The BrandBuilders Playlist with GP of Ganas Ventures Lolita Taub

Freedom! You're listening to the Daily Motivation Podcast, place to take your life to the next level, your business, your fitness, your dreams. Let's go! What up, what up, what up? It's your boy Cauveé Inspiration Engineer. You already You know what it is. I am so pumped, so excited, and jazzed because you guys are getting an experience. We are live today. I haven't been live in I don't know how long, but we are live with our new show that's been in stealth, the Brand Builder Playlist Podcast, where we are building personal brands for the creator economy, where creators become brands, brands become businesses, helping creators to build lasting legacy and category-defining sustainability, whether you are a speaker, a coach, an investor, an edutainer, entertainer, actor, actress, we all have the same principle of success. And if that is you, you are in the right place. We are live right now on Twitch. We are out on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X. We are out there, y'all. And my guest today is a wallop. I've got Miss Lolita Taub on the show, and she is just a revolutionary thinker when it comes to investing. She is a Latina venture capitalist, operator, turner investor with nearly 20 years across tech venture capital. She's been featured in Forbes, Culture 50 honoree, Latina Powerhouses, LAVCA honoree, and so much more. Spoken at South by Southwest. And what she's been doing in the investment side of business is She's been formerly with Backstage Capital. She now is currently the GP of Ghana Ventures, where she backs pre-seed and seed underrepresented founders in tech. And she's all about community. I am so excited for her to come to the stage. So let's welcome Miss Lolita Taw. How we doing, champion?

I am all hyped up. I'm ready to go. Thank you for having me.

I am so grateful that you're here. We're grateful that we get to soak in your wisdom. Talk to us a little bit just about, you know, your transition into VC. You're from South LA, like, just kind of walk us, walk us through how you even got into this space.

Yeah, I mean, so I, I come from the hood, uh, back in the day when they used to call it South Central Los Angeles. I guess they do call it South LA for stigma reasons. But yeah, first generation Mexican American. My parents came to give their future children a shot at the American dream, something that they really wanted for themselves. But, you know, they— well, they did it all for us, really, for my brother, my little brother, my little sister, and me. Grew up in South Central, as you said it. Went to boarding school because my sixth grade— 8th grade science teacher actually really believed in me. And so I applied to this really like elite boarding school in Massachusetts, Phillips Academy Andover. So competitor to Exeter, which is where Mark Zuckerberg went to and went there. And that's when I really saw like there was so many resources, so much opportunity, but that there was a gap between the top 1% and then the rest of us. And ever since then, I've wanted to make this connection, these bridges, as best as I've been able to, given how much privilege I've had along the way. Of course, I started from scratch. And that's why, you know, like I wrote the book, What Actually Matters, for those of us who have come in without an inherited network. But I come from very humble beginnings. And long story short, I went into big tech, as you mentioned, so IBM, Cisco, then startups, then venture capital, and now I'm my my second fund, first solo GP fund. And I've invested in over 100 companies, many of which have been underestimated, underrepresented founders, many from the US, Latin America, but also globally. So very excited to share more about my story. I'm an open book, so take it away.

Let it roll, let it roll. I love it, I love it, I love it. Lolita has a book called What Actually Matters: Startup Capital and the Rules That Nobody Taught Us. And this is for first-time founders, angels, LPs, GPs, but we're gonna tap into that here in a few moments. We're gonna get behind the paradigm of the genius. Like, how did this genius get to where she's at? Now, you come from enterprise, and I'm curious, you know, from the brands that, and we don't need to say their names necessarily unless you feel comfortable to, but did you leverage those brands and your success from that into VC, Or how did you first position yourself to even get into where people would trust you since it's a trust game?

