290 | Helping Marginalized Communities Gain Access to Capital with Pierre Le Veaux
Our guest this week on the pod is Pierre Le Veaux. Pierre is one of the co-founders of Seed at the Table, a mission driven equity crowdfunding platform committed to connecting diverse entrepreneurs with non-accredited investors looking to obtain equity and/or debt exposure at modest investment amounts.
This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of our host, Zelizer Consulting Services.
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
Helping Marginalized Communities Gain Access to Capital - an interview with Pierre Le Veaux
NOTE: While it’s not perfect, we offer this transcription by Otter.ai for those who are hearing impaired or who don’t find listening to a podcast enjoyable or possible.
SPEAKERS
Paul Zelizer, Pierre Le Veaux
Paul Zelizer 00:01
Hi, this is Paul Zelizer, and welcome to the Awarepreneurs podcast. On this show, we dive deep into wisdom from some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help increase your positive impact your profitability, and your quality of life. Before we get into today's topic, I have one request. If you could hit subscribe and do a review on your favorite podcast app that helps more people learn how to have positive impact their values based business. Thanks so much. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Pierre Le Veaux II. And our topic is Helping Marginalized Communities Gain Access to Capital, Pierre is one of the cofounders of seat at the table, a mission driven equity crowdfunding platform committed to connecting diverse entrepreneurs with non accredited investors looking to obtain equity and or debt exposure, that modest investment amount. In other words, they're helping marginalized founders gain access to capital. Pierre, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. I'm so excited about what you're doing and to introduce our listeners to why you're doing. So this whole intersection peer of helping marginalized communities and building a crowdfunding platform and helping people who haven't always had equal access to capital get access to capital, like, give us a little bit of backstory of how did you get interested in these intersections? Yeah,
Pierre Le Veaux 01:30
I am the customer that I serve. Right? Meaning that I'm a marginalized founder, I have this unique perspective where as a marginalized business operator, committed to serving other marginalized companies, right. So there are nuances between both worlds. But to answer your question, I grew up in Los Angeles, first generation, everything high school, graduate, college, graduate, and all that good stuff. And went to business school at the University of Virginia, which opened my eyes to just a different network of individuals experiences. And career paths ended up spinning 11 years as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York City, which also magnified my exposure, in terms of just understanding how people of different walks of life have access to capital and information, which is very different from the access that I had growing up. And for those in my community. So when I was a banker, you know, I was used to serving or servicing high net worth individuals working with a flow and individuals investing, talking about an investment opportunities. But then I also was trying my best to be of help to emerging companies. And so the joke would be, I would have a contact in New York, or anywhere else on the East Coast, they will say, Hey, I'm doing $7 million in revenue. Can you have Goldman Sachs, public, and I will kind of chuckle and a humble fashion, meaning that like, you know, you probably need a couple zeros behind you. But the reality is, I was still able to be helpful to those individuals by making introductions to middle market bankers, to attorneys, and so forth. So I've always been a networker kind of guy, you know, been a past first kind of guy, meaning that trying to be helpful to others. And that is quickly realized that for many marginalized communities, there is a gap and or a lack of access, meaning that they don't have an access to a seat at the table, as it pertains to seed capital, hence the name.
Paul Zelizer 03:20
And one of the things I was looking at, and I thought this is the case, but I confirmed it doing some research, like things are already really low in terms of the percentage of seed money that goes to founders of color. It actually went down in 2020, from miserable rates to absolutely fucking terrible, right, like, like it, there's been a lot of talk about this issue. But things are not trending in the way we'd like. Is that fair to say?
Pierre Le Veaux 03:48
Yeah, it is, man. So it was it was 2%, I think last year.
Pierre Le Veaux 03:53
So there were there was a highlight of it. In terms of just access to capital mindfulness, to marginalized communities after the tragic George Floyd incident. You saw corporations leaning in and and you know, just having a broader perspective. So that brought the marginalized community are up to about 2%. In terms of access to capital, over this past year, it's down to 1%, or a little bit less, women of color, even less, right, if you think about those in the LGBTQ community, same kind of challenges as well. So it's, you know, there's tons of work to be done. We are trying our best as a equity crowdfunding platform committed to this community to really spur capital. But you know, we face the same frustrations as anybody else. Right. And so the beauty of the Jobs Act, which was signed by President Obama, which allows for small business owners and operators, and emerging businesses to raise capital from both accredited and non accredited investors, and to your point at lower dollar amounts, it really has, you know, opened up a new pocket of capital. And so we'd love to talk about
Pierre Le Veaux 05:00
I look for kind of verticals to capital and how equity crowdfunding fits in. But I'll stop there for now. Oh,
Paul Zelizer 05:05
no, no, I was I was actually going to go there, because I think the numbers are, are somewhat more encouraging when you start getting to crowdfunding, but like that would be really helpful give us a sense of the lay of the land in terms of raising capital.
