March 30, 2023 • 36 mins
In business, you have to spend money to make money. But you also have to have money to spend it. Hosts Austin and Jannese discuss how to decide which type of funding makes sense for your small business and explain the differences between angel investors, VC funding, crowdfunding, small business loans, and grants.
Later, Ami Kumordzie, founder of fintech company Sika Health, joins the show to share her empowering story of beating the odds as a Black woman who raised a $6.2M seed round from world-class investors during a pandemic.
Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you start, grow, and fund your business:
For more insights on growing a new business visit:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/small-business-data/new-business-insights-2023/
For key takeaways from this week’s episode visit:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/running-a-business/mind-the-business-episode-1/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:22):
or revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before
relying on them. Hey everyone, and welcome to the very
first episode of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories,
a podcast brought to you by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
I'm Austin Hankwitz, hosted the Rate of Return podcasts and
(00:44):
co founder of wits Ventures. But you may recognize me
from my short form videos about the personal finance and
investing on TikTok and I'm Jenny's Torres, the creator and
host of the award winning personal finance podcast Jokioo the Neto.
You may have come across one of my videos on
social media where I empower others with personal finance knowledge
in every episode of this podcast, you'll hear Austin and
(01:04):
I chatting with small business owners as they share their
stories about the ups and downs of only a small business.
Plus we'll learn from their experience about how you can
help fortify and strengthen your own business. That's right, Genius,
and I'm really excited for everyone to hear this podcast.
And I'm so happy you'll be coming along this right
with me to hear some awesome entrepreneurial stories. Today we're
(01:25):
talking about capital and funding, but before we bring on
our guest and dive into all that, I'd love to know, Genius,
more about your business journey. So I realized now I
was charting a path to becoming a content creator, even
before that was an actual thing. I started my small
business journey in twenty thirteen and I was looking for
a creative outlet from my corporate engineering job. I followed
(01:48):
in my dad's footsteps to be an engineer, but I
felt like this wasn't the thing I'm meant to do,
and so I actually started a food blog called delish
Delights dot com, where I started sharing my Puerto Rican
heritage and recipes online. And I took it from a
hobby into a business by learning the ins and outs
of what content creators do for monetization purposes, so things
(02:08):
like affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, putting ads on my website.
And after a couple of years of doing the solopreneurs thing,
I realized there's nobody in my circle who's doing this
stuff too, and so I turned to the Internet to
start learning more about personal finance entrepreneurship, and I ended
up getting addicted to podcasts so much so that after
(02:31):
a couple of years of being a consumer of podcasts,
I decided to start my own, which is Yokioo the Neto,
and on the show, I really wanted to create a
community of changemakers and highlighting stories of people who are
in communities of color that typically don't hear entrepreneurial success
stories and folks who are pursuing financial independence. And it
(02:52):
became an accidental business, and ten years later I could
absolutely say that this is not any part of my plan.
I have always approached entrepreneurship from a place of curiosity
and passion and just wanting to explore these crazy thoughts
that come into your head. And so from becoming a
(03:13):
food blogger, to now being a full time podcaster and
content creator. My mission has always just been to connect
with stories and to find inspiration that not only now
I can use, but folks who are in my community
can use as well. Yeah, I'm right there with Eugenius.
So I'm also a small business owner, not a veteran
like yourself. Not ten years. So what happened was I
(03:35):
actually graduated from the University of Tennessee back in twenty
eighteen with this degree in finance and economics. Super nerd
I love it. I ended up doing mergers and acquisitions
for a publicly traded healthcare company. I did that for
about three years, and then I was sent home right
during COVID like everyone else, to work from home. But
instead of lip syncing and dancing on TikTok, I decided
to share my experience of paying down my student loans,
(03:57):
growing my credit score, and even buying my house right.
And I did this all from a place of authenticity
and transparency because I'm a really big believer that the
wealth gap in America is only going to get smaller
if we get as many people as possible to be
owners of assets, not so much consumers. Right, And so
now I'm a full time, constant creator. But what's been
really fun about this is I've also been able to
(04:19):
invest into the businesses that i'm advertising, if that makes sense.
So a fintech or a financial technology company that I
would use would say, hey, Austin, this is so cool
that you're a creator now, which you want to talk
about us and say, sure, but I love what you're
doing so much. Right, I'm a customer as well. Can
I own equity in your business? Right back to that
idea of the owner mindset? And so that's what's so
exciting about this episode we have coming up right now,
(04:41):
is this is all about raising money, raising capital. And
I'm not saying with the money I'm investing as materially
raising that capital for these people, but it's more of
a sign of hey, I'm with you in solidarity. I
want to grow this with you. So that is really
what I've been up to over the last three years.
I host a podcast called the Rate of Return Podcast.
I've got the Rate of Return newsletter over ten thousand
subscribers of people who work across a bunch of different careers,
(05:03):
and we've also invested into twenty six different startups from
the preset all the way to Series C. It's creator economy,
it's fintech, it's even a mail shampoo company, believe it
or not. So all these really really cool opportunities that
have been afforded. As a constant creator and a small
business owner at that of course, uses QuickBooks. QuickBooks literally
saved my sanity. It wasn't until I started using QuickBooks
(05:26):
that I actually knew what was going on with my
money and capital or money and how to raise it
is what we're talking about today. I decided to take
the route of business credit cards and small business grants.
So I don't think I'm at the place where I've
started thinking about venture capital just yet. But it's always
really interesting to find these stories of folks who go
(05:48):
and pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists and make
magic happen with other people's money. I love that. So,
speaking of other people's money, Austin, can you talk about
the way is that a business can raise capital? Most definitely.
So there's a couple ways that come to mind. The
first way is you know, other people's money. Angel investors, right,
(06:09):
These are those wealthy individuals who want to invest into
small precede or even seed stage startups. We think about
shark tank, Right, that's essentially an angel investor. So the
next one list is VC funding, right, venture capitalists, And
this is essentially like private money. Think about like a
mutual fund, how people kind of pulled together millions of dollars. Well,
that's the same thing here. A firm would come out,
(06:31):
pull together tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to
then invest that money into budding, seed or precede stage startups. Right,
we're gonna hear from one here very soon. She raised
more than six million dollars from venture capitalists investors. The
next one that comes to mind is crowdfunding. And I
think we've all kind of heard of this one before,
right Indiego, Go, Kickstarter, other things like that. Right. This
is essentially rallying your community, your friends, your family, to say, hey,
(06:55):
give me money so I can build my business. Right.
One that I think you mentioned here earlier with credit
cards and things of that nature of the small business loans. Right,
this is going into debt to fund your small business
if that might be the operating capital needed or are
things that nature to get off the ground. You'll see
tons of different banks offering small business loans and things
that nature. Even I think the United States government even
(07:15):
have some small business loans as well. Yep, the Small
Business Administration also known as the SBA. That is it. Okay,
there we go. And the last one that comes to
mind are grants. Right, This is money received from anyone
who's trying to solve a problem to qualify for a grant.
It could be nearly anything, right, could be your background,
your experience. I've been kind of like, I think of
this as a scholarship to college in the sense that
(07:37):
you have these very specific parameters, you check the boxes,
and you get to apply for this money. But for
a little perspective, here are some quick stats as it
relates to how business owners who want to start a
business in twenty twenty three plan to fund it. So,
the most popular way is using their own money or savings.
The second most popular is a loan from family or friends,
(07:58):
the third most popular is a business loan from a
commercial lender, and way at the bottom is the VC
funding that venture capital funding that we're going to get
into a little bit more today. So those are the
different ways that I can think of as it relates
to funding a business. But do you mind walking us
through a little bit more about your own experience with grants.
