SUMMARY KEYWORDS

raise, investors, black women, talk, legacy, capital, space, love, thinking, friend, privilege, founders, invest, question, absolutely, year, point, feel, women, company

SPEAKERS

Amber Cabral, Sevetri Wilson

Amber Cabral 00:00

Three. Privilege is all around you. It shows up in your clothes, where you live, the places you frequent, your network capital, and even how you spend your money. It’s useless until you recognize it. So it’s time to stop feeling guilty and figure out how to use your privilege to make an impact. Welcome to guilty privilege. Welcome back to guilty privilege. My name is Amber Cabral, and today I have the privilege of introducing you to Savitri Wilson. She is a serial entrepreneur, and many of you may know her for raising lots of money in venture capital. So we’re gonna talk today about the privilege of venture capitalism and equity in that space. We’re also gonna cover a little bit about her personally and why she is such a fantastic friend, and I can’t wait to jump right in. Okay. Savitri, Hey friends, hi. I’m so glad to have you here.

Sevetri Wilson 00:58

I’m happy to be here very I was telling them earlier. I was like, when you call, I probably had to be the first person to schedule listen.

Amber Cabral 01:04

Have to be. I want you to know that I was told that everybody rushed to my schedule. So I don’t know if people like really love me, or if I’m delayed on asking we really love you. Okay, I felt so loved. I was like, wow, everybody said yes, so I’m very excited we coming. I love that. It just warms my heart. Seriously, it makes me feel so great. So I mean, obviously I’m gonna talk to you about some things that lots of people talk to you about, but I’m also gonna talk to you about some things that I think are a little fun. So let’s start with the business of the business, all right, which is, you are known for raising money. All right, you’ve raised a lot of money, and you’ve also raised a lot of money in venture cap, in the venture capital space where black women are woefully underrepresented. Yes. Can you talk a little bit about what that experience has been like, and maybe give a few recommendations around things people should consider, especially if they are a black woman trying to fundraise?

Sevetri Wilson 01:57

Well, I’ll start by saying it’s everything that you read about, particularly when it we’re talking about black women, women, founders, raising capital. You think you read it, and people are sensationalizing the headlines. They aren’t. It really is that hard and that brutal to raise capital as a black woman, and I remember when I first started off, I raised, like a very small pre seed round of, like, $400,000 and in that instance, because I had my other company, solid ground innovations, people kind of believed that I could do something else, right? So they’re like, Okay, we’ll give you a $20,000 check or $15,000 check here and there. And so I collected all these small micro checks from angels, which some people call friends, family and fools, because hey, at that point, they really are betting on you. And even after that too, when I got to my seed round, and now I’m trying to raise millions of dollars, and we raised 2 million, it was equally as difficult, but I would say probably one of my hardest rounds, because that entered I was a investor. So investors, people who actually had raised capital, raised funds right, and they needed to deploy that capital in early stage bets, but still invested, they thought they could ultimately win, right? And so I raised this capital, and I was going out raising chunks at a time, and then it wasn’t until I met a woman in Nashville, Tennessee, and we started talking, and she said, I want to introduce you to my partners, and they ended up putting the largest check in my seed round, and it allowed us to completely take it to the next level. We would then raise our Series A, which was about 8.9 million, and then our series B, about 35 million in venture capital. And each round really did bring different challenges. And I always say, depending on where you are, say you’re in the early stages and you’re like, Okay, how do I even get going. How to get I get people interested? First, you have to ensure that you have a very just, tight story and narrative, not only for you as a founder and a CEO, but also around what you’re building and why you’re the person to build it. Then you think about what does your pitch look like, and the deck in which you present to people. People overlook the idea of design, right? Also throw some PowerPoints together. Do not overlook the design and format of your presentation. Yes, you want to ensure that you have the market size, that you have the team, even if it’s just you, while you’re capable, you want to ensure that you’re able to effectively talk about your projections and financials, even if you have none today, yeah. And so when you think about putting together your pitch deck and what you want to present in front of investors, you want to ensure that not only you’re able to tell a story, that the presentation is done well, right? And so when I got to my series, A. Right now we’re talking about traction. And to be honest, as a black woman, we usually have the traction That’s right, right, like, that’s something that we do very, very well with very little, yes, and we were able to present the traction that we had. And for us, we needed to ensure that the investors aligned to where we were going by the time we got to our series B, the market has shifted right. And so now we’re in this market where investors are literally not deploying capital, and so the terms are changing. How much you’re able to raise and how easy you’re able to raise, which I will say is never easy. I don’t care what market we were in, it was never easy to raise as a black woman, but still being able to present not only the traction that we had, but where we were going in an effective manner allowed us to raise capital. And so if you’re in this market and you’re thinking about raising capital, you have to ask yourself, one do I really need capital right now? And if the answer is yes, how can I show where we are? And the next milestone we’re going to get to in the most compelling way, and then also understand what investors have the money to invest, because that’s a big piece, right? Some investors right now and funds aren’t actually deploying capital, yeah, so you might be knocking on their door and they’re actually not making investments. How

