 Hello and welcome to theCUBE's International Women's Showcase featuring International Women's Day. I'm John Furrier, host of theCUBE here in Palo Alto, California, we've got a great remote guest. She's amazing. Kate Goodall, founder and CEO of Halcyon, CUBE alumni. Great to see you, Kate. Thanks for coming on. Good to see you. You as well, always a pleasure, John. You know, International Women's Day is big celebration. We're doing a lot of interviews with great people making things happen, moving and shaking things. But every day is International Women's Day, as far as we're concerned. It's happening all around the world, but these are stories of innovation. These are stories of change. These are stories of transformation for the better. You've been doing a lot of things and I want to get into that, but let's start with your background. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you got going on. Yeah, my background is a little strange. I used to be a maritime archeologist, so dove on shipwrecks for a little bit. That was amazing. I always jest, it's only partial jest because it's actually a bit of truth to it that learning how to handle things at depth really does train you to be a CEO because you learn to control your breath and focus on the things that matter and not be so reactive because it's the reactivity that will and the panic that will kill you. So always knowing how to reframe, return to the basics. Those are really good things to hold on to even in the world of business, right? So I at some point ended up doing a lot of things, largely business development, following my time diving and met an amazing woman, another woman for International Women's Day, named Dr. Sachiko Kuno, who was a biotech entrepreneur from Japan, stepping down as her role at the helm of her company and she wanted to launch a space for young innovators from around the world who were doing amazing work to tackle these very complex challenges we all know exist and figure out a way to give them time and space to do their best work and pursue their highest visions for change. We decided that we would focus on for-profit companies largely who were using sustainable, scalable business models to pursue both profit and purpose, creating a virtuous cycle between the return of money to a company and pouring that into you to go even further and faster towards solving a problem. So we now have companies, over 200 companies from around the world that we've helped support, tackling every single sustainable development goal. And I'm proud to say, particularly related to this subject, that 59% of our companies have a woman founder or co-founder and 69% have a founder of color. So we're working with entrepreneurs from every area of the world, many proximate to the problem that they are trying to solve so they intimately understand it. And they're doing amazing things. Yeah, you got help in great mission. You have a lot of other things going on. You're helping women, encouraging them and to forge a career in the tech sector. Good statistics could be better, right? I mean, always higher and better. So what are you guys doing? What are you specifically to help and encourage women to forge their career in tech? Yeah, I mean, look, the good news is I do think that it's getting better. I particularly think that we will see that venture is improving. It takes a while because the companies that had been funded up until now are still raking in the biggest amounts in their latest stages. So I think that percentage hasn't been shifting but I have to believe that that's a bit of an illusion in a couple of years. We're going to start to see it level out. But you know, as well as I do, that they're pretty poultry statistics in terms of the amount of venture that women-led companies capture. And the other ways that women are doubted in terms of their ability and potential. So we love to work with any underrepresented group of entrepreneurs and there's ways that we do that, whether it's helping them sort of find that power and hold space and be confident and be able to pitch to any room, talk to any investor, talk to any customer. But also working to be directive about some of the systemic challenges, both in terms of talking to existing investors and trying to educate them to see the opportunities that they're missing because there is an economic imperative to them understanding what they're missing. But there's also some things that we're doing in-house to make sure that we're also helping to close capital gaps for all our entrepreneurs. So we actually now have a suite of three capital mechanisms that our entrepreneurs can access on the back end of our incubator, a microloan fund, which is a very quick turnaround, small amounts of capital for entrepreneurs who exist in opportunity zones, which is a tax designation just based in the US. But that's meant to be deployed so that they can access capital towards revenue without credit checks, collateral being put up and a slow moving pace of banks and CDFIs. It's particularly useful for people who may not raise venture and it's useful for people who maybe don't have that friends and family check that they can expect. Similarly, we've got a great angel network who look at the best impact deals from around the world. And it doesn't have to be a healthy company, just a great venture that's pursuing impact and profit. And then lastly, we're just about to announce that we have a fund of our own on the back end of our incubator that funds only healthy companies. It's an early stage fund, but watch this space because our pipeline is just increasing year over year. We used to serve just 16 companies a year. Now we're serving 60 this year. So yeah, it's really exciting. And so obviously it's really great that we're going to be able to help scale the impact that we want to see ideally a lot faster. Well, you're definitely taking the command and control. I remember when we chatted just a few years ago, I think four years ago, you just think you maybe was getting going and was growing now with great tailwind. And the diversity of sources of capital as well as diversity of firms is increasing. That's helping. That's a trend we're seeing. But you're also got the back end fund for the Halcyon companies, but also you've been involved in We Capital for a long time. Can you talk about that? Because that's a specific supporting women entrepreneurs initiative. Tell me about what's up with We Capital and Cher, please. There was another venture that