1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Heather Hiles, Founder and Managing Partner at Imminent Equity (Part 2)

Heather Hiles: I wound up working with Bill and Melinda Gates at their foundation and did a lot of investing and learning about the investment process. I realized I love capacity building and investing in them. That’s what led, in part, to being a co-founder of Black Ops Ventures where I was Managing Partner. The investment thesis there was that 100% of the money we’re investing is into black-founded tech companies. That’s being run by my partners very well.

I can get back to what I initially intended to do, which is Imminent Equity. I’m in the saddle with that beginning of next year. We’re bringing imminent technologies into companies that are slowing in their growth and revitalizing them with new technologies. I’m a huge advocate and fan of everything from Blockchain to the great opportunities with AI and VR and as other new emerging technologies show their power, applying those as well to the companies I invest in.

Sramana Mitra: I think the part that I want to double-click down a bit is what you talked about black entrepreneurs. I want to hear more from you about your experience with Black Ops Ventures. What is the gating item? Is it there’re not enough black founders?

Heather Hiles: It’s pure racism. Black founders have 2x the outcomes at every stage of startup life as their white counterparts. It’s not that black founders don’t exist. It’s not that they don’t have decent outcomes to invest in. It’s the exact opposite of that. It was illegal for us to read and write at one point. We have been kept out of top-tier educational institutions.

We started so far behind multi-generational wealth that was created by white males predominantly. We are playing catch-up. We don’t have the networks and we don’t have inter-generational money and knowledge of how to build companies and wealth. I’m selling enterprise software. If I don’t have friends, families, or colleagues I went to school with who work at these big companies, how do I even get a meeting?

I found myself on Sand Hill road in top VC firms. I found ways to pitch them. The receptionist would say to me, “Hi, what are you doing here?” That’s how I was treated. I could have been a Martian walking out of a spaceship looking incredibly out of place. That was my experience. It is changing. Not only do you need to be able to pitch and get meetings with VCs, but then you need to inspire such confidence that they are willing to invest millions of dollars in you.

There’s a lack of familiarity and comfort with who you are and where you come from that even if you have the best business models in the world, it’s almost impossible to get folks like that for checks. Most of the VCs in Silicon Valley went to Stanford wearing khakis or jeans. There was a different kind of look for their administrative assistants. When you’re in my body form and my experience, they’ve never met someone like me. That’s a human trait that we all have. We have certain people and types of folks that we are comfortable with. It is a chasm if you come from where I come from.

This segment is part 2 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Heather Hiles, Founder and Managing Partner at Imminent Equity
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