Amber Cabral 06:24

do you how do you know that like? So first of all, there are 70 things I’d like to ask you, but to the last point you just made, how do I know if I’m knocking on the right door? How do I know if they’re deploying capital? So

Sevetri Wilson 06:37

I created an Excel spreadsheet, right? And I listed every investor that invested in my geography. I listed whether or not they were amenable to invest in women and black people, and had they had individuals that looked like me in their portfolio, right? And then I also looked at the category in which they were investing, right? And so I’m enterprise software, software as a service. And so I generally go ask investors that their sweet spot is enterprise software. And so that’s the first step that you want to take. And so you pitch to them, say they respond back, and you’re gonna get on a call with these investors, ideally. And by then that call you, they’re gonna ask you questions. But you also need to prepare questions for them, and one of them needs to be, are you actively deploying capital right now and then, the other is, how many investments are you gonna make this year?

Amber Cabral 07:38

Okay, so, I mean, I think those are great tips, because people don’t often know that they can ask yes, I think people hesitate to ask questions when you’re talking about money, correct. So just out of curiosity, how did you get to the point where you knew how to ask questions about money?

Sevetri Wilson 07:52

So I would say in the space that we’re in, it really was practice, just continuously pitching, but also just immersing myself in the ecosystem and around other founders who had raised before, who had been there. Also I would spend time listening to podcasts and what other people were saying, and I began to really learn a space that I didn’t come from, because I’m not a technical founder. I didn’t go to school for computer science. I don’t know how to code, and so Tech was actually a new world for me, and everything I know now, I had to learn.

Amber Cabral 08:31

So I love that first, I think that there’s not enough value put on the fact that you can be excellent in a space that was not innate, that you had to actually work toward it absolutely. So that’s amazing. The second thing I kind of want to touch on, based on what you were sharing, is there’s a lot that goes into this in terms of research. So it sounds like one of the things you have to be committed to is doing your research. Yes,

Sevetri Wilson 08:54

discovery is important, not only to launching a new product and a new business, but it’s also important to how you’re going to communicate. What I would consider is the validity of the things that you’re talking about, right? What actually backs you up when you say such and such or your market size is this? Where do you get that from? That’s going to be a question that some investors might ask, yeah.

Amber Cabral 09:21

And you have a lot of resources on your website that help people, yes. So in case you don’t know, you can go check out Savitri wilson.com and she has some resources that she personally used to do some of this, right? Yeah.

Sevetri Wilson 09:33

I mean, founders would reach out to me are individuals who wanted to start a company, and they may have been scared to do so. And so I was like, You know what? I’m gonna start just taking some of the things, my actual decks and my actual presentations, even for my first company, I have my price sheet, and I will tell you, people to this day still hit me up, and they say I use your price sheet, and I was able to get almost twice as much full in my contract. That’s,

Amber Cabral 10:00

yes, it’s working. Listen, use the free stuff. Okay, there’s always free stuff. We don’t always take it. So I’m glad that you said that. So what do you think that we need? We were talking about how black women aren’t well represented in this space. What do you think is necessary to make it more equitable?

Sevetri Wilson 10:17

So something that you often talk about allies and advocates, right? And the difference between the two, because oftentimes, sometimes you know your skin folk, right? That part notch kinfolk, not your kinfolk, that’s right, right?

