Less than 10% of all venture capital deals go to women, people of color, and LGBT founders.

While other VCs see this as a pipeline problem, Backstage Capital - an investment firm focused on investing in companies led by underrepresented founders - sees it as the most significant opportunity in investment. 

Data shows again and again that diverse teams perform better and diverse investors make better investment decisions. Morgan Stanley estimates more than $4 trillion in unrealized venture capital due to the lack of diversity in investment decisions.

Backstage Capital has invested in more than 180 companies led by underrepresented founders since 2015 and successfully maxed out their million-dollar campaign on Republic in a record time of nine hours!

Today we welcome Christie Pitts and Brittany Davis from Backstage Capital, to discuss the value of investing in underrepresented founders and leveraging your community as an investor and founder.

Key points discussed 

- Investing in underrepresented founders (00:00)

- Why Backstage Capital's Republic campaign was a success (02:47)

- The reason Backstage Capital chose Republic (08:35)

- How has Backstage Capital leveraged its community of investors? (14:10)

- How to deal with negative feedback (27:33)

- What advice would you give to first-time investors? (33:25)

- How to approach evaluating deals (36:21)

- What does the future of Backstage Capital look like? (39:18)

Additional resources

Learn more about Backstage Capital and their work here:

https://backstagecapital.com/

To keep in the loop for the latest developments in crowdfund investing, make sure to follow this podcast and listen in every week. Leave a rating and a review and let’s bring profit back to the people together.

Ready to start investing in your future? Then head over to www.republic.co and find a startup you’re passionate about.

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