April 11, 2022 • 25 mins
Dawn Dickson - Akpoghene became the first female founder to raise 1 million dollars through crowdfunding. Additionally, she is the founder of PopCom, Flat Out of Heels, and several other businesses.
Dawn shares her views on entrepreneurship, her first foray into building her businesses, and the difference between crowdfunding & boot strapping. In addition, she communicates all her favorite programs that will help anyone start a business and the value of networking with people you know today.
Host IG: @itstanyatime
Guest IG: @dawnwdickson
To learn more about crowdfunding: Dawn Dickson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the key to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. Our next
(00:22):
guest is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with over twenty
years experience in technology, entrepreneurship, startups, marketing and business development.
She is the founder of five successful companies since two
thousand and one, including Flat out of Heels two thousand eleven,
Popcom two thousand seventeen, and considered to be one of
the pioneers in the equity crowd funding space. In two
(00:45):
thousand nineteen, she became the first female founder to raise
over one million dollars in an equity crowdfunding campaign. Money Movers, Please,
Welcome to the podcast. Don Dixon Apoginy Don. It's a
pleasure to have you here. Yeah, thank you so much
for having me. I'm so excited to be here today.
I'm so excited because you know, are on our Money
Moves podcast. We originally launched with the Money Moves Boss
(01:07):
Women Edition, So I'm really excited for you to pick
up the torch and carry it on. Here on I
Heart Radio. So this is super, super exciting and it's
an honor to have you here today. Thank you. So,
first of all, don tell us a little bit about
how you got started in the journey of entrepreneurship. You've
done several successful companies. Let's take us back to the
beginning in your first for it into starting a business. Yeah, definitely,
(01:30):
So I think it was it was I was born
with this because it's always something in me that was
just like being enterprising as a kid. It was like
a hustle, selling toys, selling candy, always kind of the
ways to make money. But then you know, of course
I don't know. I'm forty two, and in my family,
entrepreneurship meant you didn't have a job, and it wasn't
a topic about going to college. Go to college, get
(01:54):
a job, get your four one K, and retire. So
that's the path that I really followed to make my
parents happy in I got out of college after three years,
got a corporate job pretty easily, great salary, got my
BMW always wanted. And then I was sitting there realizing
that I was not fulfilled at all, and I felt
something calling me and something pulling me away, and I
(02:14):
knew that I wanted to do something on my own.
So while I was at my desk of Nationwide Insurance
in two thousand and one, I started working on my
very first tech company called the Urban Star, with one
of my with my friend who was my business partner,
and as I built that business from my desk and
built it that night and got the confidence after I
started getting users and growing that business, I quit my
(02:35):
corporate job after eight months and I've been more since then.
So luckily my first business was a success and it
gave me the confidence to go on, but everything was
not a success. Now twenty one years, twenty years later,
I now have started six companies, five or selling business today.
And I really call myself the seal entrepreneur and a
problem solver or steal problem solver because I experienced problems myself.
(03:00):
I go out looking for solutions and when I don't
find it, then I start the business. And that's that's
how I'm here today. Wow. I mean, I love that
story because I do feel like entrepreneurship is a bug.
And so many entrepreneurs that we talked to, you know,
they look back and they go, I've always had this
I've always had this bug, and I just love having
people tell those stories because some people have always had it.
(03:20):
But it's also something that can definitely be learned. Yes,
I do believe that it can be learned, because the
thing is, you have that urge to do something and
you and I knew that I wasn't meant to be
traditional work the night of five and retire at sixty five.
But I didn't know how to run a base. I
didn't know how to be an entrepreneur. And like I said,
back when I was in school, there was no entrepreneurship major.
(03:41):
There was no Shark Tank on TV, and there was
none of the things that are out here today to
encourage people to start a business. And so I really
was like filling around in the dark for a long
time until I came across really great mentors, like a friend.
We share and comment Angela Bitton figure out what it
means to be a CEO and what of means to
run a business. But until then we're just like filling
(04:03):
our way through it. You know, absolutely, absolutely, Okay, So
I want, I mean, we have a limited amount of time,
and there's so much in that brain of yours that
I just want to pull out, but I want you
to give people sort of a rundown of some of
your companies, because I think a lot of them will
remember some of your businesses. For sure. I know the
Heels Spending Machine was one, but just sort of take
(04:23):
us through that trajectory of some of the companies you started. Yeah, definitely.
And when I look back and tell my story, I
realized that I wasn't aware, but that everything that I
was doing was preparing me for where I am today.
And a lot of times things don't make sense how
they happen, or things that don't work out, and things
that do work out, and then we realize and look
back like, wow, it was all for my greater good.
(04:43):
So I started my first company, like I said, from
the desk at work, and it was a website that
again this isn't two thousand and one, so the very
early days of internet marketing. So we had an entertainment
and event website that really helped me to gain experience
and building a business and understanding like what I was doing.
And then I was in tech and didn't even know
I was in tech because in Columbus, Ohio, and no
(05:05):
one even said, hey, this is a tech company. So
I grew that and it led me to starting a
consulting business. Because after I grew my business, which was
a website in a very new way of communicating and
selling products in the early two thousand's, I built my
site over a hundred thousand unique busits a month just
from Columbus, Ohio, and many businesses at this time they
did not have websites or a web presence, and so
(05:26):
they started to contact me saying, Dawn, can you do
this for me? And I was like, well, I guess
I can, but I can't do it under Urban Star
because this is an entertainment site. So I started to
deal a consulting group now sixteen years ago to provide
consulting services from marketing and business development for businesses. So
I did that for now. I still have that company
and we now work with crowdfunding clients, which then that
(05:47):
led me to working with many different businesses and I
realized that I love to start gettings started. I love
to I d eight, I love to get the foundation set.
