Venture Capitalism For Dummies With Jess Schultz

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Here we are, once again, back in the all-up in my lady business pile. We're here today with uh with Jess Schultz, and I'm super excited to have her here today. Uh Jess is the founder and CEO of the Amplify Group, a boutique agency that specializes in supporting business-to-business startups with GTM and RevOps. We're gonna get into whatever that means, uh, later on. And she started her career in capital markets, transitioned to SaaS sales, and then was a venture capitalist prior to starting Amplify. She grew up in Florida and says not to judge her for that. Uh she's a singer, lover of wine, boxing, and yoga, and she is a hype woman who particularly loves supporting other women. Jess, welcome to All Up in My Lady Business, The Pile. Thank you. The pile.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Yes. And uh though she has recently been in Chicago, she is presently uh nomading it in the uh greater Miami area. Uh, which is uh we're in the midst of a uh a blizzard here in Chicago, so you have done the right thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

I'm feeling good about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah, are you in Miami proper?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Yeah, in Brickle, if you're familiar. So it's like I'm only familiar with South Beach. Okay. So it's not that. It's kind of like the river north of Miami.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Cool. Excellent. So at least you're you're in the good part of it. Yeah. Um, access to hot tacos. So let's get into it, Jess. Um, what brings you to all of my lady business? What who like what is what is GTM and RevOps?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Uh GTM is go to market. So all things sales, marketing, customer success. So all things that make money. Um, and then RevOps is revenue operations. So kind of the backbone of all the things that make money.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

God, I may maybe I need you. Um so uh so how did you get to this point? Because that feels like very like high powered, like hard to do, um, you know, putting yourself in a lot of situations that um you know, like I don't know, I feel like working with startups and stuff, there's always like this sort of like energy around it, but like I don't I I've never been up. I mean I guess my own was a startup. Is every business that starts a startup at some point? I think every business feels like a startup at the beginning. Sometimes it continues to feel like a startup for 10, 15 years. Yeah. I definitely have some friends who have or not friends, but I've I've known some people who've had businesses that seem like they are in startup mode for all the times. Um, so where are you are you from Chicago? No, you're from Florida.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Uh yeah, from Florida originally. Um, but I started my career in banking and I moved to Chicago originally to work for Merrill Lynch. So that was 12-ish years ago.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

But you started your career, so like right out of college, you were like in banking?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Yeah, finance major, went straight into it. Um my first job was actually Deutsche Bank in London. And then um after that I went to Merrill in Chicago and I worked for Merrill there and New York City actually.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

And then so how long were you like so you worked in Maryland? So it sounds like a very boys club uh sort of place.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Is that accurate? You called it. Um, do you watch the show Billions or have you?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I have not, but I've seen, I mean, I've I've I'm familiar with the concept.

unknown 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Okay, so I tell people that was really what it was like to work there. And funny side fact, um, but the global head of prime brokerage for Merrill when I worked there, um, he like at night and I left because it was such a boys' club, and we could dig into that if we if we want to. We should. Um but funny story before we do, uh so uh the global head of Prime Brokerage was uh at Merrill. Uh so I quit because I was over it. And I'm like two years down the road after quitting, watching the season opener of billions on my couch. And the first scene has what looks to be my old global head of Prime Brokerage. And I'm like, but what would he be doing on the billions show? Like, isn't he running things at Merrill Lynch? But I was like, but that really looks like him. So I Google it, and the first uh article that pops up is a Bloomberg article that's like, I won't say his name, but blah, blah, blah. Um, you know, released from Merrill Lynch for sexual harassment and et cetera, et cetera, resurfaces on season premiere of billions. And I'm like, I mean, you can't make this up.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Wait, so he was fired for sexual harassment at Merrill Lynch and then became an actor who's then playing himself. Basically, yes. Is he I mean, he was only like an extra.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

He wasn't really like a major role, but still, it was just like, are you freaking serious? Because I used to always say to people, yeah, I left because it was like a billions episode. And I'm like, here it is playing out in real life.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yeah. Yeah. That um it's and it's it's one of these things where it's like a two on the nose, you know, like where you're like, wow, so you knew you were awful and you're just playing into your strengths.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Um, so after so, like, why did you decide to be a finance major?

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Um, so I was raised by two accountants and I'm good at finance and math. And I think I just thought that was like a practical path to go. Um, I really wish, I wonder if it's gotten any better, but I feel like they didn't do a great job in college of like career counseling. Like I think a lot of us were just like, uh, I don't know, it sounds right. Um, like there's just so many careers I didn't even know existed until I was already having one. Um, but yeah, I think it just kind of was like, oh, I guess if you're, you know, if you're good at math, you major in finance. And I guess if you're a finance major, you work at a bank. Like it just, I didn't know any better.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah. I mean, I I uh I have a degree in art history, and it's not like I have any regrets around it because, you know, I had a really fun intellectual, you know, endeavor when I was in college and it taught me how to think critically and taught me, I mean, I don't, I don't think it was useless to go to school for that because I feel like, you know, in college you're, you know, talking in class and debating things and you're learning how to figure things out, but there is no career canceling around that position. I mean, it feels like with finance, you'd be like, you know, like today we're gonna have a guy from, you know, you know, Price Waterhouse Cooper to come in and like, you know, talk to you about something. Yeah, like, or at least uh put them in front of you as like these are the kinds of people you can work with. Like it almost makes me feel more confident, like better that I didn't have any key remote counseling if you didn't either. Um, not at all. Uh and so when after you graduated, you worked at Merrill Lynch, and how long were you there?

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Um I was there for about six years, but like banking as a whole, I think was about eight, like between the different spots.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

But and so then after that, you so you went into venture capital after that? Or how did how did that part?

