Having access to capital is necessary for any business owner, no matter the industry. Unfortunately for Black entrepreneurs like Dave Salvant and many of us, getting access to capital is often harder than expected.

If you haven’t heard of Dave, he is arguably one of the greatest, modern-day leaders in the tech space. Dave is an example of someone that is truly self-made, and is proof that with a scalable idea, a lot of hustle, hard work, and consistency, you can turn your idea into a profitable business.

In 2015, Dave launched Squire Technologies, a Y Combinator-backed tech startup that enhances the barbershop experience for both customers and barbers. With Squire, customers can book and pay for their cuts with a simple push of a button. For small businesses, Squire serves as a backend platform that provides software for CRM, booking management, analytics, and POS [point of sales] systems.

While in his MBA program, Dave realized there was a need and a demand for people that wanted to get haircuts, and for small businesses that needed a tech solution to solve their business needs. To tackle this issue, Dave began working on Squire, and by launching it, he was able to be of service to the small barbershop businesses in his hood and in other communities as well.

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After Y Combinator, Dave and the team continued on to raise over $160 million dollars in venture funding. Some of the notable investors include ICONIQ Capital, Tiger Global, San Francisco 49ers organization, Trinity Ventures, 645 Ventures, and Comcast Ventures' Catalyst Fund.

Related: The founder of Calendly on building a unicorn tech company

While taking a break from his daily grind, Dave hopped on a call with Mogul Millennial and shared some insight on why you should raise venture capital, why applying for an accelerator should be at the top of your list, and the reason why your pitch is probably costing you investors and clients.

What is the benefit of raising venture capital?

“As African Americans, we typically don’t have as much access to capital right out of the gate when launching our startups. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have that rich uncle that we can turn to for that initial friends and family round.

When I think about Squire, we wanted to build a massive business and the fastest way to get there was to have some capital behind us. For us, that meant raising money.

If you choose not to raise capital and you’re bootstrapping, it is possible to build a massive company but it’s very hard and it tends to take longer. Bootstrapping makes it harder to hire, put money towards marketing, attend trade shows, etc.

The first initial customers you’ll be able to capture just by hustling, but it comes to a certain point and time where it becomes counterproductive to do everything yourself. At this point, you need to have a team around you and that’s one benefit of raising money (you’ll have the funds to hire).

For founders, I think venture capital is a necessary evil and it’ll help you get to the success you want. Keep in mind, the goal isn’t necessarily to raise money; it’s to build a really good business.”

Recommended: Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel shares tips for startup founders

Why should entrepreneurs go the accelerator route?

“Accelerators, specifically Y Combinator which is arguably the best in the world, serves two purposes:

1) Validation for your startup and for you as a founder

2) Helps you raise money

Startup funding for Black founders

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As I mentioned before, we [African Americans] typically don’t have the friends and family that we can tap into for funding, or that angel investor network. Because of this, we have to have validation by credible sources that’ll help us raise money.

Typically, the folks that are funding you often don’t look like you and I, and unfortunately, these investors pattern that according to what they are familiar with when funding. African Americans and female-led businesses have to fit in the specific profile that investors feel comfortable investing in.

Accelerators like Y Combinator is a great validator to support your business, and to indicate to investors that you are worth taking the shot on, and worth listening to. Because of this and more, the accelerator route is definitely an advantage for African American and female-led businesses.”

Do you have to be a full-time founder to raise venture capital?

"No one is going to invest in a hobby.

In order for someone to give you a significant investment, they need to know that you are fully committed. Even if you haven’t made money, investors will still invest if you can show that you have a scalable idea in a massive market (and that you are 100% devoted to your idea).

One way you can show investors that you are fully committed is by working on your business full-time. You can’t treat your startup like a side hustle and expect for people to invest.

Related: Ruben Harris of Career Karma on building a venture-backed startup

Next, when you are given the opportunity to pitch, you have to go all in. The initial pitch is often short, and it’s there to capture the initial interest of the investor or client. If you can capture their interest and master that shorter pitch, then you’ll be able to set up meetings to further pitch your startup and get funding.

Related: Tristan Walker on what you should know before pitching investors

Also, one thing that I’ve learned is that you have to create something that people love. By doing this, you’ll gain traction and can use that traction to your advantage when pitching for capital or to get clients.”

To learn more about Squire Technologies, visit https://getsquire.com/.

Every entrepreneur dreams of creating a product that achieves viral success, boosts revenue, and instills FOMO (fear of missing out). One highly effective way to achieve FOMO is the invite-only approach.

What is 'invite-only' marketing?

Invite-only is a strategy that makes a certain product or service more desirable by limiting access to a select group, and requires an invitation for entry.

When companies do this, they create a sense of exclusivity and scarcity, which drives demand for the product.

This strategy has worked for several companies, including Facebook, Spotify, Pinterest, Tidal, and most recently, Neon Money Club.

What is Neon Money Club?

Neon Money Club, a fintech startup cofounded by Luke Bailey and Jackie Liao, guides modern-day consumers in investing and achieving financial freedom. The platform offers a user-friendly experience to invest in areas of personal interest, spanning across pop culture, sneakers, sports, and more. To date, Neon Money Club has raised over $9 million in venture capital from investors like Concrete Rose Capital, Point72 Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Inspired by their shared upbringing of having limited resources and fueled by a commitment to uplift their community, Luke and Jackie launched Neon Money Club.

"Me and Jackie come from very similar backgrounds - we didn’t have shit,” Luke shared in an interview. “I got into banking at 19. Before that, I was rapping. I was producing. I was on stage. [And then] I found out my daughter was on the way… and it’s like, ‘Oh, crap. I’ve got to get a real job.’ I almost cried going into banking because I didn’t want to do that."

Even though he dreaded a career in banking, Luke built an impressive resume, and worked at some of the largest banks like JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley. 

Throughout his career, his creative side and passion for elevating his community was still there and he couldn’t ignore it. The same was happening for his soon-to-be cofounder Jackie Liao.

“18-35 year olds make up 92% of the streetwear market, but we only own 1% of the US stock market," Jackie shared.

There are a number of reasons why this disparity exists, but one is that people feel discouraged when they don't understand the lingo or have insufficient resources.

“People still find that they have to learn bank language from the 1920s that alienates the 99%. We’re flipping that," Luke shared. "We translate complex concepts and members get access to buy stocks using Neon Money Club's signature approach. Members also get access to exclusive content, rewards and drops.”

To be a member, you have to sign up for access, and can enjoy the features once your invitation is approved. Since its launch, Neon Money Club has utilized this invite-only strategy to bring in users (or 'members' as they affectionally call their users).

Benefits of an invite-only approach

Receive feedback

As a founder, it's crucial to conduct thorough testing and engage with your target audience before launching. By doing this, you'll be able to catch bugs, gather real user feedback, and make necessary changes before the general public gets access.

This can be accomplished with an invite-only strategy.

"Before we launched, we invited friends and family to the platform and we did testing with them," Luke shared with Mogul Millennial. "One thing I want founders to understand is that after you raise money, your investors may try to push you to move super fast. And yes, you should be moving relatively fast, and breaking things as you can. But - it's different when you're dealing with people's money, right? You have to be reasonable as well. During our whole beta period, we wanted to make sure we didn't have a leaky bucket, and that things were working."

Early feedback from users/members have played a pivotal role in shaping Neon Money Club's product development and customer acquisition strategy. Similar to other companies employing the invite-only tactic, they carefully consider feedback, address issues, and make iterative changes. Overtime, they've expanded their platform access, and are actively approving invite requests.

"One of the things we love is that these members give us straight up feedback, and they feel comfortable talking to us," Luke said. "Our members are the biggest part of what we do, and we engage them authentically and respectfully. With their honest feedback, we've been able to build and change things, and iterate as needed. Where we are now is all due to our members, and them being comfortable enough to give us feedback." 

Spark hype

People become infatuated with what's hot, and invite-only apps can spark that feeling. We've seen this happen with Tidal, Clubhouse, and now with Neon Money Club.

With a waitlist in place, it's pretty common for people to get curious and decide to join in. And as they anxiously wait on their approval, oftentimes they'll tell their friends about it too. When this happens, anticipation increases and you'll get more buzz around your startup (without spending extra money on advertising).

Other growth tactics by Neon Money Club

Leverage partnerships

To boost visibility, Neon Money Club has collaborated with various companies and influencers.

One notable partnership involved fashion and business mogul Jason Mayden to launch their first-ever investment playlist S.W.A.G — "Start with Assets You Got." Unlike typical playlists filled with favorite songs, this playlist grouped a collection of stocks from popular brands such as Nike and Supreme and allowed members to invest with a single click of a button.

Another partnership that has driven hype is Neon Money Club's partnership with American Express (Amex). Through this partnership, qualified members can invest on the Neon Money Club platform, and get access to Amex credit card perks and benefits.

Create relatable content campaigns

When connecting with your target audience, the art of storytelling takes center stage. Before investing time in advertising and creating content, ensure that you've crafted a vivid and compelling story of what you're building and who it's for.