But I realized too that I need my own thing.
So after vaulting for six years, I started to feel
like I wanted to try something different, and I'm seeing
(06:07):
a pattern in myself that after about five years, I
get kind of bored and I'm ready to do something else.
So I was like, you know, God, give me something good,
give me a good idea. And this is in my
early thirties. I was definitely in Miennial South Beach party
and in all the clubs back then. I know, I've
seen you before. I see the kind of heels you wear,
(06:29):
so I know for me when you know them heels,
they have an exploration and they used it last about
thirty minutes before they hurt. That's why they called dinner shoes.
Just supposed to sit down and beauty club in them.
And so the idea was all these women in the
club looking good. But then they that good goes too
bad when I take them heels off and walk barefoot.
(06:50):
So I said, let me, you know, let me solve
this problem. Decided to sell rollable ballet flags, and I
felt like vending machines was a good way to distribute products.
So my big of the brain was just thinking of
how do I get my product in the hands of
the customer, the woman when she needs it the most.
At that pain point. It's not going online it's not
going to the store, you're in the club. Well wow,
(07:12):
well when you're thirsty, you can get it drink out
of a vending machine. How come we can't buy other
things and vending machines when we feel that pain point?
So that led me to vending pain point. Then I
got into the vending business and realized, oh my gosh,
vending machines are dumb, they have no data. They I
can't grow a business using these derrido vending machines. I
(07:32):
have to make this more innovative. So I pulled back
and reach back to my technology background from at this
point ten years ago, and let me add some software
to these vending machines so that allow them to essentially
do the same things that um Google Analytics provide and
shopify propos. So again, this is me solving my own problem.
I saw my own problem because my feed hurt. I
(07:53):
saw my own problem because I needed software. And that's
just how I continue to innovate. Just two years ago,
right before COVID, I moved back to my hometown of Plumbas, Ohio.
No living in l A and Miami, lots of vegan
food options. Living in Columbus, Ohio, there was having two restaurants.
So again, I'm vegan for many years, solve my own problem,
open a vegan restaurant and it's still doing well to
(08:16):
this day. So that's just how my process goes. You know.
Right now, I'm full time CEO Popcom. I'm here in
our office and it's a big undertaking, you know, to
be raised over five million dollars to to this date
and continue to raise capital. So even though I'm a
sea entrepreneur, I am focused on being CEO this business.
And then I hire and bring on teams to run
the other one I saw the yoga studio. I have
(08:38):
a god. I don't overwhelm you guys, but I think
the thing of my life is solving problems and building teams,
which I found is my strength. So one of the
things that I love about you. And especially as we
look back in the tech as technology and getting into
the startup in technology world, there's been this discourse that
fundraising is hard, that there's so many need barriers, especially
(09:01):
for people of color or underrepresented founders. But then what
really inspires is we have women like yourself who have
raised funds in multiple different ways, from boots dropping to
creating revenue generating businesses to fundraising in the traditional VC world,
um through raising friends and family VC rounds, etcetera. And
so I want to dig into sort of your thoughts
(09:23):
on fundraising as a black woman and then hopefully get
into some more deeper dives where you can offer us
some tips in each of those areas. I would love to.
And I've raised capital for all of my businesses, and
what I've discovered is that all businesses don't need the
same type of capital and they don't have need the
same timing. Everyone automatically wants to say, I'm starting a business,
(09:44):
let me pitch to the It's not every business is
not a good fit for venture capital. That's why of
my five businesses, only two have went the VC route.
The first business I started, I raised money for my
father ten thousand dollars. That's a friends and family round.
We use that money, we grew our audience space, we
generate a revenue, and we bootstrapped to revenue. We never
raised another time. The company didn't fail, we decided to
(10:07):
close it down. So I used friends and family seed
money and then the sales of the revenue that that
grew the business. For some businesses. That's good if you
want to grow a lifestyle business, which means essentially your
business pays for your lifestyle. You have a good salary,
you have a life, but it's not scaling to multimillions,
but it covers your life that with a lifestyle business.
(10:27):
And it's really really funny, don because I feel like,
especially as like a woman entrepreneur, I've started businesses myself.
You know, oftentimes you would go into accelerator programs are
different things, or you talked to different people in the
VC community whether or not you were raising money or not,
and they go, oh, that's so cute. That's a lifestyle business,
and you know it wasn't really complementary. But you know
what would really what really drives me crazy about that,
(10:49):
especially for black women, especially for people who are listening
in on this Money Moves podcast BC is not the
end all and be all. It doesn't define your business.
And lifestyle businesses are incredibly lucrative, right there's a people
who they are. But for me, I often think that
revenue is honestly the best type of money. If you
have a company where customers are paying you, you're gaining
(11:09):
gaining revenue month over month, go with it and like
you can make multiple businesses, but king it is it
is because you know, especially with what they called lifestyle business.
I know several female founders that that that's that scale
their lifestyle business to tendant twenty million in revenue investors.
And why you still maintain your control. Now you grow slower,
(11:30):
you may not be able to move as fast, but
you still maintain control. And you have to think about
where do you see yourself in this business? How far
do you want to go and how far do you
want to give up. That's always a question to ask
yourself before you go asking for money. So my first business,
I didn't know anything. First of all, I was twenty
years old, so I didn't know anything. My second business
was a consulting company, just all cash, never raised, never
(11:50):
raised any any money until I want to go out
and get sponsorships for things, which that's want to learn
how to do grants, and I learn how to fundraise.
