 Hey, everybody. Thank you guys so much for coming out. Let's give one more round of applause for Arlen here. Did we get lasers? Were there lasers? No, okay, great. So you're known as one of the first female black queer investors to start their own VC fund and the work you're doing in inclusion is incredibly important. Though today, I want to get past all the classifiers and just talk about you. Arlen Hamilton, investor, period. I can talk about me quite a bit, so let's go. Great. So I think a lot of entrepreneurs have a superhero origin story, some kind of formative experience that makes them so passionate about the problems that they're solving. What's your origin story? You know, I was thinking about my story for, you know, for years and I don't know if it was any one thing. I think a few things came together. Definitely seeing Janet Jackson when I was 13 years old in the front row and looking back and seeing all types of people getting along and singing the same songs to this amazing strong black woman kind of told me I could do anything. When I was a child, I would spend more time talking to my friend, like talking to people on the playground and playing. I would talk about their feelings at like age six, ask them how they're doing at home, things like that. And so I think I've always just been really in tune with other people and they're kind of translated to this. Yeah, it sounds like you were giving people advice on building their futures, even from such a young age. Yeah, it's kind of it was kind of crazy. So tell us a little bit about how you came up with the idea for backstage and put it into practice. Well, in the US a few years ago, I was in, I was in Texas and I had been on the road working with performers, musicians, and worked my way up in that world and that took a long time. That took years to do and around the same time I was getting into the startup world. I just started like seeing people like Ashton Kutcher and Ellen and Troy Carter and all these people were making investments from the entertainment world, but they were going to Silicon Valley. So I wanted to know what that was and why they cared about it. So I just got curious and the more I learned about the startup world, the more fascinated I became and more interested I became. And then I started reading about these statistics that they talked about earlier about how less than 10% of funding goes to anyone who's not a white male. And that's, you know, ridiculous. You know, I mean, it's not that white men are not doing great things because they certainly are. I mean, I'm sure they put this on, you know, with the help of many women, but others are doing so too and they were being left out and overlooked. And I just thought there has to be a better way here and I talked about it for a long time and then I just did something about it. So tell me about that education process of getting from, you know, being in the entertainment world to becoming a VC. And I totally agree. It's we need more perspectives to be able to build for everyone. And if you only look like one type of person, you're not going to be able to build for everyone who you don't really understand. So how did you get the education necessary to go about actually starting a fund? Well, there's this thing called Google that I tapped into pretty early. I think that whatever you want to learn about, whatever you want to understand and know, you can find online, you can find on YouTube. That's as your base, you know, as coding anything you want to you're interested in you can find. And so truly I just started looking up everything I could find when it came to startups and venture capital once I understood that because I knew I didn't have my own money. So I knew I wouldn't be angel investing and I started understanding what venture capital was and of course it was a very foreign and intimidating thing at first. But once the more I learned about it the more I realized, oh, these are just people with ideas and some of them executed on those ideas. I can do that. I can do that. And I started looking at different people. So I would read, you know, Brad Feld's books, which I still I still do and I still recommend doing. I would read his books about venture capital. I would look at videos from people like Mark Andreessen and Chris Saka and Joanne Wilson. And for the most part these were all they're mostly white men that as my professors remotely not knowing me. But I think that, you know, once I became a voice and so many people have become voices that are more diverse, you'll see more and more teachers. So for anybody out there, it must seem almost impossible of a dream to go from outside of tech to starting your own venture capital firm. But for any, you know, would be venture capitalists or investors out there in the audience, what tips would you give them to finding their way into that industry? Develop very thick skin, learn how to take rejection at ten times the rate you would as a founder. But also if it's something that you're passionate about and you have a really good intent behind and you understand why you're doing it, don't let anyone stop you including me. Yeah, I mean it sounds like with a founder you have to expect like ten or a hundred nos before you get a yes. Does that mean like as a VC you need a thousand nos? Yeah, I would guess that I've had a thousand nos, but I've also had 50 yeses, you know, and so it