July 28, 2025 • 57 mins
In this episode, Lolita Taub from GANAS Ventures shares her journey from South Central LA to becoming a venture capitalist. She discusses her transition into VC, focusing on community impact and corporate experience. Lolita offers strategies for aspiring VCs, emphasizing trust, relationships, and the importance of "why." The conversation covers community engagement, The Last Co, and differentiating VC funds through community efforts. Lolita also provides insights into the Latin American market, balancing investment processes with community building, and pursuing happiness and meaningful connections. The episode concludes with advice on starting in VC and engaging authentically.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to the investor, a podcast where I,Joel Palothinkel, your host, dives deep into
the minds of the world's most influentialinstitutional investors.
In each episode, we sit down with an investorto hear about their journeys and how global
markets are driving capital allocation.
So join us on this journey as we explore theseinsights.
(00:26):
Great.
So take a second.
I think we're live now.
So we are here with Lolita Tab, the generalpartner of Ganes Ventures.
Ganas or Ganas?
Ganas.
Ganas.
Ganas.
Ganas.
Ganas.
That's how we say it or.
Well, I'm really excited to go deep on that.
(00:48):
You know?
And I'm also really happy that, you know, we'vejust built a a new friendship just through the
community.
You know?
And I think it's really exciting to kinda justbe connected to people and and build build the
ecosystem together with other people.
You know?
And I think a couple things that we can talkabout today is really just kinda your origin
story, you know, how you came to learn aboutventure capital and how you just dove in and
(01:11):
broke in.
And and I think that's gonna really drive thecatalyst for really kinda your reasons for for
starting the new fund.
And, you know, I just really love how youlaunched on International Women's Day, so that
was pretty amazing.
So let's just jump right into it.
Lolita, you know, tell us about yourbackground, your family, and and then kinda
(01:31):
just walk us through kinda the beginning andthen kinda take us in a in a step by step
journey where we are, and then I'll just chimein, you know, to maybe help guide or, you know,
just pull out any specific points, and thenmaybe we'll take some questions and keep it
easy.
Yeah.
So like you, Joel, I come from a a family ofimmigrants.
(01:52):
I am a daughter of immigrants.
Mine happened to come from a small town,actually, outside of a small dairy town in a
small town already in Jalisco, Mexico.
And that's really where my story begins.
My parents left their country, their familieswith this dream of giving their future family,
(02:17):
their children, a shot at a better life, whichwas later called the American dream.
And so they left without money, with nothing,and came to The US.
I grew up in a garage that my dad turned into aone bedroom apartment, And, the community meant
(02:37):
a lot from day one because we were very poor,and sometimes we didn't have food.
And so the community would provide that for us.
I also grew up in South Central Los Angeles,which if you've seen straight out of Compton or
listened to any hip hop, rap, then you knowwhere I grew up.
And and, certainly, maybe you've heard of ofsome of the gangs, the Bloods, the Crips, where
(03:00):
you have to watch out with what color you wear,red, blue.
You might get jumped.
You might get killed.
You might get shot.
And that was another thing the communityprovided was physical protection.
Oftentimes unfortunately, I have to say often,and that's not that is pretty accurate.
(03:21):
Oftentimes, when there were problems in thecommunity, in the neighborhood, police would
not come to our neighborhood because they werejust scared.
And, I mean, I guess I would be too.
I grew up literally I I I remember, going andvisiting, my sixth grade science teacher's home
(03:43):
because we were doing a project with some otherstudents, And I remember seeing that she didn't
have any bars in her windows or on her door.
And I was so scared because in South Central,we'd always have bars on our windows and doors
for safety.
So and it's crazy because now I think, wow.
(04:05):
How did I feel safe there and not there?
You know?
But in any case, bringing back to the communityaspect, from a very young age, community meant
survival, and community also meant you takecare of community.
They are your family, and they take care ofyou.
And that's translated over the years.
I I have fifteen years in in tech, incorporate.
(04:29):
I worked for IBM for Cisco core competency.
In core role, it was always sales, then wentinto start ups in BC.
And this thread of community has always carriedthrough and in different ways.
In parts, it was feeling of belonging andhaving a community from that perspective, doing
things to help others out in the community.
(04:50):
But from a business perspective, what what hashappened is this interesting and very nerdy
observation of, okay.
There is a lot of opportunity out there in themarket.
Why aren't there people that look like meinvesting in really great founders, and why are
those founders being overlooked?
So there was that part.
(05:10):
There was another part.
The other part was in sales.
As you see the trends in sales, we've gonefrom, like, selling to the c suite to then
selling to department leaders to then sellingto, users to now selling through community.
And we're at this at this cross section pointin in our time where I am now calling it the
(05:36):
community era, the era of community.
And why?
Because we've had COVID that has reminded us ofour humanity and our loneliness, and we wanna
be part of something bigger than just atransaction or just a a number or a name on a
ledger.
We want to feel that we belong.
We want to feel like our lives are meaningful.
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The other part of it is on the business side.
We need to look at the numbers.
We need to appreciate how customer acquisitioncost has risen through the roof.
So many companies are just throwing their moneyat Google, and other services, and it's not
really working.
How do you have good business unit economicswhen it's so expensive to do to to your CAC is
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so expensive?
How do you lower that?
How do you increase lifetime value?
How do you get the talent you need?
These are all really big problems that we'rehaving right now with talent shortages, as well
as just how can I make sure that I'm building aproduct or service that's actually what the
market wants and is willing to pay for?
And when you have a community, the communitymembers, if they're engaged, they're going to
(06:46):
do your word-of-mouth sales.
They're going to tell you how to adjust yourproduct.
They're gonna tell you what they mean.
You're gonna be able to recruit.
The CAC is gonna lower.
LTV goes up.
You know, there's there's so many benefits.
And and so, I mean, there's a long a long wayof saying, like, community has been the threat
that has brought me from day one to to venturecapital, and I and I'm super, super excited to
(07:11):
now be investing in community driven companies,at Ghana's Ventures.
Yeah.
One thing that's been really exciting too, youknow, I'm in Jason Kalakanis' founder
university.
And one tip that they gave, and you justmentioned this, is, you know, if you have a
product, you don't have to do all the dev work.
You can just kinda send out a prototype onTwitter, and then people, as you know, will
(07:34):
just kinda give really, really honest feedback.
Sometimes maybe not the feedback that youalways want, but at least it's honest.
And the community kinda makes it safe to yourpoint, so you can kinda iterate very quickly.
And one one takeaway that I've learned is youcan launch as many times as you want when you
have a community.
Right?
Because you can keep on iterating.
And even with my fund accelerator, this is thefourth cohort, and every cohort has been
(07:56):
completely different, you know, becausesomebody gives me some helpful in, you know,
insight.
You know?
So let's kind of talk about that and, like,how, you know, we've gone from the c suite to
the community.
That's a really interesting nugget.
And, you know, let's talk about how you tookthat, community based mindset to kinda pivot
closer and closer to venture capital because alot of the people here have tech background.
(08:20):
Some of them are in consulting.
You heard some of the people here working at,like, big firms like Goldman.
You know, what's what's worked for you, andwhat advice would you give for people that are
looking to try to find, like, their their angleto get in?
Yeah.
No.
That's I mean, that's a very broad and goodquestion at the same time.
Here's one thing I will say, because it took mea while.
(08:42):
As as you might have noticed, and part of thereason why I mentioned that I started off in
corporate is because of the folks in the room.
Most of you are in corporate, more traditionalroles, and venture capital, startups.
It's just a whole new world.
Right?
It's a different animal together how youapproach it.
And so I have to say that when so I've been inVC now six plus years.
(09:05):
And when I made the transition, I will tell youthat it was a difficult one because I had to
unlearn so many of the things that corporateteaches you.
Things like just do and then ask forforgiveness or, hey.
Actually, the what will make you stand out isyou being actually you.
(09:27):
And I think sometimes in corporateenvironments, you're asked to to kind of do the
thing, go through the process, and and withgood reason.
Right?
There's processes.
There's matrix organizations.
Very complex.
We're we're working with lots of people, so itmakes sense.
But sometimes what happens when you work incorporate is that you kinda figure this is the
(09:48):
way things work.
And in VC and in start ups, first thing thatneeds to go is this is the way things work.
Because as a venture capitalist, you're lookingat what is the future.
What are the future companies going to looklike?
What are the future markets?
Not as is, but to be.
And it can be very difficult for someone comingright out of a corporate, very traditional role
(10:14):
or private equity that's more down the line,especially if you're looking at getting into
early stage startups.
And I guess I should specify that myperspective and viewpoint that I bring is from
an early stage investor perspective.
So first thing was think about what I'velearned in my career experiences.
Ask myself what have I subdued because I willtell you.
(10:36):
I remember I was working for IBM.
It was the first company that I worked for outof college.
And I remember I was in sales, and I was soexcited and, you know, shark guy, bushy tail.
And I was telling my my sales manager, I wantto start a YouTube channel.
This was, you know, back in 2000 I don't know.
I it must have been 02/2008, 02/2009.
(10:57):
And I was like, I'm
such a scandalous scandalous, thought to bringthat on.
Yes.
So I I remember what my manager he was sowonderful, super progressive, he asked me and
so I asked him, this would be so great.
This is how we're gonna do sales and da da da.
And he's like, Lolita, do you want your job?
Wow.
Because because marketing and legal are notgonna be okay with it.
(11:21):
Mhmm.
And and this is what I'm talking about.
So corporate, what are some of the things thatare so much of you that you would do coming
into the space and honing in more on yourauthenticity and who you are and having that be
your differentiator?
One thing I'll say is one piece of advice thatI've gotten as as I've developed into my
(11:44):
venture capital career is if you were to thinkof creating a fund that is literally you in a
version of a fund, that's the fund that youshould be creating.
And you cannot do that if you are stuck in theways that you've been told to be, to think, or
to act.
Yeah.
I mean, look.
(12:04):
I I was in corporate as well, so I feel thesame thing.
I mean, you're you can't really be yourselfbecause you're just afraid of you know, you're
walking on eggshells every day.
You're afraid of saying the wrong thing, andyou mentioned it.
You're scared of being fired.
So you just kinda keep quiet, put your headdown, and, you know, like everybody else, clock
out at at 5PM.
But what you get stuck doing is, you know, forthose of us that you know, obviously, you're
(12:28):
you're on the West Coast.
I mean, people that live in New York, a lot ofthem are doing that.
I mean, they're getting paid really well atGoldman.
They're getting paid really well at these largebanks, and, you know, they're kind of existing.
Right?
And I think for me, I finally felt like I'mliving a little bit because I'm kind of, you
know, building my own identity.
(12:49):
I'm able to kinda do this in the middle of theday and livestream versus if we were at IBM, we
would probably get yelled at by our boss.
Like, change the screen.
Right?
Like, move switch the screen to, like, an Excelspreadsheet.
So I think that's kind of a lot of times whatwe're a lot of people are struggling with, and
they're trying to find ways, to to break in.
(13:10):
And, you know, I think there's ways to do it,where you can do it as you go.
Right?
So I think there's, I think Gary Tan mentionedthis.
You can you can learn while you earn.
So you can kinda keep your day job at IBM.
But maybe on the side, would you recommendpeople maybe acting like VCs, kinda sourcing
deals Yeah.
(13:30):
Putting together, like, an investment thesis,joining, like, a maybe a new emerging fund as,
a venture fellow.
I guess, are are those some some ideas you'dgive and any other tips you have?
Yeah.
Sure.
And and I know, Joel, you you wanted moretactical advice, and I wanna give that for
sure.
I I just think that this human aspect is soimportant, and it's an evolution that you go
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through.
Mhmm.
And it's actually what would make you reallysuccessful once you do break in if that's what
you wanna do, venture capital.
Yeah.
But for sure, I mean, even if I as I wasgetting started, I I had a job full time job,
until the beginning of this year when I quit torun my fund a 100 of the time.