I think grants are probably the most accessible for folks,
(08:21):
especially people who don't necessarily have a network of people
that they can leverage as investors. As a first generation entrepreneur,
I don't have a lot of people in my circle
who I can just be like, hey, guys, can you
write me a check because I have this really cool
business idea, And so when it comes to funding your
business without having to take on debt, grants are really
really key. And there are federal grants and state grants
(08:43):
and even grants from corporations. So, as someone who's received
a grant before, how did you decide that that was
the right way to raise money for your business? Why
did you do it grants and maybe not crowdfunding or
an angel investor. I think for me, just because of
the nature of my business, I really am still trying
to figure out what exactly it is I do as
a podcaster, an influencer, content creator. In my head, I'd
(09:06):
never pictured pitching what I do to venture capitalists. It
just did an equate I usually think about that for
like a product based business or a technology company, So
For me, I was just operating in a very small
business mindset and I wanted to be able to actually
offer a scholarship program where I could teach people for
(09:27):
free about investing. And I found an organization that supports
that type of work and they gave me a grant
that I could use to then give money to people
who participated in the program to start investing. Right. So,
there's like so many different things that you can do
with the money that you receive from grants, and it's
out there for the taking. I think that's really powerful.
And I also think you hit the nail right on
(09:48):
the head as it relates to angel investors or vcs,
like a very product based or technology based. Right. The
person we're going to be talking here with soon, she
has a payment processing platform. It's one of these businesses
that can grow to a multi billion dollar enterprise if
it can scale enough. And so that's what I think
the big differences between raising from an angel investor in
vcs and stuff like that, or raising from grants or crowdfunding. So, Austin,
(10:12):
as a content creator like me, did you raise any
funds for your business as a content creator? It's been
very lean, just kind of get a laptop, maybe a camera, microphone,
it's maybe a thousand dollars or so if you're able
to do it right. But I would say that if
I was to try and find capital right now, would
actually be through a technique we have not yet talked about,
and that is borrowing against existing assets, specifically my portfolio.
(10:35):
So I've got thirty thousand dollars in a brokerage account
right now on a platform that allows me to borrow
against that if I need liquidity. So, for example, if
I had wanted to perhaps take on a bigger project
or maybe hire an employee, I could borrow up to
twenty five or even fifty percent of that amount at
a reasonable interest rate to then deploy toward that project.
(10:55):
So Austin, if someone doesn't have a portfolio, can they
still access capital this way? So that's a really good question.
The short answer is no, and that's because there's no
collateral to borrow against. However, having a stock portfolio is
only one form of collateral. Perhaps they might have a
house or perhaps something else that's generally expensive, a car,
(11:16):
a valuable of some sort that they would be able
to borrow against. That's a really interesting way to leverage
funds you already have for a new project. Now that
we have a better idea of the most common ways
to raise capital, let's hear from our guest about her journey. Today.
We're joined by Ami Comoji. Ami is a Stanford trained physician,
(11:37):
an x BCG consultant turned founder CEO of Sika Health.
At the age of six, Amy emigrated from Ghana with
the dream of becoming a physician and achieving that dream,
she learned how broken the financial side of US healthcare
can be. That's why she created Seka Health in order
to reinvent the way we pay for our health. Seeka
Health is a consumer first payment company that enables merchants
(11:59):
to accept funds at checkout from health savings accounts or
HSA's and flexible spending accounts or FSAs, so we can
all afford our health needs. You might be familiar with
these types of accounts as you may have an HSA
or FSA yourself, or they might be something that you
offer to your employees. Amy started funding for her company
during the pandemic and has raised a six point two
(12:20):
million dollars seed round from world class investors. Ami, welcome
to the show. Thank you so much, Janis and Austin.
It's wonderful to be here. Thank you so much for
hanging out with us. Ammi. I think a really good
place to start this conversation is for us to understand
the origin story of seek A Health, and I believe
(12:42):
it has to do with your mother being laid off
during the pandemic and the decisions that had to be
made because of that, like having to become a tax
expert essentially overnight, just to figure out how to use
those healthcare funds from her job. Can you walk me
through how that circumstantially inspired you to start this company
so exactly as you mentioned, inspiration for starting Seeka actually
happened in twenty twenty when unfortunately, my mom was laid
(13:05):
off of her job. She's working as a hotel worker
at the time, and that meant that she was going
to lose her health plan, of which her FASA was
part of. That the FSA is a wonderful tool and
that it does allow you to spend that money pre
tax on your health, but in her case, it was unfortunately,
use it or lose it. And the hardest part about
these tools is that you can only spend them on
(13:26):
certain things, and no one tells you what those things are.
So we actually had to scramble to try to figure
out and exactly like you're saying, practically to become tax
experts overnight in order to determine how we could use
these funds. But in doing so we learned a lot,
and I learned a lot and really three things specifically
that ended up giving the court insights for starting SEEKA.
(13:47):
So first and foremost, I learned that there are way
more ways to spend FSA and HSA dollars than most
people realize, things like glasses, fitness equipment like a peloton
bike or gym membership, certain nutritional vitamins and supplements, maybe
even pet supplies for an emotional support animal or a
service animal, so a really really broad range of expenses.
(14:09):
The second thing we realized, and this I think was
sort of the root cause, was that not only did
a lot of consumers like my mom not know how
to spend these funds, but a lot of merchants struggle
to accept FSA and HSA funds as a form of payment.
In fact, many of them don't even know which of
their items are eligible and which aren't. The third core
(14:30):
insight here is that there are about seventy million people
in the US who have either an FSA or an HSA,
and about one hundred and fifty billion dollars flows through
these accounts every year, and a lot of times the
money just sits there, and in some cases like what
almost happened to my mom, and people actually lose money
to the tune of about eight billion dollars every year
(14:50):
when these funds expire. So for all those reasons and
all the learnings, I saw that there was a real
opportunity for improvement, a very big market, and an urgent need,
and that's why I decided to start seek a Health.
Got it Okay? So for everyone listening right now, can
you explain the differences actually between an HSA and an FSA,
(15:11):
and then why are those differences so important for the
problem that you're solving with seek a Health. So episades
and hsas are really one of the best tools out
there to help people to save on their various healthcare needs.
But part of what comes with utilizing these tools is
knowing the key differences between them exactly like you're mentioning,
(15:32):
and so even though they sound really similar, they're actually
really different in terms of how and when you can
spend these dollars. For h says, the money actually rolls
over from year to year, and you can actually invest
those dollars over time and grow those funds to be
a really large pot of money. For episays, they're use
it or lose it, which means you have to use
them within the course of a year, and in some cases,
(15:55):
let's say, if you lose your job, you actually might
have to spend them right away, within the month. And
so what that means for us, and the problem that
we're solving is that there can be a lot of urgency,
both because there's a big pot of money that you
don't want just sitting there, and also because the funds
might be expiring on a deadline, and that makes it
really important to make it easier for people to identify
(16:17):
where and how they can spend these dollars. So the
way that we solve that problem specifically is that we
actually show up at checkout. We show up as a
payment method, very similar to let's say a buy now,
pay later product that you've seen, or perhaps a PayPal
except the difference with us is that you can actually
link your health funds as a form of payment. And
behind the scenes, we're doing a bunch of things on
(16:38):
the regulatory front, helping the merchants get certified and figure
out which items counting can be improved in which items
are not. But the goal is for you as the
consumer and the shopper, to have a really easy experience,
a really easy way to buy the products that you
need and save money doing it, and likewise for merchants
to be able to offer you a new way to pay.