"At Neon Money Club, what we do best is that we can tell stories. When we launched, we wrote a love letter to our people, and we were telling them that they belonged here. We talked about who our ideal member is, and painted a clear picture of them," Luke shared. "For example, in our letter, we described one of our ideal members as being a young woman that’s drippy as fuck, getting on a train, but the people around her don’t look like her, so they are looking down on her. And this woman is on the train, headed toward Wall Street. As the train goes down from the Bronx and Harlem, demographics are changing. The neighborhood is changing. In the visual, we wanted to show this strong, beautiful, determined, young woman, headed through the city in the morning. And then when she gets off the train, she’s at Wall Street, stands up in front of the New York Stock Exchange, and looks up like ‘I got next.’"

In this specific campaign, Neon Money Club aimed to establish a connection with their target audience while inspiring sign-ups in a way that felt nonintrusive.

Question: How is your startup creating content or reaching your audience in a way that's persuasive yet nonintrusive?

Meet your customers where they are

After creating your product, you need to be intentional with your distribution strategy. But don't complicate it. Meet your audience where they are.

"At Neon Money Club, whether we show up in a publication that our audience reads, at an event they'll be at, or through a partner that they've engaged with, we meet them where they are," Luke said. "As a founder, you need to have the problem and your product down pack. From there, your goal should be to get your product as close to your customer as humanly possible."

Be your biggest cheerleader

One reason why startups fail is because they don't actively market their product or service. It might seem straightforward, but think about it this way: if you, as the founder, aren't actively promoting your own company, who else will?

"A lot of times when I think about building a business, I take it back to music," Luke told Mogul Millennial. "I think about those really talented people that make music in their basement, but never release it. And keep in mind - these are sometimes the best artists of today, but no one has ever heard of them. So don’t be like them. Don’t create this beautiful, innovative thing, and not put enough effort into distribution, marketing, and how you show up. You are doing yourself and your ideas a disservice." 

TL:DR

• Invite-only marketing strategies are worth looking into (large corporations like Pinterest, Facebook, and Spotify have successfully leveraged this strategy to grow)
• Take control of your product development and growth by managing your rollout and user access
• Leverage partnerships to drive growth (I know it sounds cliché but there is power in collaboration)
• Be your biggest cheerleader and unapologetically promote your company

Learn more about Neon Money Club here - https://joinneon.com/

You had an app idea about a year ago, and you finally created it. Your app is now in the App Store, you've gotten some downloads, your follows have gone up on IG and Twitter, but then this happens.

You can't get new app downloads to save your life, your current app users have ghosted you, and people are unsubscribing, and canceling left to right.

Just when you thought life was good (*in Future's voice), sh*t hits the fan real quick because you weren't focused on this: developing a real app engagement and user retention strategy.

You can have a million app users, but if those million of folks (or a good percentage of them) aren't actively using your app, you just have a lot of dead weight that's doing you more harm than good (and ain't nobody got time for that).

The process of becoming a successful app creator and entrepreneur is never easy; it takes a lot of hard work, hustle, and strategy to get there. According to data, the average app loses 77% of users within just three days, and by the end of the month, 90% of those original new users are gone too.

One entrepreneur who has surpassed these odds by having a successful app and garnering over 2 million active users is Christopher Gray, the founder of Scholly.

If you're unfamiliar, Scholly is an app that helps students find money for college and helps college graduates pay off their student debt. Christopher launched Scholly after needing to find money for college and won over $1.3 million in scholarships. Since then, Christopher has raised startup funding, scaled his business, has gotten over 4 million total users and 2 million active users using Scholly, and wrote a book detailing his journey and his blueprint for others on accomplishing their dreams.

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Recently, Sallie Mae acquired several key assets of Scholly, including their scholarship administration tech, and Scholly Offers, a platform that matches users with strategic partners to help them earn cash back.

In this article, we're gonna walk you through how Christopher started his entrepreneurial journey, what strategies worked for Scholly, and his tips on creating an app that people will love and engage with.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

From idea to over 2 million active users: how Christopher Gray built Scholly

Christopher Gray grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and around his junior year in high school, he decided he wanted to go to college. Unfortunately, Christopher ran into one, important issue that many aspiring college students run into - MONEY.

At this time, his mother was single and unemployed, so asking his family to fund his college experience seemed tough. Christopher knew that going the scholarship route could help him get money for school, so for months, he would visit the public library to research and apply for college scholarships, and even wrote scholarship essays on his phone as he didn't have internet at home.

By the time Christopher graduated from high school, he had won over $1.3 million in scholarship money.

From there, Christopher attended Drexel University and studied finance and entrepreneurship. While at Drexel, he decided he wanted to help others secure scholarship money, so along with his co-founders, Christopher created Scholly. Since its launch, Scholly has helped students win over $100 million dollars in scholarships, and they've created student loan payout programs as well. They are also preparing to launch a new feature that'll help people apply for millions of dollars worth of scholarships with one, centralized application (similar to LinkedIn's 'Easy Apply' feature and how you can apply for a lot of jobs with your one profile).

A dollar and a dream: how Scholly acquired their first 1000 users

Starting out, Christopher didn't have a lot of money to spend on marketing and PR so he rolled up his sleeves and straight up hustled.

"I went to the Drexel’s Communications Department and was basically like 'Look, you’re the school of communication and I think this story [about Scholly] would look good for the school," Christopher told Mogul Millennial.

Christopher asked them to pitch Scholly's story to their press reporters, and it worked! Scholly ended up getting press in outlets like USA Today, the Fox channel, and a bunch of other national and local outlets. This resulted in a lot of organic views, traffic, and increased brand awareness for Scholly. "I encourage entrepreneurs, especially in my new book, that you gotta hustle. I think a lot of people don't do that. Even to this day, I’m always looking for creative ways to spend very little money and have it get a lot of impact and revenue," Christopher shared.

Shortly after using their school's network to get press, things turned up a bit more once Scholly made it on Shark Tank, and secured an investment from Daymond John and Lori Greiner.

**hit the video below to watch Christopher Gray's pitch on Shark Tank

Christopher Gray's best practice tips on onboarding app users

One of the top reasons why apps fail is because users don't like the onboarding process and having to do a million and one things to sign up for an account.

Christopher's advice?

"You need to make sure registering for an account will take less than two minutes. Keep the onboarding or the sign-up process simple and fast. Get their email address and name, or the most relevant information you need. Then wait until they are engaged with the app, and use email to retarget them to get more, nice to have information to complete your data matrix," Christopher shared with us.

Related: How to tap into your customers with email marketing strategies that work

Engaging, retaining, and re-engaging app users with a data-driven approach

Once people download your app, users will ghost you if you're not engaging enough.

No matter what industry you're in and what kind of app you're building, you have to create an engaging product and design every little thing with purpose. As Christopher told us, "Before you actually build your app, you have to design that engagement because it's a really big part of why someone subscribes to your product and if they're going to keep using it."

Also, don't just create a cute app and move on to acquire users.

Make sure you have good marketing automation tools in place to help you grow from a data-driven approach.

Christopher shared, "We use this company called Braze but there are other companies you can use to make sure you have certain triggers in place. When someone leaves your app for a certain period of time, you can use the data you’ve gotten when it’s time to re-engage them. Also, use different attribution tools for your app to make sure you're tracking that person's engagement and are making data-driven decisions on what you need to improve your app."

Some of the things Christopher says you should figure out are:

1) What areas of the app did this person use?

2) How long did they use it?

3) What features did they use the most?

Even without directly asking users, your data can tell you a lot. You may think your users left for one reason but turns out, you could have this bug that you didn’t even know about.

Next, the other thing you need to focus on is getting data when people leave (because it's inevitable), and creating strategies for re-engaging them and getting them back on your app.

"Having an outboarding flow when people decide to cancel a subscription and cancel your app is really important. Try to survey as many people as you can to get data. You can even create some sort of incentive to encourage people to tell you why they are leaving. You need to get that qualitative data to learn why they are canceling," Chris shared. "Figure out what feature they wanted in your app that you didn’t have, or what they didn’t like so you incorporate that feedback into the app. And then when you make those updates and re-engage those folks that canceled your app, you can show them that you listened and made updates."

Christopher Gray's tips for entrepreneurs

For many of us who struggle with overcoming biases, obstacles set by society, and are underserved, we often feel the pressure from these experiences and it affects how we go after the things we want in life.

"Over time, I’ve done a lot of speaking engagements, and have given advice to a lot of people on starting a business. I noticed that oftentimes, there’s a common theme around the questions people ask so I wanted to create a playbook that would help a lot of people, especially people from different affinity groups like people of color, LGBT people, women, etc.," Christopher told Mogul Millennial. "I wanted to show people that they can accomplish their goals and share how I did it. My book goes in chronological order of the different stages of my life, like going through school, getting scholarships for college, starting Scholly, getting on Shark Tank, and more."

In his book, Christopher is sharing actionable lessons about how to make a way for your life no matter what, whether you're an entrepreneur, a creative trying to secure clients, or a 9-5er trying to climb the corporate ladder.

