✨ Indigenous mystic and Anglo-Christian beliefs, milestones, money, self-care, and more
A bi-weekly newsletter of curated resources for early-stage founders, funders, and friends.
Welcome to Lolita’s Newsletter! We share up-to-date and nugget-sized practical resources and advice for early-stage founders, funders, and friends. We are at 4,958 members. To access exclusive content, office hours, join our Slack community, and get your pitch deck reviewed become an annual subscriber or gift a subscription.
🧬 Did you know that my family is 34.9% Native American? We are. And for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Oct. 12th, we spent some time admiring Mexican-Indigenous women, including Yalitza Aparicio, Oscar-nominee and indigenous advocate, and Karen Vega, Oaxacan model. We also reflected on our indigenous mystic and Anglo-Christian beliefs. We still believe in the Pachamama (which you can think of as Mother Earth who presides over planting and harvesting). We grow herbs, limes, and peppers in our backyard and thank the Earth for the gift of food. At the same time, we’re grateful for the gifts Christmas brings.
🎉 So, I want to share three recent milestones that I’m super proud of…
📈 At Catalyte, my team exceeded their Q3 revenue targets💰The Startup-Investor Matching Tool has led to tons of intros that have enabled 11 investments (totaling over $800K) into startups founded and led by underestimated founders 💪🏽 The Community Fund’s investment team is ready to write checks
All of this is a result of a collaborative effort among 3 teams, +30 talented operators, investors, and founders, you, and the Twitter fam. In the spirit of leaning into the magical power of our community, and with the goal of increasing dollars going into underestimated founders who are building the biggest and baddest companies, I’d like to ask for your help in finding the best founders to invest in. Here’s what I have to offer…
💸 I have three pots of money to invest out of…
🙌🏽 As a Co-Founder and General Partner of The Community Fund, I’m investing $50K checks into post-product/revenue-generating pre-seed and seed startups who are community-driven and can reach unicorn status (≧$1B valuation). Learn more.🥾 As an Indie Verified Scout, I’m investing $25K checks into black and brown bootstrapping founders whose companies have not taken venture capital funds and have monthly recurring revenue. Learn more.🌱 As a Lightspeed Scout, I’m investing $50K checks into post-product/revenue-generating pre-seed and seed startups with the capacity to generate $100M by or around 2030. Learn more.
👋🏽 Let’s invest in the best companies…
💁🏽♀️ Investors: Are you investing in any startups that fit the descriptions above and you think that I can add value to the founding team? If so, reply to this email and let’s see if we can co-invest!
👩🏽💻 Founders: If your company is community-driven (e.g., customers identify as members, members create value for other members, kick-start the marketing-sales flywheel), submit your company to The Community Fund. If you’re a company that fits either the Indie.vc or Lightspeed criteria, submit your company details into The Startup-Investor Matching Tool here.
💆🏽♀️ And, yes, in the spirit of #selfcare and #mentalhealth I’m in the process of figuring out how to lighten my load, sleep more, and schedule more massages. I welcome ideas! What makes it hard to work less is that I love everything I do and I love serving our community.
✨ Lolita Taub
link.tree | twitter
ICYMI: Crunchbase and the Baltimore Business Journal featured The Community Fund. All The Angels, Latinx America podcast and The Noun Project interviewed me. DotLA nominated me for their startup ecosystem awards. Submit your co for investment consideration here.
Congrats!
Maya Horgan Famodu for portfolio company Paystack’s +$200M acquisition by Stripe. Malcolm Jenkins for launching Broad Street Ventures, a $10M fund. Terri Burns for becoming Partner at GV. Jaclyn Freeman Hester on making Partner at Foundry Group. Bedy Yang for making Managing Partner for 500 Startups MENA. Alexandra Zatarain, Beatriz Acevedo, Carolyn Rodz, Iman Abuzeid, IsaWatson, Jessica Alba, Rana el Kaliouby, and Riana Lyn for making Inc’s The Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs of 2020. Amanda DoAmaral for raising $2.5M for Fiveable. Cheryl Campos and Amani Phipps, Bo Ren, Carolina, Gil Hernandez, Jai Malik, Marcia Chong, Mac, Sydney Lai, and Tapan Kataria on the newest Republic Venture Partner cohort launch.
Funders
Crunchbase | Q&A with The Community Fund
Pitchbook | VC funding in women founders drops to 3-year low
Stride VC | Breaking into VC guide
Cleo Capital | WOC MBA investors apply to SAGA to connect with VC community
Startup-Investor Matching Tool | Investors join to receive customized deal flow
SPONSOR 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 FundBoard is sponsoring annual newsletter subscriptions for 3 underestimated founders. FundBoard helps you find the investors you’re missing and run your fundraising process like a pro, so you can be back to doing what you love. Schedule a demo, try our private alpha, or subscribe to our weekly email here.
Founders
Crunchbase | See the top Black and Latinx founder-friendly micro-VC funds
Startup Grind | RSVP for Black funders, founders, and innovators panel on 10/20
Techstars | Apply to Female Founders First accelerator program by 10/23
Target | Apply to the Takeoff Beauty Accelerator by 11/30.
Gumroad | So, you’re ready to fundraise?
Looking for more founder knowledge? Check out my courses.
Friends
Elizabeth Yin | Cold outreach can get you funded
Gagan Biyani | Founder hacks from a unicorn founder
Lenny Rachitsky | How do you know when you have true product-market fit?
Marc Ward | VC’s who are out here fighting for underrepresented startups
SPONSOR GoingVC is a professional development program and community helping its members advance their careers in venture capital. GoingVC brings together experts in venture capital, entrepreneurship, and business and fosters a collaborative environment where future leaders of the industry can learn and build on the essential skills they’ll need for success in the field. Click here to learn more about the GoingVC Venture Capital Development Program.
Money
NFX | Find scouts and angels to invest in your startup
Stitch Fix | BIPOC fashion founders apply for a $25k grant by 10/31
Founder Institute | +700 accelerators, investors and more for black founders
Founder Grants | +80 grants for founders
Equity Crowdfunding | Raise up to $1 million on Republic
Non-dilutive capital | Create a profile to find non-dilutive capital on INTRO
Startup-Investor Matching Tool | Submit your co for investment consideration
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✨ 🙂 How can I help you? Find out in this ➡️ Notion page!