(17:00):
Were you surprised when you found this huge literacy gap
when it comes to how these accounts work? And were
you surprised that no one has thought of fixing this
problem before? You know? I don't know that I can
say that I was surprised. Unfortunately, in our healthcare system,
a lot of problems look like this where things are
just very broken, not because it's anyone's fault or intention right,
(17:23):
but because there's a literacy gap. And what that means
is there is an opportunity for companies like us to
be created to close those gaps on behalf of consumers,
but also on behalf of other businesses, and that's what
is creating the opportunity for us. So this episode is
all about capital raising and fund raising all that fun stuff.
(17:44):
You raised six point two million dollars from some of
the most well known and I mean four runner ventures.
Urikim is an incredible woman. So what I'm trying to
get out here, though, is, I mean, how did you
do that? Right? What were some maybe unexpected challenges involved
you get any curveballs headed your way. I also read
that it was kind of the chicken and the egg
problem with hiring people, So maybe walk us through that
(18:06):
process as well, and maybe not having a team yet
when you were raising it. I'd love to know you're
exactly right. It was definitely a lot of challenges. Part
of the reason I knew I needed to fundraise was that,
you know, in order to solve this problem, I needed
a really good team, a really strong team, particularly on
the engineering on the product side, and many of those
folks currently work in tech. You are paid incredibly well, right,
(18:30):
So it was a chicken and egg problem for sure,
But I decided that the way to start was to
bring on incredible partners on the investment side who could
then help by providing the capital I needed to attract
a wonderful team in terms of my journey fundraising. I
definitely don't come from the traditional tech background. I've actually
(18:52):
never worked in tech professionally. My background is as a physician,
as you've mentioned, and I previously worked as a healthcare consultant,
which meant that I didn't necessarily have an automatic rolodex
of tech focused investors to call right away. And so
what did I do? I actually started really close to home.
Started by telling everyone that I knew, I was really
(19:15):
excited about this problem, that I wanted to start this business,
and many of those people were my previous mentors or
bosses or friends, maybe folks that had started companies before.
And it didn't really even feel like I was pitching,
or it wasn't intending to pitch. It was mostly just
telling my story. And sometimes there was an ask for advice,
(19:37):
but sometimes it was an ask for capital. And the
more comfortable I became, the more I began to ask.
And there are plenty of nos, but eventually I did
get to a first yes and then the next yes.
And when I set out to fundraise, I set out
to raise half a million dollars, but within a few
weeks I had actually surpassed that goal and raised over
(20:00):
one point two million, And that was because the people
that I was speaking with, you know, really believed in
the opportunity, and they also really believed in me, and
you know, it became evident that this was a problem
that desperately needed to be solved. And the other thing
that happened was that many of those people actually knew
investors or knew people who knew investors, and so they
(20:22):
were able to help me with introductions. And eventually those
at the introductions that helped me get pulled into the
room in front of Forerunner Ventures and Shine Capital and
the co founders of Plaid some of the people who
eventually led my seed round a few weeks later. That's
absolutely incredible, And I think another amazing part of your
(20:44):
story is the fact that you did this during the pandemic,
which I think a lot of people would be like,
I don't know if this is the right time to
be asking people for money to fund a new business.
So did you ever run into just mindset blocks or
concerns that this was not going to work out the
way that you intended. Yeah, So that's one of the
hardest things about the entrepreneurial journey is there always will
(21:07):
be challenges. There will always be setbacks, and one of
the most important things is to quiet the noise, fake
it till you make it, and just know that if
you can get your ideas across, convey your message, which
is that this is a problem that needs to be
solved today. Actually this is a problem that's even more
urgent because of the pandemic. How many of us have
(21:28):
lost our jobs, how many of us have dealt with
health issues. How many of us could use a way
to save money on our health needs as a result
of this broader climate, So you know, they're certainly you
know there are ways that the pandemic made things harder.
But I had the belief internally that actually that was
(21:48):
the reason why this needed to exist now, and then
as a result, I was able to convey that to
the people around me. Coming up on Mind the Business
Small Business success Stories. Fundamentally, fundraising is a form of
relationship building, so people don't invest in companies, they invest
(22:10):
in people. We'll be right back after the break. Welcome
back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories brought
to you by iHeartRadio and into a quick books. So
(22:31):
I'm curious if there's any maybe one or two tactical
things that you did during this fundraising that really led
to success. Was it a pitch deck that you were
just combing through a thousand times? Was it practicing your
pitch in front of the mirror? Was like, what was
maybe a couple of tactical things that you were practicing
and doing that truly led to the success that you
(22:51):
experienced in this round? You know, I think the way
I'll answer that is by saying that I do think
preparation is underrated in general, especially in the way that
these stories of fundraising come about. It's made to sound
really magical, like all of a sudden, who woke up
and had this great idea and then a bunch of
people started throwing money at me? And that's just not
(23:11):
how it works. By the time I was pitching to
say Forerunner, I had done my pitch a thousand times,
certainly in front of the mirror, but most importantly in
front of other people who could give me advice, who
could critique the way I answered this question, who could
give me insight into how I could convey my message
(23:33):
even better. And so part of what that looked like
tactically was setting up meetings with all sorts of colleagues
just to practice and having docs, I would list out
all the questions that I could possibly get and the
ways that I would handle some of those questions and
those objectives. I think the takeaway here is that fundraising,
(23:55):
like any skill, is one that can be learned, one
that can be improved, and one that can be perfected
over time, and you know it's important to invest in
some of that preparation upfront. I'd love to know how
one determines how much money you actually want to raise.
I've never raised venture capital. The whole idea of kind
(24:16):
of freaks me out, honestly, but I think it's because
I watched too much Shark Tank. So I want to know,
how do you find out you know? Or how do
you determine how much money you need and what your
strategy could be? Because right you can take out loans,
you can put things on credit cards. So how did
you decide to go with venture capital? Yeah? For me,
the way that I determined how much money I needed
to raise was actually I built a model. It was
(24:38):
maybe overly precise, to be honest, but I figured out, well,
how many people do I need to hire? First and foremost?
What will each of those people be doing, and I
knew that the biggest cost in this business given that
it was essentially a fintech business with payroll costs essentially,
so that was the major input. We would also likely
use the funds for things like marketing an office, so
(25:00):
building in some of those costs. But the lesson in
there is just to figure out why are you raising
money to begin with, what are you going to use
that money for? And then try as best as you
can to estimate about how much of those resources, how
many resources you'll need to be able to get there.
The other big piece of fundraising isn't a fundraise, it's
(25:22):
to build a great business, right, So what are the
key things that I need to figure out in this
stage to build this business and how much time and
what resources will it take for me to get there?
So we're really fundraised with the intent of bringing on
the people I needed in order to sort of prove
or disprove the hypothesis of the business. So you know,
what is it going to take to prove to yourself
(25:44):
right that this is a business that has legs? And
then fundraising ideally just enough with a little bit of
buffer of course, to help you get to that next milestone,
and then outside of that, part of how I thought
about fundraising is I really do see our busters not
just as people who provide capital, but people who are
important strategic partners and strategic thought partners. So using that
(26:09):
the fundraising process is a way to actually grow your network,
to find the right experts to bring around the table
so that you can accomplish some of these key milestones
that you have in front of you. Now, I hope
you don't mind, but I really want to rewind for
a second here, because something you talked about in the
beginning of this interview was you shared this with everyone
(26:30):
close to you, right, You shared it with your friends,
your colleagues, your mentors, all these people who were excited
to lift you up and see you succeed. What advice
would you give to the small business owner that's trying
to raise money that might not have access to investors
or friends or family with all this extra advice, time
and money to give and support. Fundamentally, fundraising is a
(26:51):
form of relationship building. So people don't invest in companies,
they invest in people. And what that means is that
it's really important for all aspects of your business. Actually
to constantly be building your network and to be building relationships.