"The goal for my book is to put people in the right mindset so when they're going through things that seem insurmountable, they're able to find a creative way to get through it. Like I said earlier, I couldn’t afford a PR firm when I first launched Scholly so I found a creative way to make sure I got PR anyway. I couldn’t afford to go to college, so I found a way to find, apply, and get over a million in scholarships. I won over $135,000 from pitch competitions for Scholly because I knew that raising money as a Black founder would be hard so I found creative ways to get funding no matter what," Christopher shared. "I think as a community, we miss out on so many opportunities, and we have a lot of untapped talent with great ideas. We have to find creative ways to beat the odds even through the obstacles. My book inspires you to do just that."

If you ask any venture-backed, Black founder about raising venture capital, they will tell you to prioritize your customers, product, and revenue, over solely chasing after venture capital.

Ethan Holmes, the CEO of Holmes Mouthwatering, 100% agrees.

In case you're unfamiliar, Holmes Mouthwatering is an all-natural, applesauce brand made with chunks of real fruit, apple cider, and no added sugar. From the inception of his company, Ethan dedicated his efforts to those exact principles mentioned above and further explained below:

👉🏾 Building an exceptional product: Ethan understood the significance of building a standout product that would captivate his target audience.

👉🏾 Validating the idea and attracting customers: By prioritizing customer acquisition, Ethan ensured his idea had viability and people actually wanted what he was selling.

👉🏾 Driving profitability: Ethan understood the significance of growing revenue, indicating that his product effectively fulfilled consumer needs and desires.

Customer Acquisition 101 by the CEO of theCut

Learn how to acquire customers, calculate customer acquisition costs, create a customer acquisition funnel, and more by a startup tech founder.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial team

By staying true to these principles, Ethan successfully steered Holmes Mouthwatering toward sustainable growth, long-term success, and attracted the attention of investors 🤑🤑🤑.

Ethan's entrepreneurial journey began during his high school years, driven by his passion for entrepreneurship and inspired by his grandpa's applesauce recipe.

Determined to create his own line of products and to disrupt the global applesauce market valued at over $900 million, Ethan launched his brand.

"To date, we've processed over 500,000 pounds of apples, delivering 250,000 units to consumers across the U.S.," Ethan shared. "In 2015, we landed our first major retailer, Giant Eagle. Then we expanded to Whole Foods Market and Kroger in 2018. We also joined the Chobani Incubator in 2020, raising over $800,000 through grants and investors," Ethan told Mogul Millennial.

Here's a quick look at some of their sources of funding thus far:

Throughout the evolution and growth of his company, Ethan has continuously refined his pitch deck, adapting it to reflect the progress and maturity of his venture.

Let's take a look at Ethan's current pitch deck, and his tips for founders.

*Please note: Mogul Millennial has secured an exclusive copy of Holmes Mouthwatering pitch deck. Some sensitive data has been redacted at the company's request.

In a time where entrepreneurial excellence knows no bounds, it is important that we spotlight and celebrate the remarkable contributions of Black female founders who defy the odds in the face of systemic challenges.

Over the years, we've had the privilege of interviewing and highlighting visionary Black women who stand as trailblazers in diverse fields—from beauty to fintech, SaaS, and beyond. Each woman featured below has made significant contributions to the entrepreneurial landscape in her unique way.

Join us on this inspiring journey as we honor the brilliance and tenacity of Black female founders who are rewriting the narrative of success.

Startup funding for Black founders

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Marissa Allen - Cofounder of Cookie Society

Industry: Food

Cookie Society is a bakery and dessert brand, with locations spanning across DFW. Marissa cofounded Cookie Society with her husband Jeff Allen, driven by her love for baking and creating unique baked good recipes in her kitchen.

Here in this post, Marissa and her husband shared social media tips for entrepreneurs:

Social media tips to grow your brand

This Black-owned cookie bakery in Dallas shares tips for new business owners on growing your social media presence.

Mogul MillennialCarlyn Pounders

Kimberly Jolasun - CEO of Villie

Industry: Parent tech; Consumer tech

Villie is a tech company that seamlessly connects expecting parents with financial and emotional support from their community. Since Kim launched Villie, she's received investments from notable investors such as Fearless Fund, XRC Ventures, and TxO by a16z.

In a post on Mogul Millennial, Kim shares how she leveraged Pinterest to acquire users:

How the founder of Villie used Pinterest to acquire users

The Power of Pinterest: How To Find Early Customers for Your Startup

Mogul MillennialKimberly Jolasun

Simone Kendle - CEO of Wove

Industry: Consumer Goods

Simone Kendle is the CEO of Wove, an online custom jewelry company that provides engagement rings. But before then, she served as the CMO of Parfait, a venture-backed, wig customization platform aimed at disrupting the wig industry.

In a previously recorded AMA with Mogul Millennial, Simone shared how her previous company Parfait secured over 10K people on their waitlist before launching.

How Parfait built a 10K+ waitlist for their startup before launching

In this interview with Parfait’s CMO Simone Kendle, learn how they secured over 10K people on their waitlist before launching.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial team

Dr. Onaedo Achebe - CEO of Minti

Industry: Consumer Goods

Minti is a forward-thinking oral care brand, dedicated to sustainability and cleanliness. Dr. Onaedo Achebe launched Minti, after recognizing a crucial need for elevated, clean ingredients in the oral care realm. Currently, Minti includes a comprehensive range of toxin-free oral tools, featuring toothbrushes with handles crafted from 100% compostable bamboo, floss derived from all-natural corn fiber, and toothpaste free from parabens.

Check out what Dr. Achebe had to share about Minti’s go-to-market strategy for their oral-care brand.

Minti’s go-to-market strategy for their oral-care brand

Dr. Onaedo Achebe shares her go-to-market strategy for Minti, a sustainable oral-care brand

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial team

Mandy Bowman - CEO of Official Black Wall Street

Industry: Software

Official Black Wall Street (OBWS) is the largest app and digital platform connecting consumers to different Black-owned businesses. Named after the Black Wall Street Massacre that occurred in Tulsa in 1921, OBWS was created after Mandy studied Entrepreneurship and Global Business Management at Babson College, and was determined to help the Black community thrive through economic empowerment and ownership.

Learn more about OBWS, and Mandy's advice on building a membership business.

Advice on building a membership business with Mandy Bowman of Official Black Wall Street

Keeping customers engaged in membership businesses is tough. Get tips from Mandy Bowman of Official Black Wall Street on acquiring and retaining members.

Mogul MillennialJoshua Smith

Shontay Lundy - CEO of Black Girl Sunscreen

Industry: Beauty

Shontay Lundy is the Founder of Black Girl Sunscreen, a moisturizing sunscreen lotion formulated for women of color. Shontay's motivation stemmed from her own struggle, a common challenge faced by Black women—finding a sunscreen that not only provides moisture but also seamlessly blends into the skin. With this mission, she set out to redefine the sunscreen experience for women of color.

Learn more about her entrepreneurship journey here:

Meet the founder of Black Girl Sunscreen

Can Black people get skin cancer? Shontay Lundy addresses a common misconception about Black skin and the sun and the product she developed to fight it.

Mogul MillennialKandice Reynolds

April Johnson - CEO of Happied

Industry: SaaS

Backed by Hearstlab, Google for Startups, Techstars, and more, Happied is a startup that uses technology and industry expertise to take all of the stress out of team engagement for companies. The current version of Happied emerged from a pivotal shift away from its original concept. Originally, Happied was a company that connected DC professionals with happy hour spots. During COVID-19, Happied encountered difficulties that ultimately served as inspiration for the evolution of the platform into its current form.

Learn more about the evolution of Happied and how they found product-market fit:

How Happied pivoted and found product-market fit

After experiencing a major red flag and setback, this startup pivoted, changed its business model, and has secured major clients like Google and Disney.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial team

Pinky Cole - CEO of Slutty Vegan

Industry: Food; Restaurant

By now, everybody and their mama knows what Slutty Vegan is. But just in case you don't, Slutty Vegan is a leading, plant-based burger restaurant with over 10 locations including Atlanta, Dallas, Harlem, and Birmingham.

Among the fan favorites at Slutty Vegan are the Sloppy Toppy burger, the Chik'n Head, and the One Night Stand.

In an interview with Mogul Millennial, Pinky talks about her entrepreneurship journey and her tips for founders:

Pinky Cole on building Slutty Vegan and her tips for founders

Pinky Cole is the CEO and founder of Slutty Vegan. Check out her founder story and her social media marketing tips for entrepreneurs.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial Staff

Cashmere Nicole - CEO of Beauty Bakerie

Industry: Beauty

Beauty Bakerie is a cruelty-free, vegan-friendly and gluten-free cosmetics company. Launched by Cashmere Nicole, this brand has raised over $14 million dollars according to Crunchbase, and can be found in Target and Ulta stores across the country.

Here on Mogul, Cashmere talks about her journey launching Beauty Bakerie and her tips for entrepreneurs:

The founder of Beauty Bakerie Cosmetics shares tips for entrepreneurs

We spoke with the owner of the multi-million dollar beauty company on how she secured funding and building her team.

Mogul MillennialStephanie Heath

Sheena Allen - CEO of CapWay

Industry: Fintech

CapWay is a platform that provides financial education and services, resources, and banking options for the unbanked. Launched by serial entrepreneur Sheena Allen, CapWay is backed by Y Combinator, the Opportunity Fund, Valor Ventures, and more.

