Underestimated

Episode nine with Karen Cahn of IFundWomen! Karen's community supports over 130,000 women entrepreneurs who have raised collectively over $100M and created over 30,000 jobs. This episode we dive into the specifics of how crowdfunding works and why Karen's platform is so successful at helping founders raise money to build their businesses. Crowdfunding is a great resource especially for founders who don't have a network a friends and family that can contribute to their startup or small business upfront cost.  They have a system that is proven to work and we talk about some of Karen's favorite stories in her five years running IFundWomen and building this community.  About IFundWomen: IFundWomen is the go-to funding marketplace for women-owned businesses and the people who want to support them with access to capital, coaching, and connections. https://ifundwomen.com About Underestimated Podcast: If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship, this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review!  https://xfactor.capital

How does a kid from small town Louisiana become a startup founder and featured in Forbes and in Times Square NYC?  Dennis Cail, CEO & Founder of Zirtue, the peer lending app, shares his story from a small town, to the US Navy, to banking and then to launching the world first peer to peer lending platform that can automate the public backing process to the lender.  Dennis has become a friend of the X-Factor team and shares some of his tips around running a startup. He also shares very specific details on what he looks for in an investor, and tells founders what they can look for during the fundraising process.  This episode is one you want to share with your startup friends because Dennis is one of the few Black, and veteran founded Fintech startups to raise venture capital.  About Zirtue: Zirtue was created with the goal to revolutionize the way we lend; making it more simple, secure, and fair. Today, Zirtue has helped thousands of people lend and borrow with those they trust by giving them more control over their money and an easy way to do it. Zirtue is the world's first relationship-based lending app with a mission to drive financial inclusion, one relationship at a time. https://www.zirtue.com About Underestimated Podcast: If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship, this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review!  https://xfactor.capital  

In this episode, we speak with the co-founder of TXV Partners Marcus Stroud. Marcus shares his background as an athlete and how that helps him in the competitive world of venture capital. The stories he shares from his Princeton days to those of being the son of an NFL football player are inspiring! Marcus says “adversity is an advantage” and that you have to look deeper to see how the challenges you've been through have prepared you for the journey ahead.  Marcus also builds his business with his best friend so there's a lot of great nuggets on relationships and trust.    About TXV Partners: We are an early-
stage venture capital fund focused on software & human performance. The health & performance of people will be shaped by systemic, holistic approaches to everyday physical & mental wellness. https://txv.partners   About Underestimated Podcast: If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship, this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review!  https://xfactor.capital  

Episode 6 is a special one! We have both founders of X-Factor Capital, Rodell Razor & Jeremiah Captain.    We discuss how & why we started X-Factor Capital. We talk about how activism inspired organized action with real solutions. We also dive into the critical characteristics of a great founder/entrepreneur.   As former athletes we even weigh in on the controversial topic of amateur athletes being paid for their Name, Image, & Likeness (NIL).    This episode you get a chance to see the heart behind the mission and get to tune into a fireside chat style convo with two great friends & business partners.   About X-Factor Capital: OUR MISSION Our mission is to create concrete demonstrable change in the wealth gap for the Black community in America by investing in capable entrepreneurial operators with great ideas. WHAT WE DO X-Factor Capital invests in early stage, post revenue, Black-owned businesses. We partner with top investors and executives to work alongside our portfolio companies. The founders in our portfolio have financing that is creative and allows them to keep control of their business. We provide advice, as well as connections to support the growth of our companies. https://xfactor.capital   About Underestimated Podcast: If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship, this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review! 