And so, yes, you can do your full time job, andit's safe, and you have benefits, and you're
(14:17):
just like, why would I go and build a fundthat's probably gonna pay me less?
And you have to under you have to know theanswer.
Why do you wanna go into VC?
I think that's really important too before youjump in because this is not an easy, sexy sexy
job as much as everyone likes to make it out.
There's a lot of work that goes into it.
So understanding your why is gonna be my nextone.
(14:38):
Like, understand who are you and what is yourwhy in VC.
For me, I'll say that this is the only industrywhere I feel that with my skill set, I can
make, and and enable creating generationalwealth in our community within my lifetime.
(14:59):
And it's the only one that I can think of, andthat's why I'm here.
And and so ask yourself that.
And then if you're just like, yeah.
Totally in it.
One thing that I would say is when I startedoff, I was volunteering for angel groups.
So I had no idea what VC was because no one inmy family knew what VC was, so I don't think
(15:20):
they understand it completely now either.
But what I would do is I'd I'd go to there wasa couple of angel groups that I volunteered
for.
Tech Coast Angels is one of them.
They're they're national.
There's some that are international.
Take a look at who needs volunteers, and youcan learn and volunteer at the same time.
(15:41):
Yeah.
And so that's another way of of using some ofyour time.
If you can go and become a judge or help at apitch competition or be a mentor at, an
accelerator because regardless of where you areat, you have some sort of skill set and some
expertise that you can share.
And so figuring out what you can give to theecosystem while you learn is is really
(16:05):
important.
For me, I didn't have money.
I was not accredited at the beginning, and soit was a lot of just supporting supporting in
due diligence, then supporting in x y z thing,learning more of the craft, and then really con
continuously asking myself, is this the rightindustry for me?
Because it's a it's to me, it's not so much acareer as much as it is a lifestyle.
(16:27):
Once you're in VC, in my opinion, VC is in yourmind twenty four hours a day, seven days a
week, and I love it.
But some people, when they go down this path,they realize, you know what?
Actually, I I just wanna be an angel investor.
Or, actually, I I like it, but not that much.
I'd rather do something else, and that'stotally okay.
(16:48):
And there's there's a couple things.
Right?
But when you're thinking about VC two, there'sdifferent aspects to it.
You may be interested in being more of anoperational person versus an investor, or you
wanna be an investor.
If so, what kind?
What what are your interests?
I would start to think about what are themarkets that interest you the most naturally.
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Now one of the things that I did at thebeginning is I wanted to learn everything of
everything.
And what I it was too overwhelming becauseeverything's always quickly moving.
You have to continuously learn.
That's part of being a venture capitalist.
But what I've learned is stick to what is trulyauthentically you, what you find truly
interesting, and go deep into that.
(17:32):
If you're early stage, you'll have to be ageneralist to some extent, but you can build in
some of those specific, subthese.
Maybe you're you're volunteering at a fund thathas a particular thesis, and you want to
explore an area or another area.
Right?
And so that's that those are some of the tipsthat I would give.
But the TLDR is see what angel groups are outthere.
(17:56):
Look for volunteer opportunities.
There may even be funds that want to bringpeople in as interns, but the easiest, safest
place that I've explored has been, working withangel groups.
Yeah.
And you you know, I appreciate you making mepump the brakes a little bit on the tactical
stuff because I went through that sameexperience of really just kinda thinking about
(18:16):
who I am.
And, I I did some self reflection for sometime, and I realized that, hey.
You know what?
Like, I like the technology.
I think we chatted about this on the phone.
Like, I like the technology, and, by trade, Ithink I'm skilled enough to do it, but I don't
I'm not really excited about, writing all thecode.
So for me, it was like, hey.
Naturally, maybe it's product, but, you know, II like kind of dipping into different sectors.
(18:41):
So that's so that kinda, like, logic in my headkinda made sense for me.
And I think it seems like for you, you know,the the common thread of community just carried
on, and that's really what your DNA is, andthat's kinda what you've been building.
And I think even even for me, I mean, that'sthat's allowed me to kind of unlock just new
areas to learn and just new new connectivity aswell.
(19:03):
So I totally resonate with that.
Yeah.
And, I mean, you're super community driven too,Joel.
Right?
So that that would be the next tactical butsuper strategic thing is figure out who is your
community.
We're you're you're part of ours here, but youmay have we all belong to many communities.
And, again, that's why all the the good workstarts inside, which is the hardest work, to be
(19:27):
honest.
But leaning into it because this is again,you're gonna be working on this for a very long
time if you decide to go down this path.
So it's very hard to keep up, you know,appearances or potential interest or, you know,
whatever.
And so it's important to just be yourself.
It's really refreshing as well, and it justmakes it so much easier to collaborate with
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others and for others to find you because youwill find your people when you are yourself.
That is what I have found, and and I love itbecause, you know, then you can have more of a
trusting relationship with others.
And how to do that?
I would say it takes some work.
Now for me, it's been a lot of Twitter.
It's been consistency in a newsletter, in in,you know, events that I do online and in
(20:16):
person.
I have my own way of doing things, but whateverit is to consistently share the message of who
you are, what you're interested in, what youwanna work on, find the right way to do it for
you.
Maybe it's LinkedIn.
Maybe it's Zoom.
Maybe it's Facebook.
Maybe we don't like, there's no right place,but it's where is your where's the place that
(20:36):
you feel comfortable that you can consistentlyshare so that you can attract those?
Because, ultimately, VC is a communitybusiness.
Nobody succeeds alone, and you need to be ableto attract not just founders that you're gonna
invest in, but the ecosystem that's going tosupport the the founders as as you're getting
started.
And then when you decide to launch a fund, youalso need an ecosystem of LPs to come and back
(21:01):
you.
And so it's it's always this continuous need toshare what you're about, what so people know
when and where to find you and how and and why,and and also for people to develop trust.
Because I'll go back to just the basics ofbeing human.
People do business with people they like.
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And oftentimes, when you don't come from, youknow, the status quo Silicon Valley
backgrounds, it could be very difficult.
So even more so the reason why to lean oncommunity.
And so whatever that means, building realrelationships with people and supporting, in my
opinion, is the magic to all of this,literally, in one word, caring caring for
(21:45):
community.
Yeah.
No.
I think that's all, super important.
I mean, it it's so true.
I mean, people people do business, and theylike to collaborate with people that they like
and also trust.
I don't know if you know Dan Runkie, but he hasthis, newsletter called Trapital, and he
highlights all these, he highlights all thesehip hop artists that are successful business
(22:08):
people.
So he he highlighted Issa Rae.
So Issa Rae is a producer of Insecure.
And, you know, your ecosystem kinda reminds meof her a little bit because there was a diagram
that he built, and it essentially shows yeah.
It's see this, by the way, Joel.
It sounds
kinda cool.
Yeah.
I have it.
But, you know, essentially, what I'm seeing nowis businesses that have multiple tentacles that
(22:34):
feed into each other.
Right?
So, like, if you think about Sutton Capital, wehave, you know, we have deal flow.
We have community.
We have funds that have deals, and, like, weall just kind of the, you know, the technicals
kinda feed into each other.
So when you think about Issa Rae, she's theproducer of Insecure, which is on HBO.
She also produces music, so that flows into,like, another revenue channel for, like,
(22:56):
creating music.
I have to pull up the diagram.
I'll send it to you, but there's, like,there's, like, at least eight or 10 different
tentacles.
And I know that you kinda have that too.
You've got the community.
You've got deal flow.
You've got, you know, all these partnerships.
So, you know, maybe you can touch on thatwhatever you're allowed to share, but, you
know, also just give us a like, maybe a rundownof how how somebody brand new can do that
(23:19):
because there's just so many media channels andplatforms.
I think part of it is really also thinking whatworks for you.
So for me, it's just easy to just do this andjust livestream, and that way, I don't have to
do any post production.
But for somebody else, it may be somethingelse.
But, maybe talk about, like, all the tentaclesthat you have and, and
(23:40):
There's so many.
I know.
I have I have an Airtable for it.
I have an Airtable for it.
Well, there's yeah.
So there's a website.
Right?
So maybe we can share that.
I think it's, like, Lolita as a service.
Yeah.
Lolita's yes.
It it turned into last.
But let me let me get to the beginning of this.
This is a really good point in buildingcommunity and establishing yourself Mhmm.
(24:01):
In the ecosystem.
Again, going back to you have to firstunderstand, like, what you're about, what's
your focus so that when you do come into thespace, you are consistently talking about a
particular thesis or topic.
Right?
And for me, for years, on a personal side, it'sbeen supporting a global community of
(24:22):
underestimated, underrepresented founders,funders, and friends.
And what's that what that has organically ledto is different tools, content, resources,
programs that I have built from the startupinvestor matching tool, that has, that
basically connects, introduces underestimatedfounders with investors, to a GPLP matching
(24:45):
tool, which is similar but between fundmanagers and investors and funds, to having
biweekly newsletters and all sorts of differentthings, consults, office hours, all sorts of
things.
This didn't all happen.
I sat down and, you know, I was just like, allof these different things, we're gonna do them.
(25:07):
No.
It's been really organic and listening to thecommunity and the community needs.
And as I've been doing this, this has been thecommunity that I've been investing in.
And for me, the best way to build arelationship is to give first and that we will
take care of each other by for showing how wecan add value.
And this is very much one of my values, and youdon't have to prescribe to it, but I do believe
(25:31):
in giving first.
And so all of these things kind of, startedgetting a little out of hand.
So last at the end of last year, especiallybecause I knew that I wanted to to launch my
fund, I organized it all under thisorganization called The Last Co, and the
website is literally thelast,laas.co.
(25:53):
And you can see all of the different resources,tools, and and programs that I have available,
including a community, that has extra perks andall sorts of different things.
But I decided to put it in into thisorganization so that we can actually start
making it a sustainable team that's doing thatwork so I can focus on on Ghana's ventures.
(26:18):
And that's what we've been doing.
We're still a little bit in transition, butmore or less, what I have found, as many people
do when you build community, is that it takesmoney.
I did so many things for free for a very longtime, but guess what?
I'm not gonna ask the people that are workingfor me to work for free.
And I have been taken advantage of of a lot,and I believe in paying people.
(26:41):
And so we have a fractional team that's helpingwith all the community efforts.
And the way that bleeds and actually has becomea differentiator for me as a general partner,
as a fund manager, is that this all gives methe top of funnel on the three different sales
targets that we as VCs have, LPs.
(27:03):
They now know me because guess what?
I've been sending them deal flow for a verylong time, customized deal flow.
Now, the founders, they they know me becauseI'm getting them introductions and funding for
a very long time.
Yeah.
I'm giving consistent content in terms of,like, what I'm about, how I can add value
consistently.
(27:23):
And so it it it actually is a differentiatorfor the fund.
At the same time, it enables me to leveragewhat we're doing there to not have to spend so
much money in managing the fund on the Ghanaside because this work is already being done.
And that may not mean anything or very littleto most of you if you're not looking at
(27:44):
creating a fund.
But creating a fund and managing a fund is veryexpensive, and you have to keep an especially
if it's it's a small fund, the fee only goes sofar, and you have to get really crafty, very
creative on how you're gonna squeeze out enoughto be able to pay the vendors, just operating a
(28:04):
company and then paying yourself a a salary.
So I'll stop there because I can continuegoing, but, hopefully, that that's helpful to
you guys.
Yeah.
That was really helpful.
Any questions from, the audience at the moment?
Maybe maybe I'll kind of tee it up while we gotsomebody else popping in.
(28:27):
So what are you know?
So maybe you can unpack a little bit of youryour thesis kinda what you're looking for.
I'm aware of it.
But maybe just kinda when you're looking atcompanies, I'm pretty sure community is a big
piece.
But what in your mind shows you that it's a,high quality company?
