🥳 BIG NEWS! I launched @ganasvc, an early-stage fund investing in Web 2 & 3 community-driven cos in the US & LATAM.

And bc we want to create generational wealth in community, I want to invite you to invest & join the Ganas LP fam!

Learn more 👉🏽 bit.ly/GanasLPInterest 🤷🏽‍♀️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲? I've got you covered below.

📃 Post lolitataub.medium.com/predictions-fo…
🔥 Guide community-resources.softr.app
🚀 Wiki notion.so/ganasvc/Commun…
🧵 Thread

https://twitter.com/lolitataub/status/1298381835794182145?s=20&t=Ophn7ndwNcGPRl3nfEs3aQ

🎉 I'm happy to announce that 24 underestimated founders will be receiving a free annual newsletter subscription, thanks to two sponsors: @GeniusGuild and @target!

Perks
🗞Newsletter
🧐Pitch deck review
🙌🏽Mentor access
💜Community
☎️Monthly calls
& more

lolitataub.substack.com 🥳 Congrats newsletter sponsorship recipients! Check your DMs.

@salazitzel_ @springsmd @ahrifs @LingoPlaza
@IeshaUsher @_NarvaezChris_ @paolocelleri
@SikuMeg @valoderah @RaveneauBey @NewStartupGirl

1/ An underestimated founder is a founder that has the potential to build a successful company, a unicorn, but is overlooked by investors because she or he does not fit the stereotypical - cis-gendered-white-male-ivy-league-drop-out-who-worked-at-a-FAGMA-co-founder mold. 2/ When underestimated founders are seen and have the right support, magical things can happen. Take Tope, a Black man and founder of Calendly, for instance. He was underestimated for years and had VCs pass him up for funding, and later he became a unicorn.

🤔 Asking for a founder: what are VCs looking for in a pitch deck? 1/ In this thread, I cover a list of the questions I personally like to see founders answer in their pitch decks:

↳ Vision - how are you changing the world?
↳ Market size - how big is the market + how much is it growing YoY? What are the market tailwinds?

🤔 Asking for a founder: what should founders know about how VCs work? 1/ VCs have fiduciary duties to their investors. That means that we have a financial responsibility to produce returns $$ for our investors. If we fail, that can mean the chopping block for our VC career. That makes us extra selective with what cos we invest in.

🤔 Asking for a founder: what's a realistic timeframe to get from an idea to an MVP? 1/You may be tempted to believe that a realistic timeframe is overnight. The truth is that it always takes longer and more capital than anyone originally thinks.

🤔Investors + founders curious about the investor brand edge: brand is important because it allows people to know who to go to, for what + what they stand for. People buy from people they like and similarly, founders take money from investors they like. /1 💁🏽‍♀️ So, I’m intentional about sharing who I am, what I’m about, and what I can offer — outside of just money.

As my Twitter bio reads, I'm "about investing in community-driven cos + supporting our underestimated founder/investor fam." /2

twitter.com/lolitataub

💁🏽‍♀️Aspiring VCs who, like me, didn't come from money: today I was asked about my journey into VC and I want to share it with you. Why? Bc no matter what anyone says, I want you to know that it is very possible for you too to become an investor. /1 ⏳TL;DR I'm a first-gen Mexican American from the hood. My background consists of ~15 yrs in tech. I went to college on a scholarship (and loans), graduated and worked in corporate tech, went to Silicon Valley and worked at startups, and then stumbled into VC. /2

💰Founders raising a Series A: one of my port cos is also working on their A and I thought I'd share perspective + tips I'm passing on to them.

/1 At a Series A, investors are looking for a co w/product-market-fit + hockey stick growth that will quickly achieve unicorn status (≥$1B valuation). Financials are key!

/2

📰 My latest newsletter issue is out! In this issue, I talk about #hispanicheritagemonth and highlight:

💪🏽Latinx founders
💁🏽‍♀️Latinx VCs
🍿Rating investors
💸Raising seed capital
✨and more
lolitataub.substack.com/p/-community-h… 👩🏽‍🎤Featured: RBG @srcasm @jessicaalba @medinism @eliast @Bea_latina @SamaraMHernandz @MarcosCGonzalez @miriamulu1 @RicardoGarciaAm @mercebent @evplot @CindyBiSV @hpierrejacques @ArlanWasHere @jeancase @cheryldorsey @TheRealFreada @serenawilliams @justinkan @E_Scallon

🙏🏽 Thank you to the +450 community-centric talented individuals who applied for an investment partner role at thecommunity.vc!

We are grateful for your interest, time, and kind notes in support of our mission. @srcasm + I are excited to review apps!

