Business
Arlan Hamilton is a game changer and is changing the face of venture capital. Silicon Valley has never been the same, since.She built a venture capital fund from the ground up, while homeless. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a fund that is dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. It’s a journey, she details in her new book, “It’s About Damn Time: How To Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage.”Started from scratch in 2015, Backstage has now raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies led by underestimated founders – providing seed funding from as little as $25,000 to as much as $100,000.In 2018 Arlan co-founded Backstage Studio which launched four accelerator programs for underestimated founders in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London. Arlan was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine in October 2018 as the first Black woman non-celebrity to do so, and her new book “It’s About Damn Time” is available here.Our founder Betty, chatted to Arlan and here’s some of the highlights:How she went from homeless to running a multi-million dollar fundHow she learned about venture capital, not from business school, but by teaching herselfWhat Arlan’s personal values areHow much Backstage invests in its founders and the impact of thatDefying other people’s expectations and building your dreamsWhat inspiring message she told herself to help cure stage fright (she now speaks at SXSW and many more huge stages)