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Not right away. Um yeah, so I was working in banking. I mean, there was a there was a lot of things I liked, and I'm glad I did it because there's a lot of foundational knowledge I have as a result, but um I feel like it was like literally killing me. Like I was quite literally hospitalized at one point, and they were like, There's nothing wrong with you, you're just stressed. And I was like, Okay, well, this is not good. I'm 30. Um, and so I was like, something's gotta give. Um, so I but then I at that point I was like, well, now I have eight years in this career, I have these series licenses, like, what do you do? Um, so my first, I guess, pivot, because I feel like usually pivots have like, I think sometimes you have to like sidestep to completely pivot. But so I guess the first part of my pivot was a sidestep. Uh, so I went to work at a technology company, like a software company that sold software to banks. So it was like the same audience, but I was working at a software company now instead of working at a bank, um, which was a really nice like transition out, I guess. Um, because then I was able to like have on my resume, oh now I'm, you know, I have experience with SaaS sales, SaaS being software as a service. Um, and so then I felt like I was able to go get another like software sales job that was completely outside of banking. So that was kind of like the step out for me. Um, so then I I did that. So the next job I had in software sales was at a company called TryNet, which is uh totally different, selling HR services to startups. It's like HR in a box. Um and I was responsible for venture capital and private equity channel sales.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

So basically like I'd selling HR stuff to venture capital people.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Well, like I'd build relationships with the VCs. They may or may not become my client, but the ultimate goal was that like if I built a relationship with them, then they would introduce me to all of their investments, like all the startups they were invested in.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

So like you were so when you say building relationships, is it like calling them up and being like, let's get lunch? I mean, are there's no they're not buying anything from you actively at that time? You're just like staying on their way.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Right. So like venture capital is invested in multiple businesses, like they've invested money in multiple startups. So if you build a relationship with them and they like you, then they'll introduce you to all the startups in their network kind of thing. But what does building the relationship look like?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Is it is it like lunches?

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Yeah. I mean, you're like, yeah, it was a lot of like coffees, lunches, um, adding value, like finding ways to add value and like build rapport with them and um kind of kind of sell them on how I could add value to the companies they were invested in so that they would, you know, broker those introductions. Um and I did really well at that and I actually loved it. Um but then the company made some changes that made it challenging to sell is like the short answer. And then I got recruited by a venture capital firm that I was selling to. Um, like once I told them I was looking for a job, they were like, why don't you come here? And at first I was like, what do you want with me? I'm like, I worked in banking. I mean, I worked in finance, but it was a very different part of finance. And then now I've been a salesperson for five years. So, like, what you know, I don't get it. And they were like, Well, venture capital is all sales. And I was like, Okay. And the more I learned, and then when I took the job, it absolutely was. Um What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Like what what is how what is how is venture capital sales?

SPEAKER_02 11:22

So it's um the venture capital firms themselves are kind of fighting for um in a good market. Right now it's a weird market with this economy, but like in a good market, they're fighting to get um into these startups. So like the startup themselves might be raising five million dollars or something. Um, they're only gonna have so many investors that they can let take a piece of that five million dollar pie. And so for the really promising startups, like the next Facebooks or Twitter's or whatever, um, investors are kind of like having to sell themselves to get the founder to take their money, which sounds kind of interesting, right? And yeah, it depends on what kind of market we're in. Like right now, the founders, the the money is not flowing as easily. And so now the the tides have shifted a bit. And I think the founders are fighting a bit harder for the VC's money, but just kind of depends what market dynamics were any.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

I mean, I don't I don't know if you n necessarily want to take this into a uh venture capitalism for dummies. Um, but it's like one of those things that gets like bandied about roundabout. You hear a lot about like venture capitals or like venture capital companies investing in things or like a company that got their funding and then they fell apart. And you know, and I don't it it I don't thoroughly like I guess I don't traffic in the world of I mean I'm you know like a woman that is a DJ, I don't know. So I don't really understand how these things go, but I feel like they're that the venture capital of the whole thing has really changed the way like the whole economy works in general. It's almost like a I don't know, this isn't the right word, I'm sure, but I don't know I can't it's almost like a shadow banking industry, so to speak.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

It's called like the the true name for the asset class is called private equity, because that's what it is, right? Like we have public equity, which is stocks, which are like traded on an exchange and it's anyone can buy it and sell it. Private equity, which venture capital is a type, um, is exactly that, to your point, like kind of in the shadows, right? Like those deals don't happen with transparency generally, or like they're not regul they're regulated, but but not the way public.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah. So like if a venture so it's interesting, I didn't know that they were like jockeying to try to get into like you know the good deals. So it'd be like, you know, fake Facebook, new Facebook, you know, back of the head foot book or whatever. Um so so they're like, hi, we're we have this product that we think and these companies, how long have they been around before they before they start asking people for five million dollars?

SPEAKER_02 14:02

That really depends. Every company takes like a different path. Like sometimes there's um, like not to overcomplicate it, but like sometimes really early stage companies that are like pre-product, pre-revenue, they're like, I just have an idea. Uh, they might start by raising like friends and family money, which is literally quite literally like your friends and family giving you money, but in exchange for that you giving them some equity. Um, and then usually they'll go out for like angel investors, so like high net worth and individuals that invest in companies, but just like as a person. And then usually once there's in general, once there's a real product, like a minimum viable product, and then there's maybe some revenue, maybe not, then they'll go to venture capital and that's called like institutional funding.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

So the so the reason why they go to venture capital is because of like a real like a traditional bank wouldn't give them the loan?

SPEAKER_02 14:55

100%.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yeah, because they don't have any, a lot of times any customers or maybe even a broader. Collateral or whatever. Yeah. So then so then when they when they go to the venture capital money, is it a thing where the venture capitalist is like, I'm gonna give you money? And if it falls apart, do they owe the venture capitalist money back? Like, is it like a loan?