Amber Cabral 10:32

Gotta be willing to diversify the folks you’re asking exactly

Sevetri Wilson 10:35

so. And we have been taught this, and I do think it’s true, more diverse fund managers equate to more money for black founders and others. However, we can’t just depend on that. That’s right, right? The who’s writing the checks like does matter, but we also need for you also to write a check to us. Jim, yeah, don’t just refer me. Right? Don’t refer me. You two also write a check for you to also write a check. So the

Amber Cabral 11:05

thing about being an ally or being an advocate is, when you take the action, it encourages others to take the action. Yeah, so you referring me to someone is one thing, but you telling someone I invested in? Yes, I am recommending this person for you to invest in is really going to be the more impactful action? Oh, absolutely. I

Sevetri Wilson 11:25

remember when I was raising my seed round, a white investor by name Tim Milliken from TPG Capital, which is a large PE firm, private equity firm, met up with me for lunch, and he said, Oh, I’m gonna put a check into your company, and it wasn’t even a large check. I’m talking about like $35,000 which is not large for someone. However, he was writing an angel check into my ground and because his name was on my cap table, literally, it was like a call to all these other investors, yes, and others came in with much larger checks because they saw his name. That’s right on my cap table. That’s

Amber Cabral 12:05

right. This is what allyship and advocacy is about. It’s using the power you have to be able to influence the change you want to see. Yeah. So just the willingness to say, I want to make sure that this shows up this way, made all the difference. I love that amazing. Okay, I’m going to shift just a little bit. You talk about resilient. We know you also have a book by the same name, so hop out there and please get savitri’s book resilient.

Sevetri Wilson 12:28

Can we talk about how this came to life?

Amber Cabral 12:32

You tell that story. How about you tell the story? Yeah, please tell I will let Savitri tell a story about how this book came to life. But you should still go get it.

Sevetri Wilson 12:40

Okay? So this is what I talk about when I talk about, like women, really supporting women, and how people say it, but they don’t really back it up with actions, and how this woman backs it up with her actions. She had gotten a book deal and was had in conversation with the publisher about more women, getting more black women to the table, right? This is back in 2020 we know that murder of George Floyd, all these things were happening, and people were coming to the table. What can we do? That’s right? And Amber said, I think I have someone that will be a great author for you, that’s right. And she introduced me to Wiley, and that’s how I published my first book with a national publisher. Yeah, yeah. Well, it

Amber Cabral 13:30

was your second book, yes, but

Sevetri Wilson 13:32

my first with a national publisher, and it is,

Amber Cabral 13:36

it is yes, and I’m honestly, I think part of that, like that behavior, the tactic of being thoughtful about how I refer people like that, is exactly why I wanted to do this podcast, absolutely, because I feel like I know so many amazing people, and we tend to think that we can’t do anything because they’re already amazing, like you are amazing, like already,

Sevetri Wilson 13:59

but I have no book deal in my hand and no one knocking on my door until this woman came. And

Amber Cabral 14:06

I would not have otherwise thought about it, right? Like I could have very easily been like, Oh, I’m amazing over here. She’s amazing over there. What are we supposed to do? But I think there has to be some intentionality sometimes to say, Okay, wait a minute, I don’t have to be the exact same person in the exact same space with the exact same network, to be able to connect and find points where I can be an asset and you can be an asset, and we can ally and advocate for one another. Yes,

Sevetri Wilson 14:32

and the importance of people mentioning your name in rooms that you’re not in, absolutely

Amber Cabral 14:36

that there that that is the thing. Please say my name in the room. Please, wherever you are, say my name in the room,

Sevetri Wilson 14:45

even if nothing comes from it. That’s it. It’s the fact that you put something in someone else’s hand that might carry on to the next thing.

Amber Cabral 14:51

Absolutely I cannot. I could not have said that better myself. So I was, I was gonna, before we were derailed about the brilliance. Yeah, with this word means a lot to you, you use it a lot. Resilient is. It is a word that you say often. It is the title of your book. It is, it is definitely something that you have role modeled. I would love for you to just kind of give me a little bit of information around you know what? What is, what does resilient mean to you? Like, I mean, we have an idea what resilience means, right, but what does it really mean in terms of its meaning for you and how it’s shown up in your life?

