💰 Get Funded! Founder Interviews by Serac Ventures w/ Founder & CEO at TracFlo 🚀 07-19-2024

All right, we are now live with another week of our Get Funded Office Hours. Uh, for those that do not know me, my name is Darrel Frater. I am Senior Associate at Cirac Ventures. We're a seed-stage venture capital firm in the state of Oklahoma investing across the United States. We invest in companies building within the fintech, B2B and SMB SaaS, commerce enablement, future of work, creator economy, and gig economy, all with the underlying impact of increasing access to economic mobility and wealth-building opportunities. We're super excited to be here for another week of our Get Funded Founders series, where we interview promising early-stage founders. And I'm excited to have Khalid David here, the founder and CEO of Track Flow. I would love to jump right into this interview. Khalil, thank you. Tell me a little bit about what TrakFlow is, and I would love to learn more about, you know, how you got to where you're at today.

Thank you, Darrel. And it is Khalid. I know some say Khalid, some say Khalid, but it's definitely Khalid for me. So TrakFlow is a mobile platform that allows contractors to track project costs in real time. Everything from change orders, timesheets, inventory. And then we work with banks to make sure that contractors have access to capital, and we deploy AI tools to provide warnings or insights about how your project is performing. And that's what we do.

Yeah.

So really excited about that. We just came off an accelerator with Google where we introduced our first AI tool. So really passionate about serving the construction industry.

That's awesome, man. Let's go into the details of how it works and how you're serving the construction industry. Walk us through the platform and how construction workers and owners are using your platform so far.

So we really started our journey around solving problems around change orders, cost overruns. If you've ever done anything from a small renovation project to even a DIY project, you understand that project costs change, things emerge. Well, if you're building a tower in Midtown Manhattan, you deal with the same problem, just of tens of millions of dollars. And what we initially did was we took a paper process where contractors would document things via paper, and we completely digitized it, allowed all stakeholders to be able to sign off digitally, create a log of all the changes that's being made, and then turn that into pricing so it can go through the approval process. We think of it in the same way how there was a time if you and your friends split a bill over drinks that you had to figure figure out who owes who what and this and that. Now you bust out Zelle or Venmo or Cash App and you're able to split the cost right then and there as opposed to trying to figure out, did this person pay or that person pay? So we create a similar experience where contractors can be on a mobile construction site, break down who owes who what all in the digital space and do that all at once. And once we became really, really good at that, We discovered that, well, you can track any project cost that way. You can track labor costs, material costs, inventory costs. So we took that model that really came from solving the change order and the cost overrun piece, and we made it available to any project, whether big or small, and any project cost, whether you're a DIYer or you're building a billion-dollar project.

That's exciting. I would love to learn a little bit more about the pain point and What were they doing before you came along with TracFlow?

Uh, well, most contractors, they will have a— he called a ticket book, um, which is like a paper kind of sheet where they write down who owed what. Then they'll take it to another guy to kind of sign off, and they'll, they'll take those, um— if you ever use the receipt book, that pink and yellow kind of form— and then that will go to their back office, and they have to call people up to figure out, well, who signed off and pricing. And then they'll typically manage that through an Excel sheet, and one person will have one version of the Excel, another guy will have another version, and there'll be all types of confusion. And going from when something happened to when they get paid could have taken 72, maybe 90 days. We drastically reduced that amount of time to about 45 days. We increased their revenue by just providing better documentation. And most importantly, we saved them administrative time that was normally spent searching through email and Excel and things like that.

That's incredible. Taking people from using ticket books and Excel and now have really strong automated flow to reduce the time it takes to get paid from 70 to 90 days down to 40 days on average. That's impressive. And I'm sure these contractors really love the fact that they get their money sooner.

Everyone loves money sooner, man.

