True Wealth Conversations: Ep. 6 - Building Brands that are Fundable with Derick Pearson

Welcome back to another episode of True Wealth Conversations with me, your host Dominique Broadway. And we are back with another live pop-up episode from Black Equity Con. And we have another dynamic, amazing guest with us, Mr. Derek Pearson, who is— I'm sorry, when I think of Miami, right, I'm a newbie in Miami, but when I think of Miami I literally always think of you and your wife. Y'all are like the OGs in Miami to me, one of the leader, the top leaders in tech in the country, but also in just really putting, to me, Miami on the map for technology before Miami was known at all for tech, right? So shout out to you guys for doing that. So you can, can you tell everyone a little bit about, about you and just who you are and what you do?

Oh man. So I'm currently the executive director for the Center for Black Innovation. And I've built over 5 brands that became fundable. So through our work, we have helped founders raise over $100 million.

What?

We—

That's insane.

Exactly.

That's a lot of money. Yes, it's a lot of money.

We've helped nonprofits raise over $15 million. And we've also helped Black investors, venture capitalists raise over $20 million.

These are some impressive numbers you're throwing out. Very impressive. So I'm sitting beside money.

Money.

Literally. I love that. So how— okay, I don't even know where to start. So many amazing— so tell me real quick before we get into these numbers and how people can do this, what are some of the programs that you guys have at the Center for Black Innovation?

Oh man, the Center for Black Innovation's vision is to eliminate innovation deserts in Black communities, as well as to create equitable capital pathways, right? Right. So we want to make sure that Black people have access to all of this capital, and we do that through a series of programs. Our accelerator program, which focuses on entrepreneurs and getting them capital ready, right? So you have to be able to structure your brand and your business in order to be able to attract that money and raise that money. We have an Investor Accreditation Academy where we look for high net worth individuals.

Like, hey, I know I'm about to sign up, and we teach you how to become accredited, right? I love that.

You don't necessarily need any training to become accredited, but we, we're in the business of creating Black wealth, so we want to make sure that you de-risk your investment and know what to look for. Yes, yes, in the riskiest of investments. Um, and then we have a cybersecurity program, and that cybersecurity program is making sure that people of color are active in this new industry that is paramount and essential to to making sure our nation is secure, our businesses are secure, and our wealth is secure.

Wow, those are all amazing programs. And to join a lot of these programs, do you have to be based in Miami, or is it for just anyone throughout the country?

For anyone. So the application is live on the website. You can sign up for any one of those programs, and it's available to our people.

Wow, that's, that's amazing. And people always act like they can't find no resources, no programs, and things like that, and you just listed 3 dynamic programs that can really, that can and have already started to help people just build more and more wealth. So please make sure you're checking out these resources because they're literally walking you through, holding your hand, which everybody want their hand held to help you reach a lot of these goals. So tell me, I know you've, you've, you said over, you've helped build brands that have raised over $100 million.

Correct.

That's insane. First of all, I didn't even know that. Um, how did you do that?

So based over the years that we've been operating our program, we always identified needs. So the first thing is to identify the problem and to be able to create a solution to that problem. And Black Tech Week was a solution to a major problem that startup founders were facing. Okay, right. So over the course of the years and the entrepreneurs that we supported, we've created environments where deal flow can happen. We have those collision points and we can attract those resources. Those entrepreneurs, based on our program and based on those introductions, and in many of them based on accelerator programs that we have, have went through that and gone on to raise over $100 million.

Wow. How do you know if you're a business owner— how do you know if you have a brand that is fundable?

Great question. So first you need to understand what is a fundable brand. The difference between a regular brand and a fundable brand is that a regular brand is most of the time designed to be cute, to look good.

A fun cute little brand. People spend a lot of time on making their logos real cute. Okay, I like a cute logo. Yes, that's true. Yeah.

So in order for you to make it fundable, you have to have a business model, attached to that. You have to have a customer satisfaction model attached to that. You have to attract customers, which brings in the sales, and the sales bring in the investors. You have to have a strategy around making sure that you build relationships with the people who are funding your ideas. And many times, people are selling what people— like, they're trying to sell things that people aren't buying. So you need to sell what they are buying, right?

Yeah.

So you need to identify the right person, the right customer, And you need to identify the right investor that is investing in the problem and the solution that you're providing.

Mm, so good. That's really important, 'cause a lot of times people are just starting things that they want to start, but not necessarily that anybody honestly has any desire or interest to purchase. And it's not solving any of their, any needs or any people's problems. So when people are thinking about building these fundable brands, let's say if someone's starting brand new, right? And we all like to put a lot of energy and effort to make our brand look cute, right? But what are some of the things— if you're talking to a brand new entrepreneur, and I'm sure there's probably stuff that you cover in the accelerator, but like, what are some of the things that people need to start doing from the beginning?