I guess, are are there you know, as far asmaybe the qualitative and then the, the
(28:49):
quantitative aspects of it?
Yeah.
That that's actually a really good question,and I'll answer it in two ways.
One is actually what I look for when I'mlooking at a company, and then the other part
is the process.
Because oftentimes, we don't talk enough aboutthe process, and that is so, so important.
From a high level perspective, my thesis iswell, it's not from a high I'll explain the
(29:13):
TLDR, but the thesis is investing in pre seedand seed community driven web two and web three
companies in The US and Latin America.
What does community driven mean?
Community driven companies for me means threethings.
One is the customers of a company identify asmembers of a community.
(29:34):
Two, these members have a space to create valuefor each other.
And third, and most importantly, they are theones that kick off a marketing sales flywheel.
So instead of having a go to market, you have ago to community.
Some examples to give you some clarity.
Right?
(29:54):
One that, that that's easy to understand isAirbnb and BRBO, especially because we can see
the numbers as well, the valuations.
When you look it's an oldie but a goodie.
So when you look at BRBO and Airbnb, they'redoing exactly the same thing except Airbnb is
and has been focused on community.
(30:15):
So when you see, that Airbnb's at a$90,000,000,000 valuation versus BRBO, that's,
you know, so much less, like, in the twenties,if not less.
I haven't seen the the latest, valuation there,but the the stark difference really comes from
them being community driven.
(30:35):
And for those of you who may not know howthey've done this is, initially, they started
with really centering around the community ofhosts.
And so when you have the people on yourplatform selling for you, it makes it a lot
easier.
And that gives more context into how that canhelp lower a CAC for a company or how can how
that can increase lifetime value.
(30:55):
Right?
So say you're a host of Airbnb, and now you'rebringing in more customers because you're
marketing it, and and and and you're createyou're you're creating a business.
Right?
Anyway, so that's that's an example of it.
There's so many more.
Glossier, Reddit, you know, just there'sMongoDB.
(31:17):
That's a b two b.
It could be any business model.
And yeah.
So some of the areas that I'm personallyinterested in, though, as subthesis are within
the emerging market, especially in LatinAmerica because it is the most connected region
in the world, and so it's primed to foropportunity across the board.
(31:40):
There's a lot of problems to be solved outhere.
The other thing is that culturally, beingcommunity driven is something that is innate to
how a lot of the cultures' nuances will allparallel.
And I say this because every country has theirown subculture, but the thread across is very
(32:00):
culturally community driven.
So you have the thesis alignment, and you havealso the market in its prime time.
Right?
And on the other two sides, there's two otherones that I focus on.
One is the future is cashless, which I think Idon't it's pretty self explanatory.
Right?
And you start thinking about web two, web 2.5,or web three.
(32:22):
And then the other one is the future's multihyphenated.
So when I look at this group and when we'retalking, we're wearing multiple hats.
Right?
I'm a creator community builder, GP at a fund.
And I believe that this is actually more of thestatus quo, the what will be normal.
And so we need to have, the companies that willbuild for this cross section of the future of
(32:46):
work and the creator economy.
And I'm really interested in in these spacesand how community driven companies can address
the needs that that arise from these areas.
So that's the first part, thesis.
Oh, no.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I'll start
with Go.
No.
No.
Go ahead.
Because your your question is good, but Ibecause I I whenever whenever I share these
things, I think that going a little bit deeperis helpful.
(33:08):
But the number one thing would be, like, does acompany fit my thesis?
And so I just shared what it is.
And if it doesn't fit, then that's the firstfilter out.
Yeah.
And that's helpful too for founders to see thatas well, because then they can optimize their
time also.
I was gonna say, you know, we've got a coupleof friends, common friends that are in, Latin
America as well.
(33:28):
So I wanted to learn a little more about, LatinAmerica.
I got to spend time with Anna Garcia.
She met my family, and got to hang out withCarlos as well.
But, you know, are you still in Mexico, or doyou come back
to Mexico?
I'm no.
No.
No.
So I'm I'm I'm in Latin America for a year, andright now, we're in Santiago, Chile.
Got it.
Are you, traveling around there?
(33:50):
You gonna stay in Chile?
So no.
So we're spending a few months in everycountry.
And the and and the goal really is to buildcommunity, get to know the ecosystem, founders,
funders, lawyers, very important when you'reinvesting abroad, and and everything else.
So we were previously and when I say we, myhusband and and me, we're in Mexico City for
(34:15):
three months.
This will be our second month in Chile, andthen afterwards, we go to Argentina, Colombia,
Brazil.
And, again, yeah, it's it's been there's somuch opportunity out here.
It's very important to understand, and theculture is outside of do you have all of the
elements of supporting a company locally andinternationally, and what's gonna be my added
(34:39):
value, and does it fit a thesis?
It's also do I understand what is going oncontextually?
So for example, here in in Santiago, Chileright now, there's a new president that's going
to be coming in.
And he is coming more from a from a more,socialist perspective than the previous
president.
And that may that may push the country to go ina particular direction from an economic
(35:04):
perspective.
The way that the country has gone, it's beensuper successful.
There's so much opportunity, but prices havegone up crazy.
This is the most expensive city, Santiago,Chile, in all of LatAm, and the prices are very
close to Californian prices, honestly.
Wow.
And so being able to understand these dynamics,understanding what the founders' challenges are
(35:28):
on the ground, and making friends with who willbe my coinvestors, super important.
And so that's what I'm doing here.
And and and just that's part of the duediligence thing, right, in in how do I know if
I'm an investment in a company.
It's not just do you fit my thesis, but do Ipersonally think that I'm going to be of added
value?
(35:49):
And does your market work?
So the other things that I would say moretactically are market size and growth, market
start up founder fit, and and then the the restof it is is really the rest of the team and the
product itself.
(36:09):
And so these are some of the, you know, off theshelf, what I look at, and I have an entire
process where I'm rating, then I'm, passing onto the next stage.
So it would be, like, founder submits a form.
If they are part of the thesis, I rate.
If they have an average rating of a four, 4.5or or five, then they go to the next step,
(36:31):
which is a call.
We get to know each other.
There's other metrics to measure.
Once I do that, if there's if the scoring againis is a high average, then they I move on to
the step, which is doing due diligence, writinga memo, doing reference calls.
And as part of that final thing, if I have fullconviction, how being able to answer, how can I
(36:52):
personally add value?
And if I cannot, I don't know that it's fair totake a slot on a cap table.
Yeah.
No.
I was I was actually taking a look for asecond.
You used to have this, like, really cool flowdiagram.
I don't know if that's still on your, theloss.co website, but that was really helpful
because it show it was like a it was like adecision tree.
(37:13):
It's like if you fit the thesis, then you go tothis step.
So I I don't know if you still have that, butthat was really cool.
But the way you described it, it kinda made mevisualize that
Yeah.
That you have.
It it is a decision tree.
Yeah.
I I actually we just put together, Ghana's FAQ,and it has a section for founders, funders, and
friends.
And the whole process is is drafted out therebecause that's important too.
(37:35):
Every VC may have a very different process, andunderstanding that is is important from a
founder side.
Understanding the thesis so you're not wastingyour time, or wasting the time of of others
because time is so precious that you wanna makesure you're talking to the right people, about
the right things, and that it fits yourtimeline.
Yeah.
I agree.
And I have to say, you know, you and yourhusband are on just, an amazing adventure.
(37:58):
I mean, just getting to travel and you know,what are some of the bigger takeaways that
you've learned?
And this is kinda deep, but just on life.
You know?
Just kinda know, I've gone back to themotherland, gone to India, and there's a lot of
things that have kinda changed my perspective.
But just, you know, are there any kinda highlevel nuggets that that you just are new?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like every year, right, there's kind ofnew pieces of wisdom that we compound.
(38:22):
So is there anything just kind of holisticallyjust kinda as you travel?
And I'm not sure how much you've traveledbefore, but, you know, you're it sounds like
it's just really exciting.
A lot of people can't do that.
Right?
They're kind of trapped in their nine five.
They're trapped with their commitment.
So the the just the fact that you're able to dothat and go on this adventure is really, really
(38:43):
exciting.
Well, I all I wanna say is if you follow me onInstagram, just know those are the highlight
moments.
Yeah.
Because I work Sure.
Seven days a week.
Yeah.
And we literally I think the biggest thing isif you come into this world, it it it is true.
I mean, it's it's that I think there's a memeabout you you give up the nine to five to work
(39:06):
seven hours.
On your dream twenty four seven, something likethat.
Exactly.
Exactly.
That's that's how it goes.
And it's true.
It's true.
Right?
So we're traveling.
Mhmm.
We have to take care of COVID requirements forevery country.
We need to adjust, figure out what brands webuy of what food, and where we're gonna stay.
Is it safe?
Is it not?
(39:28):
Where are we gonna work?
Is the Internet stable?
Like, all these things that sometimes you takefor granted are part of the process.
What are our working hours versus are we goingto schedule to make sure that we actually get
to explore the countries that we're in?
These are very tactical things that that no onetalks about, but but it is true.
It's really nice.
So, for example, at the when we came to Chile,I didn't know this, but February is vacation
(39:51):
month, January and February, and people hereactually take it seriously.
Like, they don't work.
And so and so Josh and I my husband and I, wewere just heads down working, but we did get to
go to Atacama, which is one of the mostbeautiful places to go stargazing.
We've been to Patagonia, which is just amazing.
(40:14):
From a nature perspective, if you like hiking,I definitely recommend it.
It's just so beautiful, and they they havethese, like, blue lagoons that are just they
seem magical.
They they really do.
But you know what I've learned is that time isfleeting, and I think sometimes, especially
when we're so passionate about what we'redoing, we can get caught up in just working all
(40:39):
the time.
And this is one of the challenges that I have.
I am a workaholic, and I don't say that in in agood way.
It's something that's very unhealthy, actually.
And I think many of us in this industry getcaught up in this cycle of being workaholics.
And so being able to take a step back andreflect on how we're spending our time with
(41:01):
whom and where is so, so, so important.
Because otherwise, you could just be on cruisecontrol just going through life and with very
little intentionality.
So we try to, on a weekly basis, reflect on ourhow intentionally we're living.
And recently, actually, Gail, a a good friendand also a GP at Vitalize
(41:24):
Yep.
VC and an LP in Goddess Ventures, she wrote a athread.
I don't know if you saw this, Joel, but she wastalking about how we have this four thousand
weeks of life.
Right?
And and and you start to think, like, okay.
Let me calculate how many how many of my weekshave I lived out, and why what am I doing with
my life, and what do I wanna do with the restof the weeks that I have left?
(41:48):
And I think that that's been one thing thatI've learned, traveling, just trying to to make
more time to be reflective and intentionalabout how I'm spending my time and what I'm
doing.
The other thing has been that we're not allwe're not so different.
Right?
In every country, people want to feel like theybelong.
(42:09):
They want to have enough money to provide fortheir families.
They wanna have a good life.
They wanna eat good food.
They wanna have, good relationships with theirfamilies, their friends, and they wanna do
something great in their life.
They want their lives to be meaningful.
And so I think that's the most beautiful thingthat that that you you start to learn that,
(42:30):
yes, there are nuances, and maybe some peopleare more serious in some countries than others.
But when you get to the core, we truly are thesame at the center of it all.
We are all human.
We all need to sleep.
We all need to eat.
We all need to go to the bathroom.
And, apparently, most of us need some meaning.
The last thing I'll say is this, that there's athere's a study that I read some time ago, And
(42:55):
I always carry this one with me because I loveI love animals.
And there there is a study around ants.
And I love ants because they're so little, yetthey can pick up, you know, double, triple
their weight.
And I always think that when you come fromunderestimated, underrepresented background,
that's basically what you have to do.
So these little creatures are always soincredible.
(43:18):
And anytime I see, like, these massive antscarrying the big leaves, I'm just like, wow.
