If it’s one thing that Black founders know how to do, it’s make something out of nothing.
During this week’s episode of Black Tech Green Money, viewers get a blast from the past from AfroTech World 2020 with Motley Fool Ventures Managing Partner Ollen Douglass. He gives insight on the keys to fundraising, trends in venture capital (VC) that founders who look like us need to tap into, and more.
At Motley Fool, the underlying goal is to help people learn how to invest in the stock market to create generational wealth.
“It’s really interesting in the sense that when you think about all the opportunities to create wealth, the stock market, I believe is probably the most democratized access by far,” he explained. “Ameritrade does not care what you look like and they don’t ask. Schwab doesn’t care. There are none of the barriers that you have when [you’re] just like [engaged in] real estate investing and someone has to sell you. I don’t have to call up Tim Cook to buy Apple.”
The Future Of VC
For Douglass, it has also been about using his position and expertise in the field to pass knowledge along in ways in which Black founders can capitalize when building out funds from VC. It is all about moving away from the bread crumbs and making space for the big bucks.
“I think we just need to understand venture capital better,” Douglass told Blavity, Inc. CEO Morgan DeBaun when asked his stance on the direction VC is going. “The fact of the matter is [that] venture capital is not for everyone and the more we can educate Black founders on what it means to be in VC and to make sure that they’re calibrating their goals and expectations along with the industry — I think that’s important.”
Listen To BTGM
For more on how to capitalize in the VC space and further details on Douglass’ journey at Motley Fool Ventures, click here to listen to the full episode of Black Tech Green Money.
