(upbeat music intro) - Hello, thank you for joining us today for Forum 360, where we have a global outlook from a local view.

I'm your host, Leia' Love, and today, I am super excited because we have Miss Gloria Ware, she is the Chief Rainmaker of Get The Bag.

So today we are going to be talking about getting the bag, AKA funding.

- [Gloria] Yeah.

- She has 25 years in business and banking and early stage investing.

She is a speaker, lecturer, interviewer, just a Jack of all things with business.

And I am so excited to gain all the information that you have for us today.

So thank you for joining us.

- Well, thank you for having me.

It's an honor to be invited to participate on your show.

- So, tell me a little bit about how you got into the business arena altogether.

- Okay.

Well, it started as a very young child.

I actually had a, what I like to call, a recycling business when I was little.

So my brother and I used to collect bottles, like soda bottles, and you could exchange them for cash and we used that to pay for our candy money.

So I got connected to the idea of being able to make things happen for yourself and generate some additional cash early.

I didn't realize it was called business.

And then in high school, I used to bake these monster cookies and pastries and things like that.

And I would sell them to my teachers.

And I said, I always wanted to start a business, at the time it was a catering business.

So around that same time I was planning to go off to college, graduated from The Ohio State University, thank you.

(Leia' chuckles) And I just decided to major in business because of, just some of the things I was lacking as a young business owner.

And I thought it would be helpful to get a better understanding of what it takes to run a business.

And I just thought it was a good practical major for a young person to have.

- Okay.

So how did you get to Get The Bag and what does that mean, and what is your demographic?

- Yeah.

So Get the Bag, actually it's focused on ensuring that black women entrepreneurs have the capital connections and resources that they need to successfully start and grow their businesses, which as black women, we tend to not have connections, people that have businesses or business experience.

We definitely don't have the capital.

Our average net worth is much lower than the average population.

And we experience a lot of biases as it relates to secure successfully securing capital.

And so Get The Bag is about closing those gaps.

And I started thinking more about entrepreneurship when I worked as a student at The Ohio State University.

I worked for the office of black student programs and it was my job to put on programming for the students in the community.

And I came across a magazine, which now I know to be Black Enterprise magazine, but never seen anything like that.

And I saw all these black executives and black business people, and I was never exposed to anything at that level before.

So I became so excited.

And so one of my first programs was a program to introduce everyone to the road of entrepreneurship, get them connected to the resources available for them in Columbus to help them start their business, so that they could be on their path.

And from that point on I went to work in banking, where I worked with hundreds of small business owners.

And then the last 10 years has been in the venture capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem building capacity.

- So you mentioned connections.

Tell us how can entrepreneurs build these connections that they need to be successful?

- A lot of it just starts with getting out and I know that's more challenging to do in today's environment, but networking with people that you may know.

It could be your people at church.

It could be your sorority or fraternity.

There's lots of professional associations.

If you have a particular area of expertise, there's lots of groups that you can connect to either virtually or in person.

And then I always encourage people to get out of their comfort zone as well.

And this really applies to everyone because we do have a tendency to stay within, kind of, our own bubbles and our own networks.

And you don't learn that way.

You don't leverage new experiences and meet new people in that way.

So I always encourage people to take advantages of things like getting involved with the local chambers.

There's a lot of small business groups, also other business owners that are looking to connect with one another and share and do business with one another.

Locally, I think there's Alignable, so a lot of people use that platform.

- I get emails but I never look at it (she laughs) - I just finally gave in.

They had been sending me emails for like four years, and I was just like, let me just do this, right.

Because I actively network on LinkedIn, that's a great place to network, you can target your group.

But I was like, let me just try something new, Like, to that point of getting out of my bubble.

And I was like, this is more neighborhood focused so let me just see like, what some of these neighborhood entrepreneurs are like.

- Okay.

Now you mentioned LinkedIn.

Do you have any tips for really making it effective to be on LinkedIn.

- Oh yes.

- I've been using LinkedIn, wow, I would say, like, since it first came out.

LinkedIn is great because you, it's like free, almost like free advertisement for your growth and development over time.

You know, as you get a promotion at work, as your business is taking on new contracts, or your business is growing, you're connected to other business people.

And so it's a way you can update your profile.

'Cause everything is typically 100% business focused it's a great way to low key promote yourself and for people to see what you're doing.

And then it's also great because you can actually look for certain groups.

So there are, I belong to the Green Business Association, the National Society for Black Engineers.

There's all these groups, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, so you can go in there, you can meet new people from all over the globe, 'cause people on LinkedIn are all over the globe, and you just share.

So the way I use LinkedIn is I read a lot, I do read a lot, and so I share a lot of information that I think would be of interest to my general audience or to specific people.

So it's a great way, I also love it because when people move around their email address has changed and their LinkedIn is like your forever profile, right.