That's phenomenal. We'd love to hear in terms of, uh, like big vision, um, of the company and kind of what you're doing today. You know, you're doing this management of the contractor relationships and making sure they get paid quickly. Um, but what, what else, or what's the long-term vision of where you think that this is going to be, uh, super useful in the future? Are you going to continue to dive deeper into serving the contractors? Are you going to expand outwards? Give us some insight on, on where you want to take the company.

Well, that's a great question. I think, and I'm saying ideal future state, that any construction project, whether it's a major tower or it's a bathroom renovation, that contractor is going to have some type of digital tool to keep you updated in real time. They're going to be able to snap photos. They're going to be able to record video. That you'll be sent a link where you can pay, where you'll have options to finance that, whether you're the the client and you need capital, or you're the contractor and you need to— you need float capital to kind of work while you get paid from your client. So I imagine a future where the same way we use an app for a car, an app for groceries, an app for what have you, that it becomes a standard practice when it comes to proper documentation, price transparency amongst contractors. especially at the very high level, whether it's state funding and all these things involved. But my ideal state was to be able to make this available to— if you're getting your basement renovated, that you have a platform where you compare your contractors' prices, where you have full transparency. I said, where all that stuff is documented digitally so that, you know, maybe the end of the year you're doing your taxes and you don't remember what you paid the guy because it was all cash and all these things, that there's a place that houses that, and you can actually, and you kind of have access to that information.

That's pretty cool. I think being able to expand the market in regards to allowing even the end consumers while they're working with these contracts to get exposure to that and help them manage their flows could be an interesting flow to take this company. That's great. We'd love to hear examples of the customers you're currently serving today and some of the case studies or success stories that you got so far.

Oh, man. Um, whoo. Um, so, um, let me think, let me think, let me think. Um, so, uh, I mean, we have a couple examples. Um, I've learned over the years that some of these— yeah, I can't name all these names, but, um, uh, one of our— I'll give you one of our premier projects. Um, so our product is being used on, uh, 270 Park Avenue. It's one of, um, it's a new JPMorgan Chase Tower. And that's one of our big projects, but we don't only do big projects, and we have a number of contractors using that platform. And for one of those contractors, they had cost overruns, change orders that was going through the approval process, and those— it kept mounting as they were trying to reduce that risk. And working with us, we were able to connect them to a third party to be able to get them loans to cover their cost while they wait on that approval. We got them approved for close to $2 million in loans. So that's the kind of example where you're talking about a major construction project, a contractor who's documenting their costs, trying to manage their financial risk, and we were able to identify that they needed access to additional capital and connect them to the resources to get it. For a, you know, a smaller job, we have a landscaping company out west who have to— who they're not on a tower. They are managing these landscaping contracts at multiple businesses from golf courses to the football field at a local high school, and they have an array of projects. And, you know, with our tool, they were able to better document all the costs associated with this. And with some of our features, their workforce was predominantly Spanish-speaking. So they were able to use our app in Spanish to be able to get better documentation from their guys on the field and be able to turn around and bill those clients across, you know, portfolio projects. So there's an example of from a very big Mega project where they needed specific access to capital to reduce their receivables to, you know, um, a local business with a Spanish-speaking workforce who needed an easier way to document how projects were getting done. Um, so, you know, we pride ourselves on that versatility as a tool.

That's awesome. You know, I have a heart for small businesses, so I'm glad to see that you're able to serve the small Mom-and-pop shops as well as the big corporations with your company. And it seems like you not only have the tracking mechanism of tracking costs, but you also have the ability to connect them with financing options as well, which is a huge pain point in the market. So congrats to you on putting together these different resources for the contractors and construction workers that you're serving is really allowing them to move forward in their business more proactively and productively. That's super exciting. I'd love to take the time to take a step back and kind of learn more about your origin story. You know, what motivated you to go this pathway of entrepreneurship and then, you know, starting Traccel? Give us the early origin story of your upbringing and, you know, a little bit into— walk us through how you got to where you're at today.

