Raising $1.4M As Women of Color With Angela Muhwezi-Hall and Deborah Gladney
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The odds are stark: Women of color in tech raised less than half of 1 percent of all venture capital in 2020, according to Project Diane.
Can you imagine using a vision board to inspire you to raise $1.4 million in venture capital? Co-founders Angela Muhwezi-Hall and her sister Deborah Gladney did just that for their career discovery platform, QuickHire. Listen in as these siblings explain how they pivoted from careers in editorial public relations management and college placement and career counseling to venture capital success.\\xa0
Muhwezi-Hall and Gladney explain how their upbringing in a small town in the Midwest, as first- generation Americans with Ugandan parents, helped to shape their \\u201cno excuses mindset.\\u201d After working at a nonprofit, Gladney realized that underprivileged youth who decided not to take the traditional education route weren\\u2019t getting their fair share of opportunity. This birthed the idea of QuickHire.\\xa0
Learn how networking and tenacity earned the sisters spots in the competitive TechStars Accelerator Program, which helped them hone in on the product/market fit of their idea.\\xa0
Through the help of mentorship and continuous research, the duo focused on creating a platform that gives people what they need: equal opportunities, by focusing on empowering the job seeker to take hold of their career.
So how does QuickHire stand out as a new job platform? Tune in and find out!\\xa0
- 2:25 Muhwezi-Hall and Gladney share where their tenacity as entrepreneurs came from.
- 5:01 \\xa0The career pivots that helped them to identify their passions.
- 11:37 \\xa0Muhwezi-Hall shares how she convinced her sister to become her business partner.
- 16:11 What is TechStars and how did confidence, research, and preparation help them get in?
- 20:48 \\xa0How do QuickHire\\u2019s founders identify their customers?\\xa0
- 21:54 What are the perks of participating in an accelerator such as TechStars?
- 24:08 How has mentorship made a difference in their success?
- 25:06 \\xa0What is the business model?\\xa0
- 26:55 What\\u2019s the difference between QuickHire and LinkedIn?\\xa0
- 31:11 Was it easy for each partner to identify their roles in the business?
- 43:50 What are the dos and the don\\u2019ts for women of color raising capital?
- 48:30 What is QuickHire\\u2019s plan for the future with the capital it raised?\\xa0
- 50:19 How do Muhwezi-Hall and Gladney define success?
- 53:44 Where can you learn more about QuickHire?\\xa0