July 16, 2024 • 11 mins
Arlen Hamilton, the trailblazing founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital, shares her profound journey as a Black, gay woman shaking up the venture capital industry—a domain long dominated by white males. Tune in to gain invaluable insights on the critical role of equitable access to venture capital in building generational wealth and how diverse VCs like Arlen are uniquely positioned to recognize and invest in overlooked opportunities. We also navigate through the challenges faced by underrepresented founders, especially in light of the backlash against inclusive initiatives. Arlen’s compelling story underscores the transformative power of inclusive investing and the immense potential it holds.
On a lighter note, prepare for a heartwarming shout-out to Angel White, the culinary genius behind Angel White Cookies, whose homemade treats are becoming an Instagram sensation. We'll share our personal experience of being blown away by her delectable creations, which have already wowed notable figures and rappers alike. Discover why these cookies have earned the top spot on our favorite snacks list and why we're so thrilled to introduce you to Angel's delightful talent. Join us for an episode rich with inspiration, wisdom, and a dash of deliciousness.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
HireRunnerco is a recruiting company that I
launched in September of 2021 inresponse to how many requests
for help with hiring that Ireceived from founders and from
larger corporations, and weessentially, today we match on a
marketplace across dozens ofcategories now.
(00:22):
We started with one inoperations, but we've expanded
and what we are focusing on morerecently are people who have
been affected by layoffs, sothat they can get rerouted.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey everyone, this is Mike Roberts, creator of the
Apprenticeship Playbook, andyou're tuned in to the Skills
First podcast.
In today's world, skills First,hiring is revolutionizing the
job market and on this show Isit down with trailblazers who
are rethinking hiring practicesand embracing experiential
learning, as well as the peopleimpacted.
(01:00):
People impacted Follow along aswe dive into tips, innovative
ideas and proven strategies tohelp you navigate and thrive in
the evolving landscape of modernapprenticeships.
Can you tell us who you are andwhat is it that you do?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Sure, I'm Arlen Hamilton.
I am the founder and managingpartner of Backstage Capital,
which is a boutique venturecapital fund that invests in
underrepresented, underestimatedfounders.
We have invested in more than200 of those founders since
launching in 2015.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Amazing, I've heard the name Arlen, but for those of
you that haven't, one way thatI got to know a lot more about
your background and your storywas the book which is called.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It's About Damn Time and we should say we're in the
same room together, which islike post-COVID.
Well, you know where we are iskind of rare, so it's pretty
cool.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It is.
It's nice to be in personbecause I am mostly talking to
people that are far and far awayit's great to be in person with
.
So tell me a little bit aboutthe world of a VC, your venture
capitalist, and there's a uniquetake that you have.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, I was called a venture catalyst on the cover of
Fast Company mic drop in 2018,which I'll talk about until 2088
, probably, but venture catalystit perfectly described what I
feel like I am.
So a venture capitalist issimply someone who takes someone
else's money or a group ofpooled funds and invest that
money into private companiesearlier stage than IPOs and
(02:31):
later stage in private equitywould pick them up, and usually
a venture capitalist, when youthink of that vision or image,
is a white man and differentages, maybe right out of
Stanford or MIT, or they havegray hair and everything in
between.
And especially a decade agowhen I started, it was the case,
(02:53):
and so, as a gay black womanfrom the South who didn't go to
college, I definitely broke themold early on, not to say that
there were none, but they wereso in the shadows and so not
given their props.
I said, let me kind of kick thedoor in and make some noise for
(03:15):
myself and make some noise forthem and therefore make some
noise for the founders who arebeing overlooked, because less
than 10% of venture funding isgoing to anyone who's not white
male.
So less than 10% of the VCs arenot white male and less than 10%
of the recipients of thatventure money, and this is
important for a couple ofreasons.
(03:36):
One reason is that you know wethink about generational wealth.
This should be ours.
We should have as much accessto the innovative capital that
the Twitters and the Airbnbs andthe Googles of the world have
had, and it's not for everyone.
Everyone shouldn't take venturecapital, and that's not what
(03:56):
I'm trying to do, but wedefinitely should have our share
.
The second part of it is that alot of venture capital money is
coming from places like pensionfunds and you know, teachers'
pension funds, right?
So there is a case to say thata Black elderly woman who spent
40 years as a teacher, whosepension is is her funds are
(04:20):
being used to to fund a venturecapital fund, may not take a
meeting with her granddaughter,who is a brilliant founder, and
that's not right.
And that's a simplified versionof it, but it's not right.
And so I just thought wait, ifthere's somebody who looks like
me, who's also from a differentkind of headspace, I can shake
(04:43):
things up, get the spotlight onfounders.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Want it, so to me it sounds kind of like very similar
to impact investing.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah, I used to not like to be called an impact
investor because it felt like Iwas being put you know, having
someone kind of tap me on thehead and say, oh, you're doing
such a cute thing, that's niceof you Instead of the sharky
opportunity that there's alsothere, right.