Sevetri Wilson 15:30

So when I think about the word resilient, right, I think about my family, you know, my grandmother, who raised us essentially on a modern day farm, right? I think about my mother and the challenges that she faced and overcame. I think about my own journey. I think about the journey of my community in New Orleans, right to rebounding after years and continuously rebounding. And I also realized very specifically when people said we’re tired of being resilient, right? But it’s the ability to be it if you have to absolutely, and I think that’s the characteristic that I hold, and trait that I hold, like close to me, that knowing that I am resilient, and even though I don’t want to have to be every day when I need to be I am. Yeah,

Amber Cabral 16:21

yeah. So I like the word resilient, because I think it connotes that I already exist with it, like it’s not a thing I have to build or practice or learn. For me, resilience feels like it’s innate, like it’s in it, and to your point, when I need it, I can reach in my pocket and pull it out. That doesn’t mean I want to walk around with the s on my chest, but resilience, for me, it’s something that’s baked in, and it’s a product of to your point, like my history, my ancestry, the experiences I’ve had, the way I was brought up. You know, I grew up in the city of Detroit, the experiences that that gave me, right? So I really, really love that word for that reason. How did resilience play a part in your ability to be straightforward, bold, brave and willing to raise capital.

Sevetri Wilson 17:05

I do think it’s about, and even I say this in my title, how to overcome anything right? And I do believe that whether or not you’re successful or if you aren’t successful, a lot of that is driven by your ability to keep getting up after you’ve been knocked down. And I do feel that my resiliency to say, You know what, I may be down the day, but tomorrow is a new day, and I’m gonna bounce back from whatever trials and tribulations that are thrown at me. Yeah,

Amber Cabral 17:39

because all this is made up. Y’all, all

Sevetri Wilson 17:41

the rules made up. It’s all made up. And a white man probably made them all. Listen, we

Amber Cabral 17:46

are literally playing on made up rules. I feel like if the rules are made up, then I mean, I could win any day. Now, really, you know, it’s all a game, and it’s not, none of it is based on anything. It’s all an idea. So, yes, I love that. Now I want to talk about legacy building. I know that’s a thing that’s a thing that’s personally important to you, and I have seen some incredible things about you. I don’t even know how to even capture that in a couple sentences, but like you’ve started, you know, scholarships in your mother’s name, I have seen you lean into foundations. You have a very vested interest in terms of supporting philanthropic work. Can you just talk to me about legacy building, what that means for you, why you think it’s important, especially for black women? Yeah,

Sevetri Wilson 18:27

so I’ll start by saying I have just experienced a lot of great loss, and I know that you have as well, and all of my maternal and paternal grandparents have now passed on. My mother and father have also passed on. And so I would go throughout college feeling very much so like an orphan, right? And I started thinking about all the work that I felt that I had put in in college, and I was running, rushing through college because I wanted to come out of it, creating a life that I felt my mother deserved, right? So I wanted to ensure that I could help my mother. And so when she passed away, I felt like that was taken from me. Oh, wow, right? And so creating a legacy, and when I create scholarships, or I was telling someone about my future proposal to just renovate and redo the library in my mother’s hometown of Hammond. And they were like, Oh, where are you going to name it? I was like, oh, after her absolutely right to let people know that her legacy and our legacy as a family continues. And I often talk about how they have continued to drive me as a person, how they have continued to just invest in me from just the memories that I have and the memories of what they wanted for me, right, right? And so I look at legacy from just that standpoint and the idea that you live. On

Amber Cabral 20:01

what I love about your description of legacy is it isn’t about your children. You having children, right? I don’t want children. People who know me know that, but there are a lot of young people that I care about. There are a lot of lives I would like to impact. There are a lot of ways that I want to see the lessons that I’ve learned show up in the world and benefit others. And so when I think about legacy, much like yourself, it’s a product of the history that I come from, that I want to try to create access and opportunity to others. Instead of it being about me passing on my DNA, you know, I also just think you never know what you’re gonna get with a kid, you know? So it feels like a lot of pressure to save legacy for like, my child is gonna be, oh yes, you know this incredible thing, you just don’t know. And