Pierre Le Veaux 05:18
Sure, for all entrepreneurs, you know, it's typically four main approaches to access to capital. The first is that you exhaust your own balance sheet. So your 401 K, your savings. You know, for those that have robust balance sheets, they're better positioned so to wave storms of downside markets, right? Second, you'll leverage friends and family network. So if you're accustomed to interacting, engaging, and constantly being surrounded by wealthy people that can be beneficial to you, if you're not, right, you're from these marginalized communities, that can be a bit of a challenge. Third is, you know, traditional banking. And so for most companies in the regardless of your marginalized or not, it's hard to find a match between a bank and you're in your knees, meaning that many emerging companies often lack correct collateral or assets to back the loan. Right? So banking can be very commercial baikie be very frustrating for all business operators, regardless of whether they're marginalized or non marginalized. And then lastly, is venture capital. And venture capital, as we just discussed, there are some, some some some some dire numbers as it pertains to marginalized communities. But the reality is just for everybody, it's hard to actually access venture, every company may not be a fit for venture in all fairness, venture, they're looking for outsized returns, right. And so the ideas and businesses that we may be presenting, regardless of what your demo looks like, from a return perspective, may not be attractive. So what's community we call it community crowdfunding, but it's both equity and debt. Hence, why we tried to aggregate it with community, you're able to expand the definition of friends and family because now you can actually call on your customer, your neighbor, your classmate, your friend. And they don't have to be accredited investors, meaning wealthy individuals making $200,000 or having a net worth over a million dollars. They can be everyday Americans. And they have the ability to invest in your company and RBA debt holder in your company for dollar amounts as low as $100 $500 or $1,000. So we are reshaping and redefining the definition of friends and family through equity crowdfunding or community crowdfunding.
Paul Zelizer 07:20
And I want to I want to go into that more with up here in a second, I just want to wind back a little bit. Some listeners think about these four buckets that Pierre and thanks for breaking that down here that Pierre just gave us, right. So if you're from a marginalized community, the chance that you have a lot of resources to put into business might be different than somebody who, you know, went to Harvard Business School, and this 10 years into their career, and worked in, you know, very high paying job. And your friends and family might not have the same amount of resources, again, as somebody who's from a more privileged background, just intergenerational wealth, right? Banking, they're going to ask for founders of newer companies that are going to ask for some kind of collateral. So they want to see that you're willing to put your house on the line, or you have some other really big asset, right? And if you don't a chance than a bank, you know, they're risk averse institutions, and VC. They're thinking about things like, How much experience do you have? And how many kinds of times have you knocked it out of the park, I was recently networking with somebody who worked for a VC fund. And he said, Paul, basically, here's the way you think about it, if you can't provide a 10x return in five years, or less than I shouldn't be talking to you. So you know, how many of our listeners were thinking about impact as equal or even more important than the profitability are able to check off that box. So these are the four kinds of buckets of beer just gave us. And you can see why we're seeing some pretty marked, you know, really discouraging numbers in terms of founders and marginalized communities. So then there's the crowdfunding bucket here. And there's actually some encouragement there that founders of color women founders, for example, raise a relatively higher proportion of all the money that's in that bucket than that 1% or 2%, that you quoted earlier. Tell us a little bit about that.
Pierre Le Veaux 09:23
No, you're absolutely correct, man, it's a it's amazing to see
Pierre Le Veaux 09:29
founders of color marginalized founders be able to really drive their own process, right and, and really lean into their own crowd, their customer base and aggregate followers to to actually invest. You know, I, I haven't confirmed the data there. In terms of my own experiences, I would say kind of off the cuff that if you asked me, you know, who's done well or have done better in this space, I would say that we've had tremendous success with women founders on our platform, their willingness to
Pierre Le Veaux 10:00
To be a bit more vulnerable, and to chase down investors, it felt it feels unique. I would say that, you know, for men inclusive of myself is I think sometimes we just assume that the process is a bit easier. And for the woman that I've had the pleasure of working with, they've done a tremendous job of really going to market and carrying the flag. So yes, answer your question. You know, women, statistically, are factually have actually been leading in terms of equity, crowdfunding women of color, as well, which also was also pretty cool to Paul was that, you know, women of color are the fastest growing demo from an entrepreneur perspective, right. So it's a, it's great to see that, although they may not receive access to venture capital, that they can literally leverage their own networks and still be able to drive growth, or drive capital to drive growth for their business.
Paul Zelizer 10:50
And that passion, that excitement led to seat at the table, this idea for a crowdfunding platform that's specifically looking for founders from marginalized communities. Tell us a little bit about seat at the table, like what was the concept behind it? And what was it like to start to put it together?