In an interview on Mogul Millennial, Sheena shares how building relationships helped her raise money for her startup:

How to raise money for your startup business

Sheena Allen used relationships to get the money she needed for her business. Here are her tips for pitching and how she landed her first investor.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial Staff

Ranay Orton - CEO of Glow by Daye

Industry: Consumer Goods

Ranay Orton founded Glow by Daye with a mission to enhance the hair maintenance experience through high-quality, thoughtfully designed products. One of the first products that she launched was her satin hair bonnet. Fast-forward to today, their product line has expanded to include satin hair scarves, hooded dryers, shower caps, and more.

In an interview on Mogul Millennial, Ranay shares how she made $1 million with one product:

How to start a hair bonnet business

Breaking into the hair industry can be difficult. Here’s how this founder used targeted marketing efforts and social media to grow her business.

Mogul MillennialMish Saka

Jasmine Jones - CEO of Myya

Industry: E-commerce

Jasmine Jones is the CEO of Myya (formerly Cherry Blossom Intimates). Myya offers breast cancer survivors a completely customizable virtual post-mastectomy bra fitting experience. Myya is also the only fully encompassing post-mastectomy care brand that can bill insurance directly for customers, making the shopping process seamless.

Jasmine sat down with Mogul Millennial to share her tip on pivoting your business and her advice for founders:

Tips on pivoting your business by the CEO of Myya

This Forbes 30 Under 30 CEO talks about her experience pivoting her business and her tips on other founders doing the same.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial team

Tobi Bosede - CEO of DentalFynd

Industry: AI; Healthtech

DentalFynd, is a startup that’s using AI to democratize dentistry. Tobi's inspiration for launching this startup stemmed from her own struggles in finding a dentist.

In an interview with Mogul Millennial, Tobi talks about her entrepreneurship journey and her journey around customer acquisition and minimizing churn:

The founder of DentalFynd on customer acquisition and reducing churn

Tobi Bosede, the founder of DentalFynd, details her journey around customer acquisition and minimizing churn.

Mogul MillennialMogul Millennial team

Slutty Vegan, owned by Clark Atlanta alum Pinky Cole, has truly revolutionized the vegan food industry, and arguably the food industry as well. As Pinky shared with Mogul Millennial, “90% of the Slutty Vegan patrons are Black. It’s been a beautiful, modern-day revolution of introducing veganism to Black meat-eaters. Matter-of-fact, the people we target are meat-eaters. We already have vegans, so we are focused on those avid meat-eaters. If we can convert more non-vegans to vegans than we are literally changing the dynamic of our culture, our health, economy, and the way we live.”

Changing our culture and being a dynamic, influential force definitely defines this Mogul Millennial, Pinky Cole.

Slutty Vegan quickly and organically gained popularity from consumer and celebrities all across the nation. For years, people would travel to Slutty's Vegan first location in Atlanta to get "sluttified" by trying out one of their vegan creations.

Fast-forward to today, Slutty Vegan has over 10 locations including Atlanta, Dallas, Harlem, and Birmingham.

The entrepreneurship bug bit Pinky Cole early at age 14.

At 14, Pinky started her entrepreneurship journey by re-selling fast food burgers to her friends in high school. #genius

Afterward, she was making nearly $4,000 per week by becoming the youngest party promoter in Baltimore at the age of 16.

Upon graduating from high school, she went to college at Clark Atlanta and majored in Mass Media Arts. With her new degree in hand, she worked for Teach for America, but it only lasted for 5 days. As Pinky told Mogul Millennial, “I’m definitely a teacher, but not in the classroom.”

After a short stint as an educator, Pinky worked as a production assistant for a court tv show, and then later worked as a TV producer for the Maury Show. While working there, the love of entrepreneurship still had a soft spot in Pinky’s heart. After thinking about her current skill set and being inspired by a friend, she used the money she earned on the Maury Show to open her first restaurant.

The restaurant, a Jamaican-American restaurant in Harlem called Pinky’s, opened in August 2014. Unfortunately, after years of being successful, it was burnt down in July 2016 due to a grease fire.

Experiencing this type of loss as a business owner wasn’t easy. From there Pinky started focusing again on herself, and eventually took a job again in the TV industry as a casting director with Iyanla Vanzant’s show Fix My Life. This new gig brought her back to Atlanta, which was where the concept of Slutty Vegan came to life.

Pinky decided her next restaurant business would be focused on plant-based burgers because it was something fun, and one she could easily put a creative twist to.

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On her first day of business, she sold a discouraging four burgers, but a week later she sold 100 burgers after influencer Dymetra Pernell mentioned Slutty Vegan’s burgers on her Instagram. This inspired Pinky and helped her realize the impact social media could have on her business.

Recently, we chatted with Pinky and she shared a few social media marketing tips that you’ll find helpful for your own business.

Video content is lit. Get into it.

Pinky didn’t necessarily have a “marketing plan” when she launched Slutty Vegan, but she knew a few things. She noticed that video content was booming on social media, so she aimed to create an experience on social where we people could visually taste the food.

“I would find people who patronized the business and would have them bite the burger on camera. I would have them say they were ‘sluttified’ if that’s how they felt, and that became a thing. It became a natural reaction and saying for the Slutty Vegan customers,” Pinky shared.

This idea of getting customers to try out her burgers on camera went viral, and all kind of people including influencers, and celebrities like Mike Epps, were wanting to be filmed tasting her burger.

Simple is always in.

In the early days, Slutty Vegan’s Instagram was run solely by Pinky and was driven by whatever idea happens to inspire her.

“As it relates to the pattern on social media, I wanted to make sure it was a simple clean page, with engaging visuals. As simple as it is, there is truly a science to mastering social media. I didn’t have a strict posting schedule where I had to post at certain times throughout the day; everything has been more organic,” Pinky told Mogul Millennial.

Fast-forward to today, her social media team hasn't deterred away from Pinky's proven social media strategy (keep it simple, with engaging visuals).

Be you. It’ll pay off.

If you want to create fast, yet organic growth for your business, be authentic, transparent, and unafraid to be the face of your brand.

“People feel more connected and like they are apart of your dream when you’re transparent. Allow people to fall in love with you. When people know you and trust you, it’s more likely they’ll support you.”

To-date Slutty Vegan has become a household name in not only the vegan food space, but the restaurant industry as a whole. In 2022, Pinky raised a $25 million round of series A funding, led by prolific restaurateur Danny Meyer’s investment group, Enlightened Hospitality. This investment has taken Slutty Vegan to new heights, and we can only imagine where they will go from here.

When Drake said, "we go zero to 100 real quick," he might as well have been foreseeing the future of Feedcoyote.

In the summer of 2022, Feedcoyote's founder, Dr. Stevens Bonhomme, set out to create a CRM for small businesses. Within months, his vision evolved into a network/productivity tool platform. Fast-forward to today, they are a full blown collaboration network platform. At Feedcoyote, users can build teams, collaborate on projects, and earn money while managing everything in one place, complemented by their integrated productivity tools.

Once Feedcoyote decided to pivot, they started growing quickly - and when I say 'quickly,' I mean it - (currently, they are growing 200% month over month, averaging 1000 users a week).

"In February 2023, we really struggled to get users," Dr. Bonhomme shared. "We were around 220ish users. Now we are past 10,000. We’ve grown 42x in the last nine months, and have users in over 120 countries."

So how did Feedcoyote grow so fast?

Unlike many early-stage startups, spending a lot of money on social media ads wasn't part of their growth strategy. Instead, Feedcoyote's growth strategy can be summed up in six points.

At Feedcoyote, they...

1. Primarily focused on one target market
2. Conducted massive outreach and engaged directly with users
3. Created a platform that people love and find value in
4. Built a viral loop
5. Adopted a product-led growth approach
6. Took customer feedback serious

Let's delve a little deeper into how Feedcoyote executed each strategy.

Feedcoyote primarily focused on one target market

"When we first started the platform, we were trying to serve everybody, and we were all over the place," Dr. Bonhomme shared. "We really needed to refine our product so that we could find that one category to do really well in."

Initially, Dr. Bonhomme built a CRM for small businesses but also envisioned entrepreneurs and freelancers utilizing it to manage their gigs. However, growth remained slow until they pivoted based on user feedback. The decision to focus on freelancers and nurture a community around them fueled substantial growth.

Feedcoyote conducted massive outreach and engaged with users

"In the beginning, I would search for people on LinkedIn, and narrow the search to freelancers, entrepreneurs and small business owners," Dr. Bonhomme shared. "I sent over 1200 messages to those folks. The message was something like, ‘I notice your title is this and I’m trying to build a platform to help people in your space be more productive.’ A lot of people didn't reply, but some did."

Dr. Bonhomme didn't take those replies for granted either.

To seize this opportunity, he responded to everyone and asked them to get on a call. During these discovery calls, he learned something that took Feedcoyote to the next level. In these conversations, they talked about their experiences as a freelancer, their painpoints, and the loneliness that often accompanies freelancing.

"As a seasoned freelancer myself, I understood their painpoint of finding a community and support system. So I decided, ‘How about we just focus on just helping freelancers be more productive and also collaborate with each other so that they can grow their business?’ So from there, we started primarily targeting freelancers and focused on creating a community for them, on top of our productivity tools," Dr. Bonhomme shared.