Isn't that amazing?
Anyway but coming back to the research, thereport that I read about, what they were saying
is ants that live on their own, if they veeroff of their commune, they die a lot faster.
And so and so and, I mean, it makes sense.
(43:41):
Right?
Resources, etcetera.
But it's so interesting because I think we arealso pack animals.
Right?
Like and we need our people, and we need ourmeaning.
We need to to take time and and enjoy it too.
And I think that's the last thing that thatI'll say, that if we all just take a step back,
make sure we're living our lives intentionally,using up our 4,000, you know, about weeks in
(44:03):
life the way we really want to, not the way wethink we should.
Because, look, no matter how productive we arewhen we die, like, it's all gone.
So, I think it's that's that's kinda what'sbeen on my mind.
Sorry, Joel.
I got real deep and maybe a little dull.
No.
I actually have and I I have, like, three rapidfire comments to to respond to that four
(44:26):
thousand week thing, and I hope I don't forgetit midway.
But, first point was, you know, the I don't ifyou heard that story about, like, these two
people, like, in Greece something.
And, like, one of the brothers, like, went towork in, like, a big city, and he, like, worked
his whole life so that he could, you know, bewith beautiful women and eat great food and go
(44:49):
fishing all day.
And the and the other brother, like, lived inGreece and had a beautiful wife and danced
every day and caught, like, fresh fish everyday.
You know?
And and and, you know, that when you kindastart talking about that, I thought about that
story.
But, also, it's really interesting.
So Northwestern Mutual, they had a they had,like, a brand exercise.
(45:09):
It was a video.
And I thought that new branding was reallyinteresting because it's, the tagline was spend
your life living.
Because we're we're too busy chasing thatgenerational wealth that by the time we finally
get it, we're, like, 90 years old.
You know?
So you gotta take time to kinda live that whileyou're on the journey as well.
(45:30):
And, like, some of the best things, to behonest, are and some of my best memory best
memories.
I sent you, like, a deep email one time.
You know, when I was young and I was in India,we were playing with, like, sticks and, a beach
ball.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember that, and I remember that more than,like, you know, watching an episode on an iPad
or, like, kinda connecting to the Internet.
So, so I think as long as you're livingsomehow, you know, I think it's all relative.
(45:56):
And, you know, if you wake up and you'reexcited, I think that's success in my mind.
And then, you know, the third bullet I wantedto say was, it was a weird, profound, message
from Will Smith.
He finally felt happy when he just kindastarted helping people.
You know?
So I think if you can kinda do things where youcan create some type of impactful outcomes, you
(46:18):
know, that's gonna make you more happy than Ithink I think when he was young and he made a
lot of money, he rented out, like, the Guccistore for, like, his friends.
You know?
So his friends did, like, a shopping spree,and, you know, I think a lot of that was fun
and and good times.
But I think, you know, he really felt kindalike happiness when you you And I think you
said you said that, like, us as humans, we'redesigned to want to contribute in some way, and
(46:41):
I think that's what we're chasing.
But if we're if we're doing that too much andwe're not living, we're kinda giving up, these
precious, you know, the precious balance of thefour thousand hours, then I think we're really
living out, missing out on a living too, Iwould say.
So
Yeah.
So I have a question for you.
Mhmm.
Oh.
And and I I do by the way, that exchange ofemails that you're talking about, I was, like,
(47:04):
crying because, you know, it's it's these deepmoments that they are so special to us, and you
can you can read it in between the lines thatthey're so special.
But what do you do to live life these days, orwhat would you like to do to to fully live
life?
What does it mean to you?
You know, to be honest, living life to me isgoing to McDonald's and buying chicken nuggets
(47:26):
and having fun with my son and my wife.
So it's pretty simple.
You know?
I think as long as you're as long as you'rehaving fun with people that you care about, I
think you're living.
You know?
So I think when I was younger, I would reallycome you know, kinda compare myself to my
friends, and there was a level of insecurity.
You know?
I mean, being in Florida kinda, you know,knowing what I knew and then kinda seeing a lot
(47:48):
of people that in my community were kind of,like, doing all these great things.
I was like, wow.
I'm really behind.
But now it's like, I think success to me is,like, if you wake up and you're excited and,
you're healthy and you're happy.
You know?
And and, I mean, if you think about, like, thegreat resignation, you know, I mean, we should
talk about that for a second.
There was so many people I'm in New York.
(48:09):
Right?
So people get paid in general pretty well, and,there's people that are quitting their jobs if
they have to go back to the office becausethere's it's just very tough to find talent and
convince people to convince people to go backto work on the terms of somebody else.
I mean, there was a person, I introduced you tohim.
This person was an LP, and this person, decidedwith his wife.
(48:35):
They just refused to stop working.
And they want and they've kinda created theirown way to to, you know, generate revenue and
kinda provide for themselves, but they justkinda made a conscious decision that they're
gonna live life on your own terms.
So I think also living life is optionality andbeing able to do it on your own terms and
having control.
And I think a lot of times, if you don't havecontrol, you kinda feel trapped.
(48:57):
But, again, you know, that's just my 2¢, and weall see the world differently.
So
But I love what you're saying.
And, you know, one of the things that one of myfears is is do I if am I even aware enough to
know if I'm on autopilot or if I'm fully livingintentionally?
(49:17):
And so I do make efforts, but sometimes it'shard because there's so much coming at us.
Right?
So much stimulation, so many asks fromdifferent directions that you can get caught
up.
And so to have even to begin with the awarenessto work on this, to get the answers so that you
(49:38):
can say, you know, actually, my happy moment iswhen we when I see my kid eating his chicken
nuggets with the barbecue sauce because heloves it so much.
You know, that that's actually quite specialbecause some people can't answer that question.
Right?
And for me for me, I'll tell you on a day today, it's taking walks with Josh.
I Yeah.
(49:58):
Love just walking.
It doesn't cost anything.
It doesn't cost anything.
It just you we just walk.
And then the other thing is, finding purpose inwhat I do and leveraging my skill set, my
passionates, my my passions, and my intereststo create something bigger than myself,
something that can outlast myself.
And and I think that's, why community is soimportant to me because, again, it's not what
(50:24):
I'm able to build.
It's what I'm able to be a part of, enable.
And then when I'm gone, it'll just continue.
And whether people remember my name or not,that's not the point.
The point is terms.
Imagine if you asked IBM to, to allow you totravel all over Latin America.
It would be like, no.
(50:45):
It would be like, no.
You can't do that.
And But you can try to launch that YouTubechannel again?
You know, I I did try to do a show one timewhen I interviewed a 100 female millennial
entrepreneur.
And what I found was that I do not likeproduction of video.
Yeah.
So I think audio is easier.
I'll do my monthly fireside chats, which I do.
(51:07):
But, yeah, otherwise, I think I really likewriting, so I'm gonna stick with with with what
I like.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
That's great.
And I think that's really helped you a lot onTwitter.
We'll we'll maybe open it up in a coupleminutes.
I want you know, and this is something I'mstill working on.
It's a goal for me.
But and and Gail's been really good at thistoo.
She's given a lot of good feedback and andPaige and all our friends on on Twitter VC.
(51:30):
But any advice, to to build kind of a bettersocial following?
I I mean, look.
The the advice that Gail says is whenever youthink, just tweet.
But any other
just and it doesn't have to
be tactical, just maybe holistic tips on,building a community on social because you've
been so successful at it.
Yeah.
Well, first, I'll I'll say this, that ifwriting is something that you enjoy, write.
(51:58):
If video is something you enjoy, do that.
If audio is your thing, do that.
So find one that works.
Obviously, Twitter VC is real, and I alwaysrecommend that people are active because you
actually get to meet people and I I I feel likeI know you so much more than I would know
anybody you know, other people that are justfine randomly.
(52:21):
Because I consistently see your content, andI'm like, I know what Joel's about.
And that's part of the reason why I joined, theSutton Capital Accelerator because I'm like,
Joel is good people, and I wanna be with goodpeople.
So while I am a super Twitter fan, find whatworks for you, what's authentic to you, and
then, challenge yourself to talk about topicsthat are interesting to you.
(52:45):
Maybe you create a list of all the things thatare interesting to you and you test them out,
and you think about, if if you're going to VC,then thesis is would be great because you're
constantly needing to learn about this thing,and writing about it is helpful.
So learning in public, building in public,really great.
But maybe give yourself a recurring, calendarevent.
(53:10):
Maybe, say, I'm gonna write.
Maybe it's just one tweet a week or oneInstagram post or one TikTok or whatever it is
that your platform is.
But be consistent.
Explore your topics.
When you find something interesting, keepgoing.
Like, stick to it and see what happens.
And this these things, I think they they'rebuilt over a long period of time, and sometimes
(53:32):
you don't even know what works or what doesn't.
I don't write to get followers.
I I think there was a point in my life where Iwas just like, ah, wouldn't it be so great to
have x amount of followers?
But it doesn't the the quantity doesn't matteras much as the quality and the like, what
you're creating, in my opinion.
And others may think differently.
I know that there are people who buy followerswho do all these things.
(53:55):
But in this industry, it doesn't even itdoesn't make sense.
Like, people are gonna know.
So just be you.
And if you have a small following, but they'rereally engaged and you guys get each other,
amazing.
And if you're enjoying yourself writing andsharing content, building in public, which will
help others, amazing.
(54:16):
But if it's not your thing, don't try to forceit because you're not gonna enjoy it.
People who are looking at it are gonna ignoreit, and no one's gonna like it.
So don't waste
your time.
It feels like a task versus, again, having fun.
Right?
And I know we're out of time, and I could keepgoing, but I know you're I know you're super
busy.
Let me just give the audience a quick, youknow, point to, to maybe ask a final question
(54:40):
if they have anything.
So, guys, do you have any, any, outstandingquestions or advice from Lolita?
Hey, Lolita.
This is, John.
I've been, hi.
I've been
Hey, John.
Enjoying this.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you doing?
This is this is so great.
Yeah.
I guess I guess my question and sorry if youaddressed this earlier, but I guess my question
(55:03):
would be, if you're just starting out, would itmake sense to kind of seek out partnerships,
associations, like connections, or is it betterto start as an individual, just kinda build it
that way?
You know, I think it the answer is reallycontingent on what you have access to.
(55:24):
So when I when I started volunteering at TechCoast Angels, for example, it was a friend who
introduced me to a friend, and it wasn't somuch that I wanted to volunteer for Tech Coast
Angels.
It was just the opportunity that presenteditself as I started to tell everyone, hey.
This VC is what I wanna do.
I wanna learn more about it.
So if you have the ability to connect andcreate, those opportunities and experiences for
(55:47):
yourself, do that.
I say start where you where you're at.
Right?
So if you don't have that, then there's nooption of it.
And it may be it may take more time and effortto create list of these organizations right off
the bat.
But for me, my personality is that I wouldwanna map out who's the best of of everything
(56:08):
and always try to create those relationshipseven though I may not be working with them in
partnerships necessarily.
And I think that there's a difference therebecause I I personally love to build, like, top
of lists.
Who do I wanna work with?
I learn everything about them.
I follow them.
I start interacting.
And then at some point, maybe I start buildinga relationship, and maybe it becomes a
(56:30):
partnership one day.
But always, I think that the key is where canwe add value?
Cool.
Yeah.
That was really helpful.
Alright.
Well, I know we're out of time.
So I guess if anybody has questions tofollow-up, they could probably tweet you and
Yes.
(56:51):
And get ahold of you there.
Yeah.
Yes.
I am I am on Twitter.
That is my second home, so I'll see you there.
But thank you so much, Joel.
It was really fun, and thank you everyone forjoining.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Alita.
I appreciate you being generous with your time,and, really excited and and happy for all the
amazing things you've been doing for for thecommunity and for founders, for so many years.
(57:13):
So and thanks for supporting my community aswell.
