Katapulte reposted this
Managing Director @ Techstars. Entrepreneur, investor, author, #communitywealth advocate. 100+ startup portfolio. Pitch me at pitchtre.com.
I have a vision for a Black retail/e-commerce hub in Tulsa (specifically Greenwood aka Black Wall Street) for three reasons: 1. Black businesses are heavily concentrated in the consumer/retail sector and are highly fragmented. There are very few operating at any meaningful scale. This is a perfect vertical to tackle in our effort to Rebuild Black Wall St. and be globally competitive. 2. As I write in my book, the way we should approach economic development is by aggregating demand and then vertically integrating up the supply chain. E-commerce is a capital-efficient way to aggregate consumer demand. 3. Tulsa is in a good location strategically in the middle of the country with water, rail, road, and air transport hubs all around. However, a major bottleneck to scaling said businesses is working capital and back-office support. Katapulte will be instrumental in helping with the former as they build out their platform to unlock PO financing for CPG businesses. But we can't do this alone and need more investors, corporate sponsors, service providers, etc. Specifically, this will require a hybrid PE and VC strategy (I'd say in the $20M range). We have the VC part covered. PE investors...consider this your invite to plug in.
Embarked on a 13-week journey of acceleration and growth, culminating in the highly anticipated demo day. This entrepreneurship rollercoaster transformed my anxiety into confidence, equipping me with the leadership skills and drive to navigate most challenges. Katapulte is set to revolutionize the lending space for CPG small businesses. As we exit the Build in Tulsa Techstars Accelerator, the journey continues with a robust network and abundant resources behind me. Shoutout to the best cohort of amazing humans and the best thing to come out of the program Amber K. Curry, Jay Johnson, Nischay Madappa, Michael Nieto, Olanrewaju Tanimola, Seyi Fakoya, MBA, Salman Sarwar, Sally Bunnell, David Pears, Danique Sipkes, Sucheshna P., Bryon Pierson Jr., and Aneshai Smith. Special shoutout to my MD, Tré Baker and the wonderful leadership team Leticia Calvillo, MPA Britni Nixon, James Lydiard and Miles D.. Thanks for betting on Katapulte and pouring into us throughout programming. And to my awesome team Ambar Mehrotra, Paul Syng, Karan Puri and Harkirat Brara for being my partners in this journey. Katapulte to the 🌕 🚀 #EntrepreneurshipJourney #BusinessGrowth