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Um no, it's it's they're taking equity. So like they're giving you five million for five percent in your company or something. So like if your company goes to zero, then their five percent of your company is worth nothing. If your company goes to a hundred million dollar valuation, now it's worth something. And if it falls up, sorry. Oh no, you're fine. I was gonna say, and like they know that only I think it's something like 20% of the companies they invest in are going to succeed. So like it's a known thing that like some of their bets aren't gonna make it, but the goal is that they make enough good bets that it makes up for all the losses.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

So those but but what so those other the other 80% though, like are they do they just go bankrupt and die and disappear and they never talk to them again? Or is there like a rehabilitation period to try to like get them so they're not I mean, because I feel like if I got five million dollars in the first years of starting my company, like I don't first I don't know how I'd spend it. I'd figure it out. I'd figure I promise you I'd figure it out. But it almost like gives you like this artificial ability to grow without really knowing what you're doing. So are the venture capitalists giving them like advice, or is it just straight up money and hoping for the best?

SPEAKER_02 16:26

No, I mean, in most cases, well, I guess I shouldn't say most, sometimes these are seasoned entrepreneurs that have done this many times. And so like they're going out for money again. They already have, you know, they've already built and sold a Facebook and now they're doing something again. Sometimes it's first-time founders. Um and then the venture capitalists in theory should be acting as business advisors, you know, and helping them and pointing them in the right direction, or even if they're not giving them the advice directly, like pointing them to people like me or or other like ecosystem partners, like, oh, Jessica's really good at this thing, talk to her and work with her on this or whatever. Um but I wouldn't say they all go bankrupt. That definitely does happen. And it's it happened more last year than it has in a while because of the economy. Um but I think what happens maybe more often is that they just end up exiting, which is like what it's called, um, meaning selling the company to maybe for not like the greatest terms, right? Like maybe they end up, they're like, oh crap, we're gonna basically run out of money and go under, or we can sell what we do have, like the intellectual property, the patents, the whatever we have, well, whatever we do have to like, I don't know, whoever would buy it, like a Google. I mean, I don't know if Google would buy it, but you know what I mean? Like a bigger company would buy it for a really low cost.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Does it mess up their credit? Like, is it are you in, does it wind up falling into the ecosystem of like credit ratings and things like that?

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Um, I mean, I I'm probably not the best person to ask. It's probably like more of like a legal question, and it probably depends on each company's like legal structure and all that. But like, for example, my company's an S-corp. So the company has a separate like credit history from me, but I am the owner, and so my credit history impacts, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Well, I get my question, I guess, is like, is the is the venture capital's firm like reporting you to like you know, uh experience or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Like, are you like if you oh no, because like again, they're an owner, right? Like they're basically like a co-owner with you. So you don't if the business is worth nothing, their ownership is worth nothing. Like you don't owe them got it. You know what I'm saying? You're just like if you sell the company, then they are owed their percentage ownership of payout, you know?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Okay, thank you for explaining all that to me. I'm sorry. I'm I just know that's no, you're fine. Because I know you went into this and then I want and I'm sure other people who are listening are like, I don't understand what this works, what this even means. So I'm very I was very curious about it because I don't understand it either. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

So No, it's a good question because I to your point, I think a lot of people don't understand it and then you feel like embarrassed asking. So I'm glad you're asking because maybe people will then know without feeling embarrassed.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Well, I guess I guess to take this. So could a company like mine just like, you know, I've got three full-time employees and then 20 DJs that work for me as employees? Like, is there like is there like venture capital that like invests in like dinky people like me? Or is it all just like you have to have a software and go for it or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Yeah, I mean, in general, no, they wouldn't they invest in high margin, highly scalable businesses. And so, like you and I, even my business, right? Like I run a services business. Um, my margins are there for like 40% at best. Like they're looking for software where the margins are 90%.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

You know, like okay. I also would like have a 90% margin. Um so when you so when did you start getting in? So you started your own venture capital firm, right? No.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

I so no, I don't um I angel invest like as an individual just because you know, because I enjoy investing and I kind of know what I'm doing. Um, but I don't do it in it. My professional work is providing services to venture capital invested in companies. So like a startup that's received venture capital, they then have a lot of pressure to grow and scale very quickly because they now have all this money. And so the VC is like, go, go, go, go, go, like, make money, make money fast. Um, so I come in and help them make money.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

So okay, that's amazing. So, okay, so on the when you say you angel invest, do you angel invest in these in these cup these companies as well? Or are you taking it to like what what do you angel, what do you personally want to put your money into if you can tell if you can say that.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Oh, yeah. No, I don't mind. Um, I have invested in one of my clients. Otherwise, my investments have just been in other businesses that I believe in. Um for me personally, I think most angel investors would probably say this. You usually invest in areas where you already have personal knowledge and right, like so the businesses I've invested in, like I personally understand the value prop or like it solves a problem I've had in one of my former roles or something. Um, so you'd like I really, I guess, understand and believe in what they're building. I wouldn't invest in, for example, like a biotech company just because like I have no idea how to determine if that's gonna be successful. Um and then at when you're angel investing, the companies are really early. Like there's not a lot of like traction yet. Um, so I think you have to really believe in the founder as a you know, as an individual and as a leader, like believe in their potential and their ability to make it something, even if what it ends up looking like is very different than what you're looking at right now. So sometimes people say like you're betting on the jockey, not the horse. Um so that's very much true.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

But are you looking, are you trying are you doing this in like five million dollar people? Are you doing it for like small? I mean, what's who's what's your like your thing?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

My checks are like as small as a thousand and as big as ten thousand. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

So like there's smaller companies that you're good you're doing this for. And like, okay, so I'm a small check.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

They're raising like two million, but I'm just 10 grand maybe of that. 2 million.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

