From Homeless to Hollywood, Arian Simone is a motivational Speaker, entrepreneur, and publicist. Arian founded Fearless Fund to achieve VC Capital/financing for women of color in business. Fearless Fund has helped secure funding for Bitsy's, Gabrielle Union's health brand, Pinky Cole's Slutty Vegan, The Lip Bar from Melissa Butler, and many others.
Forbes Reporter, Rosemarie Miller sits down with Arian to discuss backlash, the work it took to start Fearless Fund and the statistics against Black women as entrepreneurs.
Forbes Reporter, Rosemarie Miller sits down with Arian to discuss backlash, the work it took to start Fearless Fund and the statistics against Black women as entrepreneurs.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hi everyone, I'm Rosemary Miller
00:05 and we are backstage at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit.
00:09 And I have the pleasure of speaking
00:10 with the CEO and co-founder, Arian Simone.
00:14 Thank you so much for joining me today.
00:16 - Thank you so much for having me.
00:18 - Absolutely.
00:19 So Arian, first before we get started, how are you?
00:22 - I'm good, thank you for asking.
00:25 There's days I'm up and down, but I'm good.
00:28 - Fearless Fund, it's been all over the news lately.
00:32 Unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.
00:34 - For all the right reasons, we're doing amazing work, Rosemary.
00:36 - Y'all are doing amazing work, but the attacks against you,
00:40 I don't wanna be biased in my reporting,
00:42 but they're unbelievable.
00:44 - No, they are unbelievable and I don't think that's bias.
00:47 I just think that's probably the general concern
00:51 that everybody would have.
00:53 - So could you tell us some background
00:55 and the mission of Fearless Fund?
00:57 - Yes, as you stated, I'm CEO and co-founder
00:59 of the Fearless Fund.
01:01 It is the nation's first venture capital fund
01:03 that is built by women of color for women of color.
01:05 And we got into this space
01:07 due to all the racial disparities that exist.
01:09 Women of color are the most founded entrepreneur demographic.
01:12 They are just the least funded.
01:14 And I was a college student at Florida A&M University.
01:17 And though it was like 20 something years ago,
01:19 I think I still look 20, but yes, quite a while ago.
01:23 And I was raising capital myself.
01:27 And I remember what it was like
01:29 and meeting business investors and having my business plan.
01:32 This is before we were saying pitch decks.
01:35 And so noticing that none of the investors look like me.
01:38 And I made a promise to myself
01:40 that one day I was gonna be the business investor
01:42 that I had been looking for.
01:44 And that promise looks like the Fearless Fund today
01:46 backed by JP Morgan Chase, MasterCard, Bank of America,
01:49 Ally Bank, PayPal Ventures, Costco, General Mills,
01:52 and a host of others.
01:54 - All of that.
01:54 Just for you to have to pause it now.
01:58 What was your reaction when you realized,
02:00 okay, I have to pause this
02:01 because the grant program, what,
02:04 it came under attack
02:06 in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, told y'all.
02:08 - Well, everything is in pause.
02:10 That's one thing I do want you to be aware of.
02:12 We do have more than one business at the Fearless Fund.
02:14 We have our investment vehicle
02:16 and we also have our Fearless Foundation.
02:18 At the foundation, that's where we deploy grants.
02:20 That's where we have our education program.
02:23 And the program you're referring to
02:24 that the judge ruled in our favor
02:27 and then the appellate court appealed it
02:30 is the MasterCard grant.
02:32 And we have a program with them
02:34 that we've been running for quite some time.
02:36 They made a commitment post-George Floyd
02:38 to the black community of a certain dollar amount
02:40 that they wanted to get out into the black community.
02:42 And we're here to be a fund administrator to that program.
02:46 - So what was your reaction when you knew you had to pause it?
02:50 - We always knew that that was an option.
02:51 We knew that the judge can choose to rule either way.
02:54 Of course, it's always disturbing.
02:57 We got into this space because there's actually a need
03:00 but I actually want the same things in this world
03:02 that Ed Blum does.
03:04 I know you're like, what is that?
03:06 A world where race doesn't matter.
03:08 I want the same thing he does.
03:10 Our just way about going about it has to be different
03:12 because we have to get to an equitable space
03:15 before that day can happen.
03:16 - So how long do you believe you're gonna be
03:19 dealing with this lawsuit?
03:20 - Oh, honestly, I have no clue.
03:21 That's in the judge's hands.
03:22 - That's in the judge's hands.
03:24 - I'd love to be out of it yesterday.
03:26 (both laughing)
03:26 - I imagine, I imagine.
03:28 Entrepreneurs, especially black women,
03:34 they're facing so many challenges with getting funding
03:37 as you already mentioned.
03:38 Could you tell us some details or some stories rather
03:41 of exact challenges that you've seen?
03:44 - Well, we know the statistics are what they are.
03:47 Black and brown women right now are receiving
03:49 0.39% of venture capital funding
03:52 while making up 20% of the US population.
03:54 Again, most found at least funded.
03:56 So the stats are what they are.
03:58 But I would like to share a personal story
03:59 about somebody who happened to just slide in my DM.
