Salvador Dueñas’ Post

🚀 Celebrating BiV Cohort 8: Transforming Potential into Venture Power We're thrilled to celebrate the wrap-up of our 8th Breaking into Venture Cohort! Please join us in congratulating 19 exceptional BiV Fellows – a group of visionary professionals who are poised to reshape the future of venture capital. The Breaking into Venture program isn't just a necessary initiative. It's a launchpad for transformative talent, thoughtfully designed to equip early-career professionals with the tools, knowledge, and community needed for lasting success. 🔑 Major Takeaways: • 19 Fellows | 1 Unified Vision • Developed groundbreaking investment theses • Built a network that transcends traditional boundaries • Equipped with cutting-edge VC insights and strategies To our Cohort 8 Fellows: This is not an end, but a beginning. The relationships you've forged, the skills you've honed, and the experiences you've accumulated are your greatest assets in the journey ahead. A profound thank you to our incredible mentors, guest speakers, and the VC community who invested their time, wisdom, and resources to make this Cohort extraordinary. 💭 Ready to be part of the next generation of venture leaders? Stay tuned for Cohort 9 application announcements.

Sometimes aspiring VCs ask me how to break in The most common answer I offer is community When I learned that BLCK VC wanted to hear more about my story for their community spotlight series during #EarthMonth, it felt full circle. Before I joined the team at Azolla Ventures, I liked to believe I had some of the “ingredients” needed to be successful in VC I knew the sector I was passionate about, I knew what my skill set was (and more importantly where my gaps were), and I was starting to understand why a career in VC would make sense for my long term objectives The problem. I didn’t have a deep personal relationship anyone in VC. Not until I participated in the BLCK VC Breaking into Venture Program (I would highly recommend folks take a look). Organizations like BLCK VC are fundamentally changing the investor landscape and bringing more exceptional investors into the game BLCK VC, as I am sure is true for many others, accelerated my path into VC. Thank you Pen, Naima and many others that u have met along the way for being a part of my journey. Learn more about my why below

Excited to Wrap Up My Journey with BLCK VC's Breaking into Venture Program! I'm thrilled to share a wrap-up of my incredible experience with the Breaking into Venture (BiV) Program at BLCK VC—a nine-week journey designed to support early-career Black professionals entering the venture capital field. Throughout the program, I engaged in insightful sessions, meaningful interactions with seasoned investors, and hands-on projects that deepened my understanding of the VC landscape. 🔑 Program Highlights: • Understanding VC as a Business: Explored the VC business model and the importance of conviction and a founder-focused thesis. • Firm Dynamics and Board Strategy: Learned how boards support portfolio companies and evolve over time. • Developing an Investment Thesis: Crafted my "Midwest Hypothesis," highlighting the potential of Midwest-based ventures. • Deal Flow and Sourcing: Recognized how personal alignment with founders' visions drives investment decisions. • Due Diligence: Delved into assessing market fit, founder credibility, and fundamental analysis. • Valuation and Deal Structuring: Gained insights into quantitatively assessing startups and building high-performing funds with sustainable strategies. • Portfolio Management: Understood the importance of creating well-balanced portfolios and actively supporting founders. • Career in Venture Capital: Received advice on staying active in the VC space while recruiting. 🙌 Acknowledgements: • Throughout the program, I interfaced with over 40 individuals in the VC space, greatly contributing to my development. Special thanks to my mentors, Chris Eng and Jordan Lue, for their invaluable guidance and support. • Shout out to my investment thesis partner, Nancy Y.A Sey, PhD, for her collaboration and insights. • A big thank you to Chidima S. Okorie, MA, PMP®, Monalisa Bade Llanzana, and the entire BLCK VC community, especially my Cohort 8 colleagues. I'm excited to join you in your mission to reshape the venture capital landscape. • Thank you also to the many people willing to listen, introduce opportunities, and provide feedback throughout the program, notably Ancito Etienne, Dean Lee, and Martin Williams. • If I have connected with you during the program, look forward to a wrap-up email from me, and feel free to prod me if you don’t hear from me. One of the things I am working on is my follow up! 🚀 The Future: As I continue my journey, I'm actively seeking opportunities in venture capital and entrepreneurship and am open to connecting with others in the industry. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to connect or if I can help introduce you to some of the amazing people I've met through the program. Best, Ifedayo

