get in touch and follow along, let's see what you guys are doing.

>> Go to our website and find me on LinkedIn. [laughter] >> Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. Hit me up. >> Yeah, me too. LinkedIn or our website. >> Beautiful. We'll get the sponsor by LinkedIn next time. But [laughter] but yeah, thank you everybody.