Pierre Le Veaux 11:09
Yeah, you know, what? Yeah, so we are, we are intentional about the fact that marginalize founders, typically, and these are all generalizations, unfortunately, typically lack a seat at the table as pertains to capital, in terms of dollars, capital in terms of talent capital, as it pertains to information that said, we are, you know, we're officially agnostic in terms of the demos that come through our portal, we want to make sure that the world knows that there is a platform that understands that there are challenges for minority to marginalized founders, right, that may require a bit more patience than what some of our competitors are able to provide, right, we are more than just a platform for transaction, we a seat at the table, our long term partners, even in the sense of you know, our revenue model in terms of the fees that we charge and the structure of it. But going back to your question, yeah, man. So even kind of thematically about surrounding yourself with, you know, good people, making sure that you have, you know, I'm always impressed by women, I have a daughter, you know, next week, or several, two weeks from now, you know, just continues to progress until she gets us depress me, they both do. But you know, so I've been fortunate to one of my first team members was actually a woman, her name is Susan. She was actually an attorney at Barclays, the investment bank, so I had some FinTech experience with some finance experience. And I, you know, quickly approached her and a bunch of my other friends and I said, Look, you know, there, at this time, there were 30 portals that existed. And there were some major ones out there, there continues to be two or three major portals, that portals mean equity crowdfunding portals that exist. But none of them really spoke to the this gap that I'm referring to, in terms of being intentional about making sure that there is a space for marginalized entrepreneurs to raise capital, and none of them, either from what I've seen, and what I've experienced. And what I've gathered in terms of research have displayed the sense of patience, that is often required for those coming from marginalized communities. Meaning that, you know, for many entrepreneurs in general, and especially those from our diverse communities, this is the first time this is a very new experience, right? This is a new experience for me, I covered it and engaged and advised wealthy individuals, but I was never an entrepreneur, you know, to that extent, socially to that magnitude or to any extent. And the reality is, nobody in my family was, right. And so we talked about creating a p&l, thinking about revenue, thinking about profitability, managing headcount, operations, logistics, you know, these things are new and overwhelming, especially for a marginalized founder, when you know, in reality, you have an amazing idea and amazing business, and you just want to monetize and raise some capital. But there's so many other interesting parts of being an entrepreneur that's new, that, you know, we see it at the table, were able to step in and provide advisory services. And so the thought process is like, hey, there are portals that exists and allows for entrepreneurs to raise capital and lower dollar amounts, we can focus on marginalized communities and still open it up to everybody else. But at the same time, we want to make sure that we're surrounding those entrepreneurs with love, right, meaning that advisors whether officially or unofficially, that can be of help through their entrepreneurial journey. So those are the two differentiating factors. One is the intentionality about the client base that we cover. And then two is our ability to provide matching services where if you're an entrepreneur, you're raising capital, and we understand it's a very lonely experience. And maybe you have some may have some shortcomings in terms of like financials, or maybe logistics or operations, we have a network of 50 plus individuals that can serve as advisors to you, whether in a official or unofficial capacity. So to answer your question in full, you know, surrounded myself with good friends realize that there was a gap in the market in terms of access to capital, especially focus on marginalized communities. I had a group of 50 or so at that time it was 30 individuals and said hey, I want to get invested in terms of dollars, but I also want to invest my time How can I support and I said look, you can support by actually is being an advisor to the companies that come to our portal. So it's been a great experience has been the trying experience too. But you know, one that, you know, we've already won, no matter what, because you have the doors close tomorrow, I would say that we've passed some tremendous, we've had tremendous success. And some of the offerings are past campaigns that have been raised to our portal. So we are very pleased, but there's a lot more to be done.
Paul Zelizer 15:20
And when was this that you launched? We launched,
Pierre Le Veaux 15:23
I received the so the company was incorporated in 2020. We received the FINRA license, the FINRA SEC license in 2021. We want to mark in terms of actually allowing on the loan companies on the platform, late 2020 21, early 2022. So the the process of actually achieving the license once again there. When I started, there were 30 portals that were approved by FINRA, the SEC, now they're about 60. It's an arduous, very expensive process to receive this license, right? We, we interface with FINRA and the SEC, in a very similar capacity to what Goldman does, or JP Morgan, right. So in all fairness, the regulators are there to protect everyday citizens, and we have similar interests as well. But at the same time, you know, the costs of navigating that process legally, was definitely discouraging. And so I can talk, you know, in spades about times where I kind of wanted to opt out, right, and there have been many in for other perspective, there have been many other individuals and entrepreneurs that have actually approached me and said, Hey, Pierre, I've actually thought about starting an equity crowdfunding portal, I've gone through this path, and I just gave up, right? And so, you know, they recognize the challenge I can like, as I mentioned, I could talk and talk for hours about that. But that was the process of us getting created. And that's how long we've been in business.
Paul Zelizer 16:46
And in that time, some folks have leaned into the platform and really had some success. So one example, is the brand rowhouse publishing. Tell us a little bit about that campaign and the business that was using it like and what it was like to see them get the kind of lift that they got.