First, you need to examine yourself. You need to figure out what is your zone of genius, okay? And you need to identify a problem that is in line with your zone of genius, because once you identify that problem, you become passionate about that problem. And when you become passionate about the problem and the solution that you're providing, the investor— it stirs up something within them and they become interested, they become attracted to that. So the first thing is to know yourself and to understand what is your zone of genius and what solution can you provide to a problem that many individuals are experiencing.

Yeah, I love that, I love that. So now with you being, uh, the executive director of the Center for Black Innovation, having all these amazing programs and It seems like really helping entrepreneurs go from idea to, to the bag, right, in numerous ways. Um, what's some of the other things that you're, that you're working on now?

So I have my challenge, which is the Build Fundable Brands Challenge.

Oh, this is, this is so necessary. Talk about something that's necessary, right? I love this.

And so the Build Fundable Brands Challenge, you have access to me, you have access to my team, and we help you create that Brand. We walk you through that entire process because the, the most important aspect of being an entrepreneur is to be able to collapse time. And in order to collapse time, you have to use other people's money. Other people's money is the, the missed opportunity that people have, the power to use other people's money to create wealth for yourself, right? And so by you coming through the Build Fundable Brands Challenge and the Build Fundable Brands Master Class and Boot Camp, you are able to attract those money. You're able to be one of those people who will raise up to $100 million, or a VC firm and fund to be able to raise over $20 million. We help you and walk you through that entire process so you, you begin to build those sticky relationships.

That's so good because, you know, it's, it's still very, very disheartening to hear, uh, the, the statistics of how much or lack of much money is being raised by people that look like us, you know. I know even there was times in my business where I thought about raising money, but I'm like, I— that energy that it would take for me to try to navigate that space and all the things, I could put that into just making the money, you know. And I never forget when I had— I think the article came out or something came out and it was saying like that I had went and made like the $8.5 million in a year And I started having all these firms and funds, you know, VC funds reaching out to me. And I was like, this is so great. Where was y'all at when I needed you, right? And now I'm like, I'm like, now I don't really need you because I've proven that I can do it.

Depends on what you're doing.

What the goals are, right? And so, and so now, and that's, and that's what I'm saying. So now where I'm thinking, so now I'm like, hmm, maybe I, but I've proven now. So now I've proven and I have built an 8-figure business, everyone wants to come help. But I also now can command more, right?

So what happened because of that, when you do that and you go down the path that you've done, you've retained more equity. So you have more leverage, right? You have more leverage in those conversations. Yeah. So when that money is attracted to you, you can demand a better return. Like, you can, you can demand a better cap table and balance sheet, right? So you can make sure that, no, you're not getting as much equity as you think you're going to get.

Because I'm not coming in it from desperation.

Yeah, you already have an actual business, a profitable business, right? And so now all you need is the fuel to elevate that from whatever it is right now, say $100 million business, to a billion-dollar business.

And that's, that's what we're trying to go, trying to hit the billions. That's the goal. So how can people find you, right? I'm like, look, I want a fundable brand. I don't want a brand that just gonna be at the mom-and-pop shop on the corner, how can people find you either through the Center for Black Innovation or this amazing challenge you have coming in place so they can learn from someone that has done it?

All right. So all the opportunities I mentioned around the Center for Black Innovation, you can go to cfbi.org and you can find that. But if you're interested in building fundable brands and having my expertise in helping you walk you through that process—

Getting the handheld personally from you.

Yeah, you can reach out to me, Pearson Derek, P-E-A-R-S-O-N, P-A-R-S-O-N, Derek, D-E-R-I-C-K, on Instagram, Derek P on LinkedIn, and Pearson Derek on Twitter.

I love it.

And you can go to the buildfundablebrands.com.

I love it. And we'll put all the information in the show notes because y'all, you want to connect with him, obviously. Like, it's, it's very rare, it's very, very rare to have these types of conversations, like I said, even with people that, that look like us, and being able to say those numbers. It's powerful. So, so powerful. So thank you so much for spending this time with me. Hopefully you guys have learned a lot, and if nothing else, for me, the exposure to know the possibilities. And thank you so much for just sharing with us these large numbers and reminding even me of the possibilities of how big this thing can actually go. So thank you so much for that. So you've just seen another episode of True Wealth Conversations. Live here today at Black Equity Con. Thank you again to our amazing guest, Derek Pearson, and please make sure you reach out and connect with him. See you soon.