Then with flat out of heels, I knew I needed
money to get proto hypes, to get a website built,
and to figure out this whole vending machine situation. So
I went and raised two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
from friends and family, and what I did was reach
out to my college network. I reached out to my
(12:11):
previous clients that I worked with as a consultant because
they saw my the way I did business. And I
figured that if I could demonstrate integrity, you know that
I was a good, honest, reliable, good business person, that
would benefit me and I can ask for investment. And
it did work. So for flat out of Pills, we
bootstrapped based two fifty okay, bootstrapped for five years, and
(12:32):
then Backstage Capital came in and invested um I think
in two thousand and seventeen. So and now we have
an active crowdfunding campaign raising another two fifty and I
hired a CEO to run that business. So again, that
business relied heavily on pitch competitions. I won two hundred
thousand dollars and pitch competitions free money to keep that
business going. I knew that VC wasn't the route in
(12:55):
the early days, because in two thousand and one, I
don't know, excuse me eleven, when I started the business,
these season want anything to do with female shoes, women shoes,
no shoes. It was absolutely not. They didn't understand it,
and especially um male, it was very heavily male dominated.
A lot more women and people of color in the
VC space today change thematically ten years ago. No, So
(13:19):
I heard all no. So that wasn't the I mean.
And honestly, looking back, I wasn't a good candidate for
VC money. I did not have a plan two hundred
x or ten x that that investor money. I didn't
have a plan to return that money. So I'm glad
they didn't give it to me back then because I
wasn't going to be a good steward of it now.
Very important. Um, Okay, So we touched upon a couple
(13:41):
of things here, and I want to go back through
and get sort of deep dive into the difference between
like bootstrapping, because I think people throw that turn around
term around a lot and sometimes people don't even know
what that means. Um, so can you tell us in
your definition, Like, you know, you gave us an example
of how you sort of bootstrapped, but like what does
bootstrapping me? Bootstrap thing is literally come from the phrase
pull it up from your bootstraps, you pay for it yourself.
(14:05):
So friends and family, friends and family, my dad and
my friends bootstrap was me leveraging my money that I
earned from my job that I was doing side the
hustles and consulting, and then also leveraging my personal credit,
which a lot of times entrepreneurs don't think about that
and we don't want to. But if it comes to
a decision where it's like let the business close or
go out and get a personal loan, I'm gonna go
(14:25):
out and get a person want them gonna keep my
business alive. So I've done everything from home equity lines
of credit to taking out personal credit cards for my
business and taking out personal loans for my business. And
it was so important for me even today to keep
my personal credit and good standing because I ever need
to fall back on it if something doesn't come through.
So that's an important lesson for beautiful your personal credit
(14:46):
in order so that you can always rely on you
if you need to bootstrap. It's a terrible feeling to
be in when you can't find an investor and you
can't leverage your own personal finances. It's very devastating actually,
and I've been there as well. Something also want to
highlight to this bootstrapping piece because I think this falls
into that category. As well, is these free pitch competitions,
(15:07):
and I think sometimes people overlook the value of this
is free money. There's not a lot of free money
out there, but if you are passionate about the business
your building and can pitch that on stage, free money,
that is like one that was I mean, I remember
when I won the Essence Festival pitch competition. We had
no money in the bank. I got on that stage
and I said, this, my whole business depends on me
(15:30):
winning this. If I don't win this, we're done. And
when one dollars and brought my business back to life,
and you know, that was free money. And that's happened
multiple times. And it also comes with just you know,
walking on faith, which is really an important part of
the journey. But then just having that confidence, you know,
just getting up there and just showing that you know
your numbers. If you know your numbers and you know
(15:51):
your business and you can tell investors how you're going
to return their money, that's what they want to hear.
A lot of founders get on stage and tell stories
and want to talk about their life and you know,
their hardships. Investors don't care at all. Yeah, the numbers,
the numbers. Yeah, absolutely, I think I think a lot
of people think that if they're just show that there,
(16:12):
you need to be passionate. But you know, I often
tell people fundraising and getting BC money and I know
we're talking about bootstrapping and stuff. It's not philanthropy. They're
looking for a ten x return like it is an
investment for a reason. It is not investor's job to
be your friend or to do you a favor. They
are in it to make money, and you have to
create a mutually beneficial situation for you to make money
(16:34):
and for them to make money. They able to clearly
demonstrate that to them. It's a it's like a marriage,
you know. As you know, I know you're very familiar
with the space, and people don't really think deeply as
to what it means that I'm taking an investor. You're
taking a person in that you're closer with them. Sometimes
you're family members. Yeah, absolutely, John. And another thing I
think that is really interesting is you've been in this
(16:55):
game for like over two decades now. Technology has enabled
us to bootstrap in so many differ ways. You think
back to when you were the first person out there
building websites. Now people can build websites for cheap online.
There's social media products like Canva. What are some of
the tools that you've used that really help accelerate your
business for cheap you know what? I love that question
(17:15):
because when I first started twenty years ago, and technically
these things existed, I mean, how much people to build
a website? Twenty years ago, it was like a had
the hand code everything. There was no templer, there's no wicks,
there's no any type of template you can get. You know,
right now you can go and go Daddy, buy a website,
get a whole template, get your email, turnkey, get everything.
We had to literally hand code. I went to school
(17:37):
for for coding, so we actually built that website line
by line in code, and that's what it took. So
today there's so many resources I love. I love Canada
like I mean, it turned everybody into a graphic designer.
First of all, say so much money. I love tools
like bench for accounting and Gusto for human resource management.
I love things like Slack for communication and Asauna for
(17:58):
project management. I mean, I come from a time where
we're working off a spreadsheets, documents and regular email. Even
I mean I started sending email blast by BC seeing
email addresses in a O well and there's a limit
of two hundred and fifty per email. So I took
five hours every Friday to send emails. Now we have
mail Chimp and all kinds of customers relationships management software.