So even if I move or change, someone can find me on LinkedIn.

So sometimes I'll be looking for specific people that have specific areas of expertise and I'll do a search for those and then I'll send them an invite, just asking if we can connect and be part of their network.

And I have these people that do the same for me.

There's also LinkedIn For Business, which a lot of people really underutilize.

There's a, I just discovered a way that you can actually include your services.

Like, there's a link to your services that you can use on LinkedIn For Business.

So you have your personal LinkedIn profile that's kinda really your professional LinkedIn profile.

And then you can have a LinkedIn page for your business.

And a lot of people are using, doing thought leadership pieces using LinkedIn.

So they're writing blog posts, or writing articles, or writing thought pieces.

And so you have all of these business people that are watching you, looking at it and sharing.

You can do videos, live videos on LinkedIn.

So we are familiar with iD Lives and Facebook Lives but a lot more people are doing videos, and there's also now LinkedIn Events.

- Okay.

- So it's, I love it.

It's a, yes.

- Okay.

Underutilized resources - [Gloria] Absolutely.

- inside that one app.

- Yes, yes.

- Alright.

So let's get back to capital and funding.

- [Gloria] Okay.

- What are some things that people should know about when going to secure it?

And actually let's back up before that.

- [Gloria] Okay.

Hm hm.

- What are the different types that you can go after?

- Okay, there's so many and in the last 10 years there's been an expansion of things that make it more equitable, make capital more open to a broader group of people.

So, and I just kinda like to split it into starting a business versus growing a business.

So if you're looking to start a business, a lot of times your first capital will be, might be money from your savings.

It might be, maybe money from another business that you have, and you're taking the profits from that to invest into this business that you wanna grow and scale.

It might be money from, it might be exchanging, so bartering with one another.

So that's basically, someone has a service that you need, you have a skill that they need, so bartering to get that done in lieu of cash.

And then the other great thing for startups now is crowdfunding.

So that has really enabled people to not have to know a banker, not have to know a venture capitalist, just leverage, tap into your own network, right.

So it just requires you to have a great story, a solid focused purpose for what you're doing with the money that gets everyone excited, a fantastic video, and then just a lot of hustle in terms of promoting and getting people engaged.

If you have an existing business the opportunities are, and there's also then venture capital, maybe once you kind of start to show that you actually have people interested in your service, or your product.

And then if you're an established business there's more opportunities.

That's where bank loans come into play, credit cards, investment, so getting money from people that are invested, interested in investing in your business.

There are, and there's a number of other capital resources but they're, and then also crowd funding is also an option for an established business.

- Now I know we have to make sure we always know that there is no such thing as free money - - Hm hm.

- so what would be some of the, I don't want to necessarily say cons, but things that they need to know in going after certain types of funding - - Okay.

- that would come along with that, some strings that would come along with that.

- Yes.

Yes.

- So for you, I'm glad you said free money 'cause I forgot about grants.

(Leia' giggles) Right, right.

So I have a whole database of business grants.

But, yes, nothing is truly free, even with grants, which is technically money that you don't have to pay back.

There's an expectation that you're going to market the organization that gave you the grant, and you're going to allow yourself and your business to maybe make a video on their behalf or be featured on their website.

And then sometimes if you're, if it's a business grant there's not as many restrictions.

But if we go back to crowdfunding, right, you people, and there's different types of crowdfunding, there's crowdfunding where people are just donating to help your, they wanna contribute to the cause, but there's also crowdfunding where people can actually invest in your business.

So even if people are donating and want to contribute to your cause, say for example, you want to write a book... - Sorry, - let me pause real quick.

- Okay.

- For those of you who are just tuning in we're talking to Gloria Ware, who is the Chief Rainmaker and founder of Get The Bag, and we are talking about securing funding for your business.

Okay.

Go back, and finish telling us about.

- Okay, yes.

So crowdfunding, yes, people are giving you money.

The exchange is that either they're pre-paying for a product that you're going to make when you gather all of the money, that was the goal of your campaign, or they're getting some rewards, right.

So you typically say, if you don't contribute at the $50 level, I'm gonna give you a signed copy of my book, or you can come to my party, my launch party.

On the bank side, you are, banks typically lend you money so there's an expectation that you will pay the money back.

So that's very important to know, and they usually will want to secure that with some assets, such as maybe your house or the equipment that you're purchasing, or the building that you're purchasing, as collateral, just in case you can't, you fail to make the payments.

For investors, if someone's investing in your business, they are typically expecting a percentage of ownership and control of the business as well.

So that's why it's very important that you understand and have a solid relationship with the potential people that are investing in your business because it's kind of like a marriage.

- Yeah.

- So.

- Have you seen any, like, worst case scenario stories of things that have happened?

Like, is there anything that comes to mind?

- Yes.

- What's been one of those?