Yeah, that's such a good question. I mean, honestly, it was just a lot of blood, tears, and sweat, as one would put it. I did not— IBM and Cisco, they were kind of like my pre-chapter, and it was because of Cisco actually that I ended up meeting a tribal chief because I was selling hardware, software services both at IBM and Cisco. But when I was at Cisco, I had to— I was in charge of the tribal nations. And so I thought I'd take this course and met a tribal chief. He was my professor and he was the one that asked me who my tribe was and who, who I was working for and with in my life. What was my community, really? And I was just like, well, I don't know if It's these, all these middle-aged white guys. And that's really what got me started into thinking about having conversations. And not that there's anything wrong, right? But, but it really did make me think about, well, it is true that I'm one of the very few, if not the only woman or woman of color and so on. And so I did this project where I did 100 interviews with women tech founders around the, around the globe. And that's really when I found out about startups and venture capital because I had the notion of entrepreneurship, like some general understanding, but nothing with venture capital. And so as I was having these conversations, they were, these women were telling me like these great pitches and they were all basically telling me that they were struggling with fundraising. And I thought to myself, one day I want to become a check writer. And that was what started this whole journey. And it took me a really long time because when I was trying to break in, and I was doing interviews with VC funds in Silicon Valley, they would say, "Nope, you don't have the pedigree. You don't have the background. This isn't for you." You know, kind of same story when I broke into tech, which is its own story. But I thought, okay, well, like persistence, right? Persistence is what we need to do. 'Cause if you take no for an answer, then, you know, well, this is not the right space for you. So anyway, I, I try to figure out one way or another to get into the startup world. And so I started working for a startup in Silicon Valley and later on I did my MBA program. I did my international MBA program in Madrid at IE Business School. And one of my mentors was a VC and they were kicking off their early stage fund in Madrid. And so I, that was my first job in VC. And after I was done and I came back to the US again, it was kind of like hitting my head against the wall, like trying to find opportunities to break into VC. So I started volunteering and long story short, I had met Arlan Hamilton from Backstage Capital a few years back because I had collaborated with another one of my friends, Pocket, from SoGal Ventures, and they had been part of the same, this Berkeley 500 program for emerging managers. Anyway, we connected and she hired me on, ended up being a principal at Backstage, and that's kind of what, what got me started because Arlen believed in me. And Arlen actually was one of my first checks, if not the first check, into Ghana's ventures. So she has been a true advocate and friend, and she's definitely blazed a path for so many of us.

Yes, and you know, it's funny that you bring her up, uh, and this is just a little backstory for you guys listening there by tuning in, whether you're on the replay or whether you are live with us right now in this very moment. But About Damn Time is a phenomenal book, and when I read her book—

yes, it is—

oh shit, she comes from music, like being a music manager. So anyway, that was just super dope, and I was like, oh, that, you know, that they say eagles of a feather fly high together. I was curious which— what was Like, if you don't mind, if there's nothing confidential there, what was it like? How did y'all get connected though? Like, how did that even happen, like, for you to come in each other's circles?

Yeah, so definitely not music. I like music, but usually I just— I'm like, oh, I like that. Oh, I like that. But I don't know, baby. Um, but like I said, so she had done a program with one of my friends that had also launched a venture capital fund, and that's how we got connected. And, um, that's how we knew of each other. And I mean, I was also— we were aligned in terms of what we were trying to do. And I think with brand building, which your show is all about, um, or community building, just knowing, sharing your values, what you're about, is how you get connected, um, to folks that, that are part of your, your, your pack, right? And so, yeah, it was, it was really, really great. And You know, one of the things that I talk about in my book is about how proximity beats speed. And I think, you know, what Arlen was and continues to be was, was this link to— she was a handful of years ahead of me in terms of starting a fund and all of that. And she was definitely a link to Silicon Valley. And again, I had worked in in Silicon Valley. So it was just kind of paying my dues. And another concept I talk about in the book, which I think is really important for all of us to know about, is something I call the access tax. So this is basically like, look, if you start from scratch, you are paying your tax in full upfront, right? So you're doing the volunteering, you're having to grind it out to build the network. Oftentimes, like, the terms, the value placed on your work isn't as great, or when you're doing term sheets and things like that, it can impact that too. And then emotional, right? Because it's so hard to see the talent is spread equally, opportunity is not, but then still see the numbers where they are from an investor perspective, from a founder perspective, and so on.

Absolutely. And I wanna dive into that 'cause I was gonna, I was, When I first saw that as a mindset, right, and a shift, do you feel looking back on it with what you know now, right, and what you've been able to do now, is there anything that you would have done differently to maybe expedite that process so that the access— I mean, it is what it is. Your network is what it is, right? You got to start from somewhere. But my question is, is there anything that you would have done different to where maybe that tax wouldn't have been so high? Maybe it would have been less.

I don't think you can shortcut that, honestly, unless you're again born with an inherited network and you have these connections. I think if you're starting from scratch, it's really tough to, to, to get a free ticket and overcome all those things without doing the putting in the work and the time. But what I can say is that I, I, if there's anything I could tell Lolita from a decade ago, it would be that proximity beats, you know, speed. And what does that even mean? Well, like, I grew up thinking that working hard would get you to achieve whatever goal that you, that you would have in mind. But the reality is that we— that only works in a meritocracy. But we don't live in a meritocracy. So I would tell little Lolita, you know, Matriarchy, I'm so sorry about this. I know it's going to break your heart, but it's not real. It does not exist. And it's less about working hard, working smart, connecting with the right folks, working with the best of the best, being humble, knowing what you know and what you don't know is like the hardest skill, but, you know, critical thinking and just seeing how you can create opportunities that are win-win-win, where we're lifting all of us up at the same time. And I wouldn't do it differently, but I think I would have just thought about it slightly different because I was still really gung-ho about this whole concept of if you work hard, then you can achieve your dreams. But it's just, it's a myth. And that's part, again, why I wrote this book, because we don't know what we don't know, first off. And those that have the inherited network, they don't know the rules to write them down because they grew up in it. So it's normal to them. And so that's why you get these people that really believe in meritocracy, where like, it's not meritocracy. A lot of the time it's nepotism. But they're like, I work hard, I achieve this, so everyone else should be able to. But you know, there's— it just depends where you come from.