No.
It's it's our community, and it takes acommunity.
So thank you.
Thank you, Joel, for all you do.
And, John, I see you.
John is also building lots of communities, so II love it.
It takes all of us.
So thank you again, and and have a great
Welcome to the investor, a podcast where I,Joel Palothinkel, your host, dives deep into
the minds of the world's most influentialinstitutional investors.
In each episode, we sit down with an investorto hear about their journeys and how global
markets are driving capital allocation.
So join us on this journey as we explore theseinsights.
(00:26):
Great.
So take a second.
I think we're live now.
So we are here with Lolita Tab, the generalpartner of Ganes Ventures.
Ganas or Ganas?
Ganas.
Ganas.
Ganas.
Ganas.
Ganas.
That's how we say it or.
Well, I'm really excited to go deep on that.
(00:48):
You know?
And I'm also really happy that, you know, we'vejust built a a new friendship just through the
community.
You know?
And I think it's really exciting to kinda justbe connected to people and and build build the
ecosystem together with other people.
You know?
And I think a couple things that we can talkabout today is really just kinda your origin
story, you know, how you came to learn aboutventure capital and how you just dove in and
(01:11):
broke in.
And and I think that's gonna really drive thecatalyst for really kinda your reasons for for
starting the new fund.
And, you know, I just really love how youlaunched on International Women's Day, so that
was pretty amazing.
So let's just jump right into it.
Lolita, you know, tell us about yourbackground, your family, and and then kinda
(01:31):
just walk us through kinda the beginning andthen kinda take us in a in a step by step
journey where we are, and then I'll just chimein, you know, to maybe help guide or, you know,
just pull out any specific points, and thenmaybe we'll take some questions and keep it
easy.
Yeah.
So like you, Joel, I come from a a family ofimmigrants.
(01:52):
I am a daughter of immigrants.
Mine happened to come from a small town,actually, outside of a small dairy town in a
small town already in Jalisco, Mexico.
And that's really where my story begins.
My parents left their country, their familieswith this dream of giving their future family,
(02:17):
their children, a shot at a better life, whichwas later called the American dream.
And so they left without money, with nothing,and came to The US.
I grew up in a garage that my dad turned into aone bedroom apartment, And, the community meant
(02:37):
a lot from day one because we were very poor,and sometimes we didn't have food.
And so the community would provide that for us.
I also grew up in South Central Los Angeles,which if you've seen straight out of Compton or
listened to any hip hop, rap, then you knowwhere I grew up.
And and, certainly, maybe you've heard of ofsome of the gangs, the Bloods, the Crips, where
(03:00):
you have to watch out with what color you wear,red, blue.
You might get jumped.
You might get killed.
You might get shot.
And that was another thing the communityprovided was physical protection.
Oftentimes unfortunately, I have to say often,and that's not that is pretty accurate.
(03:21):
Oftentimes, when there were problems in thecommunity, in the neighborhood, police would
not come to our neighborhood because they werejust scared.
And, I mean, I guess I would be too.
I grew up literally I I I remember, going andvisiting, my sixth grade science teacher's home
(03:43):
because we were doing a project with some otherstudents, And I remember seeing that she didn't
have any bars in her windows or on her door.
And I was so scared because in South Central,we'd always have bars on our windows and doors
for safety.
So and it's crazy because now I think, wow.
(04:05):
How did I feel safe there and not there?
You know?
But in any case, bringing back to the communityaspect, from a very young age, community meant
survival, and community also meant you takecare of community.
They are your family, and they take care ofyou.
And that's translated over the years.
I I have fifteen years in in tech, incorporate.
(04:29):
I worked for IBM for Cisco core competency.
In core role, it was always sales, then wentinto start ups in BC.
And this thread of community has always carriedthrough and in different ways.
In parts, it was feeling of belonging andhaving a community from that perspective, doing
things to help others out in the community.
(04:50):
But from a business perspective, what what hashappened is this interesting and very nerdy
observation of, okay.
There is a lot of opportunity out there in themarket.
Why aren't there people that look like meinvesting in really great founders, and why are
those founders being overlooked?
So there was that part.
(05:10):
There was another part.
The other part was in sales.
As you see the trends in sales, we've gonefrom, like, selling to the c suite to then
selling to department leaders to then sellingto, users to now selling through community.
And we're at this at this cross section pointin in our time where I am now calling it the
(05:36):
community era, the era of community.
And why?
Because we've had COVID that has reminded us ofour humanity and our loneliness, and we wanna
be part of something bigger than just atransaction or just a a number or a name on a
ledger.
We want to feel that we belong.
We want to feel like our lives are meaningful.
(05:58):
The other part of it is on the business side.
We need to look at the numbers.
We need to appreciate how customer acquisitioncost has risen through the roof.
So many companies are just throwing their moneyat Google, and other services, and it's not
really working.
How do you have good business unit economicswhen it's so expensive to do to to your CAC is
(06:23):
so expensive?
How do you lower that?
How do you increase lifetime value?
How do you get the talent you need?
These are all really big problems that we'rehaving right now with talent shortages, as well
as just how can I make sure that I'm building aproduct or service that's actually what the
market wants and is willing to pay for?
And when you have a community, the communitymembers, if they're engaged, they're going to
(06:46):
do your word-of-mouth sales.
They're going to tell you how to adjust yourproduct.
They're gonna tell you what they mean.
You're gonna be able to recruit.
The CAC is gonna lower.
LTV goes up.
You know, there's there's so many benefits.
And and so, I mean, there's a long a long wayof saying, like, community has been the threat
that has brought me from day one to to venturecapital, and I and I'm super, super excited to
(07:11):
now be investing in community driven companies,at Ghana's Ventures.
Yeah.
One thing that's been really exciting too, youknow, I'm in Jason Kalakanis' founder
university.
And one tip that they gave, and you justmentioned this, is, you know, if you have a
product, you don't have to do all the dev work.
You can just kinda send out a prototype onTwitter, and then people, as you know, will
(07:34):
just kinda give really, really honest feedback.
Sometimes maybe not the feedback that youalways want, but at least it's honest.
And the community kinda makes it safe to yourpoint, so you can kinda iterate very quickly.
And one one takeaway that I've learned is youcan launch as many times as you want when you
have a community.
Right?
Because you can keep on iterating.
And even with my fund accelerator, this is thefourth cohort, and every cohort has been
(07:56):
completely different, you know, becausesomebody gives me some helpful in, you know,
insight.
You know?
So let's kind of talk about that and, like,how, you know, we've gone from the c suite to
the community.
That's a really interesting nugget.
And, you know, let's talk about how you tookthat, community based mindset to kinda pivot
closer and closer to venture capital because alot of the people here have tech background.
(08:20):
Some of them are in consulting.
You heard some of the people here working at,like, big firms like Goldman.
You know, what's what's worked for you, andwhat advice would you give for people that are
looking to try to find, like, their their angleto get in?
Yeah.
No.
That's I mean, that's a very broad and goodquestion at the same time.
Here's one thing I will say, because it took mea while.
(08:42):
As as you might have noticed, and part of thereason why I mentioned that I started off in
corporate is because of the folks in the room.
Most of you are in corporate, more traditionalroles, and venture capital, startups.
It's just a whole new world.
Right?
It's a different animal together how youapproach it.
And so I have to say that when so I've been inVC now six plus years.
(09:05):
And when I made the transition, I will tell youthat it was a difficult one because I had to
unlearn so many of the things that corporateteaches you.
Things like just do and then ask forforgiveness or, hey.
Actually, the what will make you stand out isyou being actually you.
(09:27):
And I think sometimes in corporateenvironments, you're asked to to kind of do the
thing, go through the process, and and withgood reason.
Right?
There's processes.
There's matrix organizations.
Very complex.
We're we're working with lots of people, so itmakes sense.
But sometimes what happens when you work incorporate is that you kinda figure this is the
(09:48):
way things work.
And in VC and in start ups, first thing thatneeds to go is this is the way things work.
Because as a venture capitalist, you're lookingat what is the future.
What are the future companies going to looklike?
What are the future markets?
Not as is, but to be.
And it can be very difficult for someone comingright out of a corporate, very traditional role
(10:14):
or private equity that's more down the line,especially if you're looking at getting into
early stage startups.
And I guess I should specify that myperspective and viewpoint that I bring is from
an early stage investor perspective.
So first thing was think about what I'velearned in my career experiences.
Ask myself what have I subdued because I willtell you.
(10:36):
I remember I was working for IBM.
It was the first company that I worked for outof college.
And I remember I was in sales, and I was soexcited and, you know, shark guy, bushy tail.
And I was telling my my sales manager, I wantto start a YouTube channel.
This was, you know, back in 2000 I don't know.
I it must have been 02/2008, 02/2009.
(10:57):
And I was like, I'm
such a scandalous scandalous, thought to bringthat on.
Yes.
So I I remember what my manager he was sowonderful, super progressive, he asked me and
so I asked him, this would be so great.
This is how we're gonna do sales and da da da.
And he's like, Lolita, do you want your job?
Wow.
Because because marketing and legal are notgonna be okay with it.
(11:21):
Mhmm.
And and this is what I'm talking about.
So corporate, what are some of the things thatare so much of you that you would do coming
into the space and honing in more on yourauthenticity and who you are and having that be
your differentiator?
One thing I'll say is one piece of advice thatI've gotten as as I've developed into my
(11:44):
venture capital career is if you were to thinkof creating a fund that is literally you in a
version of a fund, that's the fund that youshould be creating.
And you cannot do that if you are stuck in theways that you've been told to be, to think, or
to act.
Yeah.
I mean, look.
(12:04):
I I was in corporate as well, so I feel thesame thing.
I mean, you're you can't really be yourselfbecause you're just afraid of you know, you're
walking on eggshells every day.
You're afraid of saying the wrong thing, andyou mentioned it.
You're scared of being fired.
So you just kinda keep quiet, put your headdown, and, you know, like everybody else, clock
out at at 5PM.
But what you get stuck doing is, you know, forthose of us that you know, obviously, you're
(12:28):
you're on the West Coast.
I mean, people that live in New York, a lot ofthem are doing that.
I mean, they're getting paid really well atGoldman.
They're getting paid really well at these largebanks, and, you know, they're kind of existing.
Right?
And I think for me, I finally felt like I'mliving a little bit because I'm kind of, you
know, building my own identity.
(12:49):
I'm able to kinda do this in the middle of theday and livestream versus if we were at IBM, we
would probably get yelled at by our boss.
Like, change the screen.
Right?
Like, move switch the screen to, like, an Excelspreadsheet.
So I think that's kind of a lot of times whatwe're a lot of people are struggling with, and
they're trying to find ways, to to break in.
(13:10):
And, you know, I think there's ways to do it,where you can do it as you go.
Right?
So I think there's, I think Gary Tan mentionedthis.
You can you can learn while you earn.
So you can kinda keep your day job at IBM.
But maybe on the side, would you recommendpeople maybe acting like VCs, kinda sourcing
deals Yeah.
(13:30):
Putting together, like, an investment thesis,joining, like, a maybe a new emerging fund as,
a venture fellow.
I guess, are are those some some ideas you'dgive and any other tips you have?
Yeah.
Sure.
And and I know, Joel, you you wanted moretactical advice, and I wanna give that for
sure.
I I just think that this human aspect is soimportant, and it's an evolution that you go
(13:51):
through.
Mhmm.
And it's actually what would make you reallysuccessful once you do break in if that's what
you wanna do, venture capital.
Yeah.
But for sure, I mean, even if I as I wasgetting started, I I had a job full time job,
until the beginning of this year when I quit torun my fund a 100 of the time.
And so, yes, you can do your full time job, andit's safe, and you have benefits, and you're
(14:17):
just like, why would I go and build a fundthat's probably gonna pay me less?
And you have to under you have to know theanswer.