Pierre Le Veaux 17:06
Yeah, so Rebecca, she's the founder, she's a she's a very special person, she was actually our first campaign that we launched. So you know, I will always tip my hat to her, and show grace and appreciation, because she gave us a chance, when there were other portals that she could have worked with. Right. And she came to us by virtue of my network, old colleague, Mr. Goldman, but what Rebecca is doing is truly exceptional, where she is disrupting the publishing industry. She's signing authors and compensating them fairly well for telling stories that are atypical within the industry, right. So it's telling stories from authors from marginalized communities, about marginalized communities and doing so in a very innovative pay structure. She raised a little bit over $700,000 through us. And you know, it was she did a great job
Paul Zelizer 17:57
870. And that's how you're
Pierre Le Veaux 18:01
exactly right. So 817, so she's, it's literally her boots to the ground, you know, advocating telling the story, allowing us to advocate and tell the story on her behalf. Once again, a testament to her tears success, she went on to raise over a million dollars thereafter, for perspective, and one of the many reasons why we're proud of her is that there's only been 150, black woman to have ever raised over a million dollars. She's one of the two that have come through seat at the table. So we're, you know, we're grateful to her. We're strong advocates, we are supporters, we are customers, and will forever be friends to Rebecca and Ross publishing.
Paul Zelizer 18:40
Such a great campaign to read about, and I'll put a link to that in the show notes, as well as everything else that we talk about. If you're new here. I love extensive shownotes. So another campaign that caught my attention, very different kind of enterprise called piggy back network. It's helping parents, you know, reclaim time and their kids get where they need to go tell us a little bit about pigging back network and what it was like to work on that campaign.
Pierre Le Veaux 19:06
Yeah, Donald ish. They're two great guys they came from I was introduced to them by one of what we call the group of 50. Now call them see family. So one of our see family members, they went to Princeton together. But Donald ish had a great idea, which taught turned into a great business with piggy bank. So it's basically Uber for kids. And I'm no I'm not doing a great justice. But it really does solve the problem for busy parents that are trying to serve chauffeur and are coordinate logistics in terms of commuting kids, you know, after this call, you know, my kids have a soccer game. I got to figure out how I'm going to get them there. Right. I'll pick them up. But what they're able to do is they're able to coordinate ride sharing among other kids and with vetted drivers. And they've had some great partnerships with local entities like the Boys and Girls Club YMCAs that are that are also trying to find a way to solve this problem in terms of like transportation logistics,
Paul Zelizer 20:03
and the Canada website, there's $182,000 rate. So you listeners, you get a sound like, this is pretty significant, right? And what does it mean to a founder to have access to that kind of capital? Whether it's 800, that becomes a million? Or, you know, almost $200,000? Like, what what does it mean to the entrepreneurs that get this kind of funding when they weren't able to in some of these other buckets that we identified here?
Pierre Le Veaux 20:30
Yeah, so a couple of things. One is that a year ago, equity crowdfunding, the max that you can raise was a million. Now the max that you can raise is 5 million, those are huge numbers often touted, rarely, rarely reach. On average, though the than average raises about 200,000. That 200,000 is a strong number, that is literally what is considered a friends and family round, right? So that 200,000 can unlock inventory, can invest and product market research and establish product market fit, right can allow you to do some marketing, right can allow you to be in a position to drive revenue. So then once you're driving revenue, and you get about a year of run rate, that allows you to actually repackage the business and then present to a venture capital firm. Right. And so some of those, many of those founders actually wouldn't be a fit for venture capital, Rebecca wouldn't be a fit for venture capital, because her business was still in the inception phase legally with structure, but she was just starting to sign off, there's the same thing with the gentleman from piggyback, so they wouldn't be VC ready, as bright as all three of them, or they wouldn't be able to get a loan from a bank, unless they put their own capital up, right. So unless they put their own capital or their own assets up, right. And so the beauty of it is that it was cushion, the amount that they raise, to actually create and or scale their product. So the other beauty of it is like to be able to navigate and grow your business in a down market and not be stressed about cash, how to meet payroll, how to unlock inventory, is a luxury or an indication of wealth within itself. Right, many entrepreneurs from scaling businesses, I'm sure those in the audience social entrepreneurs, it resonates really well is that we are trying to run the business. And then we are actually running the business as well, there's so many elements, and you know, numbers for us are magnified, meaning that, you know, whether it's $1, to us, it may feel like $1,000 to us, right, because it just means so much more it allows us to keep the lights on for another day, it allows us once again to get more inventory to get more product. Whereas you know, we're often not in a position to stomach these downturns or to stomach these slow environments. And so that's why you'll end up seeing a lot of businesses closed, because they just can't, you know, revenue isn't coming in. But expenses are total are always occurring, and go ahead and keep the dollars going out. So we're with equity crowdfunding, you have a way to kind of insulate yourself from, from those hardships when when expenses are high.
Paul Zelizer 23:09
And one of the other things that's really exciting about it, particularly because these are non accredited investor opportunities, like with the piggyback the minimum investment, if I got this correct was $250. Right, some of them on your site are as low as $100. I think the most expensive one I saw is $1,000. So not only democratizing how people can access capital in this not b2c way. Because you don't have to have, you know, three like incredibly profitable businesses to get their attention, or somebody went to school with somebody's brother at Stanford, or Harvard, or some other big name. Also it Democrat democratizes, who can be a source of support anybody who has 100 or $250 can support and if there is equity, they can actually get a return on their investment. So you're helping folks who might not have thought of themselves as investors also kind of lean in in that way. Is that fair to say?
