Gardiner Garrard’s Post

"We’re often asked how we can tell that a company is going to be a winner when it’s just a pitch deck and a software demo. The truth is that while we’ve honed our questioning, research, and instincts over the years, there are still some success stories that surpass our most bullish predictions. Greenlight is a great example of that," Gardiner Garrard, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, TTV Capital When we started the TTV "Why We Invested" series in 2023, the original idea was to highlight recent investments and new additions to the portfolio. And while we first invested in Greenlight in 2017, it's a special one - as a category creator, as an Atlanta-based company, and as a unicorn. Thanks to Timothy Sheehan, Johnson Cook, and Jessica Tenny for the opportunity to look back on "Why We Invested" in Greenlight: https://lnkd.in/dBiT5Gsm We're deeply proud to be associated with you. #teamTTV #fintech #familyfinance cc: Sean Banks, Neil Kapur, Lizzie Guynn, Laney Lewis, Jen Zimmerman, Paul Todd, Mark Johnson, Matt Wolf, Libby Freeman, Brandon Horne, Andreessen Horowitz, Amazon Alexa Fund, BOND, Canapi Ventures, Drive Capital, DST Global, Fin Capital, Goodwater, NEA Ventures, Owl Ventures, Relay Ventures, Synchrony, Wellington Management, Wells Fargo, ALLEY FINANCIAL SERVICES

✨ It's been 4 years since I started Let's Get Set, and what a journey it has been. Thanks to Geri Stengel for giving us a chance to tell our story and reflect on the learning and growth on this path of making low- and middle-wage consumers financially stronger. Looking back on the past 4 years, I'm filled with gratitude for all of the team members, investors, consumers, partners, and family who have supported us and me on this path. It's the hardest thing I've done professionally so far, and it's truly humbling to have so many folks rally around you and believe in your ability to make something from nothing. It's a true privilege to get to choose this path, and I haven't taken it for granted for a second. I'm proud of how we've pivoted and evolved in the face of challenges unique to building for vulnerable populations and inevitable as a first-time founder. We've had to work hard to build trust with our users, and operate in a space where parents have limited budgets and the bar is high for creating products that are truly valuable. I wish we could have gotten those reps and learnings in a bit faster, but it all led us to this moment. I'm looking forward to how we build out from here and accelerate our impact through partnerships for this next phase of Lets Get Set. 🙏 Special thanks to our team and especially to Jill Berardini for her partnership and technical leadership, my husband Nadeem Almoayyed for his support, and to my investors including Meredith Storton + Heather Matranga at Village Capital, Stephen Samuels + Tiffany Gathers at VOA Futures Fund, Daniel Acheampong, Yasmin Cruz Ferrine, and Justin Kang at Visible Hands, Adam Hartmann and Financial Health Network, some confidential funds, and my angel investors. I've been the recipient of so many thoughtful conversations from fellow founders, experts, and advisors, but am especially grateful to my current advisors including Molly Swartz and Samar Shah. And some extra special thanks to Noah Breslow and Trevor Filter who have been there for me since the very beginning at MIT's delta v in summer 2020. 🚀 If you are a first-time founder, an underrepresented founder, or building for consumers that can be overlooked, please reach out. I'd love to support you like so many fellow founders and advisors have done for me. #fintech #entrepreneurship #mit #femalefounder #financialinclusion