(18:21):
So I think automation is key in making your entrepreneurship
there and it goes smoothly. And that's why I really
also double down on automation in my company here pop
com for automating retail. I feel like automation is the
future of everything. You know, of us who are in
resistance to allowing technology to do things, we'll get left behind. Yes,
(18:42):
absolutely absolutely, And I will just also admit I'm forty
two two, so I feel like we've seen the whole
gamut of like we had dial up, we had internet,
we had early got our first email addresses, and so yeah,
when people understand and I was like, there are so
many ways out there to make your business successful and
accelerat its growth. Like I really want people to be
(19:03):
intentional about finding those tools to grow a business from.
You know, zo, I want to share one more tool
that we're talking about investing. I really rely on a
couple of different websites to source investors, like angel list,
F six s. I also use gusts and I also
rely a lot on pitchbook and crunch base to research investors.
But when I first started, there was no online investor resources.
(19:26):
You can go on f s X and just type
in anywhere in the world and find pitch competitions, accelerators, incubators, programs.
No longer have to go and just ask around and
find out, So there's there's there's really no excuse today,
That's what I say. So they want everyone wants me
to say like it's hard because I'm a black woman,
and I think definitely the system was not built for
(19:47):
people of color at all. It was made until it
comes Valley, we know that it was made for this
group of people, and that's what they were doing. However,
the people like Angela Bent and then like several others,
have really opened those doors for us, and I don't
think use black as an excuse anymore. There's enough high
net worth black people that we can fund our own businesses,
which is why I chose to do prowd funding to
(20:07):
demonstrate the power of group economics them for the power
of the black dollars to do more than be hyper
consumers to demonstrate the power that we have when we
when we come together. And so I just really think
that things have changed, you know, things have changed, and
there's so many more black vcs, black lead funds, initiatives
that break those bears. So we just can't use that
(20:28):
as an excuse. And for me, I've raised his money successfully.
So even though it may have been harder, I still
did it. And you know, suiting it everything is hard.
Everything is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
I mean, it's and here's the thing. I love that
you bring that up because it's certainly some a little
bit of the unpopular opinion, because I think people really
want to hear it's so hard. You know, the ceiling
(20:49):
is so built against us, and yes it is, we
can't deny that. But I also think that, you know,
we've gone through with George Floyd and Black Lives Matter,
there is so much money out there for black people,
has been earmarked for us, and it's up to us
to go and get it. And so sharing tips on
how to do it, how to show up for a pitch,
how to invest to an investor, because oftentimes the problem
is we don't know what to do. We don't. We
(21:12):
haven't studied the people that came before us who have
done it successfully. You know, when you or Angela Benton
walk into a room, your pitches are impeccable. You know,
you speak the language that says, give me money. And
I think this is what people need to understand and
study so that we can like win. I agree. And
and the way that I did that because I started
out in Columbus, Ohio, I didn't have the network Silicon Valley,
(21:33):
I didn't go to IVY League. I literally went to
every single conference possible and I network. I sat in
the front of the room, I asked the question. I
made sure they see my face, and I stayed afterwards
and I asked the question. I made sure to connect.
I waited as long as talk down you people money more,
write it down. I started in the stats. You know
(21:54):
what I also did was I networked with people next
to me, because we sometimes forget people the seats next
to you. They are a valuable resource as well. So
I've had a lot of peer mentorship along the way,
where we guide each other, We learned, we make invest introductions,
we tell each other what right, what went wrong, We
can't always rely on the people that are the experts
(22:15):
to to help us, and so a lot of us
get upset and say, well, I don't know how to
meet the angelis or I can't get a time with
Don's calendar. But somebody's sitting right next to you that's
done what you wanna do. Talk to them, find the
information wherever possible. And I love that you say that.
You're like, I went to all the conferences. I sat there,
I sat in the front and put up my hand.
You know what, there's something to be said for being
(22:36):
the black face in the room because people actually remember that,
and then when you show up at the next conference,
they're like, oh, I know you. Now that's how Sometimes
that doesn't happen and we're the invisible face. But you
know the times when people remember you and your question
is memorable, that's a connection. And and you know, I
feel like fundraising and networking is about building relationship. It's
never all the first time you exchange cards card, but
(22:58):
the next time you see someone. The next time you
see someone also this point to like who are the
people beside you? You've been in the game for twenty years,
that person that you met beside you twenty years ago
is here now, and so we are not fun the
fund managers now. The people in the seats next to
me are running the funds now they've exited. It's so companies,
the Amazon they invested in me. What if I would
(23:19):
have felt like I was too good to talk to
them because they're sitting next to me. I understood the
value of that you never know where someone's gonna be.
It was instilled to me at very early age to
treat everyone with equal respect. That that same person that
you look down on could be the person that's going
to be right in your check. So always having that
respect for for everyone is so important. So Donn, it
(23:40):
was a pleasure having you here today, but I'd be
remissed if you didn't tell us where people can find
you on social media. They can find me on all
social media under Don Dixon, d I c K S
O WIN. I'm very active on Medium. So if you're
curious about crowd funding, the steps for crowd funding, if
you want to know my whole journey, it's free. All
the free games on my Medium page. If you want
(24:00):
me to culch you, I have a fundraising masterclass on
super period and that is live now, so you can
go on my website Don Dixon dot me and find
all the things that I offer as far as coaching
one on ones in different programs where you can find me.
You can also find me on LinkedIn and I'm very
very engaged there, so if you have any questions for me,
please messes me on LinkedIn. Oh my gosh, it was
such a pleasure down and I hope to see you
(24:22):
back again. Wishing you all the best, all the best,
and we will definitely keep our eyes focused on your
rounds to come. So congratulations on all your success and
keep going girl. We're proud of you. Thanks Tanya, Thank
you alright, Money Movers, that is all the time we
have for today. Make sure to tune in Monday through
Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves Podcast powered by Greenwood,
(24:43):
so that you too can have the keys to the
financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Thanks Money Movers, and
see you again next time. Thank you so much for
tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want more or
a recap of this episode, please go to the bank
Greenwood dot com and check out the Money Moves podcast blog. Yeah,
(25:04):
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Hey, money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the key to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. Our next
(00:22):
guest is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with over twenty
years experience in technology, entrepreneurship, startups, marketing and business development.