Pierre Le Veaux 24:15
It is man there, the community. So for perspective, we have 3000, what we call users on the portal. So these are people that have invested in any of the names that that you've mentioned, on the portal, right. And so many of these investors are first time investors. So you know, they enjoy the opportunity to engage with founders, through the portal to ask questions to questions that may be maybe simple to those that have financial experience, right? But it's a safe environment where you can say, hey, help me understand what a convertible note is, you know, helped me understand what your run rate may be, or what your revenue targets are. So I'm actually pleased that I don't focus are acknowledged that enough. I think that the fact that As you know, we are opening doors for everyday Americans in terms of their ability to invest in some really interesting, cool and promising names. And what I mean is like, cool in terms of VC trajectory that sounds great, but cautious in terms of doing really interesting stuff. There was a, an offering that we've had called macro bites. And, you know, three guys out of Philadelphia, in the founders were prison impacted. Right. And so if you if you, you know, been in prison or been, of course, at any given time, it's really hard to navigate the banking system. Right. And so these gentlemen were doing great work love by the city of Philadelphia, love by the state of Pennsylvania, right, really have strong relationships with the government are providing healthy meals, delivering them within two days, and we're able to raise capital to seat at the table, when the reality is they wouldn't be able to raise anywhere else. So we have tons of those success stories. And the reality is for them and macrobiotic, they gave their community an opportunity not only to consume the product, but to also be investors in the company. And so I actually enjoy that part the most where it allows the crowd to be culture carries and flag carriers on behalf of the company that they've invested in, and or assuming the product they are consuming.
Paul Zelizer 26:12
Absolutely. Think of how many times and I celebrate it, too. We celebrate somebody's first generation graduating from college. What about celebrating somebody's first generation investor? Huge moment, right? So yeah, I just I was thinking about it in that way, too. So let's do this in a moment. Here, I want to come back and hear more about some of the advisor support, I don't feel like we leaned in there. I also want to hear like, you know, you've had some great companies and campaigns, but where seed at the table is going, and also what it's been like for you to get it to this point. But before we do that, I just want to take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor, are you facing one or more important decisions in your impact business, and you'd like an experienced thought partner to develop a plan about how to proceed in the complex times we're living, but you don't feel the need for an extended coaching or consulting contract that's going to cost you many 1000s of dollars, you're looking for an affordable, targeted, and time efficient type of support. Through Paul zelizer.com, I offer a strategy session package. These packages are ideal for entrepreneurs who are facing one to three immediate decisions, like how to increase your positive impact, fine tune your marketing strategies to get more results for less effort, launch a new product or service successfully, or refine your pricing structure. So it's both inclusive, and provides you with a great quality of life. You can find out more by clicking below. And thank you so much for listening to this podcast. So welcome back, everybody. In the second part of the show, Pa we like to joke about putting on our social entrepreneur glasses. And the first thing I wanted to like unpack a little bit. So now we understand how it works as a crowdfunding campaign. But you were like talking about what I might call social capital, with advisors in the kind of this network. Talk to us a little bit about that network. And what are some of the ways you provide value over and above? You know, you can raise your 800 plus $1,000 to help you pay for the things you need. But there's also this Yeah, more social and technical support. Tell us about that part of the vision. Yeah, I'm
Pierre Le Veaux 28:25
a huge fan of describing capital in the ways that you described, right, like there's capital in terms of hard dollar. There's capital in terms of information and network as well. And I think that I'm a real fan of, of the ladder, right network. Being that it just opens up so many doors, and so many resources. As I mentioned, being an entrepreneur is a lonely experience, automat in a position to hire folks. Right. And so it's, you know, you executing on your own path. So with us a seat at the table. As I mentioned, we have this family of past bankers, attorneys, people that have worked at CPA and CPG for 20 years, entrepreneurs with exits themselves. That are they're also investors, but they're also offering themselves up as advisors, whether officially or unofficially. So for our company like we are Roya, who has who's launched to us and had, who has a patent approved vaginal insert, it's a it's a fitness, it's a fitness attire company, and what the thesis behind it is that women athletes tend to have vaginal issues. So Mitch, the founder, we are always done a great job of growing that product. But nonetheless, you know, if you're a founder, you have questions about the patent itself, right. And you would love to talk to a patent attorney, but maybe you can't afford one. In real in real life. The beauty of seed is that we were able to introduce her to a member of our family network, who was an IP and patent attorney. Right, that can really be a sounding board to her to that extent, whether if it's a marketing agency or somebody that has a marketing background, we're able to position our companies with those resources as well. So once again, we understand that There's, there's there's something to a bigger than just raising capital. There's also help in all the other elements of raising a business. And we also recognize and so that's where we start leaning in on this concept of ecosystem is that not every company is a fit for community crowdfunding, you may approach us and say, You know what, I think I want to do community crowdfunding and quickly realize that, hey, donation base, whether it be fund that black founders, Kickstarter, whatever the case may be, are is a better fit for now I raise the money to navigate the legal process, get my my, my my financials in order, and so forth. And then I'll go community crowdfunding, or I may be too big for community crowdfunding. And I really need an intro to a venture capital firm and or I need a line of credit from a JP Morgan or so. Right? So we see it at a table, we have this network and have relationships where we facilitate those introductions. And then once again, we are we're positioning ourselves to be long term partners, and to be helpful, in addition, are in partnership with our equity crowdfunding offerings. So when you come to see, you will have the ability to raise equity crowdfunding capital, from accredited and non accredited investors, but you'll also have access to a network. So there's literally a survey for companies, regardless of whether they're raising or not, that companies can fill out which profiles then lets us know their needs. And then there's a survey for individuals or advisors to add to profile themselves and to basically a highlight and showcase what they can bring to the table to these companies in need.
