As we head into the year-end holidays, the sub-genre of holiday- and particularly Christmas-themed entertainment seems to adhere to a nearly monolithic message. Essentially, that during the densely packed few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day there exists a magical window of opportunity for personal transformation, reconciliation, social awakening, spiritual transcendence, and of course love, nearly always with a blissfully happy ending.
Charles Dickens bears some of the blame, to be sure, but nearly 150 years after his death we now kick off pumpkin spice latte madness in August [!] and gush headlong into the likes of peppermint mocha, gingerbread, and eggnogg around Halloween, with broadcast and subscription radio stations joining the Hallmark channel in round-the-clock Christmas programming on All Souls Day. So we can hardly lay the holiday mania entirely at Dickens’ feet.
Although I readily confess I am a lifelong sucker for Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (The original, of course. We do not speak of that other one.), my preferred fare tends to the less sugary. An abiding favorite is Lucille Clifton’s famous poem, won’t you celebrate with me:
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
Now this is cause for serious revelry. And unlike the overwhelming majority of holiday movies and the profusion of menu planning posts, it’s not even a tiny bit hyperbolic. Moreover, as a capital allocator, it’s readily within your grasp to accept Ms. Clifton’s gravely gracious invitation, if you want it. There is no magic required to experience — and act on — your very own epiphany.
Just ask @OperaQueenie (among others)
There has been a growing torrent of discussion in just the past few weeks about the complete disconnect between “blind” or “neutral” selection processes and their persistently egregious gender-, race-, place- and class-skewed outcomes. Aniyia Williams recently tweeted a characteristically pointed summary of the way this plays out in the nonprofit world. Oscar Perry Abello recently tweeted a cornucopia of related articles. In response to the AppleCard fail, Mara Zepeda tweeted an extensive thread about lending and credit algorithms. Morgan Stanley followed up on last year’s Trillion-Dollar Blind Spot, publishing a new report with the blunt takeaway, “The bottom line: VCs who aren’t actively pursuing investments in women and multicultural founders may be leaving money on the table.” [emphasis mine.]
And that is not even bringing the ruinous effects of intentional bias into the conversation.
Yet like Ms. Clifton, overlooked changemakers persist.
Last week I had the privilege of speaking to 80 or so current and alumnae EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women from around the world, as part of the Strategic Growth Forum extravaganza. These female founder/CEOs are building profitable enterprises in a host of sectors, with or without external capital as an accelerant. Being in their assembled company was deeply energizing: like Ms. Clifton, one way or another, they will find ways to survive and prevail. In that respect they are indicative of the vibrant population of overlooked entrepreneurs and new fund managers who are pressing on regardless of all the extra obstacles strewn in their paths.
Perhaps my favorite quote going into this holiday season comes from Chef Kwame Onwauchi, in an interview with D. Watkins: “I have a Plan B. The Plan B is to stick to Plan A — and no matter how hard it gets.” A close second is from Marcus Bullock, Founder and CEO of Flikshop: “I know the potential we have because of what I’ve been through.”
Give thanks and praise, and pass it along.
These and many other overlooked changemakers deserve recognition, connections, and yes, capital. You can play a small but important part in their success by amplifying their stories to your networks.
But even more importantly, expanding on comments I recently posted on LinkedIn and Twitter:
Investors like to say they look for grit, determination, passion… If you don’t see those attributes abundantly evident here, you don’t know how to look.
Look again. Focus your attention. Do you see what is right in front of you?
Now that your eyes are open, what changes can you undertake to your investing / capital allocation practices right now before 2019 is over, to actively seek out and capture the opportunity you have been missing?
Let’s celebrate together!
Reinventure Capital is building a fund focused exclusively on people of color and women, leading US-based expansion stage (breakeven or so) companies that are poised to become the economic engines that will positively transform sectors, societies, markets, and lives. We can definitively state without caveat or equivocation there is no pipeline problem; there is no shortage of high-quality investment prospects. And we know from observable evidence, including Ed’s track record, that disciplined investing in our target founder population generates non-concessionary returns to investors.* Participating in fueling their success is truly a worthy cause for celebration.
If you’re ready to commit capital to join in the celebration, please contact us. We will be delighted to welcome you to the party.
And if you are already actively investing in overlooked, undervalued managers or founders, please share, so others can join you!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Image credit: iStock
*While there’s no such thing as a guarantee in investing and no one can reliably predict the future, Ed’s prior track record delivering 32%IRR to investors provides direct evidence that it is indeed possible to consistently invest for both financial returns and social value creation. If you are an accredited investor and would like to learn more about investments that can advance social, racial, and gender equity by supporting high-value companies led by women and/or people of color, please contact us to start that conversation.
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