Hope
“EVERYTHING THAT IS DONE IN THE WORLD IS DONE BY HOPE.”
— Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Over the MLK holiday weekend we had the luxury of catching up on a wide range of reading and viewing, including some stirring remembrances of Dr. King and several of his writings. Not surprisingly, the experience was both humbling and challenging. As we contemplated the persistent social and economic inequities still plaguing human society, we were freshly renewed in our conviction that we can reinvent investing to create a healthier, more prosperous, more equitable future.
Further, we were delighted by how often we came across true stories of our contemporaries: people of color and women who are building businesses to address social and economic inequities and create a better future.
In this post we share just two brief anecdotes that illustrate the proliferation of ways in which entrepreneurially-minded people are proving Dr. King’s assertion, putting their hopes and aspirations into action.
The best way to predict your future is to create it.
— Abraham Lincoln or Peter Drucker, depending on the citation
2015 saw several prominent women — and men — draw attention to persistent inequities in the film and television business. Women and people of color continue to be underrepresented and underpaid compared to their white male colleagues both in front of the camera and behind it. Not much seems to be changing. Last week the Academy Award nominations were announced, reigniting intense controversy.
So we were pleased to (belatedly) come across this piece in the December issue of Glamour, entitled 25th Anniversary Women of the Year:
Just a few years ago, Reese Witherspoon was pitching a new movie to seven studio heads and requested an extra 30 minutes with each executive to ask one question: What do you have in the works for women? “Only one studio was developing something for a woman in the lead,” Witherspoon, 39, recalls. “They said, ‘We’re happy if you bring us something, but it’s not a part of our development.’” Stunned, Witherspoon started obsessing over the deficit — bringing it up at dinner parties and business meetings, to a chorus of women saying, “We know!” Yeah, I’ll bring you something, she decided. So in 2012, Witherspoon founded a production company, Pacific Standard, with producer Bruna Papandrea… by 2015, Witherspoon found out just how winning her company’s by-and-about-women formula could be: … Stars Rosamund Pike, Laura Dern, and yes, Witherspoon herself were all nominated for Oscars — and the films banked more than $400 million worldwide at the box office. With her producing and acting credits, Witherspoon landed on Forbes’ list of highest-paid actresses and on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
— Alan Kay
Seemingly on the other end of our reading spectrum, a TechCrunch listicle / gallery entitled, “40 Diverse People In Tech Who Made Big Moves In 2015” led us to a thoughtful interview with Tristan Walker, founder and CEO of Walker & Company, and Co-Founder of CODE2040.
Walker & Company’s consumer first product suite Bevel is a shaving line created by and for people of color. Founded in 2013, Walker & Company has attracted more than $30M in investment, garnered an enviable list of celebrity fans, and established a 95% repeat order rate with its customers. Initially launched as a predominantly online retail model, Bevel is expanding to offline retail and reported to be coming to Target in 2016. CODE2040 is a similarly ambitious nonprofit with a clearly defined social and economic purpose: “Our goal is to ensure that by the year 2040 — when the US will be majority-minority — Blacks and Latino/as are proportionally represented in America’s innovation economy as technologists, investors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs.”
There are several noteworthy moments in the interview, including the combination of external support, frustration and insight that led Walker to found a consumer packaged goods company focused on serving the health and beauty needs of people of color. Walker also discusses his own values, priorities as CEO, and aspirations for shaping the future in consumer products, Silicon Valley, and the United States. For a fuller discussion of these themes and more, it’s worth watching Walker’s “Be an Authentic Entrepreneur” talk at Stanford.
You get the future you invest in.
— Reinventure Capital
Witherspoon and Walker are high-profile, charismatic figures who serve as powerful examples of people who are successfully creating and inventing the future. And their stories offer potent reminders that there are still innumerable opportunities for talented founder teams to build profitable, industry-changing companies that address social and economic inequities. These are true stories of hope in action.
To be sure, Walker and Witherspoon are both unique, gifted, hard-working, imperfect — and yes, as Walker repeatedly acknowledges, fortunate — individuals. But they are far from alone. Wherever we go, we are privileged to meet founder teams who share their qualities, their drive, and their brilliance. And they all share a determination to put their hopes into action: to create, invent, and lead the future.
Access to capital plays a critical role in their prospects, and ours. Over the history of the industrial era, every wave of innovation and economic advancement has been fueled by investment. Investors have played an increasingly vital role in determining the future, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. We believe the future can be more equitable, more healthy, and more prosperous for all, and we see an abundance of opportunities to help create that future by investing in it.
Please join us.
“I believe that we will win!”
— US Women’s Soccer team (World Cup champions 2015)