So let's say you're a small business owner. Maybe you
don't have a network of investors potential investors today. Part
(27:12):
of what you can do is to actually find networks
of other founders and join communities. So I joined early
on a bunch of Slack groups, for example, of people
that were trying to build businesses and health tech and fintech,
people that were product oriented. That is free to everyone
and available to everyone. There are different communities. So our
(27:34):
company is built in New York, and there's actually a
community called built in NYC, and various people who have
different email list serves where you can put yourself out there.
You can write a small post, let's say, for their blog,
and so there are a lot of really creative ways
where you can just start to build your network and
start to surround yourself with people. And they might not
(27:54):
be investors right away, they might be other folks just
like you that are starting to get off the ground.
But as you build your network, as you get yourself
out there, you will be surprised your network will really
amplify and multiply, and through those loose connections here and there,
you'll be able to find the path to investors. I
guess my last question here for you, Ammy is you
(28:15):
know you probably know overall, black entrepreneurs typically receive less
than two percent of all VC dollars each year, while
company is led by black women receive less than one percent,
according to data from crunch Base. However, you beat those odds.
You US six point two million dollars from world class investors.
So my question is, how did you beat those odds?
(28:35):
And what would you tell the person that was in
your shoes maybe two years ago that had the idea
that was trying to beat those odds right now? That's
such a good question and also such an unfortunate question.
I hope for a day where there isn't this funding gap.
And you know, by some of my research, black female
founders raised point three to four percent, so a third
of one percent of the funds raised back in twenty
(28:57):
twenty one when I was raising. Part of how I
beat those odds was going back to the fundamental belief
that this business needs to exist and I'm the right
person to do it. And as cliche as it sounds,
just to bake it till you make it, you know,
I think people really get caught up in the details,
but then forget the sort of overarching message and fundraising,
(29:20):
particularly at the seed stage when there's not that much traction,
the numbers aren't that great. You need to be able
to convince yourself as well as investors of two things.
Number one, that the problem that you're solving is a big,
important and urgent problem that needs to be solved, and
number two, that you're the right person or the right
team to solve that problem. And everything else is just
(29:42):
supporting bullets. So your traction, your revenue, the market data,
but the thing that really counts, the thing that moves
people is the passion with which you speak, the conviction,
the ability to show that you will run through walls
to make it happen. And so that was part of
the difference maker for me, was just continuing to focus
(30:03):
on that as the core message and the story, and
of course big market MC data, and you know, we
had this level of commercial interests, but it really just
came down to grounding myself and I know this is
a big important problem and it needs to be solved,
and number two, I'm the right person to do it. Therefore,
come on board and help me build this business. I
(30:25):
love kind of ending things on an inspirational note, right,
So tell the aspiring capital raisers who are listening to
this right now, your best motivational saying or phrase or
something that you held onto during the process. Well, one
that comes to mind is you either win or you learn.
(30:46):
There's no such thing as losing. At least for me.
This journey really is about the learning. No matter how
this business turns out, and I know that we have
a very very strong outcome ahead of us, But the
most important thing is just focusing on the learning, focusing
on you know, what are the things that are working,
what are the things that aren't working so well? What
are some of the areas that our strengths for me?
(31:07):
Where are some of the areas that might be holding
me back? How do I apply that learning mindset to
every interaction that I have, whether it's with customers or
with my team. And of course through the fundraising process too.
I learned a lot during the fundraising process, and in fact,
the times that I learned the most was from the nose.
Some of the things that I learned from the nose
(31:28):
were which types of investors would be most interested in
the business, that I was building, and it was through
that learning that I was able to correct and navigate,
you know, change this or that about the way that
I tell my story and the audience to whom I
tell it to, so that I could find that right
fit that I eventually landed on. So if I could
(31:49):
tell your listeners anything is focus on the learning and
remind yourself that you either win or you learn, and
there's no such thing as losing. I mean, I think
that your boldness, the passion for what you're doing, and
just your confidence. I could feel like when you would
walk into a room to pitch, people could just feel
how excited you were to make an impact with your business,
(32:10):
and so I have to credit that for your success.
So I just want to thank you for being an inspiration.
Especially as a woman of color. It's so rare for
us to see examples of folks who are really able
to make these things happen and to place themselves in
rooms where we might not have seen ourselves represented before.
So just thank you for the work that you do
just by being you. Thank you so much, and hopefully
(32:30):
the takeaway here is that you being different coming from
a different background, whether it's an ethnic difference, or a
gender difference, or a country difference, or professional difference. All
those differences can be advantages because it is so important
to lean on your own personal experiences. That is the
source of your conviction, your strength, that's what makes you
(32:51):
compelling as a founder and an owner and a builder.
So the more that we can lean into our differences,
I think the more successful we will be. Thank you
so much for joining us. I mean, this was I
learned so much. I'm sure a lot of the listeners
here are pumped, they're excited, they're inspired, especially by your story. Right,
this was awesome. I can't wait to do this again,
hopefully sometime soon. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank
(33:13):
you so much for having me, Austin and Janie. It
was wonderful to be here, and hopefully some of these
tips were helpful to your audience. Thank you so much.
That was such an incredible conversation with Ami Komoji. You know,
there are so many ways to raise capital and get
funding for a small business, and Amy is definitely on
(33:35):
one end of that spectrum raising millions of dollars with
multiple investors, but there are so many other ways, like bootstrapping.
When you're doing it on your own grants, which we
talked about earlier, and asking friends and family. You just
really have to find what's the best fit for your
business and your situation. I'm curious, Austin, what stuck out
most to you about this conversation. Totally agree, great conversation.
(33:56):
I think a couple of things really stuck out to me.
The first one was the preparation. Right We asked her
about what all went into a successful raise, and she
talked about a thousand times that she'd pitched. That is incredible,
lots of practice, lots of preparation. I think that's incredibly
important for someone listening right now. The preparation is key.
The second thing that really stuck out to me was
just how interesting of a problem she's solving and how
(34:20):
big of a total addressable market that is. She mentioned
billions of dollars gets wasted every single year with the
hsas and FSAs. But then also the urgency around that.
I mean, she gave such a personalized story with her
mother and how she was laid off and you know
she only had a month to spend this money, but
how to become a tax expert overnight to even be
able to do that what about you? What a couple
of things that stuck out to Eugenius. I absolutely love
(34:41):
the fact that she didn't let the dismal statistics that
exist around black entrepreneurs receiving venture capital as a deterrent
for her even pursuing that right, because I think a
lot of what I've discovered about entrepreneurship is your mind
will keep you from opportunities and we'll stop you from
pursuing things before anybody actually tells you know. And so
the fact that she said, you know what, the stats
(35:03):
don't favor me, but I'm still going to show up
and I will take all the knows because it all
starts with one. Yes. That's so inspiring and that's I
think one of my favorite parts of entrepreneurship is the
mindset work and the confrontation of limiting beliefs that we
constantly have to do to create things out of nothing. Yeah,
And I really think it kind of leans back into
(35:24):
what she was saying. It's not a win lose situation.
It's a win or you learn, right. It's an up
in its ounds, yes and knows, but we're winning and
we're learning. It's never a win lose situation. Absolutely well,
good stuff everyone. Thanks so much for hanging out with
us today on our first episode. You can find me
on my social media accounts at Austin Hanquitz and you
can find me at Jokieto Dinano podcast. You can follow
(35:45):
Into It QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks, and
to get the tools that you need to start, run
and grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today
and be sure to catch the next episode of Mind
the Business Small Business success Stories on Thursday, April thirteenth,
where we speak to viral marketer Andrea Casanova on the
different ways to effectively build your brand strategy. You won't
(36:06):
want to miss that one, so don't forget to follow, rate,
and review this show wherever you listen to podcasts so
you can stay up to date on our future episodes
and check out our show notes for more info from
this episode and small business funding. And a huge thank
you to our guest Ami Kamoji. This podcast is a
production of iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks. Our executive producer
is Molly Sosha, our supervising producer is in the Kia Swinton,
(36:30):
and our writer is Tyree Rush. Our head of post
production is James Foster and we will see you next time.