Sevetri Wilson 20:47

it’s so important to the success of the next generation, of our generation, because oftentimes I would walk into rooms as a 21 year old, 22 year old, trying to get contracts, et cetera. And I very so much felt that everything was being held for someone’s son. Yes, you know, Oh, they got all the help, right? And I knew that when I got in a position to pay it forward, that it wouldn’t matter if someone had my DNA, yeah,

Amber Cabral 21:19

yeah. And I think that has to be the way we think about legacy going forward, especially when you think about the impacts of just the planet, you know, the world is changing. The earth we live on is literally evolving in ways that can’t continue to sustain the, you know, rate of reproduction, you know. So some of us are gonna make the choice to not have children, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have a legacy. And so I love that you you don’t see legacy in that term. And I do think a lot of people do, even some of our like, you know, the people we Herald, you know, unfortunately, you know, I tend to think that they refer to legacy as just their kids. And I’m like, there’s so much more than that. Absolutely, it’s a lot of opportunity.

Sevetri Wilson 21:56

Definitely been on the receiving end of not getting something because someone felt they needed to go to Yeah, their child, or to someone that they were akin to, versus like the best person.

Amber Cabral 22:09

And when you don’t diversify how you are paying it forward or thinking about legacy, you are perpetuating a lot of the systems that make it hard for black women to raise venture capital funds that make it hard for us to get access to C suite opportunities that make it hard for us to be seen as human when we are giving birth. You know, like all of those systems are perpetuated by the idea that, like I, am really concerned and consumed with people who look like me or come from my bloodline. So I really think thinking about that in a broader way is super important. Okay, so I wanna talk a little bit about your personal life, a little bit so you recently got married. I did so exciting, best wedding ever. I don’t know how you pulled that off, and you are still sitting here to talk about it, but you wanna have a good time. Listen, it was a great time. You did that. Okay, never, ever had a time like that. Was amazing. But, I mean, you are, you’re an amazing friend. You are now a wife. I am sure family planning is probably on the horizon. I know that you are a very, you know, powerful businesswoman. You are an author. Please go get this book. You have all of these fantastic things that you have your hands in, in addition to, you know, managing your companies. I I just want to know how you do that, like and not from a balance standpoint, because I know balance is not real. No, there’s no such thing as balance. But we started our conversation by, you know, I called and you answered yes, you have never told me No, I’ve never told you no. And there is an art to that, like we’ve got there takes. There’s something about being a good friend and also being a good businesswoman and all of the other fantastic things that you are as well. Can you share with me some of your tips?

Sevetri Wilson 23:59

You know, that question reminds me of something that Oprah said once, and she said that you can have everything you want, just not everything all at once. And I do believe there’s a time and place for everything, and you have to prioritize things that are important to you, as well as just this idea of thinking about what actually brings you joy, and what are the things that make you happy, right? These are things that I enjoy doing, right? And so when I think about how my year looks, or my month looks, or my you know, my calendar is, I’m like, Oh, this this is this season right now. I’m is like, hammer would work? I have to do this. This, this. And this, to your point about family planning. My husband, I want to have kids, and so now I am trying to create a calendar or a schedule that looks to the future and allows us to to do that. Right? Right? If it is so the will, yeah. And so I think about balance as something I agree with you on, that it does not exist, yeah, you try to prioritize as best as you can, and then oftentimes you might drop the ball on things right. Like, I think last year I had, I was, like a not a good friend, the best friend. Oh, I would never say that. No way I get that. But I am, like, I’m such a, you know, sending sweet gifts. And I love to be I’m just like, a thoughtful person. I love that to be for my friends, yes. And last year, I was kind of reflecting in December, January, and I was like, man, like, I just really dropped the ball.

Amber Cabral 25:40

I know that feeling. I actually love to send cards, and I have not seen ours in like two years. I listen. I do try. I do think you have to try. So maybe that’s, that’s the advice folks, you have to try. You do but, but I have that feeling as well. Like I am, I am a person who will go to like, you know, Target, or, you know, your local card store wherever, and I will spend an hour just picking cards, and then I have a person in mind when I pick them, but I also always have a stack of cards, because I just think it’s a cute sentiment to receive in the mail, like, oh, wow, you thought of me. And you never know it could end up being the perfect time. So I know there, there is some labor to that. So I get the feeling of not feeling like you hit it,