I delivered a presentation to a group of investors on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, championing Los Angeles, and was pleasantly surprised by the feedback I received. 1) Have you noticed that many of the major partners of the largest Silicon Valley venture capital firms own homes in LA? (Yes, mostly in Malibu or the Silicon Beach i.e. Venice, Santa Monica, Hermosa Bech, etc.) 2) LA is already the go-to market for gaming. LA may soon become the go-to market for a variety of other venture areas, shifting deals and investments to the city. (Let’s go #LongLA) 3) Stanford has been oversaturated for years. Are you noticing a similar trend at UCLA, or what competition are you observing for deal flow among graduate schools? (Still very little) Here are the slides specific to Los Angeles from the presentation I gave to an audience of approximately 150 venture capitalists.

Thank you to Gary Stewart for inviting me Anthony Matos, Sherrise Pond, Kange Kaneene, and Ricardo Roberts to speak at the Yale School of Management Private Equity & Venture Capital Symposium about the experience of diverse and female founders. And - thank you also to Tsikata Apenyo for organizing an incredible event. We spent a lot of the panel talking about fundraising -- and I had the opportunity to share stories about Mirra Levitt and my seed round in 2017 where we were both pregnant and we heard feedback like "you don't make my spidey sense tingle" and "sounds like a nice lifestyle business for two moms." Persistence paid off for us, and we found fabulous supportive investors like HearstLab (focused on female founders, thank you Eve Burton for believing in us) and Great Oaks Venture Capital. The earliest stages are the hardest, I think, particularly for diverse and female founders. There's often nothing for investors to go on except for the market size, idea and who the founders are. And, when VCs are pattern-matching, consciously or not, they are thinking about the archetypes of other successful founders, who... newsflash... are mostly white men. Just yesterday, Priori held its annual company kick-off, and we were lucky to have Andy Dunn, founder of Bonobos, speak, and one of his 'hot-takes' was that building a start-up is like eating glass. That is even more true for diverse and female founders, and I'm grateful at least to play a small part in shining a spotlight. Andy also said working a start-up is the best job you'll ever have. 10 years in, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Big news: I’ve somehow tricked The VC Fellowship Metvy into making me a VC Fellow! Clearly, my strategy of nodding and using words like “ecosystem” and “valuation” paid off. A massive shoutout to Shawrya Mehrotra, Rajan Luthra,Ayush Srivastava, and Gaurav Saxena for guiding me through this process and pretending my questions weren’t completely ridiculous. You’re the real MVPs. Excited (and slightly nervous) to dive into this world of Venture Capital. Hoping for lots of learning, fewer awkward moments, and maybe a deal or two that doesn’t make me sweat. #VentureCapital #Fellowship #Gratitude #CareerGrowth #Startup

Black founders raised a smaller portion of early-stage venture capital in 2023 than they did in 2021 or 2022. The percentages here are quite small, so the numbers can be noisy. But the overall pattern is stark. 2023 was the lowest share of fundraising for Black founders in our Carta dataset since 2020. The declines were consistent across pre-priced, Seed, and Series A rounds. There are likely a whole host of reasons for these dispiriting numbers. One underreported thesis is that as VCs sought to reduce risk in the venture downturn of the last year or two, they funded repeat founders to an even larger degree than in prior timeframes. And Black founders are less represented among repeat founders (who would have had to found their companies in a less diverse VC ecosystem) than they are among founders as a whole. Just one thread, of course. Lots more data on how venture funding broke down along gender, race, and ethnicity in our Carta Equity Report - link in graphic or just type in "Carta Equity Report" into Google. Work to be done!