The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast are
solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent
those of Into It QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone
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Into It QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating
(00:22):
or revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before
relying on them. Hey everyone, and welcome to the very
first episode of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories,
a podcast brought to you by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
I'm Austin Hankwitz, hosted the Rate of Return podcasts and
(00:44):
co founder of wits Ventures. But you may recognize me
from my short form videos about the personal finance and
investing on TikTok and I'm Jenny's Torres, the creator and
host of the award winning personal finance podcast Jokioo the Neto.
You may have come across one of my videos on
social media where I empower others with personal finance knowledge
in every episode of this podcast, you'll hear Austin and
(01:04):
I chatting with small business owners as they share their
stories about the ups and downs of only a small business.
Plus we'll learn from their experience about how you can
help fortify and strengthen your own business. That's right, Genius,
and I'm really excited for everyone to hear this podcast.
And I'm so happy you'll be coming along this right
with me to hear some awesome entrepreneurial stories. Today we're
(01:25):
talking about capital and funding, but before we bring on
our guest and dive into all that, I'd love to know, Genius,
more about your business journey. So I realized now I
was charting a path to becoming a content creator, even
before that was an actual thing. I started my small
business journey in twenty thirteen and I was looking for
a creative outlet from my corporate engineering job. I followed
(01:48):
in my dad's footsteps to be an engineer, but I
felt like this wasn't the thing I'm meant to do,
and so I actually started a food blog called delish
Delights dot com, where I started sharing my Puerto Rican
heritage and recipes online. And I took it from a
hobby into a business by learning the ins and outs
of what content creators do for monetization purposes, so things
(02:08):
like affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, putting ads on my website.
And after a couple of years of doing the solopreneurs thing,
I realized there's nobody in my circle who's doing this
stuff too, and so I turned to the Internet to
start learning more about personal finance entrepreneurship, and I ended
up getting addicted to podcasts so much so that after
(02:31):
a couple of years of being a consumer of podcasts,
I decided to start my own, which is Yokioo the Neto,
and on the show, I really wanted to create a
community of changemakers and highlighting stories of people who are
in communities of color that typically don't hear entrepreneurial success
stories and folks who are pursuing financial independence. And it
(02:52):
became an accidental business, and ten years later I could
absolutely say that this is not any part of my plan.
I have always approached entrepreneurship from a place of curiosity
and passion and just wanting to explore these crazy thoughts
that come into your head. And so from becoming a
(03:13):
food blogger, to now being a full time podcaster and
content creator. My mission has always just been to connect
with stories and to find inspiration that not only now
I can use, but folks who are in my community
can use as well. Yeah, I'm right there with Eugenius.
So I'm also a small business owner, not a veteran
like yourself. Not ten years. So what happened was I
(03:35):
actually graduated from the University of Tennessee back in twenty
eighteen with this degree in finance and economics. Super nerd
I love it. I ended up doing mergers and acquisitions
for a publicly traded healthcare company. I did that for
about three years, and then I was sent home right
during COVID like everyone else, to work from home. But
instead of lip syncing and dancing on TikTok, I decided
to share my experience of paying down my student loans,
(03:57):
growing my credit score, and even buying my house right.
And I did this all from a place of authenticity
and transparency because I'm a really big believer that the
wealth gap in America is only going to get smaller
if we get as many people as possible to be
owners of assets, not so much consumers. Right, And so
now I'm a full time, constant creator. But what's been
really fun about this is I've also been able to
(04:19):
invest into the businesses that i'm advertising, if that makes sense.
So a fintech or a financial technology company that I
would use would say, hey, Austin, this is so cool
that you're a creator now, which you want to talk
about us and say, sure, but I love what you're
doing so much. Right, I'm a customer as well. Can
I own equity in your business? Right back to that
idea of the owner mindset? And so that's what's so
exciting about this episode we have coming up right now,
(04:41):
is this is all about raising money, raising capital. And
I'm not saying with the money I'm investing as materially
raising that capital for these people, but it's more of
a sign of hey, I'm with you in solidarity. I
want to grow this with you. So that is really
what I've been up to over the last three years.
I host a podcast called the Rate of Return Podcast.
I've got the Rate of Return newsletter over ten thousand
subscribers of people who work across a bunch of different careers,
(05:03):
and we've also invested into twenty six different startups from
the preset all the way to Series C. It's creator economy,
it's fintech, it's even a mail shampoo company, believe it
or not. So all these really really cool opportunities that
have been afforded. As a constant creator and a small
business owner at that of course, uses QuickBooks. QuickBooks literally
saved my sanity. It wasn't until I started using QuickBooks
(05:26):
that I actually knew what was going on with my
money and capital or money and how to raise it
is what we're talking about today. I decided to take
the route of business credit cards and small business grants.
So I don't think I'm at the place where I've
started thinking about venture capital just yet. But it's always
really interesting to find these stories of folks who go
(05:48):
and pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists and make
magic happen with other people's money. I love that. So,
speaking of other people's money, Austin, can you talk about
the way is that a business can raise capital? Most definitely.
So there's a couple ways that come to mind. The
first way is you know, other people's money. Angel investors, right,
(06:09):
These are those wealthy individuals who want to invest into
small precede or even seed stage startups. We think about
shark tank, Right, that's essentially an angel investor. So the
next one list is VC funding, right, venture capitalists, And
this is essentially like private money. Think about like a
mutual fund, how people kind of pulled together millions of dollars. Well,
that's the same thing here. A firm would come out,
(06:31):
pull together tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to
then invest that money into budding, seed or precede stage startups. Right,
we're gonna hear from one here very soon. She raised
more than six million dollars from venture capitalists investors. The
next one that comes to mind is crowdfunding. And I
think we've all kind of heard of this one before,
right Indiego, Go, Kickstarter, other things like that. Right. This
is essentially rallying your community, your friends, your family, to say, hey,
(06:55):
give me money so I can build my business. Right.
One that I think you mentioned here earlier with credit
cards and things of that nature of the small business loans. Right,
this is going into debt to fund your small business
if that might be the operating capital needed or are
things that nature to get off the ground. You'll see
tons of different banks offering small business loans and things
that nature. Even I think the United States government even
(07:15):
have some small business loans as well. Yep, the Small
Business Administration also known as the SBA. That is it. Okay,
there we go. And the last one that comes to
mind are grants. Right, This is money received from anyone
who's trying to solve a problem to qualify for a grant.
It could be nearly anything, right, could be your background,
your experience. I've been kind of like, I think of
this as a scholarship to college in the sense that
(07:37):
you have these very specific parameters, you check the boxes,
and you get to apply for this money. But for
a little perspective, here are some quick stats as it
relates to how business owners who want to start a
business in twenty twenty three plan to fund it. So,
the most popular way is using their own money or savings.
The second most popular is a loan from family or friends,
(07:58):
the third most popular is a business loan from a
commercial lender, and way at the bottom is the VC
funding that venture capital funding that we're going to get
into a little bit more today. So those are the
different ways that I can think of as it relates
to funding a business. But do you mind walking us
through a little bit more about your own experience with grants.