Man, that's a great— um, so one, I gotta start with that. Um, so I was born in the Bronx. BX. And my folks are from the island, St. Kitts and Nevis. And the construction market in New York has always been immigrant-friendly, from the Italians to the Irish to the Polish to the Jamaicans and all that stuff. That's what construction looks like in New York. So I come from 3 generations of carpenters. My grandfather was a carpenter. My dad and his brothers were all carpenters. So I learned the trade growing up as a teenager. I had chores like learning how to plumb walls and install cabinets. I was formally trained as a civil engineer, did a dual degree program between Morehouse and Columbia, graduated during a recession, and had my degrees collecting dust on the wall. And I went out there and I picked up the trade because the construction companies weren't hiring at the time. Built a small business, and that was kind of my first kind of foray into entrepreneurship. In fact, I remember I was applying for jobs for about 8 months, and then I partnered with my uncle and we completed an RFP to do a project with this company, and we got approved. And I got a check for $20,000 as a down payment to start the job. And that was the first check I had gotten post-undergrad, was this $20,000 check. in the business to start the project. And that just, that it changed my course of direction. From there, I spent 3 years building a business, my first small business. Then I ended up working at Turner Construction. I'd interned with a lot of the major firms. The market was back, there was opportunity there. And that's where I got involved entrepreneurial and started working in innovation and working on technology products. I met my co-founder there. He was the lead developer on a team that I was working on. But eventually, you know, there were new technologies emerging in the market and Turner felt like they didn't have to build it internally. But it was a, you know, it was a great learning experience and I had bit the technology bug and I left for MIT for business school, convinced my co-founder to join me and we launched TrackFlow. So it's been entrepreneurial, intrapreneurial, back to entrepreneurial. But that $20,000 check at, I think I was maybe 22. It kind of showed me that, you know, there's power in taking ownership of your life and your career. And, you know, for me, even though I went to world-class institutions, it was important for me to take the work up of my forefathers and create opportunities for myself. And, you know, it— you put those 2 things together, and then plus it was a church job. So I felt like God was putting his hands on me. You mean a combination of those 3 experiences. And it's, it's my craft, it's my history. And, you know, it's my faith all being combined to telling me, hey, here's a way for you. So it changed my whole perspective on value and what I was capable of. And I struggled at $20,000. You know, the margins in construction is not good. I didn't walk away with $20,000, but it definitely shifted my perspective. Oh, Are you still there? Oh, what happened? Oh no, am I still on? Oh God. Oh, I listen, I don't know if I'm still on here, man. I don't know what's happening, but um, okay. Um, I guess I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna shoot this guy a text to see if we're still good. If you guys are still tuned in, hey, listen, we gonna we gonna make it we gonna make it rock. Like we're having a little technical difficulties. So let me just shoot this guy text, see what's going on.

All right.

So for all you guys out there on LinkedIn, you know, your boy's still here. Um, we're just gonna take it, we're gonna rock a little bit. I think our host is having some technical difficulties. He gave me a list of questions. Um, uh, people start business. So I'm just gonna rock. I'm gonna rock a little bit and see what's going on. This is interesting.

Yes, I'm still alive.

I mean, well, since we're here, um, I mean, I guess he laid out some questions. I'm waiting for him to come back, but you know, if you guys are on here, you know, I don't keep you waiting. Okay, here we go, he's back. Yo, man, it's good.

Thanks for staying on. Um, There's been a bunch of internet issues. Um, I don't know what happened. Yeah, I know there's been like cyber attacks and stuff like that, so I just joined my phone and it seems like you're still on. So I'm like, you know what, let me just hop back on so we can finish the interview and hopefully the recording still goes. I looked on my, on my Twitter and it seems like you were still live. I was like, oh, let me hop back into the Zoom.

Yeah, I was, I was confused. I, I, I was like, yeah, I think we're still going. I end up checking, I shot you an email. I checked LinkedIn to see if you were still there. I was like, oh shoot, I'm still here. So then I was like, I was thinking about, should I just go through the questions? I was like, let me wait. I told the audience, hey, listen, look like we're having some technical difficulties, but I'm here, you know. Yeah, you wanna hang out?