Exactly. One of the things that we talk about a lot is that relationships drive revenue. And what I hate seeing, and I know you've seen this, right? It's like when a founder meets an investor, sometimes they'll like suck up or brown nose to try to build a relationship, or they'll do whatever they need to do, say whatever they need to say, which I don't encourage, right? It's like, how can we both create this beautiful partnership within different stages of the relationship, wherever you're at? Whether you're a founder building with investors, whether you're an emerging manager building with LPs, or whether you are just getting going My question is for a lot of our founders, and let's focus on them as we transition into our GP conversation. But for founders building their network that don't know much about how the game works, I told you online on X I was reading 16 books. I meant what I said. Like, that was a true thing.

I know. I love it. I've read them too.

So yeah, we're going to add you. Look, and we're going to add yours to the Rolodex. I got to have it in my catalog. But I said that, of course, I said that saying How does a founder, or what would you advise a founder? Because there's so— it's gatekept information who you need to connect with, from an angel to a micro VC to building with LPs to build it. What would just be your, your advice to them when they're getting started within pre-seed and seed, how they should begin that journey?

Yeah, so one thing that I often see is that folks want to jump ahead and have conversations with, like, for example, from founders, they're trying to learn from those that have already built a billion-dollar company and they're right there. But what I, what I often say, and this actually applies to all of the rules, all the 5 rules that we talk about in the book, go and connect with someone who's just a few steps ahead of you because they're still living in the same world you're living in and have, they have more insight and better perspective that can be more useful to you where you are. So that's one thing. So when you're thinking about who do I get advice from, Not just anyone. Make sure you're doing your due diligence and qualifying who you should take advice from and who you shouldn't, because there's a lot of people with a lot of different opinions. And what I see with early-stage and first-time founders too is they're like, wait, but I heard the right, the opposite of that. And what do I do? And I'm like, well, that's why you're in the hot seat of being the founder. Like, you need to figure it out. But part of it is just qualifying, figuring out, um, how to listen to your gut instinct. But then the other thing is, uh, connecting with existing communities, right? So, um, whether it's Startup Grind, for example, it's a free community, right? If there's a conference, maybe you can't pay your way to a conference because when I started, I didn't have money to pay for conferences. I was not accredited. So you know what I did? I volunteer to write articles for like the Huffington Post. And so I would come in as press. But before that, I would actually just say, I'll volunteer for a day if I can go for a day. And so I would be able to be in the spaces, that proximity, right? Outside of just having connections with who I was working with. It was how do I hustle my way into these places where it's not just like connecting and networking, but also just learning, just absorbing and being a sponge. So those are the two things that I would recommend. Find your people, your community. I mentioned Startup Grind because I'm really close to them, or like Techstars or whatever. There are programs that, you know, maybe you need to apply to get in, but oftentimes these programs also have free events because they need to work on their top of funnel too. But you can meet people too at these events. And one of the reasons why I often, like when I go to conferences or anything like that, because I remember where I came from, I do these informal coffees where I invite whoever wants to show up. So founders, investors, ecosystem builders, and we'll all just gather. You don't have to, it's outside of the event. And I usually just do it in a random coffee shop and we'll just get together. And so find these opportunities. And now with platforms like Luma and whatever other, you know, social platforms, LinkedIn or whatever, people are putting out like events and things like that. So if you don't have the capital, if you don't have the money for it, I get you. I've been there. So try some of these creative ways of getting in and getting in front of and to make the number one goal to just observe and learn. And then you'll start, you know, it's about reps. And eventually it's like, okay, I've been there. And it starts being less uncomfortable. And you realize really fast that nobody knows it all, but you might just start to know a little bit more because you've been around for, for that much longer.