I embarked on with Sachco as well as Sheila Johnson and Jenny Abramson who runs Rethink Impact. We Capital is a group of about 16 women that I pulled together women investors to invest through Rethink Impact, which is another fund that is looking for impact businesses, but predominantly looking for those businesses that are led by women. So this investment group is women supporting women through the use of and deployment of capital. They're doing amazingly well. They've had some really stunning news recently that I'll let you dig up. I'll definitely, thanks for the lead there. I'm going to go jump on that story. Not mine to share. Yeah. The, okay, thanks for that lead. On that trend though in Silicon Valley and certainly in other areas that are hotbeds like New York, Austin and DC where you're at, you're seeing now multiple years in almost a decade in of the pioneers of these women only funds or women only firms and or investment. And it's starting to increase to all underrepresented minorities and entrepreneurs, right? So take us through how you see that because it's just getting more popular. Is that going to continue to accelerate in your mind? Are there networks of networks? Are they cross pollinating? Yeah, I think, you know, it's, I'm glad to see it. And, you know, it's been a long time coming. I think, you know, I think we all look forward to a future where it's not necessary and, you know, funds just invest in everyone until then making sure that we have specific pools of capital allocated to ensure that, you know, those entrepreneurs who have not always been equally represented get to pursue their ideas not just because they deserve to pursue their ideas but because the world needs their ideas, right? And as I mentioned, there is a business imperative, right? We've got lots of examples of businesses like Spanx that, you know, wouldn't have gotten a shot just because the investors just didn't understand the opportunity and I think that's normal. That's human. It happens to everyone. You are successful as an investor largely because you recognize patterns and if something is, you know, outside of your life experience you are not going to identify it. So it's very important that we create different pools of capital run by different types of people and, you know, I know lots of investors of every type that are investing in these funds because they recognize that, you know, perhaps the highest growth potential is going to come out of these, you know, particular kinds of funds, which is really exciting. Yeah, that's super important because half the world is women and that's just like the population is inspired by many new ventures and that's super exciting trend. I want to ask you about your other area you're doing a lot of work and theCUBE has been to Bahrain multiple times initially reporting on AWS's region out there and that certainly is an important part of the world. You've got a lot of good news going on there. Can you share what's going on with Halcyon and the social entrepreneurship going on in Bahrain and around the region? Yeah, I'm happy to. We've actually been so privileged to work with AWS for a very long time almost since the start of the incubator they've supported our entrepreneurs all of our entrepreneurs with access to cloud credits and services and we've sort of doubled down with AWS in the last couple of years in areas where we both, you know, want to create an uplift for, you know, small businesses and rapidly growing tech solutions to these social environmental problems we see. So they've been an excellent partner to do that and one of the areas we dipped our toe in the water was with Bahrain, particularly with women tech startups, women-led tech startups in Bahrain. We did that last year. We had an amazing group of women over in DC and we continue to support them. One of them is actually in the process of raising. I think she just closed her seed round recently and that's Wafa Alubadat and she created Playbook, which is an amazing tech-driven platform for women to take masterclasses and network and really sort of level up as Wafa says. But also the Mall of Work, Eja Mia just really talented women over in Bahrain pushing the envelope in all sorts of directions and it was wonderful to get the opportunity to work with them. That has now spawned another set of programs serving entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa that we're also working on with AWS as well as the US State Department. So we're going to be working for the next two years with entrepreneurs to help spur recovery from COVID in Mina. And then I'm also proud to say that we're working with AWS in Sub-Saharan Africa because there is just an extraordinary energy in the continent and some amazing entrepreneurial minds working on the many problems and opportunities that they're facing and recognizing. So we're supporting companies that are working on finding skilled refugees to be able to help them resettle and use their talents and make money. Sadly, a very relevant company now with what's going on in Ukraine, but also a Zambian satellite company, companies that are preventing food waste by providing solar powered refrigerators to rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. So a lot of just incredible talent and ideas that we're seeing globally and happy to be doubling down on that with the help of AWS. That's awesome. Kate, you've done amazing work. And I remember following the work when we met in DC. And again, you've always had this international view. It's International Women's Day. It's not North America Women's Day. It's International Women's Day. Can you share your thoughts on how that landscape is changing outside the US, for example, and around the world and how the international piece is important? And you mentioned pattern matching. Also, when you see patterns, they become trends. What trends do you see forming that are locked in on the UC or locked in on that are happening, that are driving? What are some of those trends that you see on the international side that's evolving? Yeah. I think the wonderful opportunity with the internet and social media is that both we can be more transparent about areas for improvement and put a little pressure where maybe things aren't moving fast enough. We've all seen the power of that. The other thing is that certainly in countries where women maybe aren't as free to move and operate, they can still acquire skills, education. They can set up companies. They can do so, so much