Look, this is entrepreneurship, bro. We just roll with the flow and we'll just keep it going because you live, you got like 200 people on Twitter.

Like, let's go, baby! I told you I was not gonna leave you guys, man. I told you I'm here, man.

Off the bat. But let's keep this going, man. The last thing I heard, I don't know what you said to the audience when I left, uh, but you're just talking about your journey and speaking about just how you, you know, went from being an entrepreneur to, you know, being an intrapreneur, and then now launching TrackFlow on your own and being able to find your co-founder, etc. I think that diverse, uh, group of experiences that you had really keeps you to be well-rounded to execute at a high level with this company. So I'm excited for you and happy for you and everything you've accomplished and excited to see kind of where you go from here. We'd love to dive deeper into like the current status, like give me some updates on like traction and where you are with the business. We got a lot of investors in my network that tune in. So I want to give you an opportunity to share a little bit about kind of where you're at, as well as, you know, any information on kind of fundraising history. I know you just said you went through the Google for Startups program, et cetera. So talk to us about where you're at in terms of traction as well as any fundraising history or upcoming fundraisers.

Yeah, man. So we got a lot going on. So funding history. So over the past year, we raised about a $2 million kind of pre-seed, really led by Mack Ventures and Serena Ventures. I'm so grateful to work in such a great group of VCs. We've launched our seed round. We've launched our seed round. We're raising $3 million pretty much to scale the company nationally. Our early set of customers has been these kind of large, I'm going to call them early adopter kind of construction companies. Even if you aggregate all the major projects, it represents maybe 7 or 8% of the construction market. We're starting to see what we're calling the second wave, these, you know, Johnnies and Sons that builds mid-story high-rises in Indianapolis. They represent close to 80% of the construction spend, and we're starting to see a wave of inbound from those contractors. The digitally native children are now taking over in executive roles, and they're like, Dad, we can't keep doing it this way. We got to bring this on. We got to adopt that technology. We're seeing that happening across the entire nation. And we want to be in position to take advantage of that. We want to be the company that these guys go to when they look for solutions as they continue to grow and also continue to capitalize their project and have tools with those kind of embedded features to keep them kind of on the right direction. So that's what we're really bullish about. We, you know, I'm glad to let you know we've gotten some term sheets in. So we're looking to kind of fill out those rounds, and any investors that are interested, you know, we'd love to chat. I'm sure my information will be posted, but it's a very exciting time in construction. There's an expression, rising tides raise all ships, and right now we're seeing a wave of construction technology adoption. Really was triggered in the past 7 years by data-rich mobile devices. We're now the mobile construction environment finally had computers. COVID, we saw another pop when construction was deemed essential and the staff was at home. All of a sudden they needed digital tools to communicate with the field. And now we're seeing that last— no, not last wave, but we're still seeing a wave of contractors who are now saying, hey, I want tools. You know, maybe I'm not going to use a Procore or Autodesk. Those are a little bit too expensive and I'm not building a billion-dollar tower. I need something for this 4-story mid-rise that can work. We want to be that preferred vendor for those contractors. Yeah.

I think it's super interesting. A lot of investors are looking at non-sexy industries, industries that are legacy that are finally getting the new adoption of technology to add efficiencies within their workflow. You're playing right within that trend. It seems like you're doing an amazing job. If you don't mind sharing, tell us a little bit about revenue numbers, numbers, you know, whatever you feel comfortable sharing, customers, etc., and just give us some insight on kind of where you're going with the traction piece.