I once, I once was looking into investing into a a friend of mine who had a restaurant, and they were like, you have like I was like, I'll invest. I've got some money. And they're like, minimum investment is $75,000. And I'm like, you wouldn't take my money at $10. Like it was weird. It was like they only wanted people that could invest at a certain higher level and up. And uh I mean, I'm sure that's because they don't want so many people having a tiny little piece of their pie.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

It's because of operations. Like it's it's a lot to manage, right? Because then if you have to do, like if you think about it, like if they sell the company, well, then they have to do paperwork with each one of these shareholders and distribute cash to each of you. Um it's just it's like an admin nightmare. So when they do take, like the startups that have taken my smaller checks, to your point, they do that because they see value in what I bring to being part of the company beyond my money. It's not that like my 10 grand is like, woo, but like if Jessica has a network that can be valuable to them or a skill set that can be valuable to then to them, then it's like my 10 grand is just 10 grand, but it's like having Jessica have equity in your company makes Jessica care. And so then Jessica will give you these other things that are good.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Rollodex, like you know, you're yeah, you're yeah, you're okay, cool. Okay, so how did you do that? How did you get to the point where you could do that? How do you have $10,000 to invest in things?

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Um, well, I guess this comes kind of back to like being raised by two accountants. So I've been taught from a very early age like to be fiscally responsible. Um, and I've been saving money. I mean, I'm uh 36, about to be 37, which is kind of wild. Time flies. Time is um harsh mistress. Yeah, it's just like wow. Um, but so I've been saving for a lot of years, and um I've saved up enough money, and then I felt I I honestly only started doing it once I worked at the VC, as far as angel investing is concerned. Because it was like then I understood how to evaluate companies and how to think about it, and I had relationships that got me into these situations. So I would say, like, um for me that's when it happened, but I do I do think more people could get involved if you want to. Like, actually, for example, in Chicago, there's a group called uh Vitalize Angels, and there's several of these groups, but that's just one that I'm familiar with, where um you can join their group and it's like a hundred bucks a quarter or something. It's not super expensive. But they provide um training and education and like knowledge sharing on a regular basis about like how to evaluate angel investments, and then they also shortlist a number of companies and present them to the group so that like you can, if you're especially if you're new, you can make those first few bets in a more, I don't know, safe way, right? Because you have like these experts that are kind of pre-vetting the deals that they're showing to you. So I think if someone is interested in getting going in angel investing, I would say like find an angel syndicate like that where you can learn and build your network and knowledge and all of that. And then then you probably get comfortable enough to like do some of that on your own.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

And then $100 that are whatever to buy in, is that just to like for you to be in it and then whatever you'd invest would be on top of that? Right, correct. The hundred dollars is like to cover their operating costs, basically. Um okay, so is that how you got into it? So you okay, so you were raised by accountants, so you're fiscally, so you're at the point where you so your thing that you do, what is it now that you have now that you've left the world of banking and no longer work for venture capital or HR software? Like, where are you at now with your professional life?

SPEAKER_02 26:12

So I founded my company, Amplify Group. Uh actually it's almost two years to the mark. February 8th is my anniversary. Congratulations. Thank you. Um, so two years ago. And really, I mean, um, when I tell people about starting that company, it was like push and pull. Um, so my mom is an uh entrepreneur. She started her own company when she was 25, which was 40 years ago. So I always say, like, thinking about being a 25-year-old starting a business right now is kind of crazy. But then to be like 25-year-old 40 years ago, I'm like, I mean without the internet, like yeah, without the internet as a woman, like all the things. I'm just like, you know. So I've had a really great role model, but I think because I've been raised by an entrepreneur my whole life, I think I knew that was a path for me someday. I just didn't know what my entrepreneur would be. Like, um, and I got to a point where I felt like I was very sick of working for men. I was very sick of working for other people. And I just didn't feel like personally at that moment, if I would have gone and worked at another venture capital fund or another software company, I was just like, I feel like I'm just gonna see more of the same. And so I really felt like I just wanted to create something new that that was a culture I wanted and something that I don't know. So it was like that anyway. So that's why it's like a push and pull.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

You want to be the change that you want to see. Like if the thing you want to do doesn't exist, then you have to make it.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yes. And if usually that was a great way to put it.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

And like there's a lot of, I mean, I I would imagine the more majority of these kinds of places are male-owned and dominated and have a you know, the the traditional male culture of what work looks like and what you know your own personal blood, sweat, and tears is supposed to look like without any kind of like comfort or happiness around it. It's all just rise and grind, and it's like, I don't know if I necessarily want to be rising and grinding all the time.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

That and like um, I'm very outspoken and I'm not afraid to challenge things. And I think um I'm a really big fan of Adam Grant, and he talks about like the power of dissent in the workplace, but not like disagreeing just to disagree and be like annoying, but br but like diversity of thought and like challenging things, and like that's how you get to better, better ideas, and like that's what what ultimately like fuels growth is challenging the status quo, not just doing the same thing over and over again. And I was always like a very vocal person within organizations, um, and that didn't always serve me as a woman.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Questioning men, you're not you're not allowed to have opinions. And if you have an opinion, it's like it's you know, it's like the Taylor Swift like women like you know, like men react, women overreact. Like any reaction you have is big and you know, loaded and doesn't mean what it really means, and it's got coded bullshit behind it. And yeah, no, I understand. So, so when you started your own company, what was the line in the sand for you? Like what was your, what was what what's what do you like? What's your, I mean, I guess like your mission statement or your core values, or like what was the thing that made it you're like, I need to make this thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Um yeah, for me it was like, okay, I don't want to go work for anyone else anymore. I want to work on my own. What is my monetizable skill? Like what is that I bring the world? And like um, I believe I have this very unique background since I did work in finance and banking and uh, but I also worked in sales and like I've worked in HR. Like I have like all these different experiences that ultimately give me like a very unique viewpoint, I think, on growth in general. Um and I, but I'm also like very operationally inclined. Like I I love process and procedure and like I love technology. And so, and I working at the VC made me realize that a lot of startups really struggle with go-to-market. Like a lot of um founders of these software companies are very technical and they have a vision for what the product is gonna look like and this those the problems that the product's gonna solve, but they don't always know how to tell that story and to amplify that message and to then, which they need to do in order to make revenue, right? And to survive. And so I just felt like I was in a unique, I had a unique background that made me like gave me a skill set that would really solve for that need. And when I did some research, there really wasn't many people serving this this end of the market. There's a lot of consultants out there, sales and marketing consultants serving like the middle market or the enterprise. Um, but there's not a lot of people serving this like early stage startup market. Um, so I saw a really big market opportunity. Now that I'm doing it, I think I know why, because it's really hard. Um, and they don't have big budgets. Um, so you know, you can only charge so much, but I absolutely love what I do.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