actually probably more than a thousand nos. At first I was getting maybe one yes for every hundred outreach eaches, you know, that I would do. And that was kind of my that was okay because that was like, okay, I can handle that. That means I just have to talk to a hundred people every time, cool, I can do that. And then it got better and better, but you really, you know, people sort of, they see the cover of Fast Company, mostly because I show it to them, but they see it the cover of Fast Company, but they don't realize that for the first three years that I worked on Backstage, I got zero nos, zero, and I'm sorry, zero yeses. Sorry, zero yeses, and so no one was into what I was doing. Nobody believed in what I was doing who could write a check. And so it was the people who believed in me who couldn't write a check that kept me going, you know. So it's not just about, it's not just about searching for investors for your thing and having a transactional situation, also surround yourself with people who are gonna kind of hype you up and keep you going, who you trust their judgment, because you don't want to have this sort of false bravado, but you want someone who trusts your judgment, you want to be able to cut out the noise, and that's something that's developed, and that can be taught, I think. You know, thick skin is so important, basically, no matter what you're doing in tech, to be able to take those nos, and instead of seeing them as a rejection, instead as criticism and something, a way to improve or something new to do, but amongst all those nos, you had one really big yes that was pretty transformative. So you talked to Mark Andreessen, who's perhaps one of the most famous venture capitalists in the world, and they were one of the first LPs to fund your fund. So tell us how you convinced him to fund you, and what that felt like. Sure. And it was actually Mark personally who did it, not his fund. So I wrote a blog post at some point that was about comparing venture capital to the film industry, just in terms of the timing where we were in it, like 70-some years into venture capital, where would the film industry be? So I kind of compared it at the time to like being in the 80s of the film industry, and how exciting that is, because you think about all the cool movies and like innovations that came out of 80s movies, like film. So I wrote about that just kind of starting, the reason I wrote about it was I wanted to get a lot of people who were not in tech yet, excited, and knowing that they were not too late to come in, that they could join, right? Judging by the audience here, it seems like you've pretty much helped succeed with that. Well, yeah, so I was, because I'm so excited about us all being able to be part of this, because if I can be part of it, I mean, honestly, we all can. So I wrote about it, and I put it up, and all of a sudden I got a retweet from Mark, and I didn't know him, and I don't know how he found it. And this was like two and a half years ago, probably. And so I used that opportunity. I asked him on Twitter. I said, will you follow me? So I can ask you one question. He followed me, and my question was, will you invest in my fund and a link to the deck? That's a slam dunk right there. Yeah, I was like, when am I gonna have another chance? So I did it. And then he said, give me a little time. He went and called everybody who was listed in my deck, because he knows every human in Silicon Valley, and he came back to me, said it was glowing reviews. You know, I'm in, and he's one of the very few people who has been in every single fund that we've done. That's a pretty great lesson, that like, when you get that shot, you have to take it. Yeah, you have to take it. You also have to be ready for a no, because I was prepared for a no. You also have to you know, be gracious in a no. Had he had, had he ignored me or not said yes, the way that I reacted to that would have also deeply affected my fundraising. So it's like, you know, I get a lot of people who pitch me every single day of my life from the most random places to the most understood places, and it's really noticeable if you like immediately have an attitude, if you don't get an immediate yes, you know. So I thankfully knew that back then, and I didn't, you know, curse out people who said no to me. That's definitely a useful lesson, to see that if you do get a rejection, taking it gracefully may open the door to the next yes. Absolutely. So one of Backstage's advisors said that you have a good nose for bullshit. You're able to spot it really well. So whether it's deciding who to take money from or who to give money to, how do you spot that bullshit and avoid it? Yeah, I think that was Mark Levy who said that. I don't know. I just, when it comes from who to take money from, there have been many, many times where I've needed money, and it happens a lot, right? And I, you know, my background story, I've grew up poor and all that. But I have to live with myself. And so taking money from just anyone is just not an option to me. Like I really have to know why I'm doing it and it has to be connected to something else. Are they there for the right reasons or do they represent something that I just can't live with? And so we've been offered money from different places where I didn't agree with, and not necessarily not agreeing with their politics, because I can do that all day. You