She is the founder of five successful companies since two
thousand and one, including Flat out of Heels two thousand eleven,
Popcom two thousand seventeen, and considered to be one of
the pioneers in the equity crowd funding space. In two
(00:45):
thousand nineteen, she became the first female founder to raise
over one million dollars in an equity crowdfunding campaign. Money Movers, Please,
Welcome to the podcast. Don Dixon Apoginy Don. It's a
pleasure to have you here. Yeah, thank you so much
for having me. I'm so excited to be here today.
I'm so excited because you know, are on our Money
Moves podcast. We originally launched with the Money Moves Boss
(01:07):
Women Edition, So I'm really excited for you to pick
up the torch and carry it on. Here on I
Heart Radio. So this is super, super exciting and it's
an honor to have you here today. Thank you. So,
first of all, don tell us a little bit about
how you got started in the journey of entrepreneurship. You've
done several successful companies. Let's take us back to the
beginning in your first for it into starting a business. Yeah, definitely,
(01:30):
So I think it was it was I was born
with this because it's always something in me that was
just like being enterprising as a kid. It was like
a hustle, selling toys, selling candy, always kind of the
ways to make money. But then you know, of course
I don't know. I'm forty two, and in my family,
entrepreneurship meant you didn't have a job, and it wasn't
a topic about going to college. Go to college, get
(01:54):
a job, get your four one K, and retire. So
that's the path that I really followed to make my
parents happy in I got out of college after three years,
got a corporate job pretty easily, great salary, got my
BMW always wanted. And then I was sitting there realizing
that I was not fulfilled at all, and I felt
something calling me and something pulling me away, and I
(02:14):
knew that I wanted to do something on my own.
So while I was at my desk of Nationwide Insurance
in two thousand and one, I started working on my
very first tech company called the Urban Star, with one
of my with my friend who was my business partner,
and as I built that business from my desk and
built it that night and got the confidence after I
started getting users and growing that business, I quit my
(02:35):
corporate job after eight months and I've been more since then.
So luckily my first business was a success and it
gave me the confidence to go on, but everything was
not a success. Now twenty one years, twenty years later,
I now have started six companies, five or selling business today.
And I really call myself the seal entrepreneur and a
problem solver or steal problem solver because I experienced problems myself.
(03:00):
I go out looking for solutions and when I don't
find it, then I start the business. And that's that's
how I'm here today. Wow. I mean, I love that
story because I do feel like entrepreneurship is a bug.
And so many entrepreneurs that we talked to, you know,
they look back and they go, I've always had this
I've always had this bug, and I just love having
people tell those stories because some people have always had it.
(03:20):
But it's also something that can definitely be learned. Yes,
I do believe that it can be learned, because the
thing is, you have that urge to do something and
you and I knew that I wasn't meant to be
traditional work the night of five and retire at sixty five.
But I didn't know how to run a base. I
didn't know how to be an entrepreneur. And like I said,
back when I was in school, there was no entrepreneurship major.
(03:41):
There was no Shark Tank on TV, and there was
none of the things that are out here today to
encourage people to start a business. And so I really
was like filling around in the dark for a long
time until I came across really great mentors, like a friend.
We share and comment Angela Bitton figure out what it
means to be a CEO and what of means to
run a business. But until then we're just like filling
(04:03):
our way through it. You know, absolutely, absolutely, Okay, So
I want, I mean, we have a limited amount of time,
and there's so much in that brain of yours that
I just want to pull out, but I want you
to give people sort of a rundown of some of
your companies, because I think a lot of them will
remember some of your businesses. For sure. I know the
Heels Spending Machine was one, but just sort of take
(04:23):
us through that trajectory of some of the companies you started. Yeah, definitely.
And when I look back and tell my story, I
realized that I wasn't aware, but that everything that I
was doing was preparing me for where I am today.
And a lot of times things don't make sense how
they happen, or things that don't work out, and things
that do work out, and then we realize and look
back like, wow, it was all for my greater good.
(04:43):
So I started my first company, like I said, from
the desk at work, and it was a website that
again this isn't two thousand and one, so the very
early days of internet marketing. So we had an entertainment
and event website that really helped me to gain experience
and building a business and understanding like what I was doing.
And then I was in tech and didn't even know
I was in tech because in Columbus, Ohio, and no
(05:05):
one even said, hey, this is a tech company. So
I grew that and it led me to starting a
consulting business. Because after I grew my business, which was
a website in a very new way of communicating and
selling products in the early two thousand's, I built my
site over a hundred thousand unique busits a month just
from Columbus, Ohio, and many businesses at this time they
did not have websites or a web presence, and so
(05:26):
they started to contact me saying, Dawn, can you do
this for me? And I was like, well, I guess
I can, but I can't do it under Urban Star
because this is an entertainment site. So I started to
deal a consulting group now sixteen years ago to provide
consulting services from marketing and business development for businesses. So
I did that for now. I still have that company
and we now work with crowdfunding clients, which then that
(05:47):
led me to working with many different businesses and I
realized that I love to start gettings started. I love
to I d eight, I love to get the foundation set.
But I realized too that I need my own thing.
So after vaulting for six years, I started to feel
like I wanted to try something different, and I'm seeing
(06:07):
a pattern in myself that after about five years, I
get kind of bored and I'm ready to do something else.