I think grants are probably the most accessible for folks,
(08:21):
especially people who don't necessarily have a network of people
that they can leverage as investors. As a first generation entrepreneur,
I don't have a lot of people in my circle
who I can just be like, hey, guys, can you
write me a check because I have this really cool
business idea, And so when it comes to funding your
business without having to take on debt, grants are really
really key. And there are federal grants and state grants
(08:43):
and even grants from corporations. So, as someone who's received
a grant before, how did you decide that that was
the right way to raise money for your business? Why
did you do it grants and maybe not crowdfunding or
an angel investor. I think for me, just because of
the nature of my business, I really am still trying
to figure out what exactly it is I do as
a podcaster, an influencer, content creator. In my head, I'd
(09:06):
never pictured pitching what I do to venture capitalists. It
just did an equate I usually think about that for
like a product based business or a technology company, So
For me, I was just operating in a very small
business mindset and I wanted to be able to actually
offer a scholarship program where I could teach people for
(09:27):
free about investing. And I found an organization that supports
that type of work and they gave me a grant
that I could use to then give money to people
who participated in the program to start investing. Right. So,
there's like so many different things that you can do
with the money that you receive from grants, and it's
out there for the taking. I think that's really powerful.
And I also think you hit the nail right on
(09:48):
the head as it relates to angel investors or vcs,
like a very product based or technology based. Right. The
person we're going to be talking here with soon, she
has a payment processing platform. It's one of these businesses
that can grow to a multi billion dollar enterprise if
it can scale enough. And so that's what I think
the big differences between raising from an angel investor in
vcs and stuff like that, or raising from grants or crowdfunding. So, Austin,
(10:12):
as a content creator like me, did you raise any
funds for your business as a content creator? It's been
very lean, just kind of get a laptop, maybe a camera, microphone,
it's maybe a thousand dollars or so if you're able
to do it right. But I would say that if
I was to try and find capital right now, would
actually be through a technique we have not yet talked about,
and that is borrowing against existing assets, specifically my portfolio.
(10:35):
So I've got thirty thousand dollars in a brokerage account
right now on a platform that allows me to borrow
against that if I need liquidity. So, for example, if
I had wanted to perhaps take on a bigger project
or maybe hire an employee, I could borrow up to
twenty five or even fifty percent of that amount at
a reasonable interest rate to then deploy toward that project.
(10:55):
So Austin, if someone doesn't have a portfolio, can they
still access capital this way? So that's a really good question.
The short answer is no, and that's because there's no
collateral to borrow against. However, having a stock portfolio is
only one form of collateral. Perhaps they might have a
house or perhaps something else that's generally expensive, a car,
(11:16):
a valuable of some sort that they would be able
to borrow against. That's a really interesting way to leverage
funds you already have for a new project. Now that
we have a better idea of the most common ways
to raise capital, let's hear from our guest about her journey. Today.
We're joined by Ami Comoji. Ami is a Stanford trained physician,
(11:37):
an x BCG consultant turned founder CEO of Sika Health.
At the age of six, Amy emigrated from Ghana with
the dream of becoming a physician and achieving that dream,
she learned how broken the financial side of US healthcare
can be. That's why she created Seka Health in order
to reinvent the way we pay for our health. Seeka
Health is a consumer first payment company that enables merchants
(11:59):
to accept funds at checkout from health savings accounts or
HSA's and flexible spending accounts or FSAs, so we can
all afford our health needs. You might be familiar with
these types of accounts as you may have an HSA
or FSA yourself, or they might be something that you
offer to your employees. Amy started funding for her company
during the pandemic and has raised a six point two
(12:20):
million dollars seed round from world class investors. Ami, welcome
to the show. Thank you so much, Janis and Austin.
It's wonderful to be here. Thank you so much for
hanging out with us. Ammi. I think a really good
place to start this conversation is for us to understand
the origin story of seek A Health, and I believe
(12:42):
it has to do with your mother being laid off
during the pandemic and the decisions that had to be
made because of that, like having to become a tax
expert essentially overnight, just to figure out how to use
those healthcare funds from her job. Can you walk me
through how that circumstantially inspired you to start this company
so exactly as you mentioned, inspiration for starting Seeka actually
happened in twenty twenty when unfortunately, my mom was laid
(13:05):
off of her job. She's working as a hotel worker
at the time, and that meant that she was going
to lose her health plan, of which her FASA was
part of. That the FSA is a wonderful tool and
that it does allow you to spend that money pre
tax on your health, but in her case, it was unfortunately,
use it or lose it. And the hardest part about
these tools is that you can only spend them on
(13:26):
certain things, and no one tells you what those things are.
So we actually had to scramble to try to figure
out and exactly like you're saying, practically to become tax
experts overnight in order to determine how we could use
these funds. But in doing so we learned a lot,
and I learned a lot and really three things specifically
that ended up giving the court insights for starting SEEKA.
(13:47):
So first and foremost, I learned that there are way
more ways to spend FSA and HSA dollars than most
people realize, things like glasses, fitness equipment like a peloton
bike or gym membership, certain nutritional vitamins and supplements, maybe
even pet supplies for an emotional support animal or a
service animal, so a really really broad range of expenses.
(14:09):
The second thing we realized, and this I think was
sort of the root cause, was that not only did
a lot of consumers like my mom not know how
to spend these funds, but a lot of merchants struggle
to accept FSA and HSA funds as a form of payment.
In fact, many of them don't even know which of
their items are eligible and which aren't. The third core
(14:30):
insight here is that there are about seventy million people
in the US who have either an FSA or an HSA,
and about one hundred and fifty billion dollars flows through
these accounts every year, and a lot of times the
money just sits there, and in some cases like what
almost happened to my mom, and people actually lose money
to the tune of about eight billion dollars every year
(14:50):
when these funds expire. So for all those reasons and
all the learnings, I saw that there was a real
opportunity for improvement, a very big market, and an urgent need,
and that's why I decided to start seek a Health.
Got it Okay? So for everyone listening right now, can
you explain the differences actually between an HSA and an FSA,
(15:11):
and then why are those differences so important for the
problem that you're solving with seek a Health. So episades
and hsas are really one of the best tools out
there to help people to save on their various healthcare needs.
But part of what comes with utilizing these tools is
knowing the key differences between them exactly like you're mentioning,
(15:32):
and so even though they sound really similar, they're actually
really different in terms of how and when you can
spend these dollars. For h says, the money actually rolls
over from year to year, and you can actually invest
those dollars over time and grow those funds to be
a really large pot of money. For episays, they're use
it or lose it, which means you have to use
them within the course of a year, and in some cases,
(15:55):
let's say, if you lose your job, you actually might
have to spend them right away, within the month. And
so what that means for us, and the problem that
we're solving is that there can be a lot of urgency,
both because there's a big pot of money that you
don't want just sitting there, and also because the funds
might be expiring on a deadline, and that makes it
really important to make it easier for people to identify
(16:17):
where and how they can spend these dollars. So the
way that we solve that problem specifically is that we
actually show up at checkout. We show up as a
payment method, very similar to let's say a buy now,
pay later product that you've seen, or perhaps a PayPal
except the difference with us is that you can actually
link your health funds as a form of payment. And
behind the scenes, we're doing a bunch of things on
(16:38):
the regulatory front, helping the merchants get certified and figure
out which items counting can be improved in which items
are not. But the goal is for you as the
consumer and the shopper, to have a really easy experience,
a really easy way to buy the products that you
need and save money doing it, and likewise for merchants
to be able to offer you a new way to pay.
(17:00):
Were you surprised when you found this huge literacy gap
when it comes to how these accounts work? And were
you surprised that no one has thought of fixing this
problem before? You know? I don't know that I can
say that I was surprised. Unfortunately, in our healthcare system,
a lot of problems look like this where things are
just very broken, not because it's anyone's fault or intention right,
(17:23):
but because there's a literacy gap. And what that means
is there is an opportunity for companies like us to
be created to close those gaps on behalf of consumers,
but also on behalf of other businesses, and that's what
is creating the opportunity for us. So this episode is
all about capital raising and fund raising all that fun stuff.