Absolutely. And for those of you guys who I know Cauveé Inspiration Engineer hasn't been giving as much FaceTime live and doing all these in a while, so you guys haven't been caught up on kind of where I'm at in my journey. We're going to kind of flip it here. I'm about to become an emerging manager going to VC Lab and going down that path. So I've been really networking with a lot of LPs and doing all the things that you already know you gotta do. Yeah, right, get my access back. So, um, on the flip side, let's talk about GP and then we'll come back around to LPs, right? From a GP perspective, you want to build great relationships as well. What types of things do you talk about, either in the book or just through your experience, as to how to find those quality investors to be a part of your circle, to do funds and make funds of funds and do all that? Look like—

yeah, actually, so I talk about zombie funds and zombie pastors in the book, which I'll get— like, I won't give you all the details because it's like its own chapter and everything, but we need to qualify as founders, the people we're going to take money from, and as general partners, as you're thinking about relationships, because time is limited, not just resources. Similar to founders, we are founders, especially if it's a microfund. So you do a lot of the same things. I mean, you just said you were part of VC Lab. I was part of that program too. There is Recast. They also have an emerging manager program. So the same recommendation I just gave for founders, but just at the GP level. So there's all of these communities that do have— some are paid, some are application, some are free. And it's just all about like figuring out how to get into these. And I actually did a 500 VC Unlocked program while I was still at Backstage actually. And I got a full scholarship. So they had a scholarship application and they had you like apply for it and do a pitch yourself and all these things. So there's these opportunities too, because what's interesting is that you cannot, like, you can't be an accredited investor if you don't make like $300 grand, you know, as a couple or more than a million in assets minus your, your, your, uh, residency or your, your, your home or something like that. Don't quote me on it. Cause I always forget and I get dyslexic about the numbers, but, but interestingly enough, you become accredited when you have a fund, no matter what your financial situation is in the background.

Right.

So here's a great opportunity for all of us who may or may not be accredited to become accredited. Of course, now there is that other, other way of doing it where you do your series. I forget again the names of it, the financial certifications. Do you know what their names are?

I don't. They haven't mentioned the exact, like, the paperwork trail that comes along with it, but I like—

I don't remember. You can look it up. You can become accredited by also getting through finance education and getting a certification.

Yeah, so all I'll say is this, and then we'll kind of position, is from like a VC Lab standpoint and programs like that, they cover all your back end and back office things. So for anyone thinking about getting in the game of this and they're like, oh, okay, so a lot of that is covered by them. And I didn't say I'm a graduate. I'm— this is in— for me, it starts in September, so I'll be starting that 2-week program. I'm not in it yet, but I've already done the steps. So anyway, I say all that saying, um, yeah, so you guys can AI or Agentic or whatever to figure out what those exact, uh, licensures are. But let's position from the standpoint of we brought up zombies, which are people, so that everybody knows zombies are people.

I kind of went off tangent.

Yeah, yeah. Zombies don't deploy liquid capital and they don't deploy powder. They basically don't have any money to move forward with, right? What is a way— I think a lot of our communities are like, it's not good to talk about money. You shouldn't like ask people like, what about their money? There's people that think like this, right? What is a way that you can kind of figure out and weed out these zombies without being rude and being like, so what's your assets under management? Where are you at? Like, how do you do that delicately?

Yeah, I mean, I— so, okay, so, and, and by the way, the reason why I was mentioning this is because there can be zombie GPs, but there can be zombie LPs too. So it's, it's a, it's a whole gamut. How do you know? I mean, it's all about going back to qualifying, right? Like, you have to qualify. What do I mean by qualify? I have some filters that you go through with everybody that you're talking to. If you're, for example, thinking about fundraising on the GP side, then it's, it's, it's a matter of figuring out, okay, do you have an active fund or are you fundraising for a fund? And this could be fund of funds, family offices, or institutional LPs. They can be— and you have to ask where they are in their cycle. So that you understand. And it's the same question from founders to GPs, like, where are you? Are you still writing checks? When was the last time you wrote checks? A lot of the same questions, you know, and, and what's kind of the reverse— if we were reverse engineering into here my fundraise date, what would be the steps? And so if you have a process, a timeline, and you know that they are actively Or if they're not actively investing, when will they be? Because there's a lot of folks that will take a lot of calls because they're preparing to have a top of funnel for when they do have capital. And then, you know, so, so under asking these questions is normal. I mean, if we're in the, in the business of money, talking about money should be easy, but how you position it, it's not like What I wouldn't recommend saying is like, hey, you have money? You have money in the bank? You know, but be more like thoughtful, you know, like, when was the last time you wrote a check? You know, where are you with your deployment period? What is your priority right now? Are you fundraising? You know, and again, it goes both ways. Now with angels and angel LPs, it's different because they could just be like, I have money and I want to write a check because I'm having a good day or whatever reason.

Let's separate those really quick. Let's separate those a little just because I was talking to a VC the other day and he was talking about a deal he did, and I'm not going to out the deal, but basically he was on the LP side. And for those that don't know, that means you are passively investing in private, okay? That means you don't have much say in the deal, you're just investing, but you just sit back and watching what happened, right? So, um, long story short, it didn't go well. We'll just leave it at that. My question is, for LPs that are now going to be in a more of a passive position, what are just some things that they should be looking out for, whether it's on the founder side, on the GP side? Like, just let's, let's not forget about what does that look like?