So, in addition to it not beingright, there's also this
opportunity of so many peoplebeing overlooked.
(05:14):
That deal flow is king, rightor queen, and if you can see
things and attract people, otherpeople aren't able to.
You might discover that diamondin the rough, and it's happened
over and over again backstage.
But impact, I finally had totell myself of course we're
making impact, of course thereis a ripple effect and
(05:38):
reverberation that will be feltfor decades and centuries from
the work that we do, from thework that the founders who will
be back are doing.
Again, that's where thecatalyst comes into play.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Absolutely.
I know I've seen that you'vedone a few interviews in the
wake of the SVB campaign sort ofthing.
That kind of fell apart maybeall witnessed.
One of the hard things thatI've seen in the wake of that is
that there's this narrativethat's being pushed about
anti-woke or woke as part of thereason why the bank failed.
(06:09):
Give me your thoughts on that,because I feel like my take on
it is that.
Why do people feel socomfortable saying some of the
quiet parts out loud, and I'mcurious about your thoughts
there.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah.
So that mainly comes from aWall Street Journal article,
from some dude who wrote anop-ed who said that he was
saying you know I'm not sayingwhat I'm saying.
You know I'm not saying thatthey should have had an all
white male board, but I'm, andthey would have not been the
situation, but I'm kind ofsaying that and he said it
really stupidly and blatantly.
(06:44):
And then they printed it, whichis a whole other thing, which
free press and I definitely am abig free press person, so I
don't want to ever mute someonelike that, but deservedly so.
He got a lot of backlash and hewas essentially saying that if
they had 12 white men on theboard, this would have never
happened, the decision wouldhave never been made, and that
(07:10):
they were distracted somehowdistracted by their one black
board member and one LGBTQ boardmember, who I still believe is
the same person.
I still think they're just oneperson.
And, of course, so many peopleacross the board have said they
called foul.
And it's not that SVB wasdistracted by being woke.
(07:30):
They were definitely saw theirlogo on a lot of different
events and places where therewere underrepresented people,
founders, but this was more justlike what we're doing backstage
.
This was strategic.
This is we're going to beplaces other people are not and
we're going to get theirbusiness.
And at the same time, you sawthe same logos at the usual
(07:53):
suspects, so nobody needs to beup in arms.
You know they're everywhere.
They were just making abusiness decision to to be
everywhere and I can tell youthat the hundreds and hundreds
of black founders I know whostill can't get a loan, no
matter what bank it is, willtell you that there's no such
thing as a woke bank.
That doesn't exist amen to that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's true, yeah, um , tell me a little about this
project Runner that I keepseeing on my LinkedIn feed.
What's this Runner?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Runner, so Runner, if you go to.
Hirerunnerco is a recruitingcompany that I launched in
September of 2021 in response tohow many requests for help with
hiring that I received fromfounders and from larger
corporations with hiring than Ireceived from founders and from
larger corporations and weessentially today we match on a
(08:43):
marketplace across dozens ofcategories.
Now we started with one inoperations, but we've expanded
and what we are focusing on morerecently are people who have
been affected by layoffs so thatthey can get rerouted affected
by layoffs so that they can getrerouted.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I think it's admirable that you've kind of
put your heart into helpingpeople that at this point they
need that.
You know they need someone tokind of step in and create that
opportunity for them to move onto the next phase of their
career.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Thank you, appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
I mean, let me be clear, it's afor-profit and I am thinking
about strategically, theopportunity.
But I just don't find any joyin doing something only for
money, even though and I thinkit has to do I was going to say
even though but I think it'sbecause of the fact that for 80%
of my life I was poor.
(09:34):
I think that's why, I mean, youwould think that I would want
to always have a lot of money,or kind of put that first, but
do you focus on the impact andthe money happens?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, and I think that's so true that there's that
double bottom line right,You're doing good by people and
that results in that's thatimpact, yeah.
Last and most importantquestion what is your favorite
snack?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
My favorite snack would be Hershey's Hugs New
favorite snack, though, I haveto say and I'm going to give a
shout-out to my brother'sfiancée, so soon-to-be
sister-in-law, angel White wealways knew she was an amazing
chef, right, we always knew shecould throw down with wings and
all kinds of things that shemade.
(10:22):
She has been hiding the skillof making cookies.
She has her own Angel's Cookies.
They're on Instagram now AngelWhite Cookies, I think they're
called.
They are so good, like when shehas videos of people eating
them.
And these are people who arelike.
Most of them are like rappersor different people and they're
like all kind of serious andlike, okay, yeah, they open it
(10:44):
and they're just like what?
This is so good and I had thatmoment too.