So I was like, you know, God, give me something good,
give me a good idea. And this is in my
early thirties. I was definitely in Miennial South Beach party
and in all the clubs back then. I know, I've
seen you before. I see the kind of heels you wear,
(06:29):
so I know for me when you know them heels,
they have an exploration and they used it last about
thirty minutes before they hurt. That's why they called dinner shoes.
Just supposed to sit down and beauty club in them.
And so the idea was all these women in the
club looking good. But then they that good goes too
bad when I take them heels off and walk barefoot.
(06:50):
So I said, let me, you know, let me solve
this problem. Decided to sell rollable ballet flags, and I
felt like vending machines was a good way to distribute products.
So my big of the brain was just thinking of
how do I get my product in the hands of
the customer, the woman when she needs it the most.
At that pain point. It's not going online it's not
going to the store, you're in the club. Well wow,
(07:12):
well when you're thirsty, you can get it drink out
of a vending machine. How come we can't buy other
things and vending machines when we feel that pain point?
So that led me to vending pain point. Then I
got into the vending business and realized, oh my gosh,
vending machines are dumb, they have no data. They I
can't grow a business using these derrido vending machines. I
(07:32):
have to make this more innovative. So I pulled back
and reach back to my technology background from at this
point ten years ago, and let me add some software
to these vending machines so that allow them to essentially
do the same things that um Google Analytics provide and
shopify propos. So again, this is me solving my own problem.
I saw my own problem because my feed hurt. I
(07:53):
saw my own problem because I needed software. And that's
just how I continue to innovate. Just two years ago,
right before COVID, I moved back to my hometown of Plumbas, Ohio.
No living in l A and Miami, lots of vegan
food options. Living in Columbus, Ohio, there was having two restaurants.
So again, I'm vegan for many years, solve my own problem,
open a vegan restaurant and it's still doing well to
(08:16):
this day. So that's just how my process goes. You know.
Right now, I'm full time CEO Popcom. I'm here in
our office and it's a big undertaking, you know, to
be raised over five million dollars to to this date
and continue to raise capital. So even though I'm a
sea entrepreneur, I am focused on being CEO this business.
And then I hire and bring on teams to run
the other one I saw the yoga studio. I have
(08:38):
a god. I don't overwhelm you guys, but I think
the thing of my life is solving problems and building teams,
which I found is my strength. So one of the
things that I love about you. And especially as we
look back in the tech as technology and getting into
the startup in technology world, there's been this discourse that
fundraising is hard, that there's so many need barriers, especially
(09:01):
for people of color or underrepresented founders. But then what
really inspires is we have women like yourself who have
raised funds in multiple different ways, from boots dropping to
creating revenue generating businesses to fundraising in the traditional VC world,
um through raising friends and family VC rounds, etcetera. And
so I want to dig into sort of your thoughts
(09:23):
on fundraising as a black woman and then hopefully get
into some more deeper dives where you can offer us
some tips in each of those areas. I would love to.
And I've raised capital for all of my businesses, and
what I've discovered is that all businesses don't need the
same type of capital and they don't have need the
same timing. Everyone automatically wants to say, I'm starting a business,
(09:44):
let me pitch to the It's not every business is
not a good fit for venture capital. That's why of
my five businesses, only two have went the VC route.
The first business I started, I raised money for my
father ten thousand dollars. That's a friends and family round.
We use that money, we grew our audience space, we
generate a revenue, and we bootstrapped to revenue. We never
raised another time. The company didn't fail, we decided to
(10:07):
close it down. So I used friends and family seed
money and then the sales of the revenue that that
grew the business. For some businesses. That's good if you
want to grow a lifestyle business, which means essentially your
business pays for your lifestyle. You have a good salary,
you have a life, but it's not scaling to multimillions,
but it covers your life that with a lifestyle business.
(10:27):
And it's really really funny, don because I feel like,
especially as like a woman entrepreneur, I've started businesses myself.
You know, oftentimes you would go into accelerator programs are
different things, or you talked to different people in the
VC community whether or not you were raising money or not,
and they go, oh, that's so cute. That's a lifestyle business,
and you know it wasn't really complementary. But you know
what would really what really drives me crazy about that,
(10:49):
especially for black women, especially for people who are listening
in on this Money Moves podcast BC is not the
end all and be all. It doesn't define your business.
And lifestyle businesses are incredibly lucrative, right there's a people
who they are. But for me, I often think that
revenue is honestly the best type of money. If you
have a company where customers are paying you, you're gaining
(11:09):
gaining revenue month over month, go with it and like
you can make multiple businesses, but king it is it
is because you know, especially with what they called lifestyle business.
I know several female founders that that that's that scale
their lifestyle business to tendant twenty million in revenue investors.
And why you still maintain your control. Now you grow slower,
(11:30):
you may not be able to move as fast, but
you still maintain control. And you have to think about
where do you see yourself in this business? How far
do you want to go and how far do you
want to give up. That's always a question to ask
yourself before you go asking for money. So my first business,
I didn't know anything. First of all, I was twenty
years old, so I didn't know anything. My second business
was a consulting company, just all cash, never raised, never
(11:50):
raised any any money until I want to go out
and get sponsorships for things, which that's want to learn
how to do grants, and I learn how to fundraise.
