Uncrowd.io is a Milwaukee based startup working to bring more diversity to venture capital. The Uncrowd platform streamlines the process for investors to connect with overlooked founders. Investors win with an efficient way to improve deal flow and the opportunity to invest in viable startups currently overlooked by their competitors. The startup ecosystem wins with capital being disbursed more equitably. Join the Uncrowd!

A Fireside Chat with Garnet Heraman

By Adam Heppe, COO and Co-Founder of Uncrowd

We were lucky enough to have Garnet Heraman, a social impact investor, to join us on Wednesday, October 28th to have a discussion on the current state of venture capital and what that means for underrepresented founders. Garnet Heraman is a man of many accolades (as you will hear during the first part of the presentation). Some of Garnet's achievements and experience include: 

  • Investor and Board Advisor at Empyreal Logistics
  • Director at Columbia Venture Community
  • Co-Founder of Aperture VC
  • Managing Partner at FUEL.ATL
  • Senior Advisor at Impact ROI
  • Board Advisor at Zenus, Inc.
  • Investor at Gather Voices
  • Non-Executive Chairman at PodCo Media Networks, Inc.
  • Senior Advisor and Investor at Dynepic, Inc.

And these are just SOME of his current roles! Forest Richter, CEO and Co-Founder of Uncrowd, hosted Garnet and asked him a variety of questions regarding his background, his experience, and how the venture capital ecosystem works for underrepresented founders. The topics that Forest discusses with Garnet include:

  • High-level overview of Garnet's background
  • Role and purpose behind Aperture VC
  • Corporate commitments to social impact investing
  • How Garnet finds underrepresented founders
  • How Garnet ended up where he is today
  • Misunderstandings of underrepresented founders
  • Why investors are still overlooking underrepresented founders
  • LPs expectations of diversity inclusion
  • Garnet's inspirations in the venture capital ecosystem
  • Future of diversity investment
  • Warning signs for a bad investor relationship
  • Best practice for getting in front of investors (one way is to use Uncrowd!)

We are very appreciative of Garnet taking the time to talk with us and provide valuable information to you. The video is definitely very interesting and informative.  You will also learn why Garnet always has Zombies on his mind!

We at Uncrowd are contiuously looking for ways to better serve underrepresented founders. This includes are platform as well as resources like this interview! To stay in the loop, please register at uncrowd.io. If you have a founder story or a resource that you think is valuable for other founders, please feel free to reach out to me at adam@uncrowd.io.

If you are interested in beginning or continuing your journey as an entrepreneur, visit Uncrowd.io and create a profile. By creating a profile, you can join the community and begin to use other founders and resources as you continue your founder journey. When the time is right for you and your company, you can use Uncrowd.io as a resource to find funding for your company! If you are interested in telling your founder story, email us at adam@uncrowd.io.