Yeah, that's a great question. So, yeah, I'll say that one thing that we look at is the contractors and what's being processed and what's being approved. And we process around $6 million a month through transactions, decisions, financial kind of decisions being made on our platform. And we're looking to be able to add financial services to that. We're looking to be able to create a more robust offering around these contractors making these financial decisions. You know, you know, I don't mind sharing our revenue numbers for an investor pitch, but we've clearly demonstrated a willingness to pay. Contractors are paying to be on our platform. But at the same time, you know, we're focused on how do we embed ourselves in that workflow of the contractor? How do we continue to grow that market. And our belief is that if we do that well and we do that strong, that the opportunities are gonna come from these other pieces. We've made investments in AI. So we're launching a new feature called Voice to Invoice, where now you can simply speak into the app. And we're not talking speech to text, we're talking you can describe the event, you can describe who worked, you describe what materials were used, and we'll pull from the contract And be able to turn that into pricing. In order to continue to do that and to make that more robust, we want as many contractors on the platform as possible. So our strategy is still mostly on how do we continue to grow that financial construction database that we're growing and offering more and more adaptability, like making it available in multiple languages and making it available for a wave of construction users who've kind of been left out. And through there, we think we're going to develop the most value. So yeah, I think that's, you know, those are some pieces. You talked about customers. Most of our customers in New York has been like these large union contractors. We've worked with— TrackFlow has been on Turner job, Tishman, a Lendlease job. Yeah, so we've been, you know, the big names, you name them, they've come across TrackFlow at some point. We're also equally as proud of, you know, the, you know, landscaping company that's using us. And we're seeing, you know, our goal, what we want to do ideally is, can we bring the construction expertise from these major firms and make it available in the palm of the hands of your everyday contractor. And so we're— we've taken a lot of learning that we've gotten from the big boys, and we're making that more and more available to, um, to contractors. And that's important to me because I've been through that journey myself, and I've had the privilege of seeing what it looks like on both sides. Um, so through technology, we want to make that more available to, um, to contractors.

That's awesome, man. And I said that there's a lot of investors that listen to this, but there's also a bunch of founders that listen as well. Uh, you raised $2 million your pre-seed from some really notable Black VCs, MAC Ventures, as well as Serena Ventures. I would love to hear a little bit about that journey and any insights from your experience as a founder raising significant capital, or how other founders could also follow that pathway and increase their likelihood of success to raise those amounts from these notable investors. Give us some tips that— things that you know now that you wish you knew when you were first getting started in that fundraising journey.