Then with flat out of heels, I knew I needed
money to get proto hypes, to get a website built,
and to figure out this whole vending machine situation. So
I went and raised two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
from friends and family, and what I did was reach
out to my college network. I reached out to my
(12:11):
previous clients that I worked with as a consultant because
they saw my the way I did business. And I
figured that if I could demonstrate integrity, you know that
I was a good, honest, reliable, good business person, that
would benefit me and I can ask for investment. And
it did work. So for flat out of Pills, we
bootstrapped based two fifty okay, bootstrapped for five years, and
(12:32):
then Backstage Capital came in and invested um I think
in two thousand and seventeen. So and now we have
an active crowdfunding campaign raising another two fifty and I
hired a CEO to run that business. So again, that
business relied heavily on pitch competitions. I won two hundred
thousand dollars and pitch competitions free money to keep that
business going. I knew that VC wasn't the route in
(12:55):
the early days, because in two thousand and one, I
don't know, excuse me eleven, when I started the business,
these season want anything to do with female shoes, women shoes,
no shoes. It was absolutely not. They didn't understand it,
and especially um male, it was very heavily male dominated.
A lot more women and people of color in the
VC space today change thematically ten years ago. No, So
(13:19):
I heard all no. So that wasn't the I mean.
And honestly, looking back, I wasn't a good candidate for
VC money. I did not have a plan two hundred
x or ten x that that investor money. I didn't
have a plan to return that money. So I'm glad
they didn't give it to me back then because I
wasn't going to be a good steward of it now.
Very important. Um, Okay, So we touched upon a couple
(13:41):
of things here, and I want to go back through
and get sort of deep dive into the difference between
like bootstrapping, because I think people throw that turn around
term around a lot and sometimes people don't even know
what that means. Um, so can you tell us in
your definition, Like, you know, you gave us an example
of how you sort of bootstrapped, but like what does
bootstrapping me? Bootstrap thing is literally come from the phrase
pull it up from your bootstraps, you pay for it yourself.
(14:05):
So friends and family, friends and family, my dad and
my friends bootstrap was me leveraging my money that I
earned from my job that I was doing side the
hustles and consulting, and then also leveraging my personal credit,
which a lot of times entrepreneurs don't think about that
and we don't want to. But if it comes to
a decision where it's like let the business close or
go out and get a personal loan, I'm gonna go
(14:25):
out and get a person want them gonna keep my
business alive. So I've done everything from home equity lines
of credit to taking out personal credit cards for my
business and taking out personal loans for my business. And
it was so important for me even today to keep
my personal credit and good standing because I ever need
to fall back on it if something doesn't come through.
So that's an important lesson for beautiful your personal credit
(14:46):
in order so that you can always rely on you
if you need to bootstrap. It's a terrible feeling to
be in when you can't find an investor and you
can't leverage your own personal finances. It's very devastating actually,
and I've been there as well. Something also want to
highlight to this bootstrapping piece because I think this falls
into that category. As well, is these free pitch competitions,
(15:07):
and I think sometimes people overlook the value of this
is free money. There's not a lot of free money
out there, but if you are passionate about the business
your building and can pitch that on stage, free money,
that is like one that was I mean, I remember
when I won the Essence Festival pitch competition. We had
no money in the bank. I got on that stage
and I said, this, my whole business depends on me
(15:30):
winning this. If I don't win this, we're done. And
when one dollars and brought my business back to life,
and you know, that was free money. And that's happened
multiple times. And it also comes with just you know,
walking on faith, which is really an important part of
the journey. But then just having that confidence, you know,
just getting up there and just showing that you know
your numbers. If you know your numbers and you know
(15:51):
your business and you can tell investors how you're going
to return their money, that's what they want to hear.
A lot of founders get on stage and tell stories
and want to talk about their life and you know,
their hardships. Investors don't care at all. Yeah, the numbers,
the numbers. Yeah, absolutely, I think I think a lot
of people think that if they're just show that there,
(16:12):
you need to be passionate. But you know, I often
tell people fundraising and getting BC money and I know
we're talking about bootstrapping and stuff. It's not philanthropy. They're
looking for a ten x return like it is an
investment for a reason. It is not investor's job to
be your friend or to do you a favor. They
are in it to make money, and you have to
create a mutually beneficial situation for you to make money
(16:34):
and for them to make money. They able to clearly
demonstrate that to them. It's a it's like a marriage,
you know. As you know, I know you're very familiar
with the space, and people don't really think deeply as
to what it means that I'm taking an investor. You're
taking a person in that you're closer with them. Sometimes
you're family members. Yeah, absolutely, John. And another thing I
think that is really interesting is you've been in this
(16:55):
game for like over two decades now. Technology has enabled
us to bootstrap in so many differ ways. You think
back to when you were the first person out there
building websites. Now people can build websites for cheap online.
There's social media products like Canva. What are some of
the tools that you've used that really help accelerate your
business for cheap you know what? I love that question
(17:15):
because when I first started twenty years ago, and technically
these things existed, I mean, how much people to build
a website? Twenty years ago, it was like a had
the hand code everything. There was no templer, there's no wicks,
there's no any type of template you can get. You know,
right now you can go and go Daddy, buy a website,
get a whole template, get your email, turnkey, get everything.
We had to literally hand code. I went to school
(17:37):
for for coding, so we actually built that website line
by line in code, and that's what it took. So
today there's so many resources I love. I love Canada
like I mean, it turned everybody into a graphic designer.
First of all, say so much money. I love tools
like bench for accounting and Gusto for human resource management.
I love things like Slack for communication and Asauna for
(17:58):
project management. I mean, I come from a time where
we're working off a spreadsheets, documents and regular email. Even
I mean I started sending email blast by BC seeing
email addresses in a O well and there's a limit
of two hundred and fifty per email. So I took
five hours every Friday to send emails. Now we have
mail Chimp and all kinds of customers relationships management software.
(18:21):
So I think automation is key in making your entrepreneurship
there and it goes smoothly. And that's why I really
also double down on automation in my company here pop
com for automating retail. I feel like automation is the
future of everything. You know, of us who are in
resistance to allowing technology to do things, we'll get left behind. Yes,
(18:42):
absolutely absolutely, And I will just also admit I'm forty
two two, so I feel like we've seen the whole
gamut of like we had dial up, we had internet,
we had early got our first email addresses, and so yeah,
when people understand and I was like, there are so
many ways out there to make your business successful and
accelerat its growth. Like I really want people to be
(19:03):
intentional about finding those tools to grow a business from.