through these amazing technologies that we now have at our disposal that are growing at amazing rates. They can connect via Zoom, right? It's, I think that while the pandemic definitely set women back, and we should acknowledge that, the things that the pandemic perhaps helped us to exponentially scale will move women forward. And perhaps that's the nugget to hang on to to feel optimistic about where we're headed. Yeah, and also there's a lot of problems to solve. And I think one of the things we're seeing, you mentioned the Ukraine situation, you're seeing the geopolitical landscape changing radically with technology driving a lot of value. So with problems comes opportunities. Innovation plays a big role. Can you share some of the successful stories that you were inspired by that you've seen in the past couple of years? And as you look forward, what are some of those innovation stories look like and what are you inspired by? Yeah, I mean, there's so, so many. We just had a couple of entrepreneurs in just the last year, after I think everyone sort of took an initial breath with the pandemic, they realized that they either had an opportunity or they had a problem to solve to your point. And they either did that well or not. And or some of them, you know, just didn't have any more cards to play and had to really pivot. It was really interesting to see how everyone handled that particular moment in time. One company that I think of is Oxyware. And she had created a wearable device that you can just put on your ear. It looks like an earring right at the top of your ear. And it was for herself because she suffered from pulmonary complications and without a more discreet wearable, had to wear a huge device and lug around an oxygen tank and just to sort of have a good quality of life. It turns out obviously during COVID that that is a very useful item, not just for patients suffering from COVID and wanting to know what their oxygen levels were doing, but also potentially in athletics. So she's really been able to double down as a result of the trends from the pandemic. And I'm really proud of her and that's Oxyware. Another great one that we just came through our last cohort, cohort 15 is Maya. And she had a brick and mortar store called Cherry Blossom Intimates where she helped women have an enjoyable experience finding and fitting bras post mastectomy to include sort of the necessary prosthetics and things like that. She even made it so that you could go with your friend who hadn't had a mastectomy and she could also find some lovely lingerie. But the pandemic meant that that experience was sort of off the table. And what that did was she decided to make it a technological one. So now she's essentially will be parked at it. You can go to Maya online and you can measure yourself, work with a specialist all online, get a few different options, figure out the one that's perfect for you and send the rest back. And I think without the pandemic that would not have happened. So she's now able to serve exponentially more women who deserve to feel like themselves post mastectomy. That's awesome. Kay, you're a great role model and you're inspirational. I have to ask you for the young women out there watching what advice would you share with them as they navigate into a world that's changing and evolving and getting better with other women mentors and entrepreneurs and or just an ecosystem of community? What advice would you give them as they step into the world and have to engage and experience life? Yeah, gosh, part of me always wants to resist that and say, don't listen to anyone's advice. Follow your heart, follow your gut or at least be careful who you listen to, right? Because a lot of people will want to give you advice, I would say. That's a good advice. Don't take in my advice. Well, you've been a great leader. Love the work you're doing at Halcyon. I'll say in DC, but all around the world. And again, there's so much change going on with innovation. I mean, just the advances in technology across the board from with machine learning and AI from linguistics and understanding. And I think we're going to be a bigger community. Your thoughts on as you see community organically becoming a big part of how people are engaging. What's your view as you look out across the landscape? Community is becoming a big part. We're a part of tribes. What's your vision on how the role of communities play? I know we actually do think a lot about community at Halcyon. We say that our alchemy really is providing space, physical and mental space to think, access, access to capital, access to networks and community. And the community piece is very, very important. Our entrepreneurs leave us, like the number one thing that they miss is being among like-minded, slightly crazy audacious people. And I often joke that we're building a kind army, right? Because it's people who want to do it differently. It's people who want to do it with integrity. It's people who are in it for very different motivations than just money. And you start to feel the power of that group together and its entirety and what that might look like as a community solving these global problems. And it really is inspiring. I do think that people are starving for face time and people time, real human time after the pandemic. I think Zoom won't go away. It's a great tool, but we all want a little bit of that. And I will mention, just along those lines, John, if you don't mind a quick plug for an event that we're having March 16th, also in partnership with AWS called Build Her, relevant to International Women's Day as well. People can either, if they're in DC, they can come in person, but we'll also have a virtual program and we'll be listening to some of the most inspiring women leaders and entrepreneurs, both in government and also the private sector share their knowledge on this side of the pandemic for the next tribe or troop of women entrepreneurs and leaders. That's great. We'll make sure we put that on our website for sure. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. And we love the fact that you're in our community as well. We're doing great work. Kate, thanks for spending the time with theCUBE and on International Women's Day celebration. Thanks for coming on and sharing. Thank you, John. Okay. This is theCUBE International Showcase Women's Day featuring some great guests all around the world, not just in the U.S., but all over the world. I'm John Furrier, your host. Thanks for watching.