(17:44):
You raised six point two million dollars from some of
the most well known and I mean four runner ventures.
Urikim is an incredible woman. So what I'm trying to
get out here, though, is, I mean, how did you
do that? Right? What were some maybe unexpected challenges involved
you get any curveballs headed your way. I also read
that it was kind of the chicken and the egg
problem with hiring people, So maybe walk us through that
(18:06):
process as well, and maybe not having a team yet
when you were raising it. I'd love to know you're
exactly right. It was definitely a lot of challenges. Part
of the reason I knew I needed to fundraise was that,
you know, in order to solve this problem, I needed
a really good team, a really strong team, particularly on
the engineering on the product side, and many of those
folks currently work in tech. You are paid incredibly well, right,
(18:30):
So it was a chicken and egg problem for sure,
But I decided that the way to start was to
bring on incredible partners on the investment side who could
then help by providing the capital I needed to attract
a wonderful team in terms of my journey fundraising. I
definitely don't come from the traditional tech background. I've actually
(18:52):
never worked in tech professionally. My background is as a physician,
as you've mentioned, and I previously worked as a healthcare consultant,
which meant that I didn't necessarily have an automatic rolodex
of tech focused investors to call right away. And so
what did I do? I actually started really close to home.
Started by telling everyone that I knew, I was really
(19:15):
excited about this problem, that I wanted to start this business,
and many of those people were my previous mentors or
bosses or friends, maybe folks that had started companies before.
And it didn't really even feel like I was pitching,
or it wasn't intending to pitch. It was mostly just
telling my story. And sometimes there was an ask for advice,
(19:37):
but sometimes it was an ask for capital. And the
more comfortable I became, the more I began to ask.
And there are plenty of nos, but eventually I did
get to a first yes and then the next yes.
And when I set out to fundraise, I set out
to raise half a million dollars, but within a few
weeks I had actually surpassed that goal and raised over
(20:00):
one point two million, And that was because the people
that I was speaking with, you know, really believed in
the opportunity, and they also really believed in me, and
you know, it became evident that this was a problem
that desperately needed to be solved. And the other thing
that happened was that many of those people actually knew
investors or knew people who knew investors, and so they
(20:22):
were able to help me with introductions. And eventually those
at the introductions that helped me get pulled into the
room in front of Forerunner Ventures and Shine Capital and
the co founders of Plaid some of the people who
eventually led my seed round a few weeks later. That's
absolutely incredible, And I think another amazing part of your
(20:44):
story is the fact that you did this during the pandemic,
which I think a lot of people would be like,
I don't know if this is the right time to
be asking people for money to fund a new business.
So did you ever run into just mindset blocks or
concerns that this was not going to work out the
way that you intended. Yeah, So that's one of the
hardest things about the entrepreneurial journey is there always will
(21:07):
be challenges. There will always be setbacks, and one of
the most important things is to quiet the noise, fake
it till you make it, and just know that if
you can get your ideas across, convey your message, which
is that this is a problem that needs to be
solved today. Actually this is a problem that's even more
urgent because of the pandemic. How many of us have
(21:28):
lost our jobs, how many of us have dealt with
health issues. How many of us could use a way
to save money on our health needs as a result
of this broader climate, So you know, they're certainly you
know there are ways that the pandemic made things harder.
But I had the belief internally that actually that was
(21:48):
the reason why this needed to exist now, and then
as a result, I was able to convey that to
the people around me. Coming up on Mind the Business
Small Business success Stories. Fundamentally, fundraising is a form of
relationship building, so people don't invest in companies, they invest
(22:10):
in people. We'll be right back after the break. Welcome
back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories brought
to you by iHeartRadio and into a quick books. So
(22:31):
I'm curious if there's any maybe one or two tactical
things that you did during this fundraising that really led
to success. Was it a pitch deck that you were
just combing through a thousand times? Was it practicing your
pitch in front of the mirror? Was like, what was
maybe a couple of tactical things that you were practicing
and doing that truly led to the success that you
(22:51):
experienced in this round? You know, I think the way
I'll answer that is by saying that I do think
preparation is underrated in general, especially in the way that
these stories of fundraising come about. It's made to sound
really magical, like all of a sudden, who woke up
and had this great idea and then a bunch of
people started throwing money at me? And that's just not
(23:11):
how it works. By the time I was pitching to
say Forerunner, I had done my pitch a thousand times,
certainly in front of the mirror, but most importantly in
front of other people who could give me advice, who
could critique the way I answered this question, who could
give me insight into how I could convey my message
(23:33):
even better. And so part of what that looked like
tactically was setting up meetings with all sorts of colleagues
just to practice and having docs, I would list out
all the questions that I could possibly get and the
ways that I would handle some of those questions and
those objectives. I think the takeaway here is that fundraising,
(23:55):
like any skill, is one that can be learned, one
that can be improved, and one that can be perfected
over time, and you know it's important to invest in
some of that preparation upfront. I'd love to know how
one determines how much money you actually want to raise.
I've never raised venture capital. The whole idea of kind
(24:16):
of freaks me out, honestly, but I think it's because
I watched too much Shark Tank. So I want to know,
how do you find out you know? Or how do
you determine how much money you need and what your
strategy could be? Because right you can take out loans,
you can put things on credit cards. So how did
you decide to go with venture capital? Yeah? For me,
the way that I determined how much money I needed
to raise was actually I built a model. It was
(24:38):
maybe overly precise, to be honest, but I figured out, well,
how many people do I need to hire? First and foremost?
What will each of those people be doing, and I
knew that the biggest cost in this business given that
it was essentially a fintech business with payroll costs essentially,
so that was the major input. We would also likely
use the funds for things like marketing an office, so
(25:00):
building in some of those costs. But the lesson in
there is just to figure out why are you raising
money to begin with, what are you going to use
that money for? And then try as best as you
can to estimate about how much of those resources, how
many resources you'll need to be able to get there.
The other big piece of fundraising isn't a fundraise, it's
(25:22):
to build a great business, right, So what are the
key things that I need to figure out in this
stage to build this business and how much time and
what resources will it take for me to get there?
So we're really fundraised with the intent of bringing on
the people I needed in order to sort of prove
or disprove the hypothesis of the business. So you know,
what is it going to take to prove to yourself
(25:44):
right that this is a business that has legs? And
then fundraising ideally just enough with a little bit of
buffer of course, to help you get to that next milestone,
and then outside of that, part of how I thought
about fundraising is I really do see our busters not
just as people who provide capital, but people who are
important strategic partners and strategic thought partners. So using that
(26:09):
the fundraising process is a way to actually grow your network,
to find the right experts to bring around the table
so that you can accomplish some of these key milestones
that you have in front of you. Now, I hope
you don't mind, but I really want to rewind for
a second here, because something you talked about in the
beginning of this interview was you shared this with everyone
(26:30):
close to you, right, You shared it with your friends,
your colleagues, your mentors, all these people who were excited
to lift you up and see you succeed. What advice
would you give to the small business owner that's trying
to raise money that might not have access to investors
or friends or family with all this extra advice, time
and money to give and support. Fundamentally, fundraising is a
(26:51):
form of relationship building. So people don't invest in companies,
they invest in people. And what that means is that
it's really important for all aspects of your business. Actually
to constantly be building your network and to be building relationships.
So let's say you're a small business owner. Maybe you
don't have a network of investors potential investors today. Part
(27:12):
of what you can do is to actually find networks
of other founders and join communities. So I joined early
on a bunch of Slack groups, for example, of people
that were trying to build businesses and health tech and fintech,
people that were product oriented. That is free to everyone
and available to everyone. There are different communities. So our
(27:34):
company is built in New York, and there's actually a
community called built in NYC, and various people who have
different email list serves where you can put yourself out there.