Applicant stats 👇🏽 For those curious about our selection process, here's the plan:
🤓 review each application (+190K words)
✉️ send an application decision email early next week
🎉 extend invites to the next round
🚀 finalize the 9 new members of our Community Fund investment team

/2

Investors/operators/founders: @srcasm + I launched The Community Fund! We’d 💜 for you to apply + become an investment partner. Due date: 9/15.

🧵Deets
✨ Ideal candidates
💜 Candidate characteristics
😎 Partner responsibilities
🤩 Benefits
📝 App

thecommunity.vc

/1 Ideal candidates for the investment partner role would want to:

📈Establish an investor track record
👋🏽Work with other investors
👊🏽Change the status quo
😎Potentially launch a fund or pursue a VC career afterward

/2

✨Remember when I asked if you wanted to see me lead a fund and over 700 of you said yes? Well…🧵

https://twitter.com/lolitataub/status/1290799321474981888?s=20

1/ 🥳AWESOME NEWS! Today @srcasm + I soft-launched The Community Fund, a $5M fund focused on early-stage community driven-companies. Yeah, I'm a GP now! Thx all. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

And, we’re looking for founding members for our investment team! Learn more + apply.

thecommunity.vc
/2

Good morning from Choco: here’s a Q*&A 🧵 for early-stage founders.

*Qs are from a @ihccbusiness Latinx incubator panel I was on last week. Q: How should founders approach the fundraising process at the start of their journey? 


A: It’s important that the founder first figures out the type of business she wants to lead. Then, she can assess the best fundraising strategy and go from there.

medium.com/@lolitataub/fi…

📚Underestimated founders + investors: what do you think about community-driven cos?

In this thread I explore:
🤔 What makes for a community-driven co
🥳 The benefits of community-driven cos
✅ Community must-haves
🧰 Tactics to build community
🙌🏽 Community-driven cos

/1 A community-driven co has a community that
💜 has shared values + provides value by solving problems of its members
🙋🏽‍♀️ has members identify w/the community, trust it, and give to it
🎡 sets off a marketing and sales flywheel
🔧 informs the cos product development

/2

🤔This weekend, I reflected on the importance of “community”...

✨ what it means to me
💪🏽 which one I’m part of
🙌🏽 what benefits I get from it

What does community mean to you? /1

huffpost.com/entry/the-impo… ✨What’s a community? For me, it’s an extension to my blood family, with whom I share values, serve and look out for. It’s a group of people to whom I add value and who add value to me. /2

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community

1 🙇🏽‍♀️This weekend, I reflected on 4 topics and I want to share them with you in this thread bc you're part of my life.

🦸🏽‍♀️Do I have a savior complex?
🛶Am I a dinky rowboat pulling a boat full of people at my own detriment?
🎯What's my focus?
✨What do I want to be doing in 2021? 2 🦸🏽‍♀️Do I have a savior complex? No. Though, I do believe in servant leadership and get excited about helping underestimated leaders who are smart and driven but just need someone to believe in them to change the world and make money.

👼🏽Aspiring angels: here's a Q&A thread for you, inspired by a series of qs that an aspiring angel asked me to answer. /1 Aspiring angel: I qualify as an accredited investor, but am not in a position to make significant investments. How can I dip my toes?

Me: You can write small checks, join a syndicate like @Backstage_Cap Crowd, or invest through equity crowdfunding sites like @joinrepublic. /2

📚 Emerging fund managers: @LevelVC held a Raising Your First VC Fund call with @thinkstorm (Northgate Capital) Evan Darr (@InvescoUS) @Vincent11D (@interlacevc) @atShruti (@arrayvc). It was good.

I share insights in this thread. 👇🏽
🗓 Emerging fund managers: if you want to raise a fund in the next 12 months, here’s what to do…

📝Establish a thesis/strategy
✅ID LP targets
🤝Network
🗞Create content
😅Know it’s going to be tough

Why are so few VC dollars going to underestimated founders?

🙄 Nepotism
🙅🏽‍♀️ Lack of meritocracy / old-school pattern matching
👎🏻 Homogeneous pool of investors
👁 Inability to see opportunity in problems/solutions observed by underestimated communities
💩Discrimination

/1 Why is it important to invest in underestimated founders?

🙄 Not just cis-gendered white males can create great cos
🧐 We’re leaving money on the table
💰 We’re missing out on outsized returns
💸The market is missing out on products + services people/cos want to buy

/2

📚 When should cos fundraise?

The A to this Q is very much “it depends.” Variables such as type of co, co needs, type of funding being considered, founder aspirations + more come into play.

Though, in this 🧵, I’ll share optimal/less optimal reasons for fundraising.

/1 Optimal reasons to fundraise include, the money will help your co:

🎯get to your cos next milestone
💰generate more revenue/profit
🚀Speed up your cos growth

/2