So, yeah, I got to say thatthat might be in the running
Homemade cookies For.
So yeah, I got to say that thatmight be in the running.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Homemade cookies.
Number one yeah, Appreciate youon the program Arlen.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for having me.
You've been listening to SkillsFirst, the Apprenticeship
(11:15):
Playbook Podcast.
By the way, if this is valuableto you, don't be lame.
Share the game.
This is how we know you love it.
If you're a company thinkingabout changing how you hire,
please share it so we know thistype of stuff is what you want.
HireRunnerco is a recruiting company that I
launched in September of 2021 inresponse to how many requests
for help with hiring that Ireceived from founders and from
larger corporations, and weessentially, today we match on a
marketplace across dozens ofcategories now.
(00:22):
We started with one inoperations, but we've expanded
and what we are focusing on morerecently are people who have
been affected by layoffs, sothat they can get rerouted.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey everyone, this is Mike Roberts, creator of the
Apprenticeship Playbook, andyou're tuned in to the Skills
First podcast.
In today's world, skills First,hiring is revolutionizing the
job market and on this show Isit down with trailblazers who
are rethinking hiring practicesand embracing experiential
learning, as well as the peopleimpacted.
(01:00):
People impacted Follow along aswe dive into tips, innovative
ideas and proven strategies tohelp you navigate and thrive in
the evolving landscape of modernapprenticeships.
Can you tell us who you are andwhat is it that you do?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Sure, I'm Arlen Hamilton.
I am the founder and managingpartner of Backstage Capital,
which is a boutique venturecapital fund that invests in
underrepresented, underestimatedfounders.
We have invested in more than200 of those founders since
launching in 2015.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Amazing, I've heard the name Arlen, but for those of
you that haven't, one way thatI got to know a lot more about
your background and your storywas the book which is called.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It's About Damn Time and we should say we're in the
same room together, which islike post-COVID.
Well, you know where we are iskind of rare, so it's pretty
cool.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It is.
It's nice to be in personbecause I am mostly talking to
people that are far and far awayit's great to be in person with
.
So tell me a little bit aboutthe world of a VC, your venture
capitalist, and there's a uniquetake that you have.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, I was called a venture catalyst on the cover of
Fast Company mic drop in 2018,which I'll talk about until 2088
, probably, but venture catalystit perfectly described what I
feel like I am.
So a venture capitalist issimply someone who takes someone
else's money or a group ofpooled funds and invest that
money into private companiesearlier stage than IPOs and
(02:31):
later stage in private equitywould pick them up, and usually
a venture capitalist, when youthink of that vision or image,
is a white man and differentages, maybe right out of
Stanford or MIT, or they havegray hair and everything in
between.
And especially a decade agowhen I started, it was the case,
(02:53):
and so, as a gay black womanfrom the South who didn't go to
college, I definitely broke themold early on, not to say that
there were none, but they wereso in the shadows and so not
given their props.
I said, let me kind of kick thedoor in and make some noise for
(03:15):
myself and make some noise forthem and therefore make some
noise for the founders who arebeing overlooked, because less
than 10% of venture funding isgoing to anyone who's not white
male.
So less than 10% of the VCs arenot white male and less than 10%
of the recipients of thatventure money, and this is
important for a couple ofreasons.
(03:36):
One reason is that you know wethink about generational wealth.
This should be ours.
We should have as much accessto the innovative capital that
the Twitters and the Airbnbs andthe Googles of the world have
had, and it's not for everyone.
Everyone shouldn't take venturecapital, and that's not what
(03:56):
I'm trying to do, but wedefinitely should have our share
.
The second part of it is that alot of venture capital money is
coming from places like pensionfunds and you know, teachers'
pension funds, right?
So there is a case to say thata Black elderly woman who spent
40 years as a teacher, whosepension is is her funds are
(04:20):
being used to to fund a venturecapital fund, may not take a
meeting with her granddaughter,who is a brilliant founder, and
that's not right.
And that's a simplified versionof it, but it's not right.
And so I just thought wait, ifthere's somebody who looks like
me, who's also from a differentkind of headspace, I can shake
(04:43):
things up, get the spotlight onfounders.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Want it, so to me it sounds kind of like very similar
to impact investing.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah, I used to not like to be called an impact
investor because it felt like Iwas being put you know, having
someone kind of tap me on thehead and say, oh, you're doing
such a cute thing, that's niceof you Instead of the sharky
opportunity that there's alsothere, right.
So, in addition to it not beingright, there's also this
opportunity of so many peoplebeing overlooked.
(05:14):
That deal flow is king, rightor queen, and if you can see
things and attract people, otherpeople aren't able to.
You might discover that diamondin the rough, and it's happened
over and over again backstage.