So uh okay, so what I so I mean to go back to like, you know, it's a tech guy that's super technical and doesn't really are you mostly working like is it is it gender like is it are you just working with anybody who will work with you or is there a specific type are you like women focused or are you like just I'll take whatever bel I believe in when I see the company?

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Uh-huh I mean it has to be a good person that I think I can that is like coachable and and it has to be a good business that I think I can help and I understand. So I do have male and female founder clients. But I'd love to work with more women.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Sure. I mean there and that's the thing is I don't think a lot of women even think that something like this is available to them. Like I and so because it sounds it seems like there's a lot of they don't know what kind of strings are attached or like and then I think a lot of women undervalue even what they can provide in the end game as well. And it's like, you know, when I started my company, I started my company because I was like a good DJ and I needed I wanted to make money that way. I didn't know anything about business. You know, I didn't know anything about anything. Like, and I just was like, I'm just gonna do this thing. And then you get like eight months into it, and you're like, I don't know how to reconcile my books. I don't know even what reconciliation is. And so it's like on these early stages of these companies where it's like a tech guy and he's like, I want to make a thing. And I don't think they nobody I mean, no one realizes the iceberg that's underneath the, you know, it's like all businesses are this banned, we probably wouldn't do it.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

So it's like kind of like the naivety is good.

unknown 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

I think.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Well, and it's you know, if I had it's like it's really I want to hope that they understand the value of what they're getting by, you know, getting the money in the first place and getting people like you that have interest in it. Like, I mean, that would be a boon and amazing for any like for the businesses that didn't have that, we should be saying, like, dude, like, listen to this person, take this advice, because most people don't get this. And so, you know, it's like the gratitude practice around venture capital, you know?

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Oh, yes. Um, actually, one of my good female friends who's a um who's a business owner too, she always says, venture capital is not a right, it's earned. And it's so true, right? Like, I mean, it it's really hard to get that money. And and to your point, if you do get it, it's to be celebrated and to be like grateful and and hopefully you're doing the right thing with that money.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Well, and they're bypassing so many hurdles that they have to get on their own. Like, you know, making your software, turning enough profit to hire a second person to then to hire an HR company. It's like, you know, there's usually the steps are much more glacial. Yeah. You know, so like to get these, this kind of leg up like so early, it's like, you know, a gift, I think it could also be a curse if you like don't know what you're doing and you don't know how to like act, you know, how to use those things. So then they need someone like you to like be the, you know, to be like the I don't know, like the I want to use the word mom, but the like the like, you know, they're gonna be a check and balance. Yeah, almost like their boss. So, you know, like almost I don't know what a confidant.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Um yeah, I feel like a confidant and an advisor, like a trusted advisor to to my clients.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

So you start this so the so the the the firm you have right now, you are helping people use their money effectively.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Helping their helping them use their money to make money. Um, because I'm sure you know this too, right? But like this sales and marketing, there's so many different ways to m to even market. Are you gonna invest in SEO? Are you gonna do paid ads? Are you gonna do social media? Like, what are you gonna do? And then your sales process, like depending on, you know, even like the contract size. Like if you're selling a thousand dollar widget, your sales process is gonna look different than if you're selling a million dollar contract or something. So all of those like devils in the details is what most startups don't know. And so I help them figure out okay, based on your product, your target audience, the people that buy your product. Like, is that a CFO that buys your product, a CTO that buys your product, whatever it is? Um, these are the marketing tactics that are going to be most successful based on data. Um, and so, and and then specifically, I think what makes me different is I help them do it. I think a lot of consultants are just like, you need to just do SEO. And it's like, okay, great. How do you do SEO?

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Um you're both giving them and teaching them how to fish.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Correct. And like my whole goal is kind of it is to be deleted. Meaning, like, I'm not uh like I have a new little tagline I've been saying, which seems to be resonating, which I'm like, I'm a bridge, not a barnacle. Like I'm not a around to be like attached to your business for the next 10 years. That's not good for you. Um, and honestly, it's not very fun for me. I like, you know, I'm like, if I do my job well, I come in for six to nine months, teach you how to fish, build the infrastructure, help you build the team, and then I'm out. Because like in six to nine months, in theory, if we've done everything right, you're autonomous now. Like you have the infrastructure, you know what to do, you just have to rinse and repeat and do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

And um what what are you like what do you get out of it? Like, how do they pay you? How do you get paid in that situation? Out of their venture capital money?

unknown 36:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

I mean, I guess, yeah. But then you're also like to get out. Like, are you are the is it a thing where like they're paying you a retainer and then do you get like a chunk of money on your way out, or is it just the retainer and then you're out?