Why do you wanna go into VC?
I think that's really important too before youjump in because this is not an easy, sexy sexy
job as much as everyone likes to make it out.
There's a lot of work that goes into it.
So understanding your why is gonna be my nextone.
(14:38):
Like, understand who are you and what is yourwhy in VC.
For me, I'll say that this is the only industrywhere I feel that with my skill set, I can
make, and and enable creating generationalwealth in our community within my lifetime.
(14:59):
And it's the only one that I can think of, andthat's why I'm here.
And and so ask yourself that.
And then if you're just like, yeah.
Totally in it.
One thing that I would say is when I startedoff, I was volunteering for angel groups.
So I had no idea what VC was because no one inmy family knew what VC was, so I don't think
(15:20):
they understand it completely now either.
But what I would do is I'd I'd go to there wasa couple of angel groups that I volunteered
for.
Tech Coast Angels is one of them.
They're they're national.
There's some that are international.
Take a look at who needs volunteers, and youcan learn and volunteer at the same time.
(15:41):
Yeah.
And so that's another way of of using some ofyour time.
If you can go and become a judge or help at apitch competition or be a mentor at, an
accelerator because regardless of where you areat, you have some sort of skill set and some
expertise that you can share.
And so figuring out what you can give to theecosystem while you learn is is really
(16:05):
important.
For me, I didn't have money.
I was not accredited at the beginning, and soit was a lot of just supporting supporting in
due diligence, then supporting in x y z thing,learning more of the craft, and then really con
continuously asking myself, is this the rightindustry for me?
Because it's a it's to me, it's not so much acareer as much as it is a lifestyle.
(16:27):
Once you're in VC, in my opinion, VC is in yourmind twenty four hours a day, seven days a
week, and I love it.
But some people, when they go down this path,they realize, you know what?
Actually, I I just wanna be an angel investor.
Or, actually, I I like it, but not that much.
I'd rather do something else, and that'stotally okay.
(16:48):
And there's there's a couple things.
Right?
But when you're thinking about VC two, there'sdifferent aspects to it.
You may be interested in being more of anoperational person versus an investor, or you
wanna be an investor.
If so, what kind?
What what are your interests?
I would start to think about what are themarkets that interest you the most naturally.
(17:11):
Now one of the things that I did at thebeginning is I wanted to learn everything of
everything.
And what I it was too overwhelming becauseeverything's always quickly moving.
You have to continuously learn.
That's part of being a venture capitalist.
But what I've learned is stick to what is trulyauthentically you, what you find truly
interesting, and go deep into that.
(17:32):
If you're early stage, you'll have to be ageneralist to some extent, but you can build in
some of those specific, subthese.
Maybe you're you're volunteering at a fund thathas a particular thesis, and you want to
explore an area or another area.
Right?
And so that's that those are some of the tipsthat I would give.
But the TLDR is see what angel groups are outthere.
(17:56):
Look for volunteer opportunities.
There may even be funds that want to bringpeople in as interns, but the easiest, safest
place that I've explored has been, working withangel groups.
Yeah.
And you you know, I appreciate you making mepump the brakes a little bit on the tactical
stuff because I went through that sameexperience of really just kinda thinking about
(18:16):
who I am.
And, I I did some self reflection for sometime, and I realized that, hey.
You know what?
Like, I like the technology.
I think we chatted about this on the phone.
Like, I like the technology, and, by trade, Ithink I'm skilled enough to do it, but I don't
I'm not really excited about, writing all thecode.
So for me, it was like, hey.
Naturally, maybe it's product, but, you know, II like kind of dipping into different sectors.
(18:41):
So that's so that kinda, like, logic in my headkinda made sense for me.
And I think it seems like for you, you know,the the common thread of community just carried
on, and that's really what your DNA is, andthat's kinda what you've been building.
And I think even even for me, I mean, that'sthat's allowed me to kind of unlock just new
areas to learn and just new new connectivity aswell.
(19:03):
So I totally resonate with that.
Yeah.
And, I mean, you're super community driven too,Joel.
Right?
So that that would be the next tactical butsuper strategic thing is figure out who is your
community.
We're you're you're part of ours here, but youmay have we all belong to many communities.
And, again, that's why all the the good workstarts inside, which is the hardest work, to be
(19:27):
honest.
But leaning into it because this is again,you're gonna be working on this for a very long
time if you decide to go down this path.
So it's very hard to keep up, you know,appearances or potential interest or, you know,
whatever.
And so it's important to just be yourself.
It's really refreshing as well, and it justmakes it so much easier to collaborate with
(19:50):
others and for others to find you because youwill find your people when you are yourself.
That is what I have found, and and I love itbecause, you know, then you can have more of a
trusting relationship with others.
And how to do that?
I would say it takes some work.
Now for me, it's been a lot of Twitter.
It's been consistency in a newsletter, in in,you know, events that I do online and in
(20:16):
person.
I have my own way of doing things, but whateverit is to consistently share the message of who
you are, what you're interested in, what youwanna work on, find the right way to do it for
you.
Maybe it's LinkedIn.
Maybe it's Zoom.
Maybe it's Facebook.
Maybe we don't like, there's no right place,but it's where is your where's the place that
(20:36):
you feel comfortable that you can consistentlyshare so that you can attract those?
Because, ultimately, VC is a communitybusiness.
Nobody succeeds alone, and you need to be ableto attract not just founders that you're gonna
invest in, but the ecosystem that's going tosupport the the founders as as you're getting
started.
And then when you decide to launch a fund, youalso need an ecosystem of LPs to come and back
(21:01):
you.
And so it's it's always this continuous need toshare what you're about, what so people know
when and where to find you and how and and why,and and also for people to develop trust.
Because I'll go back to just the basics ofbeing human.
People do business with people they like.
(21:22):
And oftentimes, when you don't come from, youknow, the status quo Silicon Valley
backgrounds, it could be very difficult.
So even more so the reason why to lean oncommunity.
And so whatever that means, building realrelationships with people and supporting, in my
opinion, is the magic to all of this,literally, in one word, caring caring for
(21:45):
community.
Yeah.
No.
I think that's all, super important.
I mean, it it's so true.
I mean, people people do business, and theylike to collaborate with people that they like
and also trust.
I don't know if you know Dan Runkie, but he hasthis, newsletter called Trapital, and he
highlights all these, he highlights all thesehip hop artists that are successful business
(22:08):
people.
So he he highlighted Issa Rae.
So Issa Rae is a producer of Insecure.
And, you know, your ecosystem kinda reminds meof her a little bit because there was a diagram
that he built, and it essentially shows yeah.
It's see this, by the way, Joel.
It sounds
kinda cool.
Yeah.
I have it.
But, you know, essentially, what I'm seeing nowis businesses that have multiple tentacles that
(22:34):
feed into each other.
Right?
So, like, if you think about Sutton Capital, wehave, you know, we have deal flow.
We have community.
We have funds that have deals, and, like, weall just kind of the, you know, the technicals
kinda feed into each other.
So when you think about Issa Rae, she's theproducer of Insecure, which is on HBO.
She also produces music, so that flows into,like, another revenue channel for, like,
(22:56):
creating music.
I have to pull up the diagram.
I'll send it to you, but there's, like,there's, like, at least eight or 10 different
tentacles.
And I know that you kinda have that too.
You've got the community.
You've got deal flow.
You've got, you know, all these partnerships.
So, you know, maybe you can touch on thatwhatever you're allowed to share, but, you
know, also just give us a like, maybe a rundownof how how somebody brand new can do that
(23:19):
because there's just so many media channels andplatforms.
I think part of it is really also thinking whatworks for you.
So for me, it's just easy to just do this andjust livestream, and that way, I don't have to
do any post production.
But for somebody else, it may be somethingelse.
But, maybe talk about, like, all the tentaclesthat you have and, and
(23:40):
There's so many.
I know.
I have I have an Airtable for it.
I have an Airtable for it.
Well, there's yeah.
So there's a website.
Right?
So maybe we can share that.
I think it's, like, Lolita as a service.
Yeah.
Lolita's yes.
It it turned into last.
But let me let me get to the beginning of this.
This is a really good point in buildingcommunity and establishing yourself Mhmm.
(24:01):
In the ecosystem.
Again, going back to you have to firstunderstand, like, what you're about, what's
your focus so that when you do come into thespace, you are consistently talking about a
particular thesis or topic.
Right?
And for me, for years, on a personal side, it'sbeen supporting a global community of
(24:22):
underestimated, underrepresented founders,funders, and friends.
And what's that what that has organically ledto is different tools, content, resources,
programs that I have built from the startupinvestor matching tool, that has, that
basically connects, introduces underestimatedfounders with investors, to a GPLP matching
(24:45):
tool, which is similar but between fundmanagers and investors and funds, to having
biweekly newsletters and all sorts of differentthings, consults, office hours, all sorts of
things.
This didn't all happen.
I sat down and, you know, I was just like, allof these different things, we're gonna do them.
(25:07):
No.
It's been really organic and listening to thecommunity and the community needs.
And as I've been doing this, this has been thecommunity that I've been investing in.
And for me, the best way to build arelationship is to give first and that we will
take care of each other by for showing how wecan add value.
And this is very much one of my values, and youdon't have to prescribe to it, but I do believe
(25:31):
in giving first.
And so all of these things kind of, startedgetting a little out of hand.
So last at the end of last year, especiallybecause I knew that I wanted to to launch my
fund, I organized it all under thisorganization called The Last Co, and the
website is literally thelast,laas.co.
(25:53):
And you can see all of the different resources,tools, and and programs that I have available,
including a community, that has extra perks andall sorts of different things.
But I decided to put it in into thisorganization so that we can actually start
making it a sustainable team that's doing thatwork so I can focus on on Ghana's ventures.
(26:18):
And that's what we've been doing.
We're still a little bit in transition, butmore or less, what I have found, as many people
do when you build community, is that it takesmoney.
I did so many things for free for a very longtime, but guess what?
I'm not gonna ask the people that are workingfor me to work for free.
And I have been taken advantage of of a lot,and I believe in paying people.
(26:41):
And so we have a fractional team that's helpingwith all the community efforts.
And the way that bleeds and actually has becomea differentiator for me as a general partner,
as a fund manager, is that this all gives methe top of funnel on the three different sales
targets that we as VCs have, LPs.
(27:03):
They now know me because guess what?
I've been sending them deal flow for a verylong time, customized deal flow.
Now, the founders, they they know me becauseI'm getting them introductions and funding for
a very long time.
Yeah.
I'm giving consistent content in terms of,like, what I'm about, how I can add value
consistently.
(27:23):
And so it it it actually is a differentiatorfor the fund.
At the same time, it enables me to leveragewhat we're doing there to not have to spend so
much money in managing the fund on the Ghanaside because this work is already being done.
And that may not mean anything or very littleto most of you if you're not looking at
(27:44):
creating a fund.
But creating a fund and managing a fund is veryexpensive, and you have to keep an especially
if it's it's a small fund, the fee only goes sofar, and you have to get really crafty, very
creative on how you're gonna squeeze out enoughto be able to pay the vendors, just operating a
(28:04):
company and then paying yourself a a salary.
So I'll stop there because I can continuegoing, but, hopefully, that that's helpful to
you guys.
Yeah.
That was really helpful.
Any questions from, the audience at the moment?
Maybe maybe I'll kind of tee it up while we gotsomebody else popping in.
(28:27):
So what are you know?
So maybe you can unpack a little bit of youryour thesis kinda what you're looking for.
I'm aware of it.
But maybe just kinda when you're looking atcompanies, I'm pretty sure community is a big
piece.
But what in your mind shows you that it's a,high quality company?
I guess, are are there you know, as far asmaybe the qualitative and then the, the
(28:49):
quantitative aspects of it?
Yeah.
That that's actually a really good question,and I'll answer it in two ways.
One is actually what I look for when I'mlooking at a company, and then the other part
is the process.