Feedcoyote created a platform that people love

At the end of the day, you can create what you believe is the best product, but if no one else loves it too, do you really have a business?

At Feedcoyote, they built something that people truly love and find value in. While there is a paid version of Feedcoyote, their freemium version is incredibly useful too. Pricing comes into play when a user decides they want to upgrade to unlock more features. "If you use all of Feedcoyote’s features at the freemium level, and you want more, you can invite three more people to unlock another feature," Dr. Bonhomme said.

Beyond that, people love Feedcoyote because it has everything they need in one place. "Some of our key benefits are freelancers can create projects, manage their calendar, integrate their Zoom or Calendly accounts, and manage their end to end deal flow with customers - all in one place," Dr. Bonhomme shared.

Feedcoyote built a viral loop

Feedcoyote is a product-led growth company (don't worry; we'll talk more about this later).

One advantage of being a product-led growth company is the viral loop benefit.

Some of our favorite platforms that also do this well are Calendly, Slack, and Zoom.

Each of these platforms, including Feedcoyote, enable users to share the product with their network at a massive scale.

Here's how:

Next, although Feedcoyote hasn't really engaged in a formal referral program, people are learning about them through word-of-mouth.

"At Feedcoyote, you can invite external people to join your project. We’ve seen a lot of growth from this," Dr. Bonhomme said. "Also, because people are making money on the platform, they talk about it. Some of the posts I've seen lately are ‘Hey, I've made $1,000 a week collaborating on this project,’ and they share this on social media. This is where we've also seen a lot of growth because people are actually making money and are telling people about it."

Feedcoyote adopted a product-led growth approach

Some of your favorite tools are product-led growth companies.

From Slack, to Loom, to Zoom, Calendly, and Canva - they all adopted a product-led growth strategy.

In case you're unfamiliar, product-led growth is a business strategy that relies on your product as the main driver of customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. Product-led companies make this possible by providing customers a way to experience the product for free, either through a freemium product or a free trial. From there, if the customer loves their experience, upgrading to a paid plan is an easy sale.

Because Feedcoyote has adopted a product-led growth strategy, they've been reaping the same benefits. "It's our mission to make the product very appealing so that our customers can basically be our marketing department and talk about Feedcoyote for us," Dr. Bonhomme shared.

This concept is similar to what Beyoncé did with the Renaissance tour. As she shared on stage, ‘You are the visuals.’ Her fanbase excitedly and involuntarily posted billions of content promoting the Renaissance tour.

Feedcoyote takes customer feedback serious

A common mistake that startups make is not engaging enough with their customers. Regardless of your company's stage, you should actively seek feedback and communicate directly with your customers.

"To get feedback, we send out surveys, and talk to customers one on one. Also some of our users willingly email us to say, ‘Hey, I like this feature, or I want this new feature.’ From there, we compile all of the feedback, and it influences which feature we launch next," Dr. Bonhomme shared. "Our feedback loop is continuous. We have team meetings every week to review our roadmap. We discuss what makes sense for the platform, and decide as a team whether to improve our existing features or build new ones based on feedback received."

Dr. Bonhomme and his team also actively search online to discover customer feedback.

"I search ‘Feedcoyote’ every day over the internet, and across social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. Sometimes I can find posts because people have tagged us, and other times I still come across their posts because they included our name. If you check LinkedIn now, you're gonna find a bunch of posts from customers talking about how much they love Feedcoyote, and inviting others to join," Dr. Bonhomme said. 

From there, Dr. Bonhomme or someone from his team will comment, repost, and reach out to thank them. They also use that opportunity to gather more feedback on how they can improve the customer's experience. No matter what, "I use every opportunity as a learning opportunity for the business," Dr. Bonhomme shared.

At Mogul Millennial, we spend a lot of time talking to Black founders about launching startups or new products. One question often asked is, "How do we get people to find us and, more importantly, buy our product?"

For many entrepreneurs, customer acquisition is a major challenge. Unfortunately, we’ve seen numerous founders invest too much time, money, and resources into customer acquisition channels that are not working (and then they wait until it’s too late to pivot 😭🥴😭). 

As an early-stage founder, it’s critical that you use your time and resources wisely, and if you can, zero in on a particular niche. This way, you can have more focus, and can hone in on targeted efforts as you lay the groundwork for your venture.

This is something that Tobi Bosede did with DentalFynd, which is an“Uber For Dentistry” startup that’s using AI to democratize dentistry.

DentalFynd’s Origin Story

Tobi Bosede is currently the CEO of DentalFynd, but before then, she built AI tools for major organizations such as Capital One. While working at Capital One, Tobi faced the frustration of finding a dentist. “I had dental insurance, but even with that, I would have to pay 4K …with dental insurance. I decided to call different offices and shop around. I spent about a week going onto different websites for dentist’s pricing, cross-referencing that with online reviews, and then calling. I’m in pain, but I’m spending all this time researching,” Tobi shared in an interview with digitalundivided. “Eventually, I decided to go out of network and see a provider at a teaching hospital. It was another two weeks between finding the provider and being seen. So in total, there were three weeks of not just physical pain but also big expenses. It was just a compounding effect with no efficiency in the system.”

Motivated by this firsthand struggle, Tobi envisioned a tech-driven solution to democratize healthcare services. Using her background in tech, industry knowledge, and personal frustrations finding a dentist, Tobi started working on her idea.

Tobi's initial venture, Ilekun Health, was a general product that didn't solely focus on the dental industry. However, building it was a challenge. “It was a tough market in terms of getting people to pay for their health care, because a lot of people are very much like ‘oh, I have insurance,’ whereas we're all cash pay. But then with dentistry I learned that it's different,” Tobi shared with Mogul Millennial.

Soon after, she rebranded and zeroed in on the dentistry space. Now that they’ve rebranded to DentalFynd, they’ve attracted customers from both the patient and dentist sides, marking the beginning of their journey. “Overall, we're starting with dentistry by creating this retail shoppable experience. Eventually, we plan to expand beyond dentistry - whether it's with medicine or pet health, with veterinary care on demand,” Tobi said.

DentalFynd’s Customer Acquisition Journey

As aforementioned, we've witnessed early-stage entrepreneurs pour excessive time, money, and resources into customer acquisition strategies that yield lackluster results.

Our advice?

(1) Choose a clear path, (2) concentrate your efforts, (3) analyze the data, and (4) be quick to pivot when necessary. Even if you're targeting multiple audiences, it's crucial to establish clear KPIs.

At DentalFynd, they actually have three different customer personas.

“The first are small business owners, entrepreneurs, and independent contractors. Next are college students, recent grads, and Gen Zers (and that's actually our current focus). And then the last are senior citizens, and people who are in nursing homes or assisted living homes,” Tobi shared with Mogul Millennial. “We picked those three personas because more than often, those people are underinsured as it relates to dentistry.”

In DentalFynd’s early days, Tobi did several things to understand and acquire her customers. “We explored running ads, but at the early stage of a company, I don’t recommend doing that to acquire customers,” Tobi said. “Paid marketing is not the best use of funds at the beginning of a business because you have such limited funds. I definitely think that for growth stage companies, running ads makes more sense.” 

Ads at DentalFynd were run for experimental purposes, and to test out different messaging. Beyond ads, giveaways, and door-to-door approaches at nursing homes were explored, but this was short-lived. “Baby boomers are not the most tech adept, and you kind of have to go through their millennial caretakers or the social worker to reach them. I decided that would be a later play for us,” Tobi shared.

To reach entrepreneurs, they joined Slack groups, as well as Facebook and WhatsApp groups - but they had varied success. They also organized events like “Coffee and Strolls'' covering the participants’ coffee, and we're able to get emails as a result of this. From there, they would convert those connections into active users.

Lastly, they pre-populated dentist profiles onto their platform, and proactively reached out to dentists to claim their profile. This strategy has been successful, and it has inspired their ongoing customer acquisition practices.

The biggest lesson we've learned from this?

Test and validate your customer acquisition strategies (in a cost-effective way). Scrutinize your data, and be ready to pivot if needed. Time and money are precious commodities so don't abuse it.

How DentalFynd Reduces Churn 

In entrepreneurship, getting people to sign up for your platform or app is just the initial hurdle. The real challenge lies in keeping them engaged and interested.

At DentalFynd, they have over 6200 dentists listed on their platform, with more than 550 patients subscribed. Currently, their primary focus is attracting new sign ups, while also trying to minimize churn.

“For one, I think entrepreneurs should know that there’s always going to be churn - that’s just the nature of business. Churn is not always under your control. Sometimes people that you initially targeted just might not be a fit and you’ll learn that over time,” Tobi told Mogul Millennial. “It's good to have predefined personas for who your customers would be as a starting point. At the same time, it’s important that you’re flexible to other or new customer personas that could arise. You can get to this point by being really data-driven. We use Google Analytics to help get this data, and outside of this, there are other websites that enable you to go deeper and really understand the customer journey on your website."

No matter what, as Tobi shared, churn is inevitable. As long as you can deeply understand why people are leaving, and can create strategies to combat this, you’re good. This is something that Tobi learned after they rebranded from Ilekun Health to DentalFynd.