04:02 And she was like, oh, Eriann,
04:04 I'm getting ready to pitch the fund.
04:05 And I let her know, I said, oh, your business
04:07 doesn't necessarily match our thesis.
04:10 And she wanted to stop and just go change her business model,
04:13 her focus, everything.
04:15 And I said, ma'am, no, no, no, no.
04:17 I said, your business is actually like really, really good.
04:19 Like, I don't wanna call her out
04:20 'cause her business is really good.
04:21 And I'm pretty sure she's probably like a seven figure
04:23 earner going plus and growing.
04:25 But I said, don't change anything.
04:29 She said, I don't think you understand.
04:31 You are my only hope.
04:33 And I was like, whoa, like my whole spirit, stomach,
04:38 everything just dropped.
04:39 I'm like, people view us as their only hope.
04:42 This is a problem.
04:44 So my plan after finishing,
04:45 we're in the middle of a fundraise now for Fund 2.
04:48 My plan after this that I told my staff back in January,
04:51 before all this happened,
04:53 that I wanted to get into some policy work
04:55 to make changes regarding access to funding,
04:58 because I don't want the next person
04:59 who's black or brown to come behind
05:01 and try to start a fund
05:02 and they have to go through all we went through.
05:04 Just to get to the 25.8 million in a concept fund,
05:07 it was like 300 meetings.
05:09 I don't want that for anybody.
05:11 So I was always gonna take a moment after that fundraise
05:14 and just work on changing the landscape some.
05:17 And then I'm like, okay,
05:18 as long as I can make it better for somebody else,
05:21 I've done my part.
05:22 Because a fearless fund is great,
05:24 but we need fearless funds with an S.
05:26 We need many people doing this
05:27 in order to move the needle in those statistics.
05:29 - I'm curious.
05:31 She said, you are my only hope.
05:33 - Oh yeah, that was horrible.
05:34 - What led her to believe that?
05:35 Because I know in the world of business,
05:37 you get accustomed to hearing a whole lot of nos,
05:39 but all you need is that one yes.
05:41 Do you think you were really her only hope,
05:44 or did she just endure too many nos?
05:46 - I think that she probably has,
05:49 like many endured too many nos.
05:51 - Yeah.
05:52 - Yeah, there are options out there,
05:54 but I mean, if you, like I said, you heard the stats.
05:57 So you can just imagine,
05:59 heck, look at us when we had to fundraise.
06:02 300 meetings, I mean.
06:04 - 300?
06:05 - Yeah, it took a minute.
06:06 It took a minute.
06:07 - Over how long?
06:08 - Oh gosh, over about a three year period.
06:11 Like it's no joke.
06:12 It is no joke.
06:13 - So what kept you motivated?
06:15 - I knew what I said to myself back in 2001,
06:19 sitting on that floor of my store in Tallahassee, Florida,
06:22 in the Tallahassee Mall while I was a student
06:25 at Florida Indian University.
06:26 But I'm pretty resilient.
06:29 I mean, the word fearless is not just
06:31 our company name for no reason.
06:32 I'm gonna keep pushing.
06:34 - What made you a resilient woman?
06:36 - I grew up in the city of Detroit, Michigan,
06:38 and raised by amazing parents.
06:40 So that's the short version of that.
06:43 - I wanna hear more.
06:44 - You wanna hear more?
06:45 - I wanna hear more.
06:46 - She said, "I wanna hear more."
06:48 The city I grew up in was about 88% African American,
06:52 and I got to see black success at its finest.
06:54 I got to see people who were billionaires
06:56 and multimillionaires,
06:57 and these were people who were reachable.
06:59 We used to pay the cable bill to Barton Cablevision.
07:02 We didn't pay it to AT&T.
07:03 We didn't pay it to Xfinity.
07:05 We didn't pay it to any of these companies.
07:06 We paid it to Barton Cablevision.
07:08 This was a black man who owned that company.
07:09 So every month I got to see my parents
07:12 pay the cable bill to this black man who owned this company,
07:15 and it didn't empower me then.
07:16 I just see how it had an effect on me later.
07:19 I saw what was possible.
07:20 Man was about a nine-figure earner.
07:22 You can walk down the street and go speak to him.
07:24 - Wow.
07:25 - Mm-hmm.
07:26 - And seeing that, that made all the difference,
07:29 growing up and seeing that.
07:30 - Oh yes, the exposure, seeing what was possible
07:33 and what your options were, most definitely.
07:35 - So what three pieces of advice do you have for someone
07:39 on how to be resilient?
07:40 - Oh my gosh.
07:41 To pull from the child within, 'cause children, oh my gosh,
07:48 if they want something, they're gonna keep on asking
07:50 until they get it.
07:51 You best believe they will throw a whole tantrum
07:53 to get what they want.
07:55 So pull from the child within, pull from the God within,
07:58 and keep yourself surrounded with good energy
08:01 and good people.
08:02 - I love that, especially pull from the God within.
08:05 - Mm-hmm.
08:06 - Well, thank you so much for joining me here today.
08:08 - Oh, thank you, thank you for having me.
08:10 - Absolutely.
08:11 (upbeat music)
08:14 (upbeat music)
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