Yeah, right. It's, it's the same situation from a different side of the coin. And exactly like, that's why I wrote the book the way I did, because you like, no matter where you are in the process, you are going to touch on more than one role. Right? Because if you're a first-timer, no inherited network, you're definitely going to be an ecosystem builder and you're definitely going to take on one of the other titles, if not all, throughout your journey. So, but to answer your question in terms of like the— I'm sorry, I got too excited. What was the question again? I just want to make sure that I hit on it before I go off on a tangent.

Our LPs, our GPs, our founders are buying this book. Right. This is, this is happening. I'm speaking it out like we are getting this. But my question in the interim of that is for just like a quick tip to where LPs have their filtration, right? They need to filter as well.

Like their due diligence.

Correct. What are just some, just a quick tip that you would tell them when they're building? Yeah.

So one thing is, is that, so, and I'll give a little bit of context of what's happened in the market because I think it's really important. So a lot of first-time LPs, came into the market some time ago. And there's always these cycles of new first-time LPs. And a lot of the time LPs will join because they want to get in, they want to get exposure, proximity versus speed, you know, like learn about the business from a different angle, from like a step back. And/or they are more of the existing LPs and investing in. Well, so what happened is that there is a constipation problem in the return side of the business, right? So for a long time, startups have raised a lot of capital and it's only been so many unicorns that have actually produced liquidity events to return the money to our limited partners or the investors in funds.

Correct.

And so they've gotten really strict, uh, or tighter on like what the criteria is for investing in, in, in GPs. And we have also gotten tighter on our restrictions of who we're investing in because just the whole market has, has done this, you know, constriction, constipation issue, as I call it. And so with the exception of these massive, right, like deals that you'll see where venture capital funds have now become private equity funds that are, that are managing in the billions in one active fund. And so they can't really deploy in the current one. So what I would say is this, um, with that in context, what I would say is if you are an LP and this is your first time doing it, having your expectations set is really important. You are putting money in for a long time, say like 10 years. Let's say, and I talk about this in the book too, it's like putting money in a little lockbox, digging a hole and putting it underground. And 10 years later, we're going to open it up. And the idea is that you'll have tenfold or however many X times the money that you initially put in, but it takes time. So I have had first-time LPs myself that are like, wait, Lolita, where, when am I going to get a check? And I'm like, it's been 1 year. It's been 2 years. And now with companies staying private longer, those liquidity events, um, take longer. And so there's this expectation of knowing that whatever money you put in this little box, you are not likely going to see it for this 10, 13-year timeline. That's one thing. The other thing is just understanding that every fund has different ways of engaging or not engaging LPs. And so, For example, for us at Ghana's, we invite our LPs to be mentors, to co-invest outside of just the fund. And there's just different ways for them to get involved. But a lot of funds are just like, we'll take your money and send you like a quarterly or biannual or annual report on where we're at. And that's it. So getting those set expectations The one that's across the board is it's like putting money in a box, and it could be that you open it 10, 13 years later and there's nothing. That also happens. That's why it's called venture capital. It's high risk, high reward. And so you either— so that's standard. But the part that's not standard is the engagement of LPs and what that looks like per fund. So I would ask for you to qualify on those expectations. So when you wire the money and you're like waiting for those returns, you are clear on what you're getting, how you're going to engage, and there's no misunderstanding, because that can create so many headaches, and wastes of time, and frustration on different ends. And when it's all about building community and relationships, that's not good, right? So, long-winded way, but hopefully all of you who are listening, you have now the bigger picture.

Absolutely. I think that was a great way to really answer and go a little, uh, you know, go, go to give some really rich and deep context so that people understand like what this really looks like and how you can, you know, some red flags or some little checkers. Because you know something funny, I was thinking I need a little button when I get a zombie that goes like, 'Cause this is Thriller,' like with like a little Michael Jackson, like a little song, like this real thing. Like, um, but I said, I know, right? Like, I just did the dance, but I'm joking, but I'm serious. Okay, so, um, I found that's really interesting when it comes to, uh, for me, I've found like models, like understanding the different models, you know, from an SPV to a syndicate fund to all the things, and then understanding like, like models on expectations. Because what I've noticed is every VC has a different take on, like, there's no like consensus of common denominator how we all feel about this game. So when you wrote the book, my question is, what things did you feel was missing as to why did you feel so, so passionate to write the book? What did you feel like VC needed to talk about? Yeah.