“Throughout that process, we actually had a dentist on the earlier version, but he churned as we rebranded. He churned because at that time we weren’t able to deliver on our stated values soon enough,” Tobi shared. “This person is a perfect example of someone that adopted early, but really became more of a laggard. His pain point wasn't acute enough, where he was willing to deal with our changes and the kinks as we evolved. My advice for others would be to really refine your pitch and properly set expectations to help reduce churn.”

Throughout this journey, Tobi learned invaluable lessons around customer acquisition and churn. As a result, she has refined DentalFynd’s value proposition and is working towards what’s next. Presently, DentalFynd serves New York, and has ambitious plans for expansion into other markets in the near future.

Learn more about DentalFynd here: https://dentalfynd.com/

Our team is happy to announce that we have become an IBM Business Partner!

We are delighted to collaborate and start building solutions that promote equity in venture capital, and provide Black entrepreneurs with the resources they need.

Our team is especially interested in leveraging Cognos Analytics by IBM to level the playing field in accessing funding. Providing investors and Black entrepreneurs with a seamless experience for building connections allows them to develop meaningful relationships which will contribute to the overarching advancement of Black entrepreneurs, and the broader startup community.

Embedding with IBM will give us the ability to strategically leverage technology to propel the growth of Black businesses and ensure equitable access to funding.

• Spending too much time, money, and energy on your business before validating it
• Overcommitting yourself (aka doing the most, but you end up not getting anything done) 😩
• Procrastinating
• Trying to be everything in your business for everybody

If you're guilty of one or more of the items above, don't worry, we got you.

ABOUT THE TEACHER

Jose 'Caya' Cayasso is the cofounder and CEO at Slidebean; overseeing the company's roadmap, strategy, and growth marketing efforts. Slidebean is a venture-backed company founded in 2014 and is headquartered in New York City. The company closed its first seed round in 2016 and since then it has become a multi-million dollar, profitable tech company.

Caya's experience with startups, from leading and growing a company, to raising capital and participating in accelerator programs such as 500 Startups and DreamIt Ventures gives him a unique insight into the needs of startups.

When Dr. Onaedo Achebe decided to launch a brand in the oral care industry, she didn’t know where to start. Dr. Achebe just knew there was a huge need in the market that wasn’t being met.

After graduating from NYU for dental school, Dr. Achebe worked in various community health centers and at VC-backed dental organizations. When COVID-19 hit, she was working at one of the VC-backed orgs and was furloughed. This forced her to pause and really think about what was next.

She reflected on some of the feedback that she got from people while working in dentistry. Through this, she saw a pattern of consumers wanting elevated, clean ingredients in their oral care routine. At the time, the oral care industry was ignoring this.

This inspired her to create Minti.

Minti is a sustainable and clean oral care brand for the next generation.

They offer a full line of toxin-free oral tools including toothbrushes with handles made of 100% compostable bamboo, floss made from all-natural corn fiber, and paraben-free toothpaste.

It’s no secret that the oral care market is highly competitive, with several key players already making moves.

So, how does a brand like Minti penetrate this market? How can they get their slice of the billion-dollar, oral care industry pie?

Well for starters, having a solid go-to-market (GTM) and customer acquisition strategy was key for them.

No matter how small or massive the market is, launching a product is a huge investment. Establishing a well-thought-out GTM strategy ensures you’re taking everything into account, avoiding costly mistakes, and putting out a product that people actually want.

Just in case you’re unfamiliar, a go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a step-by-step plan for launching a new product or expanding an existing product into a new market. A good GTM strategy will help clarify and identify your problem, solution, target audience, marketing plan, and sales strategy.

Every GTM strategy isn’t the same and will vary for every entrepreneur.

If you're looking for inspiration, take a look at the steps Dr. Achebe took to build Minti’s GTM strategy, and how they acquired customers early on.

Step 1: Start with the problem

As aforementioned, Minti offers a sustainable line of oral products. “There’s so much plastic waste in dentistry and I wanted to change that,” Dr. Achebe said in an interview.

In addition, while working in dentistry, Dr. Achebe was often faced with the realities that many people go through to get access to dental care.

“At one practice, I saw patients who barely had any cavities, to being at facilities treating others with serious oral issues. This wasn’t due to poor hygiene. It was lack of access to preventative care because one patient’s insurance enabled them to get more cleanings,” Dr. Achebe shared.

“I just got to a point where it didn’t feel good to be in either space–working for high-end practices or in others that were resource-deprived,” she said. “So I came up with the idea for Minti.”

Step 2: Create customer personas

“At Minti, all of the customer personas that I created were women because women make 80% of household purchasing decisions,” Dr. Achebe shared. “I created four different personas, and for each, I detailed where they work, how much they make, and their full life. When figuring out my target demographic, I decided to put a big focus on millennial and Gen Z consumers. In my research, I saw that around three-quarters of millennials and Gen Zers will switch products if they find out that it's sustainable and clean."

Also, while doing research, Dr. Achebe read a lot of studies on the effects of consumer behavior in the beauty industry after a pandemic. “It was important for me to find data on the way consumers respond to a pandemic. For example, would they still buy luxury items - why or why not? What I found is that it’ll have to be an accessible luxury, something that makes them feel good, but still at a low enough price point.”

“Another thing that guided me was my desire to have diversity in my branding. Diversity is important to my target consumer and it’s also important to me. I always knew that I wanted my product line and my branding to reflect the world that I see. That’s not something that I saw in conventional toothpaste ads.”

Step 3: Do your market and competitive analysis

Like many first-time founders, Dr. Achebe didn’t know where to start to go from idea to launch.

“I’m honestly thankful I was so naive at the time because if I knew how much work it would take, I don't think I would have done it,” Dr. Achebe told us.

Nonetheless, she knew that taking time to do extensive competitor and market research was necessary. In order to create a product that could stand out in the highly competitive oral care market, she needed to create something unique and compelling enough to get her target consumer’s attention.

It took a year and six months for Dr. Achebe to do all of her research, and create the MVP for Minti. For starters, she was self-funding her business and was very intentional about not rushing the process.

Step 4: Build a community

“Before we launched, I started with an Instagram page and I would post pictures of different types of smiles. That's another thing that I found so boring in dentistry - all the models have super straight teeth, but there are different types of smiles that are beautiful,” Dr. Achebe shared. “I started posting what I would call a smile gallery and people started following. I would post that Minti was launching soon, but I didn’t promise a date. Things just change a lot when you’re building a company. As I got closer to a launch date that I was comfortable with, I shared it.”

“Before launching, building that community on Instagram and having a landing page really helped. Once we launched, we already had a growing email list and people to sell to. Using social media and email lists was our first strategy to get customers. Then we launched direct to consumer and did a few ads,” Dr. Achebe said.

Step 5: Set concrete goals

Behind every successful launch is a solid go-to-market strategy with clear objectives.

Setting concrete goals will give you clarity, help you move strategically, and will help you measure your progress. Without this, it’ll be difficult to determine if your GTM strategy is working or not.

For Minti, their objectives were centered around sales and customer behavior.

“Early on, one of our main priorities was studying customer behavior and getting feedback by sending out surveys. For us, it was important to learn where and how people buy toothpaste. Doing these surveys, we realized most people are not shopping for toothpaste, direct to consumer,” Dr. Achebe said. “Some people do, but a lot of people buy it as they're browsing in the store, buying other house products. This led us to pivot to an omnichannel distribution model. Right now, we’re speaking to a couple of grocery stores where we know our target consumer shops, and where the shoppers want sustainable, clean ingredients. We’re also getting feedback and learning from the grocery stores as well.”

Step 6: Study customer behavior

For Minti, another priority has been conducting deep analyses of their customer acquisition channels.

“I tracked where our website visitors came from. I needed to know if they are coming from Instagram or a Google search. Also, tracking things like cart abandonment was important. Why did they abandon their purchase? Was it because we don't offer Apple Pay, or were they wanting to use things like Afterpay? Knowing the reason why people were leaving and figuring out how I could get them back was important,” Dr. Achebe said. “Also, upon coming back, would they purchase if we offered them free shipping? I ended up noticing that if we offered free shipping for purchases over $20 people would purchase. That’s the price of our trio, and that’s what people were really buying because it gave them free shipping.”

Step 7: Put a plan in place to nurture your customers

Once you’ve launched and are getting your first round of customers, it’s important to nurture them and get feedback. Take time to learn about their buying experience, and figure out ways you can improve the entire buying journey.

“For my customers, I believe in having a delighter, or in other words, I’ll include something in their package that they didn’t pay for. For example, I have these really cute stickers sheets that I include in each package and people love them," Dr. Achebe shared. "Also, your customer's unboxing should be an experience. At Minti, we have nice mailboxes. Yes, it's an extra expense, but people will remember how they felt when they open their package. You want to make sure from start to finish that the customer experience is memorable.”

Now that you’ve learned from Minti, hopefully, you’re inspired and have the framework you need to get started with your own launch. Let us know how it goes, and also stay connected with Dr. Achebe and Minti.

It’s safe to say that the artificial intelligence (AI) hype has not died down. It’s got everyone from everyday users like us to big corporations wondering what AI can do for them.