Breaking News: VC Investment into Black Founders is Down...Again We've seen the reports earlier in the year, but this report from Carta and Peter Walker adds a little bit to an already longstanding conversation. In reading the full report, I have 3 main takeaways as it relates to the downward trend for Blacks in startups. #1. As Bad As it Looks, It's Even Worse Carta's report only looks at startups on its platform. From that data set, they determined Black founders received just 1% of unpriced venture capital funds. However, in a wider study, Crunchbase reported that just $700m went to Black founders in 2023, down from $4.9b in 2021. That $700m represented just 0.5% of the total $140b that went to all U.S. startups last year. https://lnkd.in/eRDXkM7Q #2. It's Even Bad for Black Startup Employees One of the big things Carta can lend to this conversation that others can't is what it looks like for Black people getting jobs at venture-backed start-ups. Well, as you can imagine, it's not good. In 2021, despite being ~13.5% of the population, Black people were just 2.8% of the new hires to Carta-using startups. But it got even worse in 2023, with just 2.3% of new start-up hires being Black. #3. We're Dropping Out of the Game Perhaps even more scary, and likely a result of these first two takeaways, is that there are fewer Black founders entering the VC game than there were 2 years ago. Black founders represented 3.9% of newly incorporated Carta startups in 2021, but that dropped to just 2.7% in 2022—nearly a third less. That's a big problem. Deterred by a lack of funding when they do start, and getting fewer start-up employment opportunities, Black people are essentially dropping out of participating in VC. Of course, there are many other ways to make money in the world—some with higher expected returns than VC, especially for those privileged to consider VC a plausible choice. However, being left out of markets is not a good thing—especially when it's not really Black talent making that choice for themselves. We know that Tech is going to continue being a driving force in wealth creation, especially with AI sucking up so much of the market. Thus, for any semblance of equal opportunity at wealth creation, Black people have to get a fairer shake at participating in Venture Capital. But the problem is that smart people aren't going to sit around and wait to be treated fairly. On average, they're just going to find a better, more favorable opportunity, even if the ceiling isn't as high. And that's a problem. For both Black people and the rest of the economy. Every quality report out there suggests that the systemic prevention of Black people's full participation in all areas of the economy is costing our nation immensely. And given the crazy times we're in, I'm not sure we can afford to maintain that status quo.

ATTENTION ASPIRING VC INVESTORS: Cohort 4 of our Venture Fellow Program kicks off on September 25, and just a few spots are left! This is your opportunity to unlock a backdoor into venture capital and fast-track your success in the startup world. Our program is designed to meet you exactly where you are in your journey. With a done-for-you VC job search, you'll have direct access to a vast network of VCs, angel investors, and founders who can refer you to top companies—bypassing the standard HR process. The program includes tailored, self-paced modules that cater to your specific needs, ensuring you get the most out of your experience. You'll also receive 1:1 mentorship from seasoned VCs, providing you with the guidance needed to accelerate your venture career. Plus, you'll always have direct access to the program founder -- even after the program ends, giving you continued support as you grow. Secure your spot now before it's too late and take the first step toward making your startup dreams a reality! 🚀 Register: https://shorturl.at/kul4L

🚀 Looking for angel investors in Los Angeles? Here’s a quick guide to 10 top angel investors in the city to kickstart your fundraising: ✅ Clark Landry: Focuses on software businesses, 120+ investments including The Trade Desk and EdgeCast Networks. ✅ Jim Brandt: Member of TCA Venture Group (Tech Coast Angels), with exits like Procore (368x) and Cognition Therapeutics (6x). ✅ Rosie O'Neill: Founder of Sugarfina, now investing in early-stage startups like Thrive Market and The Bouqs Co. ✅ Mark Mullen: Founder of Bonfire Ventures 🔥, backing early-stage companies like ChowNow and AdStage. ✅ Richard Wolpert: Acrew Venture Partner with investments in Carta and NestEgg. ✅ Matthew Mazzeo: General Partner at Coatue Management, invested in Airtable and Slack. ✅ Anthony Saleh: Focused on Media, Cybersecurity, and Future of Work, backing Robinhood and OpenSea. ✅ Thomas McInerney: Active seed/Series A investor with startups like Notion and Bird. ✅ Ashton Kutcher: Co-founder of Sound Ventures, investing in Airbnb, Uber, and Airtable. 💡 Pro Tip: Angel investors can be anywhere—don’t overlook local professionals or industry connections. 🔗 Read the full list by Visible.vc for more details and resources to find your ideal investor: https://lnkd.in/dyWyxiYU #longLA #angels #investments #longLA