Paul Zelizer 31:31
On a scout for climate focus VC called Enduring planet listeners, I can put a link in the show notes, I'm going back and forth with the CEO of that company, because they have like, it's an interview that gets turned into a written article, and the article is on social capital for climate entrepreneurs, right and everything you just said here, like all the things I'm talking about, there's so much attention in the VC world to the dollars in the legal infrastructure, all that's really important. But there's oftentimes an under attending to the social capital part of the conversation. And in their own quoting, some research, like there's really significant about entrepreneurs who pay attention to networks and social capital, tend to succeed at a very significantly higher rate than entrepreneurs that don't, that just chase the money. And everything you just said is like, you just checked a whole bunch of boxes, this article that's about to go live. So I just saying that listeners to say everything that piers that I am a huge fan of, and I cosign and it's
Pierre Le Veaux 32:34
important to think about this way, right. So even with seed, we've, we've raised capital, in the past where we're going through the process now. So I have the luxury of talking to investors that are friends, right, that are equally yoked that are passionate about the space that I'm in. And so there's and they they offer capital in terms of their dollars being invested in see, but they're also offering their insights. Right, I humbly recognize that I cannot do this on my own. I need there, you know, there are people that are better suited that have better ideas than me, and I'm always engaged with them. And so I've had those tough conversations in the past with family offices and venture capital firms to say, hey, you know, we'll give you dollars, and that was just it in the math, or the breakdown of the dollars that they were giving me was really unfair. But nevertheless, you know, it's the beauty. The there's beauty and being able to position to raise capital from people that are truly committed to your space, they consume your product, right, they are a fan of your mission. And that's something that has been missing for quite some time. Right?
Paul Zelizer 33:37
Absolutely. Couldn't agree more that when I saw you on, I should have said this earlier. Listen, I don't actually have to reach out very often. But Pierre and I know each other a little bit from LinkedIn. And as a pair, please, will you come on the show? Because when I heard about what you're doing, for all the reasons you just described, I'm so impressed, and to have a crowdfunding platform that thinks about impact, and working with founders from marginalized communities and understands that it's not just dollars are very important, very important, especially given how difficult they've been to access for female founders and founders of color. And the way you're also wrapping around a whole community of support and care and advisors that have the kind of experience that your advisors do, just checking boxes that I was like, please come on the show and help us story. So I'm so glad you're here. And I'm just, that's a long winded way to say of cosigning how you're going about this. I really think you're doing some important but also you're not just how important the work is. But how smart you're doing it there. I can't think of things you're leaving off the table at the table, right? So you're 18 Yeah, so your 18 month in VR, like top hustle. You've had some really great raises like talk to us a little bit about what do you see go going forward.
Pierre Le Veaux 35:01
Yeah, we're, you know, for us next 10 to 12 months, we're trying to grow the number of investors or users to the portal. So for those in the audience, in the show notes, maybe I would love to have to incorporate our survey for individuals and for companies as well, right, because we really just want to try to aggregate as many bodies on the platform so that we can match those individuals with information, educational resources that may be of help help to them, as well. So that's that, you know, we see things slowing down a bit in terms of capital raises of all forms VC, private equity, equity, crowdfunding and self worth. But you know, there still means that there's still a large number of viable businesses that are out there that could benefit from capital injection, right? That would be great investment opportunities for the community, whether it be the venture community, or the non accredited community. So we are still bullish on the space. We're partnering with the right media outlets, such as you, Paul to make sure that we tell the story. And we can get some alignment and fanfare, right? So whether if it's those entrepreneurs in your in your space, whether they're fit or not, maybe they can just at least remember this conversation and tell us tell our story to other entrepreneurs. And that's all that we ask. Right? So yeah, we're still things slowed down a bit, in terms of companies going to market to raise capital, companies have to be a bit more thoughtful about it. I would encourage folks that if they do have consideration or interest in raising capital to start yesterday, right, because the worst situation you ever want to be in is when you wait in the urine, in dire need of capital. And, you know, it's a situation where it's like, if I don't get a check tomorrow, I gotta cut the lights off, immediately thereafter, right. So your tone, your posturing, it's a little bit more calm, and allows you to be more successful when you're in a position to raise capital before you really need it. So to answer your question, again, you know, slow down a bit, we still think that there's tremendous opportunity. People need capital banks are continue to underserved, this population venture still trying to figure it out in terms of how they're deploying capital. So right now, you know, the ability to leverage your network as smaller dollar amounts can really be that safety valve that many entrepreneurs can pull on, right to get through this oil market.