So, you know, you mentioned Arlan's book, It's About Damn Time, right? You mentioned some of the other books that you have on your reading list. Venture Deals, I think, is one that we talked about on Twitter or X. Whatever you call it. And these are all really great books. They all have their own perspectives on supporting the ecosystem, and they all have their own place. So if you're looking for something that— a book that helps you understand the map of the whole ecosystem, right, and understand how to navigate that I have not seen that, and I have not seen it from a first-time founder, angel, GP, LP ecosystem builder, especially not a person of color. I think Arlan is probably the person that comes to mind that is the closest, or Catherine Feeney that wrote the book Build the Damn Thing. But none of these books, and I did the research because I was like, I want to have a differentiator. If I don't have one, I shouldn't be writing a book because there's already so much stuff out there. But there's no other book that kind of shows the different angles and from a person who sat in every chair. And what do I think that every single person should know is that if you want terms, economics, control, all the like brass tacks, read Venture Deals. Such a good book. If you want to talk about the view of diversity, equity, inclusion, Arlan Hamilton, the best, right? Um, for me, it's, do you, are you in this ecosystem? You're a first-time founder angel, no matter where you're at, you can come at this book and, and go through the chapters that make sense to you. They all are standalone, but they are also cohesive. They all have the different angles and the different questions you need to be asking yourself and, and tools to how to think about things. And in fact, we have on our resource list, we have books that we recommend as well that are some of the ones that we're talking about. Because you, you have to ask yourself, where are you and what do you need? Maybe you don't need this book yet, but maybe you do because maybe you are a nerd like me and you want to know, like, I'm right here, but how do all of these different elements apply? And when I'm pitching, because I come from a sales background, right? When I know that you need to know your audience, and if you know your audience and you know what they're looking to gain or to win or to achieve or the problem to address, then you're able to pitch better no matter where you're sitting. And so when you know the goal, what perspective each of these roles is taking, you have a better understanding on how to pitch an LP, a GP, an ecosystem builder, an angel, so on and so forth. So that's why I wrote it. And I'm really excited because I've gotten some early reviews from folks that have had an early look at the book, and I am so happy to see just like the different things that really amazing people have said, including Arlen. So I'm really, really excited for folks to take a look at the book, and you know, it's everything, everything I've learned And it's really, I always think about paying it forward and this is, this is that moment. And I really hope that this helps our founders and our community raise more for emerging managers like yourself, like to get that. It's, it's not like a do this, this, this, and I know everything. It's here's what I have seen. Here's the map. Here's the navigation elements. We even have like a try this with AI. So that you can fill in your blanks and then it kind of allows you to practice whatever we talked about in the chapter. And it's, it's really like thinking critically, knowing how it works, and without having to, hopefully without having to go through all the things that so many of us have gone through because we didn't have a book like this. And there isn't anything like that. For us in the market until September 15th, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month. Yay!

Until it drops on September 15th. So that is awesome. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna pivot slightly as we get ready to close out here, and I want to take you back into when you were first building that community. As you said, there's this access tax and you got to build this community. What was the way in which you, like, from an operating system management standpoint, how did you manage those 100,000 people, keep everybody like together and aligned? And just what was your strategy there? What— how did you do that?