know, I can disagree with you and still work with you. But where something that they felt or did maybe would negatively affect someone that I cared about or that maybe I didn't even care about, but it affected them. And I just had to say no. So that's pretty easy to spot. You kind of, you know, gut check that. And as far as like investing in other people, it's, you hear it kind of cliche, but it isn't a relationship that evolves over time for the most part. Like I can know within five minutes if I'm going to invest in someone, and my rate is about 90, 95% accuracy there, but I still take more time in the diligence process and figuring out if we should. So it's about being able to, you know, withstand that diligence process. And I have to tell myself that all the time when I'm looking for funding, like, you know, Rich, here's a lesson that I learned over the past three years. Rich people don't care about your calendar. They don't have a reason to. So they're going to do things on their time. That's good for if you're trying to get an introduction to someone. I see this a lot. It's like whether they want to meet with a journalist or a venture capitalist. They, you know, they finally get a hold of this person and they're like, great, can we have a meeting? And then they're the one suggesting the times. And it's like, no, no, no, you need to work on that person's schedule at least at first until you're able to make that mark. I find it very fascinating that you've had that sort of moral stance on where to take money from, because a lot of the technology industry seems to sort of lack that we've seen a lot of foreign investment capital pouring in and most recently money from Saudi Arabia coming into startups. And meanwhile, there's been a lot of stuff in the news that's very alarming about how that country is operating right now. And do you have any advice for these, whether it's big funds or big late stage startups and where they're taking their money? I'm not really sure I can give advice, right? Because I'm out in their shoes. I have paid attention to it, though, and thought about what I would do. And in a couple of cases, we were kind of in the fray of that and kind of just missed that. I just don't think I'd be able to take the money personally. But the problem is, here's the thing, like, if we're being really honest, a lot of that money is in is LP money, limited partner money in funds that fund so much more than 50% of what's out there already. So it's really hard. It's not I don't think it's the easiest thing to just say I had this moral objection to because I do. And I wouldn't personally take it. But who knows if it's in some of our portfolio companies today? Yeah, exactly. It's not just about avoiding these sovereign wealth funds. It's like it's already in all these VCs. Exactly. So why don't you switch gears and talk a little bit about some of the startups that you funded? I just love to hear what some of the most exciting ideas that backstage is back that you're really excited about. Yeah, I mean, we've invested in more than 100 companies now. So I always think about like if you have 100 children, like there's no favorites. But I think there are some really exciting ones. There's one called Needle, N-E-D-L, which is a search engine for voice, so for radio and for podcast. So you can look for certain keywords on Alexa and things like that through Needle. And so, you know, imagine you're trying to find everything you can like every article that you have talked about on a podcast or on radio. How do you find that right now? Like Google has some abilities, obviously, and then there's other places. But Needle is really they're in our portfolio and they're really tackling that in an exciting way. So they're B2B and then B2C as well. So for listeners, they can find what they need. And for the actual podcaster or the broadcaster, they get to see the data on who's looking for what and kind of get the information to people faster. There's also a company called Sheer Share that I really love. It's a married couple out of Dallas and they were both in... Well, sorry, Ty, the guy was in the barbering industry and they both owned a salon in Dallas. And they realized they'd have these empty chairs because they didn't have like full time all the time someone's in those chairs. So they would just start renting out the chair day at a time. And they realized, hey, this could be automated. This could be like an Airbnb for salon chairs so that stylists who don't necessarily want to or can't afford to lease every month, they can come in for two or three days a week, have their clientele come in and only pay for that day. And so this is in more than 300 cities around the world. And it really grew like wildfire and actually became one of the very few companies led by a black woman that has raised more than a million dollars as one of the check marks. But I think they were doing really well even before that. So that's when I'm uncharted to power is I'm very, very excited about it. Jessica Matthews runs that. They're creating renewable energy with anything that can move. So they started with the soccer ball that you kick around and it generates energy and they've taken that to what's next? Well, what's next for Jessica is is beyond the universe, right? Beyond the earth here. But the next step is smart cities. So imagine being able to drive over a speed bump and generate