Paul Zelizer 37:26
And when you're talking about slowing down, we're just listeners. So you know, we're What are we to? Is it three weeks out from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse two weeks out, I lost a little bit of track. But anyway, you get a sense listeners, where it's pretty fresh, and a lot of investors are, you know, they're cautious and nervous. And that's not just here in the US, there's been spillover effects around the world. So the question of investing and where to put our money as more complicated than it was a month ago? Is that fair to say? Pa? Yeah,
Pierre Le Veaux 38:01
more common than it was a month ago, five months or a year ago, just transaction activity, private equity venture has been down significantly, right. It's probably like 25% of what it was last year. But with that said, you know, there's the ability to pull from a bigger pool of capital used pulled in two different ways through a bigger pool of capital, is that it's actually favorable, right. So now, realizing that venture is slowing down, you're not only limited to venture capital, now you can also you can still, you should continue to knock on the doors of these big VC firms, they should know you are they're not ready to cut a check today. That's okay. At least they know who you are, you can come back next year. But in the meantime, you should concurrently be raising capital from your network to community crowdfunding allow you to get your story out, get your product out. And as I mentioned, like preparing yourself for to actually circle back and present to those venture firms and year from now. So we're, we're There's nothing funny that I want to clarify, there is no adversarial relationship with the venture community. Right? We're actually a great partner to them, because we're able to service many of the companies that they're not in a position to service. When against right and so if they're looking for VCs looking for 10x returns, and you're a company that's only enough was only sent mainly in a position to offer two extra turns, you can raise capital through community crowdfunding can see that unsavoury via the other portals that are out there, grow your business, scale your business, and then be well positioned to represent again later down the line.
Paul Zelizer 39:29
The other thing I would say about this particular time when people are trying to figure out what to do with their money, the research that I've seen, curious, have you seen similar research PR, particularly for women founders, from marginalized communities, the success rate if they can get the capital they need to get that business off the ground, they are much more likely to succeed or to succeed over the long haul. That is a big F can you get that capital you need to get that initial round of product or get to product? market fit. But if we can get resources in the hands, particularly a female founders, and particularly if female founders or marginalized communities, they're more likely to survive and thrive as a business over the long haul. Is that your experience? What have you seen similar research peer?
Pierre Le Veaux 40:16
That is that is accurate. And just in general, it's, you know, the ability to once again, focus on the business as opposed to being concerned whether the lights can stay on is wealth within itself. Right. And so it just it just literally like that is the biggest hurdle. Right. And so when you're questioning and so we think about whether it being an investment decision as an entrepreneur, whether you invest in technology, whether you invest in headcount, and dollars are limited, you scrutinize that decision, right, to a greater extent than those that have wealthy networks, that scrutiny that inability to move quickly, can be a detriment to your business, right, because it's occupying your mental, and it's not allowing you to focus on executing the business. So you know, I'm in awe of those that have wealthy networks have riches in terms of dollars to pull from, and are in a position to to either, you know, they can wait and see what happens and are they can is make a decision, and there's no second thought to it. Whereas those in marginalized communities with smaller balance sheets, it's a stressful process, right. And so with equity, crowdfunding, the ability to to offer more capital allows her a greater peace of mind, quite candidly.
Paul Zelizer 41:29
The other thing I wanted to highlight here is that if somebody can prove to the market that they're able to do a successful crowdfunding and get that business off the ground and start to get some revenue numbers, and then what you were talking about circling back around to VCs, maybe the initial presentation isn't as positive or you weren't able to get the kind of funding from a more traditional VC route. But crowdfunding can be a pathway and is increasingly a pathway to people getting funding from VC, especially in this environment. Okay, we'll get it up and running to a certain point. But now that we've been around for a year, and we have, you know, two years, or whatever the number is, and we have some profit and loss, we can show you what this business is doing now. And what an infusion of capital can do. It's oftentimes a pathway to VC for those founders that would like to take that path. Is that fair to say?
Pierre Le Veaux 42:28
Yeah, it is. So it's, you know, it's just the difference between being in an idea, and being a business and being a venture capital, ready business, as well. And so like that time does allow for that, that that trajectory, or that, that that growth cycle.
Paul Zelizer 42:45
So let's stop a founder who say, okay, Pierre, got my attention here. This makes sense. But I wasn't thinking about doing a crowdfunding campaign, you've seen a bunch of them PR, like, what would you say to a founder who's saying, Hmm, that sounds interesting, I might actually do that. But like, what's involved? What what contributes to a really good crowdfunding campaign?
