Name: Most Powerful Women Summit 2024: Fearless Fight
Uploaded: 2024-10-16
Duration: 17 min 42 s
Description: Elizabeth Gore, Co-founder and President, Hello Alice , Arian Simone, Founding Partner and CEO, Fearless Fund Moderator: Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune

Elizabeth Gore, Co-founder and President, Hello Alice , Arian Simone, Founding Partner and CEO, Fearless Fund Moderator: Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune 

Most Powerful Women Summit 2024: Fearless Fight

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Elizabeth and Aaron. Thank you so much for being here. Closing out the summit with us. Pleasure everybody. Hi. Yes. Yeah, we'll take it. Um So as we just heard, you both didn't know each other that well, until you had one big thing in common. So tell us about what that was. Elizabeth. Maybe. Start with what happened with you. Um It was the type of alcohol we drink, right? No, we both um we both uh got hit basically at the same time with federal lawsuits uh for our programs benefiting black owned businesses and it was a, a heck of a time actually I was first. You were first. Yeah, you went and who sued you? Um I was sued by Hello Wallace. So we're a financial technology. We fund 1.5 million small businesses with credit and loans in all 50 states and we have ac that deserves a client. Well, ok, thank you. Um And uh so our, that's our financial tech and then we have a philanthropic program. We do about $50 million in grants. And um uh Steven Miller and America first legal sued us for um one of our programs a great program with progressive auto where we fund small business owners who have commercial vehicle companies who are African American and so America first legal and then Jonathan Mitchell who overturned bro V Wade. Um, a lot of good, just awesome guys here. Um uh, so they were, they were the two that sued us. Well, and a and what about you, what happened with your lawsuit if you could walk us through? Yes. On August 2nd. It was a regular day in Atlanta, Georgia and I found out on the news that we were being sued for alleged discrimination and I didn't even believe it was real at first. But in our case, the plaintiffs filed three things against us. They filed a temporary restraining order, meaning they were trying to have us out of business and shut down by August 17th. I thought Tr Os were for like stalkers. And then the other thing they filed was a preliminary injunction on one of our grant programs. And then the case itself alleging discrimination against four of our companies. Wow. And where do things stand now? I believe you recently settled. Oh, I'm permanently case dismissed, but I deserve to clap too. But yes, I run the nation's largest and first ever venture capital fund that's built by women of color, for women of color. But one thing I would like to, oh, thank you. One thing I would like to point out prior to these lawsuits, the work that we do is difficult. Right now, women of color receive only 0.39% of venture capital funds. That means that there is opposition way before these lawsuits took place for those numbers to exist. Women of color are the most founded entrepreneur demographic, just the least funded. So for anything like a litigation to take place should let you know there was opposition way before we even got sued. And honestly, there's opposition even afterwards we're facing it now. People trying to make us close our fundraise early. It's, it's ridiculous, honestly. And just to finish with the case, why did you decide to settle? Oh, it was very simple. I learned as a very young child, you never let a nickel hold up a dollar. And that's, that's why we chose to settle the preliminary injunction was only on one grant that was left out of a program that had already been deployed for $20,000. And I just pretty much asked the plaintiffs, I let the time run out on the scotus appeal. I was like, well, you know what, we're not going to the Supreme Court with this, that would be very damaging. So after I let the time go out, the plaintiffs saw we weren't headed to the Supreme Court and we know that what they wanted was to establish case law. I can assume that's what they wanted based upon what we've seen in recent rulings. And I said, Hey, what is it? You all want, just negotiate it. And I just said, hey, I've gotta keep going with the work that I do because it's important. Yeah. So you did not want to set a precedent that would have hurt other people? Oh, it would have been disastrous with today's current climate in 2024. What would the impact has been? Oh, it would have eliminated race based programs nationwide. It would eliminated funding for women nationwide and people of color nationwide and that was too much at stake. Yeah, let's talk a little bit. Oh, ok. Thank you again. So let's talk a little bit about the personal impact while all this was happening. Elizabeth, you mentioned drinking wine. How did this all impact your health, your relationships, your lives outside of this legal action? Well, we found each other which was pretty special um through this, I mean, you, you form very tight relationships and crises. I think they do that in rom com. So we have our own rom com, I guess. But um you know, it was um it was detrimental. I mean, we, ours was a class action suit so any white male could sign on um to the suit. And so we were, we were in the middle of a series c fundraise for our company and um it blocked that fundraise. So we had to lay off two thirds of our employees. Um and there we also had a significant amount of cyber attacks, um people following, um we assume following a fl and so we had to have security teams. Um It was, it was tough and um I mean, I, I ended up having some heart failure and some crazy stuff and I really resonated with Ariana yesterday saying, you know, all this is connected in mind, body and spirit. But, you know, my number one objective is for my family, my employees and most of all are a million half business owners. So