I think that, you know, it's, it's been organic and evolving. Um, you talk about this in the book too, but I have a little white tattoo and it's a beta symbol. I don't know if you can see it, but anyway, it's there. It's for me to see. But the idea, like, behind always being in beta is this concept of always having space for improvement. And so I, you know, practice what I preach when I say it's all an experiment, whether you're building a fund, a company, it's a series of experiments where you're like, this is my hypothesis, these are the success metrics, here's the timeline, and you keep going back and forth and iterating. And sometimes because things that are, most of the time, things that are outside of your control allow you to have these moments of like you either scratch it all off and like start over, go a different direction, or just, you know, decide to adjust accordingly. And so for me, it's been a lot of like, well, what's happening with industry? As I told you, like where I started was this this vision of having more of us in our community become all these players, the founders, the angels, the LPs, the GPs, the ecosystem builders. And so I, every time, so having this clear vision and mission and my values to do it through community, to just live that in and out, it's just been an iteration of that at every step of the way. At one point it was writing blog posts in Medium and then Substack and then I had a whole Luma community and then it was in my Luma community, in my Substack, in Twitter, in our X and LinkedIn or Instagram. And it's been different iterations across or on WhatsApp. Like there's different points. But I think the biggest point is this, that a community, there isn't like, here's what it looks like. Specifically, but I will tell you how we define it and how we think about community-driven companies at GONNOS is exactly how I think about community in general, is that community should be one of those win-wins where there's community ROI, R being for revenue, O for operations, and I for insights. So if you think about all those different use cases that I just mentioned, I was creating a a space, right, where I can get insight from folks. So when I was writing, I was understanding what, what are folks in our ecosystem, what are they having trouble with, and how do I support them? From an ops perspective, you think about what, what do you build like as infrastructure? And through that insight, for example, I'll give you one core example, which I also talk about in the book, and you might want to even join it, is the startup investor matching tool. So from all this research and listening to the community, I built this, this platform where there's over 1,000 investors from all over the world to connect with underestimated, underrepresented founders. Because everyone kept saying, there's a pipeline problem. We're not investing in you guys because you guys don't exist. And I was like, no, that's not true. So let me do it. So I listened to the ecosystem, the naysayers, because look, we need to, we need to play with everyone that exists again, right? Understand all the players in the game. And so I said, okay, challenge accepted. You guys sign up and then I'll have all of the founders that are reaching out, which I cannot invest in because back then I didn't even have a fund, and I'll connect you. And so since then we've seen over 10,000 introductions, over $30 million raised, and this is a free platform that continues to live today. And now in terms of the revenue side, with the startup investor matching tool, there's no revenue there, but I can tell you that, that it has created all these opportunities. And if anything, I can tell you that the LPs that I have came from the community that I was building all along the way. And so one thing that I would say is no matter how you do it, it needs to vibe with you. It needs to be authentic to you. You need to like it. And just choose one platform to begin with, right? It could be a newsletter or whatever, but be consistent and people will see, like, walk the walk, talk the talk and walk the walk. And if enough people see that, they, your people will come. And if you get enough popularity, you'll also get trolls. So that's like your cherry on top. So you know you're there. No, but honestly, just have clear, like, your vision, your mission, your values, because that's what really community is about, creating space, and then being able to provide value, and the community will provide value back to yourself. And when it comes to startups in general, like, if you have a community-driven approach, think about it, that is the stickiest, hardest to replicate moat that you can have, right? It's very hard to be like, okay, well, I'm gonna build, like, this 100K folk community, today or tomorrow. And so it's a really sticky factor. And if you already establish a relationship where you can get insights, right, get the ops, like literally build from listening, sell, and then have your community help you scale. Like, how magical is that? And in the world where AI is making humanity the differentiator that AI cannot replace, It's gold. It's like the most important thing in my, in my point of view.

I agree. And I talk about this a lot where I say, you know, community is key. And the reason why as a personal brand, you think about all these personal brands that are portfolios. That's been one of the things that I've been bringing to the market at the highest level. It's The Rock and the Kevin Harts and all these people. And then at the, at the level of micro influencers, the Jessica Albas and people that use their personal brand and they build a community. And we know that startups—

So Alba is a micro-influencer to you? No, no, no.

What I mean is, you got like The Rock, and then you've got— that's what I'm saying. There's levels to this, people. I don't— no disrespect to Jessica. I love Jessica.

But I'm just saying, there's levels to this.

And so I say that saying with respect to that. And I'm glad you called me out on that. But that's my take. I say that saying, as we pivot, and this happens— business companies, personal brands, whatever— you build that community around attachment, and they fall in love with you. It's much easier for that community to come with you as you go into whatever the next thing is. And so I want everybody to be thinking about that because that's something that I'm super passionate about. I've got 2 more questions for you, Lolita, and I want to be— we want to be very respectful of your time. Um, and I'm going to preface this with some context for my founders before I ask you this question. There's a lot of people that will try to take this question, they'll try to gamify it, hackify it. Oh, Lolita said she likes this, so now I'm gonna try to change my personality to match the answer. Do not do that. Be authentic. But I'm still going to ask the question anyway. All right, so the question that I have for you is, on the GP side, during the first 30 seconds, what is it that catches you about a founder and you're like, oh, I, I want to hear more, I want to vibe?