You know, zo, I want to share one more tool
that we're talking about investing. I really rely on a
couple of different websites to source investors, like angel list,
F six s. I also use gusts and I also
rely a lot on pitchbook and crunch base to research investors.
But when I first started, there was no online investor resources.
(19:26):
You can go on f s X and just type
in anywhere in the world and find pitch competitions, accelerators, incubators, programs.
No longer have to go and just ask around and
find out, So there's there's there's really no excuse today,
That's what I say. So they want everyone wants me
to say like it's hard because I'm a black woman,
and I think definitely the system was not built for
(19:47):
people of color at all. It was made until it
comes Valley, we know that it was made for this
group of people, and that's what they were doing. However,
the people like Angela Bent and then like several others,
have really opened those doors for us, and I don't
think use black as an excuse anymore. There's enough high
net worth black people that we can fund our own businesses,
which is why I chose to do prowd funding to
(20:07):
demonstrate the power of group economics them for the power
of the black dollars to do more than be hyper
consumers to demonstrate the power that we have when we
when we come together. And so I just really think
that things have changed, you know, things have changed, and
there's so many more black vcs, black lead funds, initiatives
that break those bears. So we just can't use that
(20:28):
as an excuse. And for me, I've raised his money successfully.
So even though it may have been harder, I still
did it. And you know, suiting it everything is hard.
Everything is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
I mean, it's and here's the thing. I love that
you bring that up because it's certainly some a little
bit of the unpopular opinion, because I think people really
want to hear it's so hard. You know, the ceiling
(20:49):
is so built against us, and yes it is, we
can't deny that. But I also think that, you know,
we've gone through with George Floyd and Black Lives Matter,
there is so much money out there for black people,
has been earmarked for us, and it's up to us
to go and get it. And so sharing tips on
how to do it, how to show up for a pitch,
how to invest to an investor, because oftentimes the problem
is we don't know what to do. We don't. We
(21:12):
haven't studied the people that came before us who have
done it successfully. You know, when you or Angela Benton
walk into a room, your pitches are impeccable. You know,
you speak the language that says, give me money. And
I think this is what people need to understand and
study so that we can like win. I agree. And
and the way that I did that because I started
out in Columbus, Ohio, I didn't have the network Silicon Valley,
(21:33):
I didn't go to IVY League. I literally went to
every single conference possible and I network. I sat in
the front of the room, I asked the question. I
made sure they see my face, and I stayed afterwards
and I asked the question. I made sure to connect.
I waited as long as talk down you people money more,
write it down. I started in the stats. You know
(21:54):
what I also did was I networked with people next
to me, because we sometimes forget people the seats next
to you. They are a valuable resource as well. So
I've had a lot of peer mentorship along the way,
where we guide each other, We learned, we make invest introductions,
we tell each other what right, what went wrong, We
can't always rely on the people that are the experts
(22:15):
to to help us, and so a lot of us
get upset and say, well, I don't know how to
meet the angelis or I can't get a time with
Don's calendar. But somebody's sitting right next to you that's
done what you wanna do. Talk to them, find the
information wherever possible. And I love that you say that.
You're like, I went to all the conferences. I sat there,
I sat in the front and put up my hand.
You know what, there's something to be said for being
(22:36):
the black face in the room because people actually remember that,
and then when you show up at the next conference,
they're like, oh, I know you. Now that's how Sometimes
that doesn't happen and we're the invisible face. But you
know the times when people remember you and your question
is memorable, that's a connection. And and you know, I
feel like fundraising and networking is about building relationship. It's
never all the first time you exchange cards card, but
(22:58):
the next time you see someone. The next time you
see someone also this point to like who are the
people beside you? You've been in the game for twenty years,
that person that you met beside you twenty years ago
is here now, and so we are not fun the
fund managers now. The people in the seats next to
me are running the funds now they've exited. It's so companies,
the Amazon they invested in me. What if I would
(23:19):
have felt like I was too good to talk to
them because they're sitting next to me. I understood the
value of that you never know where someone's gonna be.
It was instilled to me at very early age to
treat everyone with equal respect. That that same person that
you look down on could be the person that's going
to be right in your check. So always having that
respect for for everyone is so important. So Donn, it
(23:40):
was a pleasure having you here today, but I'd be
remissed if you didn't tell us where people can find
you on social media. They can find me on all
social media under Don Dixon, d I c K S
O WIN. I'm very active on Medium. So if you're
curious about crowd funding, the steps for crowd funding, if
you want to know my whole journey, it's free. All
the free games on my Medium page. If you want
(24:00):
me to culch you, I have a fundraising masterclass on
super period and that is live now, so you can
go on my website Don Dixon dot me and find
all the things that I offer as far as coaching
one on ones in different programs where you can find me.
You can also find me on LinkedIn and I'm very
very engaged there, so if you have any questions for me,
please messes me on LinkedIn. Oh my gosh, it was
such a pleasure down and I hope to see you
(24:22):
back again. Wishing you all the best, all the best,
and we will definitely keep our eyes focused on your
rounds to come. So congratulations on all your success and
keep going girl. We're proud of you. Thanks Tanya, Thank
you alright, Money Movers, that is all the time we
have for today. Make sure to tune in Monday through
Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves Podcast powered by Greenwood,
(24:43):
so that you too can have the keys to the
financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Thanks Money Movers, and
see you again next time. Thank you so much for
tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want more or
a recap of this episode, please go to the bank
Greenwood dot com and check out the Money Moves podcast blog. Yeah,
(25:04):
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