Getting To The Money: Her Agenda Live And Google Digital Coaches Share Insights, Strategy For Founders
Last week, Her Agenda and Google Digital Coaches hosted a panel and workshop GET MONEY: Funding Options For Your Business where millennial business owners gathered and shared financing strategies to grow or start a company.
The evening kicked off with a panel moderated by Her Agenda founder Rhonesha Byng featuring Lauren Maillian (Investor, Startup Advisor, and Brand Strategist), Deepti Sharma (CEO and Founder of FoodtoEat), and Pauleanna Reid (Journalist and Celebrity Ghostwriter). After the panel, Google NYC Digital Coach and CEO and Founder of R.F Consultants Francilia Wilkins Rahim led a presentation/workshop with actionable takeaways for those looking for a variety of pathways to capital.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO OF THE PANEL BELOW:
In addition to the speakers, Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator and KIVA as part of our funding marketplace.
Rhonesha opened the conversation by introducing the panel and highlighting their achievements, one them being that of Paulenna Reid whose business went from making a $40,000 yearly profit in 2016 to $147,000 in 2018. When asked how making six figures became possible for her, Reid responded by saying that “a six-figure income started with a six-figure mindset to decide to play a bigger game.”
There was a bit of skepticism in the audience. Although it is true that making money starts with one’s mindset, Byng pointed out that one could have the mindset and still feel disadvantage because realistically people of color, especially women, are not invested in enough. This is statistically proven.
Lauren Maillian tackled this concern by sharing her go-to advice when reviewing decks for entrepreneurs. Maillian stated simply, “Put your credentials at the beginning of your deck! If you feel disadvantaged acknowledge that feeling, and place your accolades, your team, your degree, and certifications at the beginning.” This way you can remind yourself and others why you are worth it.
To this point, Deepti Sharma added that “instead of seeing it as a disadvantage, we need to start seeing it as an advantage and lead the conversation from there.” Deepti stressed that investors tend to care more about your drive [and] if you’re going to stick with the business or not, more so than who you are.
Beyond one’s “go hard or go home” mindset, Reid added that in changing your mindset you must also level up your life. If you want to make six-figures identify those who are doing what, and succeeding in ways that, you would like and build relationships with them. Mallian seconded these takeaways by affirming“… to make money you can never have enough you need a budget but you also need relationships.”
One of the biggest takeaways of the night relating to relationship building and networking came from Deepti Sharma. Sharma was very adamant about “reaching out to people even if they are CTOs.” She very humbly admitted that “sometimes the people who we think are unreachable, actually aren’t because at the end of the day they are human.”
Moving into the more logistical practices of creating your own business, Francilia Rahim took the stage to run the audience through a process to follow — one she learned by trial and error. Rahim suggested the following:
- Structure your business – Score.org is a free service
- Certify your business
- Look into City and State Contracts – The New York state budget is $98 billion, $15 billion of that assigned to new business investment
- Consider funding options — Loans, Angel Investments, and Crowdsourcing
Rahim has raised nearly $900 million dollars in capital for her clients, so she knows a thing or two about getting money. Watch the video above to get the keys from our all-star panel on ways to get money as an entrepreneur in 2019.