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Yeah, right now it's just like cash uh and it's fixed monthly fee, and I base that on what I'm doing for them because each client's a little different. Um, but to your point, I have thought about like how do I give how do I create a scenario where I can have more upside myself? Um, so but I haven't like fully fleshed that out. So I think in time, what I hope will happen is that I get cash while I'm working for them, but then I get a small piece of equity. Yeah. Like maybe they give me 1% or something. And then that's how I'm like benefiting long term from there.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

And when you say like 1% equity, is it is it a thing where like every, you know, you just get like mailbox money? Like you just get like I don't like I don't even I don't really I don't totally understand what equity means. And so I I uh I'm bad at money. I mean, I'm not really bad at money. I'm but I'm good at cash.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Obviously you figured it out because yeah, you're my business.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Yeah, I do. I I I'm actually very good with money, but I'm not good at like anything above like money and money out. Like I'm not good at like understanding equity. And so like when you have equity in a company, are they paying you money every month, or is it just like if they sell, you will get money?

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Yeah, it it really depends on the corporate structure and all like many things, but in some cases, an equity just means ownership. So if they give me 1% equity, that means like I have 1% ownership in that company. Um, and so sometimes that might be like they do quarterly dividends. So like each quarter they might calculate, okay, we have, I don't know, 10 million in uh profit or yeah, like profit after all expenses or something. Okay, all right. Correct. And so then they might be like, okay, now we're gonna do a distribution to all of our shareholders. Everybody gets, you know, a little goodie bag kind of I'm making it super simple.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

But you if they if they did make 10 million if they did make $10 million in a quarter and you got 1% equity, would you get like a check for $100,000?

SPEAKER_02 38:49

There's more that goes into it, but yeah, you'd get you'd get yeah, but you would get a check. Um but with startups, you don't really want them to send you a dividend check, right? Because you want we're gonna paint. We're hoping, yeah, we want them to just reinvest that in the business and keep growing. So that eventually when we get a check when they sell, it's like the biggest it can be kind of thing. So it whereas like if you owned a small piece of I don't know, a dry cleaner, then you might want to get dividends because it's like, well, it's just a dry cleaner, it's just gonna there's not plans for it to be a hundred million dollar company.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Well, but like my husband has like stock in I think ATT or something, some and like he gets a dividend every quarter, and I'm like and I'm like, oh, that's interesting. Like I didn't know that was how that worked. Um, okay, so you uh started this company two years ago, and uh how's it going?

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Honestly, I mean, really good. I think sometimes I think all business owners and probably women, uh well, I've heard women are the worst at this too. Like, I think we don't celebrate our success enough. Um, so sometimes I'm like, I tend to look at things and this is like an active practice I'm trying to get better at. But I tend to look at things and I'm like, yeah, I mean it's good, but like I could have done better or I did this wrong. And it's like I'm trying to remember, like, no, it's pretty fucking cool that like you've only been in business two years and it's profitable and you have happy clients and you have good reviews and you have good case studies, and all while the economy sucks. So I'm trying to to take that in. Can I push back on something?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

First of all, amazing. I mean, that is amazing. Like that is not the norm. But also, does the economy suck? I feel like everything says the economy sucks, but it I look at the actual economy and it's like unemployment's down, the NASDAQ's the highest it's ever been. Like, I mean, I don't I don't know what that means when you say that I and I can't tell if it's like marketing on from people who don't benefit from the public from the from the economy be doing well, like you know, Republicans that don't want but Biden have a win or whatever. Like Oh, fair. That's like a whole nother thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Um, so I think it depends obviously like what sector you're in. Like, for example, during COVID, right? Like a lot of in-person businesses clearly struggled. Whereas like if you were an investor in toilet paper, you did swimmingly, right? Or if you were like Zoom, then everyone started buying your software. So I think anytime the economy sucks, there's still some people doing well. But when I say that, I get, and and maybe I'm speaking like more directly to like the world I'm living in, but when the world of within tech and venture, venture funding, so like the money that they doled out to startups is at an all-time low. I think it's like at a 10-year low. So like they invested way less money last year than they have before. Um, a lot of the startups that received money um had a hard time selling last year. And this is also something I know to be true just because like there's groups that put out statistics for sales reps and like how many sales reps are hitting quota or whatever. And I think it was something like only 40% of sales reps nationwide last year made quota. Like that's pretty bad.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Does that have anything to do with the intr with the interest rates being high?

SPEAKER_02 42:14

I think there's just a lot of things. I think like I think that's one of the factors. Um but I think also we saw all those layoffs, right? Like there's been a lot of lay, and again, like you said, unemployment's still low. So it's like I don't really understand that either. Cause then we see like big companies like Facebook let go of millions of people. Like, I don't know, like there was just huge layoffs. So I'm I kind of don't understand some of that reporting, but um I think when people started watching that happen, then everybody went into like cash conserved mode, right? Like, I don't know what's going on, so I'm just gonna hang on to my cash. And so they were less likely to purchase things or make changes. Um and so then that's when we saw sales slow. And I don't know. I still feel like we're kind of in that, like, I mean, I'm even in that mode now myself with my own business. I'm like, okay, I don't really know what's gonna happen right now. Like, there's less money going into these startups, they have less money to spend. I'm that's how I make money, is so it's kind of like scary.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

So you so one of the things when I started my company was that I disappeared from my life for two years, two, three years before I was able to like actually see other people. Like, do you have a life outside of your company? What is your life outside of your company?

SPEAKER_02 43:36

So it's a good question. Um, last year I really didn't. And at the end of the year, I had like my own, I'm calling it my hard reset. I forget who said that to me. They're like, it sounds like you're doing a hard reset. I was like, Yeah, that is what I'm doing. Um, but yeah, I think I got to the end of the year and I was just like, I've been grinding so hard this whole year, and like I went out on my own to have more. Flexibility and more control. And I'm the only one to blame for the fact that that is not existing.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

Well, though, you're not you're not the only one to blame for that because that's what you have to do. Well, yes, to in order to have a successful business, is like especially if it's just you. Do you have anybody working for you?