um like any company that goes through a Black Swan event, it was, you know, you know, hold your head up high and give them help. Wow. So what lessons did you draw from that for other business leaders who are faced with some sort of crisis? I don't know if it's a lesson I drew from that. But just something that I've always honed in on is I do prioritize myself even in the midst of this, I took a sabbatical from like March to half of April. And I was like, I'm off the grid. I'm at Miraval at Wellness Resorts. I'm zenned out. And the moment I shifted myself, everything around me shifted. I had clarity on how we could resolve the case and just how we could move forward as a company. And I encourage that in general. But one thing that people don't talk about, she was telling me about even just the state of mental health, our physical safety. I was in the, oh, I can't say where I was but it was here. But I, what I can say is there was a CEO and she was talking about her personal safety at her house. I said nobody talks about that. The first three weeks of this, it wasn't even safe for me to even be at home. You know, especially in a state like Georgia. That's a very conservative state. So nobody talks about the fact that where our safety can, can lie in the midst of all of this. You know, we had a, we had a sheriff's view club in front of our house and I have little Children and it was, um, you know, it's something that, you know, this is a philanthropic program that we care deeply in. But, you know, come on, let's go. Yeah. No, that's really scary. I'm very glad you're healthy today. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll come to everyone for questions in a moment, but just to return to that idea of lessons for business leaders on how to get through a crisis. What would you tell people in this room? You know, um, obviously, it was amazing in this room and I will say that the basic fundamentals of running a solid company really got us through there. I think if there had been anything else, we were too much debt or we were overspending or we didn't have a good leadership team, we didn't have a good board of directors. I don't know that we could have made it through and by the way, we did grow and become profitable during all this. So, so for, you know, a venture back company during a tough economic year, that that was exciting for us, but I will say just the basic fundamentals, both personally, professionally and then of the company, um you just never know who's gonna run a red light and side swipe your car and so driving safely in your company in your life, no matter what's gonna hit you, whether it's, you know, an alt right lawsuit or whatever that may be. So, you know, we have an election coming up. I heard, yeah. What, what do you expect to see in either scenario? Do you expect to see more legal action like this, targeting other people trying to achieve that precedent that they didn't achieve with your case? And what would you like to see from a Harris administration? Elections have consequences? I'm so glad you just said a Harris administrative. Ok. Go ahead. No, seriously. Elections have consequences. I was in a federal lawsuit that had multiple federal rulings and every Trump appointed judge said that what we were doing was in violation of the law and not even just in violation of the law of civil rights law at that a law that was actually put in place to ensure that black people had the right to enter contracts So elections have consequences. Every Obama appointed judge and every Clinton appointed judge ruled that what we were doing was not in violation of the law. Now, this is not a Democratic or a Republican discussion because I do believe that Republicans are very heavy in capitalism, very, very heavy in business. I do believe if I had some Bush appointed judges, we would have been just fine. So this is not a matter of that, but it was to just show that there is clearly an agenda that is going on against women and it needs to stop one of the things that, um, you know, Aaron's, right, in the sense of your, your federal local circuit, I know more about judges now than I ever wanted to know. But the other thing is, is just supply chain and funding for the corporations in the room. The other thing that's was sued the exact same time as R two organizations is the eight A program. So supplier diversity contracting, federal contracting, the four categories of women, people of color, veterans and disabled veterans were also sued and blocked as was the restaurant revitalization program. So there are federal government programs that, you know, are the tune of, you know, almost a billion dollars that are also being impacted by politics instead of policy. So supply chain for Fortune 500 we spent 4 billion a year at Dell on smart diversity when I was there contracting. And so this also absolutely affects corporate, the P and L of corporate and our supply chain as well. Got it. Any questions for Elizabeth and Aaron? 00, sure we have. Yeah, we've got a little Diane from the boss. Hi, everybody. Um, you know, I'm curious, we've seen people like Robbie Starbucks prompt companies to back away from, for example, supporting pride was. Right. What, what impact does that have when you're seeing companies really track for good reason because they're facing these campaigns? What impact do you think that has on the situations you found yourselves in? I was actually about to speak on that before you even asked because I wanted to share prior to our lawsuit, our investors received threatening letters to stop their de I funding. I run an sec regulated financial institution. We are backed by JP Morgan Chase mastercard, paypal ventures, Bank of America and plenty of fortune 100 companies. And when you see movements like that, it's very concerning because everybody wants to make diversity conditional based upon current climate. So it is, it's very, very concerning when we were in litigation, right? When the case started, I had just closed