Because oftentimes, we don't talk enough aboutthe process, and that is so, so important.
From a high level perspective, my thesis iswell, it's not from a high I'll explain the
(29:13):
TLDR, but the thesis is investing in pre seedand seed community driven web two and web three
companies in The US and Latin America.
What does community driven mean?
Community driven companies for me means threethings.
One is the customers of a company identify asmembers of a community.
(29:34):
Two, these members have a space to create valuefor each other.
And third, and most importantly, they are theones that kick off a marketing sales flywheel.
So instead of having a go to market, you have ago to community.
Some examples to give you some clarity.
Right?
(29:54):
One that, that that's easy to understand isAirbnb and BRBO, especially because we can see
the numbers as well, the valuations.
When you look it's an oldie but a goodie.
So when you look at BRBO and Airbnb, they'redoing exactly the same thing except Airbnb is
and has been focused on community.
(30:15):
So when you see, that Airbnb's at a$90,000,000,000 valuation versus BRBO, that's,
you know, so much less, like, in the twenties,if not less.
I haven't seen the the latest, valuation there,but the the stark difference really comes from
them being community driven.
(30:35):
And for those of you who may not know howthey've done this is, initially, they started
with really centering around the community ofhosts.
And so when you have the people on yourplatform selling for you, it makes it a lot
easier.
And that gives more context into how that canhelp lower a CAC for a company or how can how
that can increase lifetime value.
(30:55):
Right?
So say you're a host of Airbnb, and now you'rebringing in more customers because you're
marketing it, and and and and you're createyou're you're creating a business.
Right?
Anyway, so that's that's an example of it.
There's so many more.
Glossier, Reddit, you know, just there'sMongoDB.
(31:17):
That's a b two b.
It could be any business model.
And yeah.
So some of the areas that I'm personallyinterested in, though, as subthesis are within
the emerging market, especially in LatinAmerica because it is the most connected region
in the world, and so it's primed to foropportunity across the board.
(31:40):
There's a lot of problems to be solved outhere.
The other thing is that culturally, beingcommunity driven is something that is innate to
how a lot of the cultures' nuances will allparallel.
And I say this because every country has theirown subculture, but the thread across is very
(32:00):
culturally community driven.
So you have the thesis alignment, and you havealso the market in its prime time.
Right?
And on the other two sides, there's two otherones that I focus on.
One is the future is cashless, which I think Idon't it's pretty self explanatory.
Right?
And you start thinking about web two, web 2.5,or web three.
(32:22):
And then the other one is the future's multihyphenated.
So when I look at this group and when we'retalking, we're wearing multiple hats.
Right?
I'm a creator community builder, GP at a fund.
And I believe that this is actually more of thestatus quo, the what will be normal.
And so we need to have, the companies that willbuild for this cross section of the future of
(32:46):
work and the creator economy.
And I'm really interested in in these spacesand how community driven companies can address
the needs that that arise from these areas.
So that's the first part, thesis.
Oh, no.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I'll start
with Go.
No.
No.
Go ahead.
Because your your question is good, but Ibecause I I whenever whenever I share these
things, I think that going a little bit deeperis helpful.
(33:08):
But the number one thing would be, like, does acompany fit my thesis?
And so I just shared what it is.
And if it doesn't fit, then that's the firstfilter out.
Yeah.
And that's helpful too for founders to see thatas well, because then they can optimize their
time also.
I was gonna say, you know, we've got a coupleof friends, common friends that are in, Latin
America as well.
(33:28):
So I wanted to learn a little more about, LatinAmerica.
I got to spend time with Anna Garcia.
She met my family, and got to hang out withCarlos as well.
But, you know, are you still in Mexico, or doyou come back
to Mexico?
I'm no.
No.
No.
So I'm I'm I'm in Latin America for a year, andright now, we're in Santiago, Chile.
Got it.
Are you, traveling around there?
(33:50):
You gonna stay in Chile?
So no.
So we're spending a few months in everycountry.
And the and and the goal really is to buildcommunity, get to know the ecosystem, founders,
funders, lawyers, very important when you'reinvesting abroad, and and everything else.
So we were previously and when I say we, myhusband and and me, we're in Mexico City for
(34:15):
three months.
This will be our second month in Chile, andthen afterwards, we go to Argentina, Colombia,
Brazil.
And, again, yeah, it's it's been there's somuch opportunity out here.
It's very important to understand, and theculture is outside of do you have all of the
elements of supporting a company locally andinternationally, and what's gonna be my added
(34:39):
value, and does it fit a thesis?
It's also do I understand what is going oncontextually?
So for example, here in in Santiago, Chileright now, there's a new president that's going
to be coming in.
And he is coming more from a from a more,socialist perspective than the previous
president.
And that may that may push the country to go ina particular direction from an economic
(35:04):
perspective.
The way that the country has gone, it's beensuper successful.
There's so much opportunity, but prices havegone up crazy.
This is the most expensive city, Santiago,Chile, in all of LatAm, and the prices are very
close to Californian prices, honestly.
Wow.
And so being able to understand these dynamics,understanding what the founders' challenges are
(35:28):
on the ground, and making friends with who willbe my coinvestors, super important.
And so that's what I'm doing here.
And and and just that's part of the duediligence thing, right, in in how do I know if
I'm an investment in a company.
It's not just do you fit my thesis, but do Ipersonally think that I'm going to be of added
value?
(35:49):
And does your market work?
So the other things that I would say moretactically are market size and growth, market
start up founder fit, and and then the the restof it is is really the rest of the team and the
product itself.
(36:09):
And so these are some of the, you know, off theshelf, what I look at, and I have an entire
process where I'm rating, then I'm, passing onto the next stage.
So it would be, like, founder submits a form.
If they are part of the thesis, I rate.
If they have an average rating of a four, 4.5or or five, then they go to the next step,
(36:31):
which is a call.
We get to know each other.
There's other metrics to measure.
Once I do that, if there's if the scoring againis is a high average, then they I move on to
the step, which is doing due diligence, writinga memo, doing reference calls.
And as part of that final thing, if I have fullconviction, how being able to answer, how can I
(36:52):
personally add value?
And if I cannot, I don't know that it's fair totake a slot on a cap table.
Yeah.
No.
I was I was actually taking a look for asecond.
You used to have this, like, really cool flowdiagram.
I don't know if that's still on your, theloss.co website, but that was really helpful
because it show it was like a it was like adecision tree.
(37:13):
It's like if you fit the thesis, then you go tothis step.
So I I don't know if you still have that, butthat was really cool.
But the way you described it, it kinda made mevisualize that
Yeah.
That you have.
It it is a decision tree.
Yeah.
I I actually we just put together, Ghana's FAQ,and it has a section for founders, funders, and
friends.
And the whole process is is drafted out therebecause that's important too.
(37:35):
Every VC may have a very different process, andunderstanding that is is important from a
founder side.
Understanding the thesis so you're not wastingyour time, or wasting the time of of others
because time is so precious that you wanna makesure you're talking to the right people, about
the right things, and that it fits yourtimeline.
Yeah.
I agree.
And I have to say, you know, you and yourhusband are on just, an amazing adventure.
(37:58):
I mean, just getting to travel and you know,what are some of the bigger takeaways that
you've learned?
And this is kinda deep, but just on life.
You know?
Just kinda know, I've gone back to themotherland, gone to India, and there's a lot of
things that have kinda changed my perspective.
But just, you know, are there any kinda highlevel nuggets that that you just are new?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like every year, right, there's kind ofnew pieces of wisdom that we compound.
(38:22):
So is there anything just kind of holisticallyjust kinda as you travel?
And I'm not sure how much you've traveledbefore, but, you know, you're it sounds like
it's just really exciting.
A lot of people can't do that.
Right?
They're kind of trapped in their nine five.
They're trapped with their commitment.
So the the just the fact that you're able to dothat and go on this adventure is really, really
(38:43):
exciting.
Well, I all I wanna say is if you follow me onInstagram, just know those are the highlight
moments.
Yeah.
Because I work Sure.
Seven days a week.
Yeah.
And we literally I think the biggest thing isif you come into this world, it it it is true.
I mean, it's it's that I think there's a memeabout you you give up the nine to five to work
(39:06):
seven hours.
On your dream twenty four seven, something likethat.
Exactly.
Exactly.
That's that's how it goes.
And it's true.
It's true.
Right?
So we're traveling.
Mhmm.
We have to take care of COVID requirements forevery country.
We need to adjust, figure out what brands webuy of what food, and where we're gonna stay.
Is it safe?
Is it not?
(39:28):
Where are we gonna work?
Is the Internet stable?
Like, all these things that sometimes you takefor granted are part of the process.
What are our working hours versus are we goingto schedule to make sure that we actually get
to explore the countries that we're in?
These are very tactical things that that no onetalks about, but but it is true.
It's really nice.
So, for example, at the when we came to Chile,I didn't know this, but February is vacation
(39:51):
month, January and February, and people hereactually take it seriously.
Like, they don't work.
And so and so Josh and I my husband and I, wewere just heads down working, but we did get to
go to Atacama, which is one of the mostbeautiful places to go stargazing.
We've been to Patagonia, which is just amazing.
(40:14):
From a nature perspective, if you like hiking,I definitely recommend it.
It's just so beautiful, and they they havethese, like, blue lagoons that are just they
seem magical.
They they really do.
But you know what I've learned is that time isfleeting, and I think sometimes, especially
when we're so passionate about what we'redoing, we can get caught up in just working all
(40:39):
the time.
And this is one of the challenges that I have.
I am a workaholic, and I don't say that in in agood way.
It's something that's very unhealthy, actually.
And I think many of us in this industry getcaught up in this cycle of being workaholics.
And so being able to take a step back andreflect on how we're spending our time with
(41:01):
whom and where is so, so, so important.
Because otherwise, you could just be on cruisecontrol just going through life and with very
little intentionality.
So we try to, on a weekly basis, reflect on ourhow intentionally we're living.
And recently, actually, Gail, a a good friendand also a GP at Vitalize
(41:24):
Yep.
VC and an LP in Goddess Ventures, she wrote a athread.
I don't know if you saw this, Joel, but she wastalking about how we have this four thousand
weeks of life.
Right?
And and and you start to think, like, okay.
Let me calculate how many how many of my weekshave I lived out, and why what am I doing with
my life, and what do I wanna do with the restof the weeks that I have left?
(41:48):
And I think that that's been one thing thatI've learned, traveling, just trying to to make
more time to be reflective and intentionalabout how I'm spending my time and what I'm
doing.
The other thing has been that we're not allwe're not so different.
Right?
In every country, people want to feel like theybelong.
(42:09):
They want to have enough money to provide fortheir families.
They wanna have a good life.
They wanna eat good food.
They wanna have, good relationships with theirfamilies, their friends, and they wanna do
something great in their life.
They want their lives to be meaningful.
And so I think that's the most beautiful thingthat that that you you start to learn that,
(42:30):
yes, there are nuances, and maybe some peopleare more serious in some countries than others.
But when you get to the core, we truly are thesame at the center of it all.
We are all human.
We all need to sleep.
We all need to eat.
We all need to go to the bathroom.
And, apparently, most of us need some meaning.
The last thing I'll say is this, that there's athere's a study that I read some time ago, And
(42:55):
I always carry this one with me because I loveI love animals.
And there there is a study around ants.
And I love ants because they're so little, yetthey can pick up, you know, double, triple
their weight.
And I always think that when you come fromunderestimated, underrepresented background,
that's basically what you have to do.
So these little creatures are always soincredible.
(43:18):
And anytime I see, like, these massive antscarrying the big leaves, I'm just like, wow.
Isn't that amazing?
Anyway but coming back to the research, thereport that I read about, what they were saying
is ants that live on their own, if they veeroff of their commune, they die a lot faster.
And so and so and, I mean, it makes sense.
