E48: Rebecca Johnson believes immigrant founders face unique challenges when fundraising

Hello, I'd really like to grow this email list. If you enjoy this newsletter, it would mean the world to Jola and I if you encouraged one friend/fellow immigrant/colleague to subscribe…Very likely, the the only thing you will get in return is warm fuzzy feelings, and if I can attribute it to you, I’d personally send you a thank you email.

Join us as we explore the bitter-sweet world of the immigrant.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Rebecca Johnson, Investment & Operations Associate at BKR Capital, a VC firm that invests in promising black-led tech companies.

For an immigrant startup founder, fundraising is probably one of the hardest nuts to crack.

They lack the usual social capital they had back home, which means they can't access the life-saving Family, Friends, and Fools round, fondly called FFF. And I do think they mean Fools in a good way because of what it takes to back an unproven idea.

The sad thing about being in this position is the FFF round is absolutely important. It gives the founder time to test out the idea, hopefully get some revenue going and take the first steps towards product-market fit.

So what to do?

In this conversation, we chat about how we can kick-start the FFF rounds for immigrant startups.

We also talked about:

* Why immigrant founders need to learn storytelling

* The beautiful things she’s seeing happening in the immigrant founder ecosystem

* Why we immigrants need to build things

* The differences she’s seen between the Nigerian tech ecosystem and the Canadian tech ecosystem, and more.

Folks, we need to build things. Real things. Economic power is everything. It’s one of the best ways to get a foothold in the society.

P.S. I think Rebecca’s episode is a good follow-up on my interview with Eric Agyemang of Maple Bridge VC earlier this year:

Official Links

👋🏽 Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn

Did you read it?

If you got this email in error or no longer wish to receive emails from The Newcomers Podcast, Substack has a sweet and easy way to unsubscribe.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thenewcomerspod.com