So Okay. So to add to that, what I also have to mention is that we raised, we did about, before Mack and Sweeney, we did about $600,000 on Republic through equity crowdfund. And particularly, you know, there was a time I would say this to Black entrepreneurs, but I think this applies to any entrepreneur, that you have to be creative in the way that you get access to capital. To create the opportunities to get access to more capital. And, you know, I know that oftentimes, you know, Black folks, we don't have the networks for the friends and family round. But I can tell you, my co-founder is a white guy from the Midwest, Ohio, who didn't get into tech until his 30s. He's not a Silicon Valley bro. And he too struggles in understanding and navigating these VC networks. So, you know, this is applicable to anyone who's outside of that, you know, microcosm of, you know, the Silicon Valley tech bro. And nothing wrong with those guys. But if you feel like your story relates to any of that, then what I would say is that we have to be innovative. So for me, getting access to that $600,000 through equity crowdfund, finding our own set of investors was an important part of my journey because it allowed me to— it allowed us, one, to get the capital we need to support our customers. But two, it kind of redefined what the market was. You know, I liken it to how platforms like YouTube are creating the next set of TV personalities and movie personnel, that we're entering a market where, you know, you don't necessarily need a record label or a major studio or major VC to bet on you to demonstrate your value in the marketplace and your ability to demonstrate your value in the marketplace and get access to capital makes those traditional funding institutions, they see you more valuable. You actually have an edge up on them just taking a bet on that. The fact that you've kind of already curated a list. So, you know, I think that equity crowdfund is an essential step to any entrepreneur. And, you know, if you believe in the work that you're doing, you have a fiduciary responsibility to explore all options to get access to capital. So I say all that to say, you know, put yourself out there. Like, don't be afraid. If you know that you're creating a lot of value, you know that there's people that need it, and you know there's people that's willing to bet on you, take that risk. Bet on yourself. You know, I don't want to hear excuses that a VC didn't write you a check. or that, you know, you're not in the right market, or you're not part of this small microcosm. Like, bro, we've been— we, you know what I'm saying, have been defying odds our entire life. Now I'm saying, and if a boy from the Bronx with Caribbean parents can make it to MIT and raise millions of dollars, now I'm saying, what's your excuse? So, you know, what I'll say to you guys is like, yo, If they not biting, put it out there, sell a CD out your trunk. Like, you know what I mean? Like, do that part because you'll be surprised how much value it translates to those same set of investors that you're willing to run through a wall because of what you, what you believe in. And a person who tries and they try to raise money and they eventually give up, I'm saying, then, you know, you're not as innovative as I am because I found a way to get the metrics that the VCs eventually said, okay, they got there. And I didn't make excuses that daddy couldn't write me a check, or I'm not connected to this person or whatever. So, I mean, as a first-gen American, first-gen college student, I'm like, yo, put up or shut up, man. I don't want to hear the excuses, man. Go out and get it because it's out there. But the only person that can get it is you. So like, that's my take. And like, and, and I say that because like, you know, my co-founder, we have a great relationship. I've known the man longer than my wife and kids, and I've watched white men struggle with the same thing. So it's not a Black issue. It's— there's a certain pattern that VCs like. If you outside of that pattern, you're gonna have to break the rules, bro. I know guys that's doing it big in Detroit. I know guys that's doing it in Georgia. I know Blacks, Latinos, like, you know what I mean, women, like, yo, you can get it. And it's okay if you didn't, if you're not the typical Silicon Valley bro, go out and make a name for yourself. This is still America, man. So, wow.

