🏳️🌈 Pride month, finding angels, pitching pivots to investors, $40k in new funding opportunities, and exciting jobs
A bi-weekly newsletter of curated actionable resources for underestimated founders, funders, and friends.
Welcome to Lolita’s Newsletter! We share curated actionable resources for underestimated founders, funders, and friends. We are at 8,966 members. To give or get access to exclusive founder content, office hours, our Slack community, and get your pitch deck reviewed become an annual subscriber.
Did you know? The 25 richest Americans (e.g., Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg) paid a “true” tax rate of only 3.4% in the last 5 years? Outrageous. Gen Z creators are burning out. This is a reminder to practice self-care. Crypto is coming to 401K plans, a CryptoPunk alien NFT (aka a virtual image) was sold for $11.8M by Sotheby’s, and El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. I expect to see more crypto in our lives. 53% of the US population has received at least one COVID vaccine dose. We’re up from 50% two weeks ago.
And in case you missed it, it’s pride month! Josh and I watched the “Wanda Sykes Takes Us Through the History of LGBTQ+” video (<5 mins) and really enjoyed it. If you are curious about the beginnings of homosexuality and the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, I encourage you to watch it. For ideas on how to support our LGBTQ community members, read this. Also, join me in celebrating the amazing women and non-binary leaders in our community that made Forbes Queer 50 List: Monique Woodard, Arlan Hamilton, Maria Salamanca, Irma Olguin, and so many more!
ICYMI: I made the homepage of Substack(!) and found myself in CBInsights and Protocol. The GP-LP Matching Tool was featured in Techcrunch. The Startup-Investor Matching Tool's intros have led to 29 checks ($4M+).
Congrats
Heather Hasson and Trina Spear took Figs public. Manny Medina raised $200M for Outreach. Rachel Calson raised $150M for Guild. Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled raised $100M for Chipper Cash. Sara Zulkosky and Courtney McCrea to raise $100M for Recast Capital. Aileen Lee, Eva Ho, Kirsten Green, Chris Howard, Leah Solivan, Satya Patel, Hunter Walk, Kanyi Maqubela, Charles Hudson, and Shauntel Garvey raised $50M for Screendoor, a fund that will invest in underrepresented emerging fund managers. Consuelo Valverde raised $22M for SV Latam Capital. Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore raised $21M for Hello Alice. Isaac Hayes raised $3.5M for Fanbase. Caitlin Strandberg, Isabelle Phelps, Andrea Hippeau, and Stephanie Cohen became Partners at Lerer Hippeau.
SPONSORED Black founders, friends and allies: get access to The Plug's free weekly briefing to stay on top of who and what is shaping the Black innovation economy here.
Funders
AngelList | GPs + VCs: read this post if you want to find out whether “Top” VC funds outperform the broader market at Seed
GP-LP Matching Tool | GPs + LPs: sign-up to the GP-LP Matching Tool - it intros underestimated and underrepresented emerging fund managers to LPs
Startup-Investor Matching Tool | Angels + VCs: receive thesis-aligned deal flow
🌈 Are you an LP who wants to meet underrepresented GPs? Learn more about the GP-LP Matching Tool and sign-up to get intros.
SPONSORED Founders: every year, the government sets aside $150B in tax credits. MainStreet plugs directly into your payroll system and checks for 200+ credits every month. We’ve helped startups claim $80M+ the last year alone, and it’s free to see how much you’re owed. On average, we are saving founders $51,040! Learn more here.
Founders
Pivots + Fundraising | Here’s how to convey your pivot while fundraising
Founder communities | Review this list of communities for solo student founders
MVPs | Find out if investors look down on founders leveraging a tech incubator to build an MVP
📚 Want more resources? Here are courses + services for you.
SPONSORED Are you a Black Founder building a scalable company that rejuvenates your community? Genius Guild is a business creation platform that is supporting high growth Black Entrepreneurs. Learn more here.
Money
Linktree | Creator-founders: apply for $1-20K cash grants by 7/7
Hello Alice | Female founders: apply for $10K grants by 7/9
iFundWomen | Female entertainment founders: apply for $10K grants
Equity Crowdfunding | Raise up to $5 million
Non-dilutive capital | Create a profile to find non-dilutive capital
👋🏽 Want investor intros? Sign-up for The Startup-Investor Matching Tool and, if you founded a community-driven co, submit to The Community Fund.
Jobs
Marketing and Social Media Intern > Remote | Ayana Therapy is a telehealth platform which provides online therapy for marginalized communities
Product Designer > Remote | Space Soft Inc is an audio first platform that helps businesses add audio chat to their websites and products
Product Designer > Remote | Zeta is a financial institution for the modern-day family
💼 Want to post OR find a job? Visit Lolita Jobs, a board for jobs at companies founded & led by underestimated founders, here.
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