You can write a small post, let's say, for their blog,
and so there are a lot of really creative ways
where you can just start to build your network and
start to surround yourself with people. And they might not
(27:54):
be investors right away, they might be other folks just
like you that are starting to get off the ground.
But as you build your network, as you get yourself
out there, you will be surprised your network will really
amplify and multiply, and through those loose connections here and there,
you'll be able to find the path to investors. I
guess my last question here for you, Ammy is you
(28:15):
know you probably know overall, black entrepreneurs typically receive less
than two percent of all VC dollars each year, while
company is led by black women receive less than one percent,
according to data from crunch Base. However, you beat those odds.
You US six point two million dollars from world class investors.
So my question is, how did you beat those odds?
(28:35):
And what would you tell the person that was in
your shoes maybe two years ago that had the idea
that was trying to beat those odds right now? That's
such a good question and also such an unfortunate question.
I hope for a day where there isn't this funding gap.
And you know, by some of my research, black female
founders raised point three to four percent, so a third
of one percent of the funds raised back in twenty
(28:57):
twenty one when I was raising. Part of how I
beat those odds was going back to the fundamental belief
that this business needs to exist and I'm the right
person to do it. And as cliche as it sounds,
just to bake it till you make it, you know,
I think people really get caught up in the details,
but then forget the sort of overarching message and fundraising,
(29:20):
particularly at the seed stage when there's not that much traction,
the numbers aren't that great. You need to be able
to convince yourself as well as investors of two things.
Number one, that the problem that you're solving is a big,
important and urgent problem that needs to be solved, and
number two, that you're the right person or the right
team to solve that problem. And everything else is just
(29:42):
supporting bullets. So your traction, your revenue, the market data,
but the thing that really counts, the thing that moves
people is the passion with which you speak, the conviction,
the ability to show that you will run through walls
to make it happen. And so that was part of
the difference maker for me, was just continuing to focus
(30:03):
on that as the core message and the story, and
of course big market MC data, and you know, we
had this level of commercial interests, but it really just
came down to grounding myself and I know this is
a big important problem and it needs to be solved,
and number two, I'm the right person to do it. Therefore,
come on board and help me build this business. I
(30:25):
love kind of ending things on an inspirational note, right,
So tell the aspiring capital raisers who are listening to
this right now, your best motivational saying or phrase or
something that you held onto during the process. Well, one
that comes to mind is you either win or you learn.
(30:46):
There's no such thing as losing. At least for me.
This journey really is about the learning. No matter how
this business turns out, and I know that we have
a very very strong outcome ahead of us, But the
most important thing is just focusing on the learning, focusing
on you know, what are the things that are working,
what are the things that aren't working so well? What
are some of the areas that our strengths for me?
(31:07):
Where are some of the areas that might be holding
me back? How do I apply that learning mindset to
every interaction that I have, whether it's with customers or
with my team. And of course through the fundraising process too.
I learned a lot during the fundraising process, and in fact,
the times that I learned the most was from the nose.
Some of the things that I learned from the nose
(31:28):
were which types of investors would be most interested in
the business, that I was building, and it was through
that learning that I was able to correct and navigate,
you know, change this or that about the way that
I tell my story and the audience to whom I
tell it to, so that I could find that right
fit that I eventually landed on. So if I could
(31:49):
tell your listeners anything is focus on the learning and
remind yourself that you either win or you learn, and
there's no such thing as losing. I mean, I think
that your boldness, the passion for what you're doing, and
just your confidence. I could feel like when you would
walk into a room to pitch, people could just feel
how excited you were to make an impact with your business,
(32:10):
and so I have to credit that for your success.
So I just want to thank you for being an inspiration.
Especially as a woman of color. It's so rare for
us to see examples of folks who are really able
to make these things happen and to place themselves in
rooms where we might not have seen ourselves represented before.
So just thank you for the work that you do
just by being you. Thank you so much, and hopefully
(32:30):
the takeaway here is that you being different coming from
a different background, whether it's an ethnic difference, or a
gender difference, or a country difference, or professional difference. All
those differences can be advantages because it is so important
to lean on your own personal experiences. That is the
source of your conviction, your strength, that's what makes you
(32:51):
compelling as a founder and an owner and a builder.
So the more that we can lean into our differences,
I think the more successful we will be. Thank you
so much for joining us. I mean, this was I
learned so much. I'm sure a lot of the listeners
here are pumped, they're excited, they're inspired, especially by your story. Right,
this was awesome. I can't wait to do this again,
hopefully sometime soon. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank
(33:13):
you so much for having me, Austin and Janie. It
was wonderful to be here, and hopefully some of these
tips were helpful to your audience. Thank you so much.
That was such an incredible conversation with Ami Komoji. You know,
there are so many ways to raise capital and get
funding for a small business, and Amy is definitely on
(33:35):
one end of that spectrum raising millions of dollars with
multiple investors, but there are so many other ways, like bootstrapping.
When you're doing it on your own grants, which we
talked about earlier, and asking friends and family. You just
really have to find what's the best fit for your
business and your situation. I'm curious, Austin, what stuck out
most to you about this conversation. Totally agree, great conversation.
(33:56):
I think a couple of things really stuck out to me.
The first one was the preparation. Right We asked her
about what all went into a successful raise, and she
talked about a thousand times that she'd pitched. That is incredible,
lots of practice, lots of preparation. I think that's incredibly
important for someone listening right now. The preparation is key.
The second thing that really stuck out to me was
just how interesting of a problem she's solving and how
(34:20):
big of a total addressable market that is. She mentioned
billions of dollars gets wasted every single year with the
hsas and FSAs. But then also the urgency around that.
I mean, she gave such a personalized story with her
mother and how she was laid off and you know
she only had a month to spend this money, but
how to become a tax expert overnight to even be
able to do that what about you? What a couple
of things that stuck out to Eugenius. I absolutely love
(34:41):
the fact that she didn't let the dismal statistics that
exist around black entrepreneurs receiving venture capital as a deterrent
for her even pursuing that right, because I think a
lot of what I've discovered about entrepreneurship is your mind
will keep you from opportunities and we'll stop you from
pursuing things before anybody actually tells you know. And so
the fact that she said, you know what, the stats
(35:03):
don't favor me, but I'm still going to show up
and I will take all the knows because it all
starts with one. Yes. That's so inspiring and that's I
think one of my favorite parts of entrepreneurship is the
mindset work and the confrontation of limiting beliefs that we
constantly have to do to create things out of nothing. Yeah,
And I really think it kind of leans back into
(35:24):
what she was saying. It's not a win lose situation.
It's a win or you learn, right. It's an up
in its ounds, yes and knows, but we're winning and
we're learning. It's never a win lose situation. Absolutely well,
good stuff everyone. Thanks so much for hanging out with
us today on our first episode. You can find me
on my social media accounts at Austin Hanquitz and you
can find me at Jokieto Dinano podcast. You can follow
(35:45):
Into It QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks, and
to get the tools that you need to start, run
and grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today
and be sure to catch the next episode of Mind
the Business Small Business success Stories on Thursday, April thirteenth,
where we speak to viral marketer Andrea Casanova on the
different ways to effectively build your brand strategy. You won't
(36:06):
want to miss that one, so don't forget to follow, rate,
and review this show wherever you listen to podcasts so
you can stay up to date on our future episodes
and check out our show notes for more info from
this episode and small business funding. And a huge thank
you to our guest Ami Kamoji. This podcast is a
production of iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks. Our executive producer
is Molly Sosha, our supervising producer is in the Kia Swinton,
(36:30):
and our writer is Tyree Rush. Our head of post
production is James Foster and we will see you next time.
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