(43:41):
Right?
Resources, etcetera.
But it's so interesting because I think we arealso pack animals.
Right?
Like and we need our people, and we need ourmeaning.
We need to to take time and and enjoy it too.
And I think that's the last thing that thatI'll say, that if we all just take a step back,
make sure we're living our lives intentionally,using up our 4,000, you know, about weeks in
(44:03):
life the way we really want to, not the way wethink we should.
Because, look, no matter how productive we arewhen we die, like, it's all gone.
So, I think it's that's that's kinda what'sbeen on my mind.
Sorry, Joel.
I got real deep and maybe a little dull.
No.
I actually have and I I have, like, three rapidfire comments to to respond to that four
(44:26):
thousand week thing, and I hope I don't forgetit midway.
But, first point was, you know, the I don't ifyou heard that story about, like, these two
people, like, in Greece something.
And, like, one of the brothers, like, went towork in, like, a big city, and he, like, worked
his whole life so that he could, you know, bewith beautiful women and eat great food and go
(44:49):
fishing all day.
And the and the other brother, like, lived inGreece and had a beautiful wife and danced
every day and caught, like, fresh fish everyday.
You know?
And and and, you know, that when you kindastart talking about that, I thought about that
story.
But, also, it's really interesting.
So Northwestern Mutual, they had a they had,like, a brand exercise.
(45:09):
It was a video.
And I thought that new branding was reallyinteresting because it's, the tagline was spend
your life living.
Because we're we're too busy chasing thatgenerational wealth that by the time we finally
get it, we're, like, 90 years old.
You know?
So you gotta take time to kinda live that whileyou're on the journey as well.
(45:30):
And, like, some of the best things, to behonest, are and some of my best memory best
memories.
I sent you, like, a deep email one time.
You know, when I was young and I was in India,we were playing with, like, sticks and, a beach
ball.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember that, and I remember that more than,like, you know, watching an episode on an iPad
or, like, kinda connecting to the Internet.
So, so I think as long as you're livingsomehow, you know, I think it's all relative.
(45:56):
And, you know, if you wake up and you'reexcited, I think that's success in my mind.
And then, you know, the third bullet I wantedto say was, it was a weird, profound, message
from Will Smith.
He finally felt happy when he just kindastarted helping people.
You know?
So I think if you can kinda do things where youcan create some type of impactful outcomes, you
(46:18):
know, that's gonna make you more happy than Ithink I think when he was young and he made a
lot of money, he rented out, like, the Guccistore for, like, his friends.
You know?
So his friends did, like, a shopping spree,and, you know, I think a lot of that was fun
and and good times.
But I think, you know, he really felt kindalike happiness when you you And I think you
said you said that, like, us as humans, we'redesigned to want to contribute in some way, and
(46:41):
I think that's what we're chasing.
But if we're if we're doing that too much andwe're not living, we're kinda giving up, these
precious, you know, the precious balance of thefour thousand hours, then I think we're really
living out, missing out on a living too, Iwould say.
So
Yeah.
So I have a question for you.
Mhmm.
Oh.
And and I I do by the way, that exchange ofemails that you're talking about, I was, like,
(47:04):
crying because, you know, it's it's these deepmoments that they are so special to us, and you
can you can read it in between the lines thatthey're so special.
But what do you do to live life these days, orwhat would you like to do to to fully live
life?
What does it mean to you?
You know, to be honest, living life to me isgoing to McDonald's and buying chicken nuggets
(47:26):
and having fun with my son and my wife.
So it's pretty simple.
You know?
I think as long as you're as long as you'rehaving fun with people that you care about, I
think you're living.
You know?
So I think when I was younger, I would reallycome you know, kinda compare myself to my
friends, and there was a level of insecurity.
You know?
I mean, being in Florida kinda, you know,knowing what I knew and then kinda seeing a lot
(47:48):
of people that in my community were kind of,like, doing all these great things.
I was like, wow.
I'm really behind.
But now it's like, I think success to me is,like, if you wake up and you're excited and,
you're healthy and you're happy.
You know?
And and, I mean, if you think about, like, thegreat resignation, you know, I mean, we should
talk about that for a second.
There was so many people I'm in New York.
(48:09):
Right?
So people get paid in general pretty well, and,there's people that are quitting their jobs if
they have to go back to the office becausethere's it's just very tough to find talent and
convince people to convince people to go backto work on the terms of somebody else.
I mean, there was a person, I introduced you tohim.
This person was an LP, and this person, decidedwith his wife.
(48:35):
They just refused to stop working.
And they want and they've kinda created theirown way to to, you know, generate revenue and
kinda provide for themselves, but they justkinda made a conscious decision that they're
gonna live life on your own terms.
So I think also living life is optionality andbeing able to do it on your own terms and
having control.
And I think a lot of times, if you don't havecontrol, you kinda feel trapped.
(48:57):
But, again, you know, that's just my 2¢, and weall see the world differently.
So
But I love what you're saying.
And, you know, one of the things that one of myfears is is do I if am I even aware enough to
know if I'm on autopilot or if I'm fully livingintentionally?
(49:17):
And so I do make efforts, but sometimes it'shard because there's so much coming at us.
Right?
So much stimulation, so many asks fromdifferent directions that you can get caught
up.
And so to have even to begin with the awarenessto work on this, to get the answers so that you
(49:38):
can say, you know, actually, my happy moment iswhen we when I see my kid eating his chicken
nuggets with the barbecue sauce because heloves it so much.
You know, that that's actually quite specialbecause some people can't answer that question.
Right?
And for me for me, I'll tell you on a day today, it's taking walks with Josh.
I Yeah.
(49:58):
Love just walking.
It doesn't cost anything.
It doesn't cost anything.
It just you we just walk.
And then the other thing is, finding purpose inwhat I do and leveraging my skill set, my
passionates, my my passions, and my intereststo create something bigger than myself,
something that can outlast myself.
And and I think that's, why community is soimportant to me because, again, it's not what
(50:24):
I'm able to build.
It's what I'm able to be a part of, enable.
And then when I'm gone, it'll just continue.
And whether people remember my name or not,that's not the point.
The point is terms.
Imagine if you asked IBM to, to allow you totravel all over Latin America.
It would be like, no.
(50:45):
It would be like, no.
You can't do that.
And But you can try to launch that YouTubechannel again?
You know, I I did try to do a show one timewhen I interviewed a 100 female millennial
entrepreneur.
And what I found was that I do not likeproduction of video.
Yeah.
So I think audio is easier.
I'll do my monthly fireside chats, which I do.
(51:07):
But, yeah, otherwise, I think I really likewriting, so I'm gonna stick with with with what
I like.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
That's great.
And I think that's really helped you a lot onTwitter.
We'll we'll maybe open it up in a coupleminutes.
I want you know, and this is something I'mstill working on.
It's a goal for me.
But and and Gail's been really good at thistoo.
She's given a lot of good feedback and andPaige and all our friends on on Twitter VC.
(51:30):
But any advice, to to build kind of a bettersocial following?
I I mean, look.
The the advice that Gail says is whenever youthink, just tweet.
But any other
just and it doesn't have to
be tactical, just maybe holistic tips on,building a community on social because you've
been so successful at it.
Yeah.
Well, first, I'll I'll say this, that ifwriting is something that you enjoy, write.
(51:58):
If video is something you enjoy, do that.
If audio is your thing, do that.
So find one that works.
Obviously, Twitter VC is real, and I alwaysrecommend that people are active because you
actually get to meet people and I I I feel likeI know you so much more than I would know
anybody you know, other people that are justfine randomly.
(52:21):
Because I consistently see your content, andI'm like, I know what Joel's about.
And that's part of the reason why I joined, theSutton Capital Accelerator because I'm like,
Joel is good people, and I wanna be with goodpeople.
So while I am a super Twitter fan, find whatworks for you, what's authentic to you, and
then, challenge yourself to talk about topicsthat are interesting to you.
(52:45):
Maybe you create a list of all the things thatare interesting to you and you test them out,
and you think about, if if you're going to VC,then thesis is would be great because you're
constantly needing to learn about this thing,and writing about it is helpful.
So learning in public, building in public,really great.
But maybe give yourself a recurring, calendarevent.
(53:10):
Maybe, say, I'm gonna write.
Maybe it's just one tweet a week or oneInstagram post or one TikTok or whatever it is
that your platform is.
But be consistent.
Explore your topics.
When you find something interesting, keepgoing.
Like, stick to it and see what happens.
And this these things, I think they they'rebuilt over a long period of time, and sometimes
(53:32):
you don't even know what works or what doesn't.
I don't write to get followers.
I I think there was a point in my life where Iwas just like, ah, wouldn't it be so great to
have x amount of followers?
But it doesn't the the quantity doesn't matteras much as the quality and the like, what
you're creating, in my opinion.
And others may think differently.
I know that there are people who buy followerswho do all these things.
(53:55):
But in this industry, it doesn't even itdoesn't make sense.
Like, people are gonna know.
So just be you.
And if you have a small following, but they'rereally engaged and you guys get each other,
amazing.
And if you're enjoying yourself writing andsharing content, building in public, which will
help others, amazing.
(54:16):
But if it's not your thing, don't try to forceit because you're not gonna enjoy it.
People who are looking at it are gonna ignoreit, and no one's gonna like it.
So don't waste
your time.
It feels like a task versus, again, having fun.
Right?
And I know we're out of time, and I could keepgoing, but I know you're I know you're super
busy.
Let me just give the audience a quick, youknow, point to, to maybe ask a final question
(54:40):
if they have anything.
So, guys, do you have any, any, outstandingquestions or advice from Lolita?
Hey, Lolita.
This is, John.
I've been, hi.
I've been
Hey, John.
Enjoying this.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you doing?
This is this is so great.
Yeah.
I guess I guess my question and sorry if youaddressed this earlier, but I guess my question
(55:03):
would be, if you're just starting out, would itmake sense to kind of seek out partnerships,
associations, like connections, or is it betterto start as an individual, just kinda build it
that way?
You know, I think it the answer is reallycontingent on what you have access to.
(55:24):
So when I when I started volunteering at TechCoast Angels, for example, it was a friend who
introduced me to a friend, and it wasn't somuch that I wanted to volunteer for Tech Coast
Angels.
It was just the opportunity that presenteditself as I started to tell everyone, hey.
This VC is what I wanna do.
I wanna learn more about it.
So if you have the ability to connect andcreate, those opportunities and experiences for
(55:47):
yourself, do that.
I say start where you where you're at.
Right?
So if you don't have that, then there's nooption of it.
And it may be it may take more time and effortto create list of these organizations right off
the bat.
But for me, my personality is that I wouldwanna map out who's the best of of everything
(56:08):
and always try to create those relationshipseven though I may not be working with them in
partnerships necessarily.
And I think that there's a difference therebecause I I personally love to build, like, top
of lists.
Who do I wanna work with?
I learn everything about them.
I follow them.
I start interacting.
And then at some point, maybe I start buildinga relationship, and maybe it becomes a
(56:30):
partnership one day.
But always, I think that the key is where canwe add value?
Cool.
Yeah.
That was really helpful.
Alright.
Well, I know we're out of time.
So I guess if anybody has questions tofollow-up, they could probably tweet you and
Yes.
(56:51):
And get ahold of you there.
Yeah.
Yes.
I am I am on Twitter.
That is my second home, so I'll see you there.
But thank you so much, Joel.
It was really fun, and thank you everyone forjoining.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Alita.
I appreciate you being generous with your time,and, really excited and and happy for all the
amazing things you've been doing for for thecommunity and for founders, for so many years.
(57:13):
So and thanks for supporting my community aswell.
No.
It's it's our community, and it takes acommunity.
So thank you.
Thank you, Joel, for all you do.
And, John, I see you.
John is also building lots of communities, so II love it.
It takes all of us.
So thank you again, and and have a great
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