I love that. As a man with Caribbean parents as well, my parents, my parents are from Jamaica. And, you know, seeing their struggle and having our own struggles growing up here, what you have shared has been an inspiring story, man, a story of perseverance. And, you know, one thing, Daymond John has a book called The Power of Broke, and that book talks about how constraints breeds creativity. And what you just articulated is a perfect example of how you took your constraints and you turned it into an opportunity that allows you to be ahead of your competitors or ahead of your counterpart because you are able to do so much more with less. And guess what? You won't need more than you need to actually take it to the next level. So that becomes something that you become much more investible because you were able to be so capital efficient and a good steward of the capital that you were given. And now you can raise additional capital. You already got some term sheets for your upcoming round. Definitely want to take some time to learn more about that offline. I love it. And man, this has been an incredible interview. I really appreciate you being open and transparent with your story and your journey. I know the investors watching as well as the founders watching really appreciate everything you've shared. And I thank you for being so flexible. And with the technical difficulties, we still made it happen, man.

When I say that's a testament of what it looks like, man, it'd be like that. So, and we don't stop. We don't stop. We didn't quit. I didn't say, oh, well, my thing, then, you know, he fell offline and this and that. I was like, I was, I was entertaining the audience. I was like, we'll be right back after these messages. No, I mean, like, whatever it takes, right? Because, yo, you get a shot. Listen, I'm not— I don't know what's gonna come from this. I don't know who your audience is. I don't know that. But I know there's a person that's on the other line that's looking at that and say, that's, that's rare. What I'm seeing here is rare and special. And like, to you founders out there, like, you're early on, they betting on you. But think about it. Your early employees are betting on you. Your early customers are betting on you. Like, you got to believe in this thing and you got to do it. You got to do it when you don't feel like it. You got to do it when you happy. You got to do it when you sad. I mean, because that's ultimately what it takes. And man, I'm just grateful for the journey. I really am. I got, I got one more thing. So listen, you know, since I'm here and I announced it at Google, like, we really, we really gonna walk this talk. So, you know, we This time around, we've launched our seed round and we're taking on VC capital, but we've decided that we're going to reserve a part of the round for the public because they bet on us first. Really, what we want to do is what we're seeing is that there's a whole wave of real estate professionals, construction families, development families, who want in on the innovation economy that's coming through construction. And we want to give them an opportunity to have some skin in the game. We want to give them an opportunity to be a part of it. And this came from some customers I had on my platform that was like, hey, listen, you know, if you doing— if you fundraising again and all this stuff, like, we want to be a part of that. So, you know, I'm not just saying this stuff to say it. Like, I'm gonna walk the talk. Like, you guys will see we have— we're still finalizing some things, but we're going to put some things out there. To make sure that whether you're a retail investor or really you're part of a network of construction professionals and all that stuff, that you could be a part of this journey with us. And that's because we really believe that there's an intrinsic power in not only defining your story for yourself, but giving everyday Americans the opportunity to bet on us entrepreneurs. Um, you know, I believe that it's important that Black founders, kids from the Bronx, um, or these diverse founders, that we're part of the great American enterprise stories. That is essential that the next Fortune 100 company come from cities like the Bronx or, you know, places like Savannah, Georgia. Or just, you know, that it really still is a place where if you're serious about access to opportunity, that we can create great American enterprises that are founded by people like me. And that to me is a form of activism. It is the greatest challenge of our generation to make sure that access to capital and access to resources is an essential part of freedom in America. You can't be in a capitalist society without access to capital. So I liken my work to activism. And, you know, I, when people think about what it means to be a Black billionaire, I want great American companies to come up in the psyche. I want to be able to create a company where we're not necessarily worried about D&I because from our very inception, you know, we've always had a diverse team. You see, you see my team, my team's intentionally diverse. But the data is already out that diverse founders create more diverse teams. But what it's really about is that, you know, I think it's essential that leaders like me and leaders like you, that, that the next generation of corporate America sees themselves represented. And, you know, that work is not just about startup capital, it's not just about funding, it's about serving an industry that you love, and you care for. It's about bringing intrinsic value to everyday Americans and business owners and the people who— and ultimately, for me, it's about giving back to an industry that helped us escape poverty, helped my father become a homeowner and drive a Ford truck and send his kids to college, which was his American dream. And that, you know, I feel like I have a responsibility to our industry. So I am not a tech bro. I'm a builder who believes that I'm creating technology tools for the next generation of builders. And, you know, with that, my goal is to build for America, and we're going to launch a campaign to do just that. So, wow, watching, I'd love for you to tune in.

Wow, that's super impressive, brother, and I'm super excited for you. Uh, my mission in life is to play a major role in closing the wealth gap. Uh, that's a mission that I believe was given to me by the Lord, and He put it on my heart over 6 years ago, and that's what led me to a career in venture capital as a way to be able to be an advocate for promoting that same message of democratizing access to wealth-building opportunities. So I'm right here with you, and I love the fact that you're opening up equity crowdfunding because when you become a billion-dollar company, we want people at the ground level, not the people like myself that are venture capitalists, to have access to this. to the upside of it, but just the average men and women that are able to invest smaller dollar amounts into these companies and be able to join you on the upside when you become those major success stories. So I'm a big fan of equity crowdfunding, and we need to see more companies that get started with equity crowdfunding that actually have those great exit opportunities for those early backers and believers of these companies. So man, you got a lot of great things going for you. I'm super happy that we were able to have this interview and are connecting here. I want to continue you to support you and your journey. Could you tell the people that are listening, what is the best way for people to get in touch with you? Who do you want to get in touch with you, and how can they reach you?