I mean, I, I feel like someone who's really good with communication is super important because when you're early stage, it's, it's all about betting on the founders, right? But someone who can communicate and can show their critical thinking with what they are saying, whatever it is, even if it's not literally pitching, that to me is gold. So they're, they're thinking about like, hey, I want to talk to you because I understand that you invest in community-driven companies. Here's one that I saw, and I know We don't directly compete, but here's how I see that opportunity in that market. You're familiar with it. There's a trillion-dollar opportunity in this market here. And then they kind of like— so there's emotional intelligence, right? Emotional intelligence, communication, really key. The thing that turns me off is there's a deck and it's like, it's basically they are presenting something that they think I need to hear. And that's the thing that you're talking about, right? Like, be authentic. There are some investors that prefer some formats versus others. But again, knowing your audience is so key, but at the same time, not losing who you are. And again, something else that I also write about in the book, because it is very easy to get lost in code-switching and trying to belong in a world that we've been told we do not belong in. For so long that you may actually start, um, like having an identity crisis, and it becomes a really heavy weight. And so the, the example that I think about is— or the analogy I think about is when you go to a library, per se, um, when you go, you know that you need to be quiet or whisper, right? And you know that because you're, you're like respecting the library. So you do those things. And then, but it doesn't mean that your identity is becoming the library. But in this business, sometimes people do try to emulate and become the ecosystem the way that they've seen it or whatever is marketed, right? So for example, back in the day, it was Patagonia vests, right? And, you know, like you would know the uniform of a VC or a founder or whatever hoodies or whatever. Right? And so what I would say is, sure, honor the audience you're around, but make sure you separate you as a human being from the game, from your environment, from the library you're visiting. So when you walk out of the library, you're like, all right, I'm me. I'm not the library. And you think about that when you're operating in this ecosystem, because ultimately, actually, the differentiator that you bring is being different. So we don't need more copies. We just need you to be honest. And we just, you know, we need to vibe. And at some point, it's not going to be like, maybe you're really great at communication, but there was like a vibe and it just didn't work out. And the thing is that you have to know that this is a human people business. So if someone doesn't like you, no matter if you have the best business or whatever, you may just not get the deal because there was like that vibe that, you know, just didn't work. Work for you.

That's such— it's so funny you went there because it perfectly aligned with the next question that I had, right? This is a people business. How, for you, when it's a no, it's a no, but you actually genuinely like the person, how do you deal with that?

I mean, I tell them. So I feel like founders are like, wow, thank you for telling me. So if you get on a call with us, because we have a process where everyone's, um, can submit for investment consideration, and you either get an immediate no because we don't hit on, on the thesis criteria, or if we get on a call and there's something that is off, we, we will share. But even before that, we have people submit all this information and we actually prepare, so we come prepared for calls to give you what we liked, what we found to be yellow flags, and then based on that, we either can, it could be a maybe, it could be like a not now because XYZ. So add us to your newsletter, or it could be a no because of whatever reason. But you'll know, you'll know either way. And in terms of like when I do like them and I do like their startup, but it's just, there's something that I cannot control Say, like, I've seen founders that submitted where they were closing their round like that, like in 2 days. And I'm like, I, I can't, like, I need to do the due diligence process because I have a fiduciary duty to my LPs. And that's why we put like a mechanism in our form that now says, if, you know, if you submit and you're perfect, but you're closing within the next 2 weeks, just to give everyone some space. Then we just say we're not a fit because of that. So it's things, things of that nature. But if it's something else, we'll work on, on it one-on-one. Oftentimes it's like, hey, I really like what you're doing, but there's so many questions. Let's add me to your update newsletter, but also let's jump on another call in 3 months' time. So it just really depends.

I love it. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it. Guys, gals, everyone tuned in, you done heard the wisdom. You done heard it. And there's so much more that can be, that can be gathered from the wisdom. What Actually Matters: Startups, Capital, and the Rules Nobody Taught Us, again, for founders, angels, LPs, and GPs. It's the ecosystem map. She told you what it is. Is coming out on September 15th of this year. You already know your boy Cauveé Inspiration Engineer is going to buy a copy, and I'm going to support a lot of my, my community builders. You guys can get this at lolitatab, that's L-O-L-I-T-A-T-A-U-B, .co/book. That is .co, C-O, /book. That will be in the comments on all of my socials while the live is up. And if you guys are watching or listening to the actual publication of this broadcast, for the podcast when it comes out. All Lolita's socials and everything will be linked up and teed up so you guys can find it really easy. It'll be right there for you. Lolita, with our last minute, is there anything else that you would like to share with our community today?

Yeah, so actually one thing that I, I wanted to have a sweetener for those that pre-order the book, uh, I have 500 curated resources for the different roles that, that are included in the book, the 5 seats. And if you send your receipt or just a screenshot of you pre-ordering the book to hello@lolitataub.co, we will send you a link to those 500 resources that have been curated and checked all by me and all resources I wish I had when I was first starting out. So Uh, just a little sweetener. But regardless, um, I wish you all so much luck. And Cauveé, if I can be helpful on your journey, let me know. I am so excited to hear that you're starting a fund, and I can't wait to hear more of it and stay in the loop and cheer you on.

Hey, that's what we do. I told you, we in Brazil, we in Argentina, we can all— we know we're gonna get that synergy popping. That's what we do, guys. For those of you that have tuned in, we thank you so much much for being here on the live. If you're on the replay, let us know what was your biggest takeaway. Let us know where you are residing and how we can support you, show up for you, and love on you, and help you be successful. All right, until the next time, it's your boy Cauveé. I love you, I appreciate you, and you already know what it is. We out of here. We are