As we start 2024, one word encapsulates our journey at ForOurLastNames: “RELATIONSHIPS”. The initial vision was to offer a culturally relevant solution to bridge the gap between education and investing for first-generation wealth builders. What initially kept me from building wealth on my 2-year journey to paying off my student loans through investing? 1️⃣Lack of Education 2️⃣Lack of Access 3️⃣My Relationship with Money The best businesses solve real-world problems, but I couldn’t tackle this issue (that millions like me face) alone. It was then that an ancient Hebrew principle came to me: the universe was created for connection. This inspired me to connect and create with like-minded people. That’s how my Sky's the Limit mentor for my first business, Raise the Bar Investments, LLC, became my strategy-mate, co-founder, and CTO for ForOurLastNames. ‘You can go fast alone, but you go far together,’ and I’m thankful to have a great co-founder like Tiffany Bogert during this entrepreneurial journey. Since uniting as CEO and CTO in 2023, here’s what Tiffany and I have accomplished together: - Quantified the problem: The racial wealth gap costs the US economy $1.5 trillion. This disproportionately impacts underrepresented populations, with a market size upwards of $2.1 billion. - Gained both B2B and B2C traction through participation in the Bank of America Breakthrough Lab, focusing on global upcoming technology companies that create financial inclusion in a highly scalable manner. - Raised $110,000 in a friends and family funding round through supporters like Build in Tulsa & ACT House, resulting in the creation of a unique, gamified solution for first-generation wealth builders. - Successfully launched a financial education beta with a success rate of over 90%. - Tested a highly scalable B2B2C impact model, forging key partnerships and conducting interviews with over 50 ideal B2B/B2G executive stakeholders. - Officially formed ForOurLastNames as a Delaware C Corp business. - Clarified the ForOurLastNames values: Value, Unity, Trust, Stewardship. - Built a growing waitlist with month-over-month growth, gearing up for a public launch in February 2024. In 2024, we’re excited to further expand our impact, with a vision of changing the trajectory of wealth building #ForOurLastNames. #founderstories #techfounders #entrepreneurialjourney #wealthjourney

2024 is halfway done, but the Capitalize team is just getting started! May was a busy month for us, so we want to take a minute and reflect on all the big milestones we experienced as a company. Here are just a few highlights: 🗺️ We announced the release of our new IRA directory, a resource designed to help savers find the right IRA for their financial future 🤝 We partnered with amazing brands, like Ellevest and Forge Trust, and ramped up our enterprise programs to help power seamless rollovers for their members 🧑🤝🧑 Our team quickly grew in size, and we also celebrated some special work anniversaries, including the big year 3 for our Director of Engineering, Will Folsom! 🎞️ We launched our new partnership with AdviceWithErin, “the internet’s big sister,” to help educate her community about 401k rollovers and retirement What's next for us in 2024? Stay tuned to find out. #reflection #fintech #nycstartup #financeindustry #companyculture

Venture Capital News - Venture Capital News Headlines

Venture Capital News - Venture Capital News Headlines

You gotta love a fresh note, so Crisp, it's stiff, full of promise and hope, it's so confident in it's standing. Anyway, that's not the financial insight I wanted to expose. Do you notice that the 🐃 is female and has a Calf. That is a very important and deliberate insight placed to remind us that Money is first to be Expanded before use; meaning you must first grow the money "give birth to another R100" then you can spend for more acquisition. #MoneyPulse #StartWithAPlan

Venture Capital News - Venture Capital News Headlines

⚡ As part of our quick founder questions series - or #QFQ - we spoke to Matthew Ford, cofounder and CEO of Sidekick about the inequality of #wealth creation, the democratisation of #fintech and making private wealth a little less private. "Sidekick is built for #entrepreneurs and hard-working #professionals who are looking for a #modern, more #comprehensive and #sophisticated approach to #wealthmanagement." “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” https://lnkd.in/gTuB33id

#fundingalert 💼Company: Goalsetter 💰Funding: $9.6Million ⚡Round: Series A  👥Investors: MassMutual, Fiserv, Webster Bank, Seae Ventures. Goalsetter is a goal-based savings and gifting platform fueled by their loved ones. Goalsetter is a platform that targets millennial moms by combining the best of gift registries like Zola and Honeyfund with goal-based savings platforms like Digit and Acorns. The business plans to use the funds to execute ongoing initiatives and continue forming new B2B partnerships. Goalsetter, under the direction of founder and CEO Tanya Van Court, offers families access to instructional material and wealth-building tools through a goal-based savings and smart spending platform. Deborah Rose Theresa Moore Esmail Tammy Eisenberg Read more - https://lnkd.in/g7HfjJSj To share your startup story write us on - [email protected] #Goalsetter #fintech #finance #partnerships #funding #startupnews #fundingnews #news