Sevetri Wilson 26:20

I agree. And then on top of that, it’s like you could think about someone, right? And I’ll think about something. I’m like, oh, man, I meant to do that. Yeah, right, yeah. And so just know, friends, you are always in my thoughts, in my prayers. Yes,

Amber Cabral 26:35

you know. We know we had a great time at your wedding. We know just how much you think of us. We know that you want us to have a fantastic life. Don’t worry, we got it, trust me. And Grace is real. You know it is. Grace is real. I think Grace is a really critical part of friendship. It is I’ve definitely, as I’ve gotten older, but not just older, like aging, but like more mature in terms of just understanding time I need more grace, yeah, you know. And not because my network is necessarily bigger, but the way the world is in the way I am navigating it, and the things that are on my plate, in the way I am thinking about my life in all of those spaces has evolved. And so, you know, where I could, you know, kind of pop up and make my day as I had it, yeah, now it’s like, oh, you’ve got a business to run, and you want to be impactful there, and you’ve got, you know, all these relationships that you want to be a part of. And so there’s some deliberation that does require some grace, because it’s easy to fumble kind of, you know, and I need y’all to forgive me for sure, exactly. Okay, so I’m gonna ask you this question. Well, let me ask you this first, do you have anything you want to tell us about that’s coming up.

Sevetri Wilson 27:43

So this year, so last year. And to me, one of the reasons why I felt that I wasn’t as more involved in my friend circles I feel like I usually am, is because I was so heads down in work trying to raise around and market, and to me, in many aspects, was kind of like raked over the coals in the process of doing it right. My husband said, you know, the two things that bring you sadness I’ve seen is, you know your mother and her passing, but also this raising this capital and this venture world and this work stuff, right? And so I think for me, the future looks more aligned to what I see for myself, right? And taking a step back and bringing more to things that bring me joy into play, and being able to just like, take my time.

Amber Cabral 28:42

I love that. I love that I think, I think taking your time is essential. I also think that you’ve earned it. We had a small chat before the camera started, and I said that to you, you’ve earned it. You’ve

Sevetri Wilson 28:54

earned it. Don’t think, you know, some people don’t realize that, because I think that the weight of me kind of being in the spotlight, particularly around like tech and venture capital, and being a black woman to break these records, is that people are almost like Betting on you in a different way, right? And it was like, Oh, she’s gonna do it, right? She’s gonna be like, the one to do it. And then you carry that weight on your back and your shoulders, even if you really don’t want to carry them,

Amber Cabral 29:23

but sometimes you got to get out the way Exactly. Sometimes you have to get out the way so we can make room for that legacy we were talking about, right? So, I mean, it’s, I think we can continue to look to you as you know well, for me personally, as a friend who I am inspired by, but also folks who don’t necessarily know you personally, being able to look at what you’ve done and go, Wow. And that will continue even when you, you know, decide that you want to shift directions. And guess what, whenever you shift directions, that’s going to be amazing too.

Sevetri Wilson 29:49

Yes, yes. I like what you said about sometimes it’s okay just move out the way. Yes, we got to make some rooms. Making some room.

Amber Cabral 29:57

Yep, making room for some wins. All right, my final question. Yeah, this podcast is called guilty privilege. The reason I called it guilty privilege is because I think there are a lot of people who think of privilege as something to be ashamed of or feel guilty about or deny. Some of us are delusional about having privilege, and I honestly think privilege is something that allows us to show up and make an impact and push forward. And so the question I want to ask you is, what is one privilege that you have, that you refuse to feel guilty about

Sevetri Wilson 30:27

living a good life? That’s it

Amber Cabral 30:30

living a good life? What’s a good life? To my friend?

Sevetri Wilson 30:33

It’s being able to bring my friends to New Orleans from our wedding and saying, I want to give them an experience. Yes, right? We, we gonna do this one time, sir. Okay, so we gonna do it, right? And it’s being able to, like, travel, yeah, I feel that particularly, like women, our space, it’s what we gotta explain ourselves, that’s right, oh, I live like this, or I could do this because of x, y. It’s like you don’t have to explain anything. Like you deserve a good life, you can live a good life, and that’s okay.

Amber Cabral 31:05

I love that. I love that. Well, thank you for joining me today. This is great. I loved it.