A conversation with Arlan Hamilton
I had the incredible pleasure of conversing with Arlan Hamilton and a live zoom audience. Arlan shared lessons from her path of homelessness to founding Backstage Capital investing millions in overlooked founders with some special shout outs to punk rock and moms!
Backstage Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. Started in 2015, Backstage has now invested nearly $12M into 130 startups led by underestimated founders and has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, Inc., Entrepreneur, and Quartz.We discussed breaking into the walled garden of silicon valley, investing in grit, raising money when you don't look the part, and Arlan's new book, It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated Into Your Greatest Advantage.
Arlan brought experience so relevant to entrepreneurs in far Northern California and especially those of us not born into money, a venture capital friend network, and the skin color, sexuality, and gender identity most likely to be invested in.
This is part of a series from the AWEsome Business Competition for new ventures working to build a resilient and regenerative far Northern California through Agriculture, Water, and/or Energy