- Well, worst case scenario on the crowdfunding side is that you underestimate how much it's going to cost you, say to make the widgets like, right, hey, I've got this new ideal, I need to raise $50,000 so that I can make 50,000 of them.

And you successfully raise 50,000 but you find out it's going to cost you a 100,000, and people are expecting their widget in exchange for the crowdfunding campaign, and you're not, you weren't able to deliver.

And that happens.

That happens, right.

So it's very important that you understand the costs of your crowdfunding campaign, and that you can actually deliver on time.

Or sometimes it's like, yes, you raised the money but there's delays in getting it manufactured and the like, so that's a challenge.

On the venture capital side, what a lot of people don't realize is that typically if you're raising money from a venture capitalist there's expecting that you're going to have huge phenomenal growth, and you're going to have to continue to raise other money from other investors.

And the more investors that you bring on, which you kind of have to, because you need all of that cash to keep growing at a fast rate, the more you are limiting your percentage of ownership.

So often what people don't realize, is that by the time your company has been sold, right, you've had to exit or you go public on Wall Street, that the founder may have 1 to 3% of the total proceeds - - Oh, wow.

- if that.

- If that.

- So people get excited about wanting to raise venture capital but don't always understand what can happen over the long term.

And, once you start bringing on investors they become part of your board.

They have seats on your board.

So now it's everyone's company.

So whereas you were maybe calling the shots initially, once you were getting your company going, now, it's not just you calling the shots, you are accountable to board members who might have other ideas about the business.

And they have the ability to fire you too, as the founder, if they so choose.

- Mmm.

- So, these are just things that people don't always realize.

- Yeah.

- So venture capital is not, it's definitely a resource for a lot of types of businesses, but you need to understand what you're getting yourself into.

But there's lots of other ways to raise capital for your business that don't necessarily require venture capital, sometimes there's angel investors.

- Okay.

- And this might be, if you have a good, someone that really trusts you, and values you, and respects you, and they've got some cash and they wanna see you do well, they will invest in your business.

Sometimes it might be like a friendly loan where it's like, hey, $50,000, you pay me back, whenever, right.

Or yes, I'm investing but I'm just gonna have a small percentage of ownership.

I wanna help you win.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- So that's the angel investor versus a venture capitalist?

- Yeah.

And typically you secure angel investors before you get secure venture capital anyway.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Now getting back to your business, what all does your business provide to help people get this capital?

- Yes, so my experience, I've been a banker, I've worked with capital to small businesses, colleges, university, cities, whole host of entities.

And then working on the venture capital side, I've worked with primarily people of color and women on helping them to secure capital for their business, venture capital in some cases, in other cases not, and contracts as well.

Because, particularly for a lot of entrepreneurs of color, the way we raise our capital for our business is by selling our products, because we are forced to do that because we have a difficult time finding the funds.

So we have to find a way to get some products made and then sell them.

So, but that's important too, because when bankers look at your business or investors, look at it, they want to know was anyone buying this?

Right, what's your, they call it traction or your proof of concept, and if you can demonstrate that you have a market and people are buying your product and that the percentages are going up every month, then it makes you more attractive to everyone, right So even the naysayers 'cause you can't, oh, well she's actually selling, so there must be a market.

So to Get The Bag, the goal, is to number one.

Give people, kind of, inside information and tips on some of the behind the scene things that happen on the banking side, the crowdfunding side, and the venture capital side, that I've seen just being, you know, on the committees that are making decisions about who gets investments, and having to pitch for my clients to get funding.

So there's just a lot of things that you don't know if you weren't there.

And so the goal is to make sure that I'm providing more transparency to people about how these things work.

But then also, particularly for African-American women, because we don't necessarily have angel investors that have $50,000 or $10,000 lying around to invest in us, and we don't have the savings, we look for a lot of grants.

We look for free funding, so we enter pitch competitions, look for grants.

And I just got really frustrated when trying to find grants for people.

Cause I would always get people asking me about grants and so, are there a lot of grants out here?

And this was maybe 10 years ago.

And there weren't really that many grants for business owners, right.

And then when you looked, I kept seeing like the same 10, and some of 'em were no longer in existence.

So I decided, as a service that I was gonna provide, was to do this curation of these grants myself because I know that, as women, we don't have a lot of time.

We have a lot of other responsibilities that we're dealing with, and I had the expertise so I kind of knew what to look for in the grants.

And so I have a funding database base that's free, with over 300 business grants, opportunities, kind of broken down by fairs, categories.

So that's really open to everyone regardless of your background.

And, so once I started doing that, I was getting people that were super excited to have that database, with the like, oh my gosh, now it's so overwhelming, like, this is a lot to look through.

And I'm constantly iterating and updating the look and feel of the database.

So we added a calendar, right, to make it easy so that you could just come to our website and you can say, oh right, what are some grants that are available right now?