on 23 million. We had about 100 and 50 million in diligence that just was like poof, I was like, what they're like, we need you all out of litigation before anybody can move forward. And I'm like, well, wait a minute, what, what's happening here? So when you see movements like that. It's very concerning, but we know that we are at Fortune. Yes. And we know that there are powerful women in this place. Isn't that correct? Most powerful women. So we need everybody in this room to stand by the principles that you all believe at your company. We don't need anybody being concerned with the threats. If everybody just stands strong, we will be ok. But we need everybody just to stand strong. Yeah. And diane, the thing that I'm really focused on is as I mean, we are capitalists through and through. And one of the things that concerns me is these significant gaps. So we, we provide credit loans to small business owners. There's a $40 billion gap in the BPO community for small business owners who have applied them in decline credit generally not because they have bad credit but because they don't have credit history. So a lot of these programs actually are highly beneficial to the banks. So if you look at secured credit, for example, which we provide a lot of, I want these to be our customers. I want individuals to be able to apply and get the loans and credit so they can be job creators and so on. So this is good economics. So I do think those who stick with these programs are gonna win out in the end and they're gonna be highly profitable for it because this is a whole new we call them, the new majority of small business owners that are coming in and applying and growing. Yeah. Is there, have you learned anything? Is there a strategic way that companies, funds can do this kind of work without the same legal risk? Well, one of the things I've seen that I've been really excited about, um, I, everyone from AD P to chase others, they're actually putting these programs in their PNL. Um, and so they're, they're looking at it as um I've, I've heard emerging markets, I've heard uh new customer base. So ironically when you push this as marketing or going after a new customer segment versus the en I philanthropy, I mean, it's, it's bullshit that we all have to, to snake around but look when it's in the PNL and it's making money for a company, it seems like you're not getting quite the, the eyebrows raised and that's just good business too, I think. Yeah. And is there regulation or anything you would like to see to prevent this from happening again to other people? Well, I've said it many times on many stages, even including yours is a fortune stage that the lawmakers and the legislators, they do need to make sure that we have legislation that protects the right to fund marginalized communities so that everybody has a fair chance at achieving the American dream. Now, these uh our, our lawyer, Neal Katyal talks a lot about these types of debates used to happen in Congress. So 181981 was the law that both of our lawsuits were based on. It was a post civil war reconstruction. That law about contracting. If that law needs to be interpreted in a different way in a modern society, normally that would be negotiated in Congress, not litigated in the private sector. So one thing I'd like to really see and we've met with a lot of congressional leaders and senators on this is if, if these debates need to happen, let's have them not sit and stop the private sector from creating jobs and making money. Let's have these debates in Congress. Mhm. Yeah. Do we have any? Well, you know, I have something, something. OK, please go. Yes, we, we discussed this backstage and I told you I definitely wanna even place an ask to the audience this work. We do. You guys is not easy but it is needed. The US economy is made up of over, oh, gosh, 99.9% of small businesses or businesses are small businesses. Any disruption and access to capital is a disruption. Access to the US economy and the work we do is so important. I'm talking about the most founded least funded right now in our portfolio. The top quarter of our women we've invested in and they've been on everybody's magazine covers TV, shows et cetera. They have eight figure revenue, year over year growth. I was dealing this morning with a portfolio company at 50 million in revenue, struggling to fundraise. Have you heard of that? From a white male? Exactly. Struggling to fundraise. So if you all truly believe in this work and it's a, it's a black founder, she is a co founder, that's a white gay male and they are struggling right now in a fund raise makes no sense. I don't care what the current macroeconomic climate is a business that successful. That makes no sense. And we have some others. I've seen one at 20 million, 30 million. But if you all truly believe in this work and I do not do this from a stage. But I'm asking you guys to invest in the fearless fund and let us know. And if you do not have it in your personal capacity, then please feel free to make any introductions. The work that we're doing is phenomenal. The impact we're doing is phenomenal, the job creation and reducing the wealth gap. But this is difficult. They, it was difficult before we got sued and it's still difficult unfortunately, afterwards. Yeah, Aaron, you may. Oh, thank you. Oh, yes, Erin, you made your as to the room, Elizabeth. Is there one thing you'd want everyone in this room to do? I really think um it is, it's important that we get policymakers to start negotiating all this and discussing it. And I really appreciated the undersecretary's. Have you talked to your congressman and women. Have you talked to your legislators? Um This should not be in the private sector and it should not be hitting nonprofits either. So I really encourage all of you to push your legislators to think about these issues. No matter what side you sit on, it's time for them to pull it back into Congress and do their jobs. Thank you both so much. Thank you. Thank you all.