HOW TO BUILD TRUST BETWEEN FOUNDERS & VCs
FaB L.A. 10/6/2021
At our FaB LA event on October 6th 2021, we were happy to welcome McKeever E. Conwell, II — (Mac), from RareBreed VC (Baltimore) and Charles Brandon, Founder at Beauty By Me (Memphis) to talk about the way they built their relationship. Let’s share the takeaway.
This event was hosted by Camille Çabale and Zack Parker, both in Los Angeles. Content curated by Camille Çabale.
Building trust is a combination of 3 different factors:
1-✨⚡️💬 Communication:
🙌 Getting to know each other
“We talked for quite a while at the beginning to get to know each other. Trust for us was not an immediate thing but something that we have gained. And it is amazing to see that we were able to build a channel of trust just via video, which is quite wild”. Charles
“The basis for our trust is the communication. I really took time to get to know Charles, the team, to get to understand his passion. He truly cares about his customers, his products.” McKeever
“Also, his experience, what he went through spoke to me, to my experience as well.
The first meeting together was not about the money but getting to know him and the more I got to learn, I wanted to work together and be part of it”.
🤓 Speak from Experience
For Charles, what makes a difference is when “Mac explained to me that he had a success and a failure and most of the people do not own their mistakes, it made him stand out compared to all the people he was talking about. It is rare and he appreciated that angle”.
😄 Be Open and honest, tell the Truth, the goods & the bads
“The things that stand out to Investors, besides metrics of course, is to be open and honest. Always say the honest truth. Not only the good. Explain the things that happened, and for the things that did not, say why not.” Mac
2- 🤝 People
- “It is not about the capital, It is really about the person behind the check” explained Charles.
Mac and Charles explain that part of building trust, is being reactive as an investor to help the founder out whenever he/she faces a challenge, and of course share connections, the network.
“The people you need to work with need to truly care about the company. It is really a matter of people.”
“The money is a tool to help you grow faster” adds Mac, “If you do not feel comfortable with someone, you do not have to take his money”.
🕰 Time
“The relationship that we have continues to grow. Trust came with time.”
“The average investment in the US lasts longer than the average marriage”.
Bios
McKeever E. Conwell, II — (Mac) is a software engineer by trade and was a former DOD contractor with a top-secret clearance. He was a two-time founder with an exit and a failure. Next Mac moved on to the venture capital world via the Maryland Technology Development Corporation as part of their Seed Investment Team. During his four years there, Mac amassed experience leading an initiative to create the Minority Business Pre-seed Fund, the first and only, at the time, state-backed pre-seed fund for women and minorities in the country. The program institutionalized the friends and family round for black-, women-, and minority-led startups and was subsequently funded long-term by the state of Maryland. In September 2020, Mac founded RareBreed VC, a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems.
Charles Brandon is the Co-Founder/CEO of Beauty By Me — a beauty tech startup that designs and develops custom cosmetic devices. Our first launch is iris: a custom nail polish device that empowers users to create any shade imaginable in the comfort of their own homes, salons, or their favorite retailers.
Zack Parker is the CEO / Co-Founder of LÜK network.com. He is also the FaB Chapter Leader in Los Angeles.
Camille Çabale, helps run the FaB LA chapter and the global community alongside Odile. She founded Connecting Dots, a consultancy dedicated to helping early-stage startups & D2C brands in the clean beauty & lifestyle industry.
FaB is a growing community of Fashion & Beauty Founders, Investors and Top executives around the world. Founded by Odile Roujol in 2017, it gathers 10,000+ founders and VCs with 15 cities/chapters. 💙💚🌏🚀🛍💅✨🤳🏾
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To watch the event: https://youtu.be/wVSwHazW6O0
See you soon and stay tuned!
Camille, Odile & Zack