Where is the link?

When are they due?

'Cause these are all questions I would get.

- Right.

- And so to make it easy to find, I have an intern, Asmah Shaheed, that keeps our funding guide and our calendar up to date.

So, just go to the website, look to see what's available and when the deadlines are, and click through and apply.

- Alright.

Now you mentioned pitching.

Give us your tips for delivering a really good pitch?

- Okay.

I think the thing to understand first of all, is what organization is sponsoring the pitch competition?

- Okay.

- Right.

Because they are all bringing a certain lens to how they're evaluating the pitch.

So, and reading carefully the instructions, right What are they?

They will, a lot of times, give you clues as to what they're looking for in the pitch or a winner.

So that's the first thing 'cause they could vary.

But the other thing is to number one, know what makes you different and unique.

So what is your business?

And what's kind of the, so what, okay?

So why is your business, why is your bakery more unique and differentiated than another baker?

So, oh ours is vegan and gluten-free.

And we give back to the community, a certain percentage back to the community, right.

So those are areas of differentiation.

Or we're the only bakery that serves the rural community in this geography.

And we have a lot of people that, kind of, depend on our services.

So make sure that you have a very clear and strong, what we call, value proposition, or point of differentiation.

Having a good story is always really good 'cause us people really like stories, just as human beings.

Being clear about what you're going to do with the money, right.

If there is a $10,000 pitch prize and you are saying that you want to buy a building, you've gotta say, well, how is the $10,000 gonna contribute towards you buying the building, unless you can get a really good building on sale for 10,000 - - Right (she laughs) - which isn't completely possible.

'Cause the judges always wanna feel good that the money is going to be in a, I'm not always saying I agree with this, but the money will be used responsibly, like a piece of equipment.

- Okay.

- So it's like, hey, currently I have, my business is growing, and we are now, we're having a hard time meeting the demand 'cause we're manually making the candles.

But with this equipment we'll be able to generate a hundred times more candles a lot faster, and that will help us to grow faster.

- [Leia'] Okay.

- They love hearing those, you're gonna use this money, how is it gonna help advance your business?

And tell us more about what that's going to look like?

So those are things that investors, or not investors, but the pitch competition organizers wanna hear.

But a lot of times people are pitching to investors, investors want to know, and this is what sometimes people don't think about, how are we going to, like on Shark Tank, right?

Okay, well what's in it for me?

So if I give you $10,000, how is this $10,000 gonna grow into $100,000.

So, sometimes I think we forget and we kind of are thinking about ourselves and our business and what we're trying to do, and not understanding what the judges are looking for.

Like, you winning the pitch competition, how does that help?

And whether it's a competition, it helps them to say, hey, we were able to back this business that is going to create ten more jobs because of the money we're giving them.

Or, hey, we're able to back this business and we're going to get 10 times the amount of money that we put into the investment.

- Okay.

That's good to know.

- Yeah.

- Now you mentioned Shark Tank.

- [Gloria] Yes.

- In one minute, if somebody wanted to become a shark, - - [Gloria] Okay.

- going on that route, what would you tell them to do?

- Well also there, the good news is that there's so, that world has also opened up too, on the I'm interested in investing in a business, right.

And the criteria in the past for being able to technically be an investor has been, the bar has been very high because you needed to be something called an accredited investor, which means that you either make $200,000 in annual income, or you have $1 million or more in net worth, I think minus your IRA, your retirement plan.

So that is not too many people can, you know, fit in that criteria.

However, because now there is equity crowdfunding, there's new crowdfunding platforms where you can invest, you can be come kind of a shark and investor for as little as $100 or $200.

- [Leia'] Okay.

- And a lot of it is due to these new crowdfunding platforms.

Some are, Wefunder is one, Republic is another one.

And then there's other, kind of, if say for example, if I had a winery, right, and I wanted to invest in, I had a winery and I want to invest in some equipment and my friends love my winery, I could ask my friends, I could kinda create my own kind of crowdfunding platform and ask my friends to become investors in it with me.

So, and then there's also, there's an organization called Pipeline Angels, which works with women and helps women to become accredited, well, it helps them to become an angel investors, and they invest in women and LGBTQ people because typically like women invest in other women.

So, on the venture capital side, like less than 1% of funding has gone to women, and like 0.006% of funding has gone to black women.

And so most of that funding is because women are investing in other women-led businesses, and black people and Latinx people are investing in businesses that look like them.

- Gotcha.

I could talk to you all day.

(both laugh) This was a such a really good conversation.

And if you all want to learn more about Get The Bag and all the resources that she has, we do have her link to her website provided.

And I wanna thank you for joining us today, where I'm your host, Leia' Love.

And thank you for tuning in to Forum 360 where we have a global look from the out, we have a global outlet from a local view, have a great week.

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