Pierre Le Veaux 43:06
Yep. So tactically, I would say, please visit seat at the table.com. And the website will be in the notes, fill out one of our surveys, because like, as I mentioned, there are tons of resources that we have available to us that we would love to hang on to all of you and your audience, whether it's, you know, growth, marketing services, and our mentoring hours and so forth. That's an example of some of the companies that we work with, or to the service providers that we work with. But in terms of just literally next steps, you know, I would, I would either officially and or unofficially survey your audience, right kind of thing through, like, if you were to raise capital, who would be some of the first people that you would call them, you know, put that list of making a list, put in a pen and paper, right? If there aren't, if you don't have a network, or a customer base to monetize, think about, like, what are some of the taxes that you would take in terms of actually driving customer and our investor engagement, Rebecca did a great job of creating a new network of investors and a new network of supporters in advance. And then in addition to that, you know, what's worth consideration is just making sure that your financials are an order that your incorporation docs are an order as well. And then from there, we se at the table, we can be very supportive. So we're there's no hard requirement in terms of generating a certain number of revenue, whether it be per month on an annual basis, there is no requirement for for Industry Focus, right? There's no requirement for growth stage, that when it comes to community crowdfunding, you know, we're open to all we understand that those that focus on creating a network or leveraging their network tend to be more successful, right. And those that are willing to listen and to leverage the resources presented are as successful as well or if not greater.
Paul Zelizer 44:49
Here, I could hang out with you all day and you're a busy man and our listeners are busy too. If there was something you were hoping we were going to get to today, and we haven't gotten to it yet. Would that be?
Pierre Le Veaux 45:01
Yeah, I think it's just twofold. One, knowing your audience, I would I just want to commend everybody and say thank you. Right, if we're fighting a good fight, whatever that may be. It is. It often feels like a thankless job, or a thankless endeavor. It's only instances and when we're having conversations like this ball, where I'm like reminded of how great or impactful or how wonderful what the things that we're doing a seat at the table, while you know, always cognizant of what's what's to come and what could be done, I would, I would encourage the audience to think of seed as being a friend, right in any capacity, whether you're raising capital, you just want to exchange ideas and resources and introduce us to other names and allow us to do that for you as well. And I would just, you know, want to remind the audience not to give up, there are plenty of times whether in securing the license through FINRA and sec, maintaining the license, trying to help our issuers be successful, trying to do a raise on our own, it feels like it's impossible. But the reality is, we are all doing it. And it is possible. So I want to make sure that I'm reminding myself and remind those in the audience as well.
Paul Zelizer 46:10
And if I understand correctly, seat at the table is doing a raise of your own Is that fair to say?
Pierre Le Veaux 46:17
That is correct, we are testing the water. So legally, any company is considering community crowdfunding and I should have brought this up to is that you have the legal option to engage your network, meaning that you have no seat at the table, you can create a a page listing with a link and allow you to send that link out. And then your community being customers or potential investors can indicate what they would potentially invest in to you or to publicly launch your equity crowdfunding round. So we are doing that process legally, where you're not able to list on your own portal. So we're doing that through we funder. And please put the link in the notes but should be we funder.com Ford slash C dot ATT dot the dot table. And, you know, give us a look, we're taking indications for as low as $250, or sorry, $250, not $250,000. And we thought it was important man, it makes space for our community, being those on the call, and those that are looking to partner with C to have an opportunity to invest and participate in the growth journey of C. So we just didn't want to just limit it to the venture community, to the high net worth community and to the family offices that are out there. We want to make sure that investors that are on our portal, and those entrepreneurs that are considering seat at the table have access to invest as well.
Paul Zelizer 47:39
Listen, or do you know how passionate I am and I know how passionate you are about helping marginalized communities or something simple, you can potentially invest $250, go check out that we funder and if you're not in a position to do it. Maybe you can find a couple friends to do it with. But you can certainly let people know. Yes, let folks know that this is happening. Please spread the word. The link will be in the show notes. Peter, thank you for the great work you're doing. And thank you for being on the show today.
Pierre Le Veaux 48:08
Paul, thank you for having me, everybody in the audience. It's free. It's free to share and links to share his story. It's free to subscribe by Paul. So you know, continue to we really appreciate those things dollars are helpful. Like I said, there's capital and other forms. And sharing information is one of the primary sharing information network is one of the primary forms of capital. And I really appreciate so thanks for having me, Paul on, I'm going to share it.
Paul Zelizer 48:31
Again, listeners check out that we funder link, check out the seed at the table website and some of the other resources we've mentioned. Before we go I just want to remind you, we'd love listeners suggested topics and guests. So if you have an idea for somebody who'd be a good fit, please go take a look at the AWARE partners website. Look at our contact page. We have three simple guidelines, we try to be really transparent about what we're looking for. If you look and you say I've got somebody who's a fit, please send your ideas on it. So for now, I just want to say thank you so much for listening. Please take really good care and these intense times. And thank you for all the positive impact that you're working for in our world.