But there’s one group we can’t leave out of the conversation: small businesses. 

Don’t let the name fool you - the impact of small businesses is far from “small”. In fact, there’s over 30 million of them in the US, they employ nearly half of the US workforce, and they account for over 40% of US GDP. Crazy, right?!? 

So today we’re breaking down a couple of ways that AI can empower small businesses and help them grow. 

Here’s how AI can support small businesses 

While many businesses dream of gaining virality or becoming billion dollar enterprises, this kind of sudden unprecedented growth can also create a lot of headaches. This can include lines wrapping around the block, backup logs of orders and delays, marking up prices to meet new inventory costs, and many more. 

Thankfully, we at Nexwave firmly believe that AI can do a lot to help business owners, their teams, and customers. Let’s dive in: 

Cutting wait times 

One thing we can all agree on is that waiting, whether in-line or online for an order to arrive, is not cute. On top of that, you’d hate to wait that long only to find out the product you’ve seen all over your Tiktok “For You” page isn’t available. This is where AI comes in. Businesses can establish a database of customer transactions, including preferences, ticket sizes, and more, and employ AI to analyze the data and address specific customer needs. 

One really cool application of AI in a suite of solutions that we all know and love is Microsoft Co-pilot. It’s available as an add-on and does all of the work to analyze trends and create professional-looking data visualizations that anyone can read in a matter of seconds. Armed with this information, businesses can anticipate which products will be popular and when, and even engage with customers before they arrive, significantly reducing wait times and ensuring a stock is in-demand.

Creating the best designs at the click of a button 

When businesses start booming, sometimes employees don’t have the time for other areas that also help the business, like advertising or growing their presence on social media. While some businesses have found ways to break through the noise and generate buzz, it’s not always a guarantee. For instance, let’s say a business wanted to do a rebrand one day. In the midst of fulfilling orders and making sure their service remains top tier, they also would have to find time (and the funds!) to create a new logo, revamp the website, and more. This is where AI comes in to make lives easier, once again. 

A simple Google search for “AI-generated websites and logos” will take you to a million and one different options. The beautiful thing about this is that creating the sites usually don’t involve any coding, can be generated within 30 seconds with the right inputs, and cost on average about 10x less than a designer. A few AI-generated website and logo sites that people having been raving about lately are: 

- Wix ADI for most people and businesses 

- Jimdo for a free AI website builder with affordable upgrades 

- Unbounce for an AI landing page builder 

- Logomaster.ai for beautifully designed yet affordable logos 

Another cool marketing play is to use ChatGPT to create a content calendar for social media. It can give you ideas for what to post, when to post, and how to best target your audience in a creative way. 

Keeping suppliers and contracts in check 

For a small business to deliver for their customers, they’re often relying on a bunch of other small businesses. However, more often than not, business to business (B2B) transactions take a reeaaaallly long time to process. Why? A lot of it is manual. We’re three quarters of the way through 2023 and tons of small businesses still rely on pen and paper for these transactions! 

Thankfully, AI can speed up this process and cut down the number of headaches. Not only can AI digitize this process, it can also create checks and balances. Let’s say a business wants to place a bulk order of product from a new vendor but isn’t sure if they are trustworthy. Instead of wondering whether this vendor will follow through on time for the order, companies like Tradeshift leverage AI to pre-screen businesses, helping the business understand the risk of fraud or order fulfillment. And if there happen to be any types of delays, their AI can help them adjust and predict cash flows, helping them know when to expect (or not expect) products or charges from vendors. 

Using AI agents to keep the operations flowing

Now this might be one of the most applicable use cases that comes out of AI. In the simplest terms, AI agents are models that use artificial intelligence techniques to perform tasks or make decisions autonomously. 

But of course we’ve gotta make one thing very clear – AI doesn’t have to replace the people who have made the business what it is in the first place! 

It would actually just be a tool to make their lives easier, especially with nonstop customers throughout the day. Think of an AI agent as an internal personal assistant that can do things such as easily maintain the process flow of customer orders, create a schedule based on demand, monitor product usage and feedback, and generate automated reorder notifications. A great example of this is Genesys, a customer experience platform that uses AI to personalize the experience and improve satisfaction can be used to create AI agents that can understand customer needs and provide tailored recommendations, automate tasks such as customer service and support, and collect feedback to improve the customer experience. Not only does the AI agent help reduce bottlenecks and increase efficiency, but it also makes decisions that creates a more positive experience for both of the employees and the customers. 

At the end of the day, AI can help small businesses thrive 

All in all, AI is a powerful tool that can empower small businesses in a variety of ways. By automating tasks, improving customer service, and streamlining operations, AI can help businesses save time and money, while making them more efficient and productive. 

So, if you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, consider how you can use these recommendations to make your life easier and continue driving success in your business. We’re rooting for you and always here to support you with the latest insights! 

In 2022, Tychon emerged as a promising tech startup with a clear mission—solving the problem of wasted digital ad spend.

Its CEO, Kevin Blake-Thomas, was inspired to tackle this issue after witnessing the struggles of e-commerce brands while working with them through his consulting firm. Despite large investments in digital ads, many of these brands faced a common challenge: their customers couldn't easily purchase the products featured in their ads.

To address this, Kevin cofounded Tychon. Tychon is a platform that revolutionizes product placement through AI-driven marketing for Shopify retailers. The objective was clear: maximize brand exposure and boost sales.

From the outside looking in, Tychon appeared to be on the right track.

They were addressing a real problem for a massive audience. What's more, Tychon's founding team possessed a unique blend of qualities often absent in cofounding teams—solid teamwork dynamics and founder-market fit.

Kevin, along with cofounders Rawle Annandsingh and Darwin Feveck, have over 17 years of friendship and 8 years of successful business collaborations. Along with that, the cofounders have 51+ years of collective experience in enterprise sales, digital agencies, and building scalable systems that directly align with the problem they're solving today.

Despite this, Tychon started off making a common mistake that most early-stage startups make - focusing on too many things at once.

Don't do the most to do the least

Focusing on too many things at once is a common reason why early-stage startups fail.

When this happens, progress is hindered, and conveying your value proposition becomes tricky.

Tychon rediscovered their focus while going through Techstars Atlanta, powered by JP Morgan.

"Going through Techstars was transformational. Upon getting into Techstars, we were doing so many things. Going through the program helped us realize that we needed to focus on one thing so we could better convey our value proposition," Kevin shared. "Through some interactions and customer development activities, we were able to better understand who our target market was. From there, we tailored our product, created a Shopify app, and built the product specifically for that particular audience."

Now with its new focus, Tychon is preparing for its relaunch. "We actually focused on influencer marketing at the start of 2022. We pivoted to where we are today towards the end of 2022. Right now, we’re focused on virtual product placement. Or in simpler terms, we put brands into images online and make those images shoppable. So from an e-commerce experience, you can purchase a product directly from an image through Tychon."

Since the pivot, they’ve acquired 800 merchants on their waitlist, and are preparing to convert them to paying customers.

Leverage your existing network

Before graduating from Techstars, Tychon secured $10,000 in sales from six initial customers. These early clients were obtained through direct relationships from the founders' professional networks.

Kevin shared their approach: "We put out a message basically saying, 'Hey we are the new kid on the block. We really want to help you guys reduce your customer acquisition costs and drive sales.'"

Tychon's next step was pivotal— they talked to their customers.

They actively engaged with their customers and regularly sought feedback and guidance.

"One key thing we learned is how important it is to have customers involved in the process of the product development. Even though we have experience in the space, at the end of the day, we want to build a product that solves a problem that a customer truly has, and not what we think the problem is," Kevin told Mogul Millennial. "When we went to market, we had a very low-tech MVP solution. We created some Google Forms online to capture information, and also had conversations with various people."

This hands-on approach allowed Tychon to gather valuable insights that have been instrumental in refining their product as they prepare for relaunch.

Engage with your waitlist

Converting a substantial waitlist into paying customers can be challenging for startups. Often, this is due to a lack of communication.

Before people join your waitlist, you need to already have copy and email funnels in place to remind them of who you are, what you're building, and why they need what you're selling.

Tychon's strategy? - Regular engagement with their waitlist, and adopting a freemium business model.

"We have an opportunity to get everyone signed up on a free tier so they can experience Tychon and see our value proposition," Kevin shared. "Once they're on the platform, they're going to be able to utilize it up to a limit. At that point, we'll have the opportunity to convert them into a premium customer so that their experience is unlimited, and they can utilize the full extent of the platform."

Meet your customers where they are

Founders often overcomplicate customer acquisition and don't spend enough time studying their target audience.

Tychon deeply understands its target audience—small and medium-sized Shopify e-commerce merchants—and meets them where they are—within the Shopify ecosystem.

"For those that are unfamiliar, just like Apple Store or Google Play store, Shopify has a similar ecosystem, whereby, as a Shopify user, you can get apps created by Shopify partners installed into your Shopify platform," Kevin shared. "Tychon is a Shopify partner. As a Shopify partner, we're within that ecosystem, discoverable through search or paid ads."

In your startup journey, don't make customer acquisition harder than it should be. Meet your customers where they are.