SPEAKER_02 44:16

I have um right now I just have a couple contractors, but last year I had W-2s, and right now I had to like just, or I guess I didn't have to. I chose to cut that um so that I could focus on resetting. Cause I was just like, I feel like I'm going so fast and some things are not working, and I can't really figure it out while burning all this cash. So I was just like, I just gotta um yeah, reduce the overhead, reset, and then like maybe I'll try to grow again. Honestly, maybe this is a solopreneur business forever. You know, I don't know. Like, I'm those are questions I'm asking myself right now, but I do know even when I'm a solopreneur, I'm making a good income and I really enjoy my work. And so for me, I'm just trying to focus on like do the things that give you joy. Like you don't need to be a 30-person consultancy to like for what?

SPEAKER_01 45:14

If that doesn't make me happy, like why I remember when, you know, it's like there there's so many phases of entrepreneurship. Like, you know, when my first my when I started my company and everything was working, I'm like, wow, why is this working? Like this is working really well. Like I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. And uh, and then you know, I started bringing on more DJs and more DJs, and I realized we were doing like two, three, four times more events than the year before, but my income was the same. And I'm like, Yep, how how come I'm how come I'm I'm I'm my gross is insane, but I'm I have nothing really at the not nothing, but like that's exactly me last year. And so as a finance person, how do you think one gets around that? Or do they? I mean I got out of it eventually, but like, you know, you yeah, but you I mean we you are early on and you're not doing that, which which seems uh like what is these advice to somebody who is growing their company and it seems like it's growing and they're not making any money.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Yeah, I mean, to your point, that's exactly what happened to me last year. Like top line, we did great. Bottom line to me, I actually made less than I made the year before. So um I was like, this is not efficient. And I if I could have seen a light at the end of the tunnel of the the the cash efficiency, I think I would have just like stayed the course, but I couldn't really see the light at least for the next three to six months. And I was like, I just that's I can't like rationalize this anymore, like the expense. Um for my particular business, I know it is any building any agency, like if you there's a bunch of articles and studies done on this, it's really hard. Because like people are not, I always say like people are not software, right? Like when you buy, you know, Amazon web services or you buy Google, you know exactly what you're getting, and it's like hard-coded to do a thing. When you buy people, it's unpredictable. Like even when you do your best to vet them and their qualifications and whatever, like it's just it's still unpredictable. And we all have like good days and bad days and whatever. Um, so I think it's just harder to scale people heavy businesses, period. Um and then on top of that, I'm a startup, my company, right? Like we're still new and like it's been evolving and growing at a rapid pace, but then so are all my clients. So it makes for I think an extra chaotic environment to scale too, right? Because like then the people that were newly working for me, like no one was bad. It was just like you're newly working for me, trying to figure out what Jessica wants and what Amplify is at the same time that like we have five chaotic clients that are trying to figure out who they are. And there's a lot of context switching, right? Because like one minute I'm working with a startup that sells debt financing software, and the next minute I'm working with a healthcare startup selling to cardiologists. Like, that's a big context, you know? And like it's okay for me because I don't know, I like, but I understand how that's like a really hard thing for a new hire to come in and like immediately excel at. And then also because I'm selling to startups, there's like a cap on what I can charge them and make like and still make it affordable for them because these are not companies with millions of dollars. Like, you know, a lot of that money that they've gotten needs to go to engineering resources and like other things. So it's like the talent that I needed to staff my business anyway, they wanted a lot of money. And I was like, but I can't really charge these startups that much money.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

So I'm kind of like in this like, do you take a hit on making money to have these people there because they're gonna eventually make it easier for me to make money, but I also don't like are you are did somebody find like are you self-financed? Yes. So you didn't take you didn't take any angel money or see that's great. So that's you've got your it's all your own. It's all you. It is. Um, which is both good. And then it's also it's like my my mistakes are also my mistake. Like like I I own my successes, I own my not successes. Yep. Um, and so you dodged the question about a life outside of your business. So you do not have to be a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

So that is like now well last year I really didn't, to be honest. Like I was just grinding and again, like I almost burnt myself out and I was like, what am I doing? Um so that was my hard reset. So this year, which we're only two weeks into, I'm very focused on like finding that balance again and and and prioritizing my personal life. So my plan is for at least the six next six months to stay a solopreneur and just kind of find balance and like recharge, uh, refill my bank account, refill my energy account, and then maybe try again.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Um You said before we got on the air, you uh you said that you had sold your condo and you were living in Miami. Um so you just don't have you like don't have a place to live right now.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Well, I do. I like did a long-term uh or like not long-term, whatever. I'm living in a fully furnished four-month rental here. Um yeah. So it's like I have home. Um and it's nice.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

So like after the end of four months, would you like go to Belgium or something? Or like what would be like is the plan to stay in Miami post four months, but or do you want to like bounce around for a while and kind of see how it goes?

SPEAKER_02 50:41

Yeah, so my plans to try, like try before I buy. So I want, uh I think I might go to Nashville after that. Um, but yeah, I want to try like several cities for three or four months to kind of get a feel for like what it would be like to live there and see if I like it. And then with the goal being that like at some point I think I'll be like, this feels like home, like this feels like right, and then I'd make it more permanent.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

My friend Meg McKean, who I've also had the podcast, she's actually she she actually is like she doesn't have a she doesn't have a lease anywhere, and she just goes around the country and sometimes the world, and I'm like, I I just would love that. I would love that. Like it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

So far, it feels very freeing. Yeah. I mean, I'm new, but like I yeah, I like I feel happier.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

Where's all your stuff?