energy for the light fixture on the road. And I've seen this in person. So like all these things that she's developing and creating will will be part of the next smart cities generation. That's awesome, because whether that's problems coming out of other cities beyond Silicon Valley or crises that face the entire world, these aren't just problems of already rich people already in Silicon Valley. And I love that we're seeing more starps that are getting funding around that. So there is this one big problem in Silicon Valley, though, which is the culture of crushing it or this idea of hustle porn, which is basically when hustle porn hashtag. Yeah, that's I guess those are those are that's a loaded term. But the real issue is that people just talk incessantly on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook, about how much they're working, how late they're working, how much they're sacrificing in their lives. And meanwhile, they're only showing their successes. They make it seem like they're everything is just always up into the right. And the problem is that that really leaves founders or employees or investors who aren't always successful, like all of us are, we all have our tough days. Yes, right. And they they feel like they're alone. They feel like they're the only ones who are having failures because they look out and all they see is success. And so I want to know, you know, how what advice do you have for for founders or investors out there for when they have those tough moments and they feel like they're alone? You know, what do they what can they do to lift that anxiety and get back to work? Well, you know, first of all, like I really, really do not like people who say I'll sleep when I'm dead or, you know, if you're not if you're not working every hour of the weekend, you're not you don't really care about your company and all those things. First of all, I take a nap any time I can. So take as many naps as you're an adult. Take naps. You can do that. That's your permission. Is there an all clap for naps? Naps are awesome. Naps it up. Like the phrase I'll sleep when I'm dead is this is inaccurate scientifically because when you have sleep deprivation, you're cutting off years of your life. So, yeah, you will sleep when you're dead, but you'll sleep when you're dead sooner. So get a nap in. I also highly recommend sweatpants at any time any time you're working from home, work from home in sweatpants that are one size too big for you. Thank you very much. And also, as much as I can, I try to show the real like I'm not here to make everyone think I have it going on, you know. And next to the to the fast company cover, I want to I put up a video of me like, you know, having a meltdown because something a lot of things have gone wrong that day because it happens all the time. There's no one that's being honest who says that they haven't cried at least once as a founder. Like it's happening all the time and just knowing that you asked for advice, you know, the advice is just to to know that you're not alone. We asked a room recently how many people had imposter syndrome and 90 percent of the room raised their hands and everyone looked around like, oh my God, I can't I thought I was going to be the only one. And imagine the other 10 percent may have not even been brave enough to do it at that time. So everyone is going through that, no matter what they have as a facade. And yes, a lot of people are doing really great. But I just, you know, I just talked to a millionaire recently who had sold his company and he told me that he felt as stressed and scared when they were doing two hundred thousand in revenue as they were doing 20 million in revenue. Like he just constantly felt stressed and scared because the stakes just got higher and higher and higher. And he had to be more and more of a leader. And I certainly feel that with backstage growing the way it's growing. And so kind of enjoy your wins, like really recognize your wins. You deserve them, you worked hard for them. And I really recognize and celebrate them. And also understand that you do not have to be killing it every single day because no one is. They're lying to you, right? The grass is always greener because there's a lot of manure on the other side. Yeah, exactly. It's like everyone judges themselves by yesterday, not their absolute value. It's like one exec leaves, one deal falls through, one big bug. And it feels like everything's falling down. But everybody feels like that. Everyone seems feels like an imposter. Yeah, right. OK, everybody just got to get back on the horse. So in our last minute, I just like to ask, what is the legacy that you want to leave on this industry? Naptime. That's a great legacy. I think that's amazing. People do need to take care of themselves more. I just, I want in a few years to be maybe having dinner with several of our portfolio companies, leaders who are now angel investors because they've now exited and they're living the lives that they wanted to live. And I want my nieces and nephews to have those people on their computer screens or whatever screens are floating in the future. Right next to the football stars and the basketball and the rappers and all of that, that's what I want. I want us to have more new heroes. Well, I think you've really shown yourself to be one of our new heroes. Thank you so much and thank you all for watching. Thanks.