But impact, I finally had totell myself of course we're
making impact, of course thereis a ripple effect and
(05:38):
reverberation that will be feltfor decades and centuries from
the work that we do, from thework that the founders who will
be back are doing.
Again, that's where thecatalyst comes into play.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Absolutely.
I know I've seen that you'vedone a few interviews in the
wake of the SVB campaign sort ofthing.
That kind of fell apart maybeall witnessed.
One of the hard things thatI've seen in the wake of that is
that there's this narrativethat's being pushed about
anti-woke or woke as part of thereason why the bank failed.
(06:09):
Give me your thoughts on that,because I feel like my take on
it is that.
Why do people feel socomfortable saying some of the
quiet parts out loud, and I'mcurious about your thoughts
there.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah.
So that mainly comes from aWall Street Journal article,
from some dude who wrote anop-ed who said that he was
saying you know I'm not sayingwhat I'm saying.
You know I'm not saying thatthey should have had an all
white male board, but I'm, andthey would have not been the
situation, but I'm kind ofsaying that and he said it
really stupidly and blatantly.
(06:44):
And then they printed it, whichis a whole other thing, which
free press and I definitely am abig free press person, so I
don't want to ever mute someonelike that, but deservedly so.
He got a lot of backlash and hewas essentially saying that if
they had 12 white men on theboard, this would have never
happened, the decision wouldhave never been made, and that
(07:10):
they were distracted somehowdistracted by their one black
board member and one LGBTQ boardmember, who I still believe is
the same person.
I still think they're just oneperson.
And, of course, so many peopleacross the board have said they
called foul.
And it's not that SVB wasdistracted by being woke.
(07:30):
They were definitely saw theirlogo on a lot of different
events and places where therewere underrepresented people,
founders, but this was more justlike what we're doing backstage
.
This was strategic.
This is we're going to beplaces other people are not and
we're going to get theirbusiness.
And at the same time, you sawthe same logos at the usual
(07:53):
suspects, so nobody needs to beup in arms.
You know they're everywhere.
They were just making abusiness decision to to be
everywhere and I can tell youthat the hundreds and hundreds
of black founders I know whostill can't get a loan, no
matter what bank it is, willtell you that there's no such
thing as a woke bank.
That doesn't exist amen to that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's true, yeah, um , tell me a little about this
project Runner that I keepseeing on my LinkedIn feed.
What's this Runner?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Runner, so Runner, if you go to.
Hirerunnerco is a recruitingcompany that I launched in
September of 2021 in response tohow many requests for help with
hiring that I received fromfounders and from larger
corporations with hiring than Ireceived from founders and from
larger corporations and weessentially today we match on a
(08:43):
marketplace across dozens ofcategories.
Now we started with one inoperations, but we've expanded
and what we are focusing on morerecently are people who have
been affected by layoffs so thatthey can get rerouted affected
by layoffs so that they can getrerouted.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I think it's admirable that you've kind of
put your heart into helpingpeople that at this point they
need that.
You know they need someone tokind of step in and create that
opportunity for them to move onto the next phase of their
career.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Thank you, appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
I mean, let me be clear, it's afor-profit and I am thinking
about strategically, theopportunity.
But I just don't find any joyin doing something only for
money, even though and I thinkit has to do I was going to say
even though but I think it'sbecause of the fact that for 80%
of my life I was poor.
(09:34):
I think that's why, I mean, youwould think that I would want
to always have a lot of money,or kind of put that first, but
do you focus on the impact andthe money happens?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, and I think that's so true that there's that
double bottom line right,You're doing good by people and
that results in that's thatimpact, yeah.
Last and most importantquestion what is your favorite
snack?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
My favorite snack would be Hershey's Hugs New
favorite snack, though, I haveto say and I'm going to give a
shout-out to my brother'sfiancée, so soon-to-be
sister-in-law, angel White wealways knew she was an amazing
chef, right, we always knew shecould throw down with wings and
all kinds of things that shemade.
(10:22):
She has been hiding the skillof making cookies.
She has her own Angel's Cookies.
They're on Instagram now AngelWhite Cookies, I think they're
called.
They are so good, like when shehas videos of people eating
them.
And these are people who arelike.
Most of them are like rappersor different people and they're
like all kind of serious andlike, okay, yeah, they open it
(10:44):
and they're just like what?
This is so good and I had thatmoment too.
So, yeah, I got to say thatthat might be in the running
Homemade cookies For.
So yeah, I got to say that thatmight be in the running.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Homemade cookies.
Number one yeah, Appreciate youon the program Arlen.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for having me.
You've been listening to SkillsFirst, the Apprenticeship
(11:15):
Playbook Podcast.
By the way, if this is valuableto you, don't be lame.
Share the game.
This is how we know you love it.
If you're a company thinkingabout changing how you hire,
please share it so we know thistype of stuff is what you want.
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