This episode we interview CEO & Founder of Ford Sports Performance (FSP) Tracy Ford. Tracy & X-Factor Capital CEO Rodell Razor are childhood friends and co-founded FSP back in 2012. Tracy shares how his experience training the worlds best & hardest-working athletes can be translated into how you can be successful in life.    Tracy has spent his entire career serving his clients with passion. He attributes the success of his world-renowned training facility to a few key characteristics. This episode you'll hear how ‘consistency' is a game changer!   About Ford Sports Performance (FSP): Ford Sports Performance is a results-driven facility that specializes in training for ALL athletes from Professional athletes, College athletes, top high school recruits, all the way down to youth athletes and adults that want to stay in shape.   We always put the athletes & clients First! At FSP, we do not guarantee that by training with us we are going to make an NFL player become an all-pro. We can't guarantee we will take a college athlete and make him become a professional, nor can we guarantee that we can get a high school athlete a college scholarship, or make a youth athlete the best player on his or her team.   What we CAN guarantee is that we will treat every person that walks through our facility equal, and like FAMILY! We guarantee that if any individual gives us their 100% commitment and effort into one of our programs, we will be able to maximize their full potential. www.gofordsports.com   About Underestimated Podcast: If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship, this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review! 

Entrepreneurship is about taking the losses, learning the lessons, and living to tell about them. Jaebadiah Gardner shares some of his most intimate experiences in his 13 years of building his real estate firm. As a respected developer, broker, and property manager in the greater Seattle area, he's seen a lot in the real estate industry from different angles. If you love great storytelling and real talk, then this episode showcases the depth of struggles associated with entrepreneurship. Jaebadiah also wrote a book, "Believe in Yourself: Business Essentials for The Millennial Entrepreneur." He believes real confidence comes from experience and that confidence is key to building wealth.   Gardner Global is a Seattle-based privately held holding company that offers an array of services through its subsidiaries. They specialize in creating a collaborative network of businesses through targeted acquisitions & strategic partnerships. They are actively engaged in real estate development, consulting, sales, leasing & property management. Recent Project Success includes The Liberty Bank Building. This was a $33 million dollar affordable housing project in Seattle, WA, USA. This publicly subsidized building is 115-units aimed at residents who make 30%-60% of the area median income (AMI). Loaded with history and art, this project is a unique representation of the strong Black culture that resides in Seattle, WA.   If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review! 

In this episode we interview Rock Robinson out of the greater Dallas area about how he is bringing a cleaner, more personalized, and dynamic experience to the ride sharing world. Not only are they picking up passengers in the planets most talked about cars (Tesla's) their reducing the carbon footprint significantly for our planet. Listen in to hear more!    If you love startups, technology, venture capital and all things entrepreneurship this this podcast is for you. Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review!    …  eCarra is the new #GreenStandard of ridesharing, built for the impact-minded. eCarra uses Teslas and vision-aligned drivers to create the safest, most sustainable way to get passengers to wherever they need to go. Plus, they plant a tree every time you ride. On average, eCarra saves their members over 200 Ibs. of carbon per month and their customer experience scores are AAA+. They're so confident in the passenger experience, that if you're not satisfied, then the ride is free. As market leaders in ridesharing, they also license their platform to other fleets all over the world, demonstrating how they can do exactly what eCarra is doing to reduce emissions. eCarra is the new #GreenStandard.      

This episode we interview Toby Egbuna CEO and Co-Founder of Chezie. Chezie is a SaaS platform that aims to create inclusive work environments for people from underrepresented groups.  As first-generation Nigerian immigrates Toby and his sister Dumebie cofounded Chezie from their own experiences of not feeling welcomed at work.  “Chezie is an all-in-one solution designed to help you build impactful employee resource groups. We help you easily and seamlessly track membership, events, budgets, and engagement, so you can focus on what matters - building inclusive communities so you can retain your talent.” This chat is filled with exciting things that Toby has experienced in his career.  If you're into conversations about the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion, entrepreneurship, and even working with family then this episode is for you! Subscribe to our channel & leave us a review! 

US Navy Veteran Viola Carmona is building a huge business around homeownership for first-time homebuyers! She went to market originally to provide leads to larger mortgage companies. She saw an opportunity to serve an underserved community and do it using cutting-edge technology. She has taken a marketing company into a tech startup! Amazing how she uses being underestimated (woman, veteran, Black/Latina, LGBTQ, & solo founder) as fuel.