SPEAKER_02 51:29

Um, so I sold all my furniture, including my condo, and I just took like some personal effects to my mom's house in Naples, and that's my storage unit.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Okay. That's awesome. That's sounds so amazing. I look at my house with all the shit in it, and I'm like, I mean, I like it here, but I have to stay here forever now. Like, there's just too much shit. Um, and uh I don't know where I was going with that. Anyway, so you do have a life, you are trying to get a life. You are in Miami where there's a lot of things going on. Do you have beautiful? Do you know people there?

SPEAKER_02 52:04

Um, a handful. So one of my good friends is actually doing the same digital nomad thing. And so we're here together for like two months. Um, and then she's going to Japan, which is really cool. Um, and I know a handful of other people here, but I'm pretty outgoing, so not a not a problem.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

You'll find your you'll find your tribe. Is the person living with you? Are you guys living together? Oh, so you have like a roommate now.

SPEAKER_02 52:29

Yeah, which is kind of fun. I know we were saying last night, I mean, it's only been a week, but we were like, this is actually going really well, and neither of us have had a roommate and like it's been like and like the Florida of the whole thing is very golden girls.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Like, I mean, what if you like? I mean, I don't know. Sounds kind of awesome to live with a bunch of women in Florida. Like, you know.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

Have you seen that's becoming like a thing? Like, not necessarily Florida, but like five women buy a house and live there with their dogs. And I'm like, I fucking love this.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Yes, my friend Jessica, another friend of mine, Jessica, she were we we talk about the mom mune that we're gonna make where we're we're like, you know, I mean, heaven forbid anything happens to our to our partners, but you know, it'd be kind of nice to just be with a bunch of women, like I'm making dinner tonight, you're making dinner tomorrow night, here's my kid. I'm disappearing for a while. Mom mune. Yeah. Here for it. So you um I you said you have some kind of like a thing starting up in in February. What what is the thing you're starting up in February?

SPEAKER_02 53:29

So um working with me one-on-one is amazing, but also a little expensive for some people. And I wanted to be able to serve um a broader audience, like with like teaching more founders like the basics of go to market and and how to get going and how to get started on a budget. Um, so I launched a boot camp. So it's like a go-to-market boot camp for startups. I did the first one in September and it went super well. We had got great feedback, and so I'm doing the second one in February. Um, so I I think I already gave you guys the link, maybe, but yeah, I'd encourage anyone. I mean, anyone that's like go-to-market curious, even like it's meant for startups because we're gonna cover like all the fundamentals and how to get started. But I guess like really anyone that wants to learn more about that could join and get value out of it.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

Um Well, I mean, but who's who is your target? Who do you who would be in this? Would it be like a business like mine, or is it people that are like, I'm starting a software?

SPEAKER_02 54:27

I mean, I'm most of the advice is for like if I'm a so if you're a software company. Um, but I think maybe you could like still get value out of it. It's just like how to get going with sales and marketing on a budget, basically. Um but a lot of things I I talk about, I think are applicable whether you're a software company or not. But like my main target audience is is software companies.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

Um amazing. Awesome. Well, I'm and so you want to come for free.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

I just let you if you want to come. Really?

SPEAKER_01 54:59

You don't say. Um is it is it a one-day thing or is it like a series of lessons?

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Uh it's five days and it's roughly like 90 minutes to 120 minutes a day. And I break them up so it's not like straight through. Um, and there's a topic each day. So the first day is like literally fundamentals. So I talk about like defining your ICP, your ideal customer profile. Okay, ideal customer profile, um, and like uh positioning. So like how you're gonna sell whatever it is you're selling to that, to that audience. Um, and then we also talk about branding. And then on day two, it's all about marketing and PR. So like the basics of like what is marketing? Um, so we talk about social media, content, SEO, um, the fact that your websites, you're a 24-7 salesperson. So we kind of go over like all the marketing and PR basics. And then day three is outbound and nearbound, which is like cold outbound sales. Um, if you're doing which a lot of uh B2B companies or business-to-business companies do, outbound. So I talk about um how to architect that and how to launch outbound motions. And then nearbound is just like the new sexy term for partnerships. But like, how do you create strategic partnerships that generate referrals for your business? Um, and then day four is revenue operations. So, how do you build scalable internal processes for marketing and sales? Um, and how do you like what metrics should you be tracking? And then what are good metrics? Like, you know, if you're running an email marketing campaign, like what open rate, what click rate should you be looking for?

SPEAKER_01 56:42

This is like basic stuff. I think any business that's having problems. I mean, I don't like is it I mean, is it agnostic? Like, is it kind of business agnostic or is it geared towards software sales?

SPEAKER_02 56:55

I mean, a lot of the things I definitely talk in there about like, you know, the fact that you're venture backed and so they're gonna be expecting XYZ, but you're right. Like a lot of the things are agnostic. I would say it's definitely not built for consumer businesses. Like if you're selling to consumers, I don't talk about that. I'm talking just to business owners that sell to other businesses.

SPEAKER_03 57:14

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

I mean, that sounds amazing. I mean, maybe you should think about making one that's that is business agnostic and doing it for generalized people because that would be a thing I think everyone can use. Or do I have to or do I need to start a software company in order to get this kind of uh like I'm like what kind of software could I make? I don't need I don't I can't do anything. I'm more analog. Um well this has been amazing. It's so nice to to talk about these things and kind of learn things and then like understand these kind of complicated systems or like these buzzwords that are kind of said in the news. And it's like because I do think that like a lot of women don't recognize that see themselves in that, like see that that's an option, or like, you know, or that these things are available to them, or that they should even put themselves mentally in the same place as somebody that's you know, at that level of you know, this this entry stage and you know how long it lasts or whatever. So um well, excellent. Well, thank you so much, and uh good luck in February. Perhaps you'll see me for free. What?

SPEAKER_02 58:18

Yeah, yeah, no, come if you want. I'll send you all the details. And yes, thank you so much for having me. This was super fun.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

Thanks for listening to All of the Millity Business with me.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

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