Um, so the best way to get in touch with me is, I mean, you can email me at Khalid, K-H-A-L-I-D, at trackflo.io. I'm also extremely accessible on LinkedIn, just Khalid David on LinkedIn. Um, and who I want to get in touch with me, I mean, I think You mentioned the Lord, and I was like, oh, I love it, man. Like, you know what I mean? Because I think that you got to have a personal mission that extends beyond you. You know, I want people who see a vision of the next wave of great American enterprises to get in touch with me, whether you're a contractor, whether you're a builder, whether you're a VC, whether you're just a fan and a supporter and believe in the work that I'm doing. And, you know, and to me, a moral compass, like, you know, I've lived my life a certain way. You know, and I'm thankful for God for all the opportunities. But I want someone that sees that, you know, I'm not just building a business to build a business sake, that my business is a vehicle by which, you know, I can create a better world. And, you know, to do that, you have to have a strong sense of belief in what you're doing and a belief in this higher purpose. So, you know, I want people who, you know, when you hear me talk or you check this out, if it moves something, if you feel something, if you know that that there's more here, there's there, there, or that is important that your children or your grandchildren know stories like mine, and that you can say, hey, I supported that entrepreneur because I knew that his example and what he was working for was not— it was never just about construction or technology. It was really about shifting the narrative of what it means to be Black in America and creating a generation of people who are completely comfortable with my leadership and completely comfortable with the diverse companies that we create. Um, you know, that's who I'm looking for. That's really it. You know, I know I've learned not all money is good money. So if you don't believe in the mission, if you don't believe in Bet On Demand, I'm sure there's other companies that could use your capital. But if, if you see it and you see that this, one, is a huge market opportunity, two, the timing is right, three, this is the right team to execute it, and four, you're truly moved by what we're doing here and why we're doing it. then you're the right person to me, and we'll love to get in contact with you. So, you know, shoot me an email or, um, you know, hit me on LinkedIn, and, you know, we'll get connected.

Awesome, brother man. And I'll close out with one thing that really resonated with me that you said, um, is very similar to a mindset that I have, uh, for my own life. And, um, you know, as a Christian, you know, we're called to preach the gospel. I'm no pastor, I'm no preacher, but my ministry is through my career as a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur. And although you're not going to hear me talking about Christ every single day, every single conversation, through my actions, through the things that I do through work, I'm going to be preaching the gospel through my actions. So I appreciate what you're saying, man, and God bless you and your business. I'm excited for what God's going to do in your life.

Thank you, man. I appreciate that too, man. And it's so refreshing to hear it It really is, man. So when you dropped, I was like, oh, we got a man of God in the room. Let's talk about it. Because, bro, you don't make it from where I came from, you know, just on hope and prayer. You need the Spirit of the Lord with you. You need to be able to discern when to move and when to stay. So I know that, um, I know that we're blessed. I know that we're lucky. I know that, um, that— nah, we just blessed. It ain't luck. We blessed. Blessed, man. And I'm okay with that. You know, favor ain't fair. But you know what I mean? I'm okay with what the Lord is doing in my life. So, you know, let's get it.

We have a lot more to discuss. So this will not be the last time we do this. We definitely gotta do this again. I want to hear more of your story, brother. And for those that are listening, please get in touch with my brother Khalid. He's doing amazing work at Track Flow. Investors, get on his calendar. Founders, Check him out, follow his journey, learn from his story, and continue to do the great work that you're doing, Khalid. I'm excited for you. And shoot me, shoot me an email with that pitch deck, man. I want to see some updates. Let's see, let's see if I can, if I can sneak in a little, little $250K check or something.

All right, all right, let's see, man. I'm with it, man.

Shoot me a message, man, and, um, and let's get this conversation going. But, um, for those that are listening, we're about to transition to our Get Funded Office Hours that we do on Twitter. Spaces. So if you wanna join us over there on Twitter Spaces, Twitter or X Spaces as they call it now, we have my good friend Joshua Howard, who is an associate at Redbeard Ventures. They're writing checks anywhere between $100K and $500K in companies that are enabling the future of Web3 and the metaverse. So if you wanna pitch Joshua in about 13 minutes, join us on Twitter X Spaces and we'll love to have you for office hours. So yeah, join us there, and looking forward to staying in touch with y'all. Take care, Khalid. Appreciate you, brother.

Appreciate you, man. Hey, all right, man. That's it.