Start small

In the early days of building your company, starting small is key. It allows you to maintain focus, understand specific customer needs, and quickly test your idea. From there, you'll be able to keep building or pivot if needed.

"When you launch, stay persistent, and focus on finding those first ten customers who are going to support you," Kevin said. "Provide value to them, and then they are going to help you find the next 10 and 20 customers, and then you’ll scale from there."

To learn more about Tychon, visit their website and follow them on LinkedIn to discover how their AI-powered shoppable images increase sales for Shopify stores.

Chandler Malone was a sophomore at Washington University and just launched his first business.

He and his friend started hosting events as a way to make extra money, but they never thought it would generate serious cash.

"I was 19 at the time. The business got very big to the point where we were booking Billboard top artists like The Chainsmokers. This was my first entrepreneurial experience and honestly, I feel so blessed that it did well. We didn't know what we were doing. The first year in business, we made a little over $250K," Chandler shared.

This experience taught him a lot and inspired him to continue entrepreneurship after graduation.

His next company was a social-based ticketing platform that included a patented live integrated ticket feature, text-based invitations, and secure private events. Chandler was 21 at the time. He ended up building that company to over 80,000 users and hosted over 500 events.

But still, the business wasn't where it needed to be.

"We never really made more than like five or six grand in a month. It wasn't really sustainable. I ended up selling that company for a quarter of the valuation that we raised money at. It definitely was not a success by any means. Yet, it did give me the cash that I needed and gave me some breathing room to figure out what I wanted to do next," Chandler told Mogul Millennial.

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Going from founder to VC

After selling his tech company, Chandler decided his next move would be in the VC space. His first job was at SixThirty Global FinTech Fund, and then later he joined Atento Capital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"I joined a VC firm to learn how to become a better entrepreneur. While I was there, I looked at the startups we invested in, and the ones we passed on. I was able to see thousands of opportunities to the point where I was starting to pattern match. I could better understand the things that made other entrepreneurs more successful," Chandler shared.

How Chandler came up with Bootup

"The fund that I worked at was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The companies that I was investing in were often like, ‘we can't find enough tech talent.’ So I started searching around this tech talent problem, and searching around led me to create the company that I have now," Chandler said.

As you know tech is one of the fastest growing sectors in the American economy.

"There is a huge talent shortage, yet the tech talent that's present is coming from the university pipeline. However, college enrollment has been declining every year for the past 12 years," Chandler shared. "So, here we are. We have this huge talent shortage, and our largest pipeline into this field is shrinking. This is when I started coming across these alternative programs like tech bootcamps, vocational training programs, etc. Those programs were growing 50% year over year like crazy."

At some point, Chandler realized he needed to build a company in this space. He felt it should be easy for people to pick the right tech bootcamp, and easy for bootcamps to help people get jobs after graduation.

Chandler's solution?

He created Bootup, formally known as Ideate Project.

Bootup helps companies fill their talent pipeline problems while simultaneously helping individuals get access to bootcamps, training programs, and high-paying tech jobs.

Since launching Bootup, they've placed candidates at top companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and the total annualized salary secured for Bootup users has surpassed $88 million.

Chandler's journey pitching investors

When Chandler had the idea for Bootup, he was still working full-time at Atento. To get his idea off the ground, he used the money he made at his 9-5 to pay for help. He hired a group in South America to develop an initial platform to get users. Once they got people on the platform, Chandler started talking to investors.

"When I started pitching investors, we weren’t making money. Yet, investors wanted to see if we had a product, if people were using it, and what those people had to say about their experience," Chandler shared.

Luckily for Chandler, they built a version of Bootup that users loved. The users were very happy to share how they felt with potential investors too. "After they talked to the investors, the investors were like 'okay, this is legit, and if he can work on this full time, he's gonna make something happen,'" Chandler said.

Chandler ended up raising $500K and then he left his VC job to work on Bootup full-time.

The fundraising challenges and lessons learned

To date, Chandler has raised funding from Lightship Capital, Kapor Capital, Base Ventures, and Concrete Rose Capital just to name a few.

"When I raised that first $500K, I basically showed investors that I had some sort of product, or MVP, I had a pitch deck, and I had a real company incorporated," Chandler shared. "When I got ready to raise again, investors wanted to see a cap table, bank statements, agreements from my other investors, and references from some of my customers. They even talked to team members to get an understanding of my leadership," Chandler told Mogul Millennial.

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The journey from being a bootstrapped entrepreneur to raising a Seed round totaling $2.1 million wasn't easy for Chandler - at all.

Fundraising is legit a full-time job and can be stressful AF.

"When you’re fundraising, you gotta find a way to keep your morale, confidence, and energy high because it’s just a lot. Even when you’re going through the pursuit of even finding investors and connecting with them, that’s a full-time job, and remember, you still have a business to run. You still need to continue to show growth month over month," Chandler said. "When I was fundraising, it felt like I picked up another full-time job - and it was difficult. But that’s why you have a team and you hire good team members. Don't hire 'yes' people or people that you can control. You need people that can hold down the fort because fundraising takes up a lot of time.

During his fundraising journey, Chandler would send out investor updates and created an investor packet to seamlessly communicate with potential investors.

If you're unfamiliar, investor updates are a way of keeping investors informed of your company's progress and needs.

An investor packet is a set of materials that includes important documents and essentially everything that an investor will need to know about your startup. Chandler's current investor packet includes an overview of his company, their traction, a copy of his pitch deck, cap table, financial statements, and more.

Behind every startup's story of raising millions in venture capital, there are the real stories of long nights, pivots, failed ideas, declining revenue, and struggles of finding product-market fit.

In our opinion, those are the stories we like to hear.

When you make it out of chaos and learn from it, real growth happens, and somehow you find yourself scaling your business. Unfortunately, these stories are rarely told. For this reason and more is why we were so excited to talk with the cofounders of Lendtable. The cofounders, Mitchell Jones and Sheridan Clayborne, met with us to talk about their journey acquiring customers, finding product-market fit, and the lessons they learned while building their startup.

But first, what is Lendtable?

Lendtable is a 401(k) cash advance fintech company that allows employees to take full advantage of their 401(k) match all at once without needing to use any of their own money. Once their money is vested, Lendtable then takes a portion of the profit earned.

"Lendtable is a product many of us wish we had at some point in our careers – accelerating wealth creation by making it affordable to take full advantage of a 401(k) employer match and ESPP without losing a chunk of your paycheck," SB Opportunity Fund Managing Partner Shu Nyatta said about Lendtable.

Growing up, Mitchell and Sheridan saw how many people were unable to save or financially plan for their futures.

"As a Black-founder, I saw this problem in my own family and community," Mitchell said. "Very few people were actually saving for retirement, not because of a lack of interest but a fundamental inability to part with their money. Women, minorities, international employees, are all significantly less likely to take advantage of their employer's benefits. So we at Lendtable help to bridge that gap."

Since launching, Lendtable has raised over $26 million in venture capital, and has disbursed over $2.4 million in match benefits to employees.

Getting their first few customers

As an early-stage startup, quickly building your customer base can mean the difference between succeeding versus failing. To get their first set of customers, Lendtable did what most founders do - they did things that didn't scale and also tried traditional methods of reaching customers.

"We would post on Facebook and LinkedIn and say things like 'Does anybody have a 401(k) match they’re not using? If so, I would love to talk to you.' We also cobbled together a Squarespace page and added a Typeform to survey our audience. The early days were very, very hacky, but for most companies, that's how they start. It’ll be slow, but then it gets bigger and bigger from there," Sheridan told us.

In addition, they also had their friends sign up and would use the media as a brand awareness strategy.

"Usually in the early days, the lifecycle of how you get users is that you try to get your friends to sign up. If you can't get your friends to sign up, then you're gonna be looking at a very interesting journey ahead," Mitchell shared. "At Lendtable, we really got customers, brick by brick. We would work with other startups that had blogs and get Lendtable on their blog. As we got bigger, we realized that we needed to consistently get to where our users were, and that’s when we hired a marketer. Once we hired a marketer, we really started to grow."

"Since hiring our marketer, she’s helped us consistently use the channels that our customers were on to speak their language and to meet them where they were. Doing this has helped us grow significantly since we first started. Now, obviously, there's more to do and more to go, but the biggest thing for us was to get those first few users. To do that, we were doing every single thing. We were posting on social media, calling them up on the phone, messaging them, and pretty much doing whatever it took. From there, we focused on building more of our product, and people started organically signing up. Also, we focused on speaking the language of the people we were serving. So many startups don't invest in understanding their user. For us, we knew we needed to use the mediums that our target audience was using and needed to communicate with them the right way," Mitchell said.

Determining the best customer for right now

No matter how dope your business idea is, everyone isn't your customer - and that's okay. You can't please everyone and can't be everything for everybody. But, how do you determine who your ideal customer is? How do you figure out who is the best person to go after in this moment?

"At Lendtable, one of the things we had a strong opinion on was we should go to where there's the most pain. Because of our product, we knew that employers would benefit from our product, but the biggest pain was with the individual (the employee). As we all know, there is nothing more painful than saying, ‘Hey, I could have had $5,000 more every year to go towards my retirement. But instead I'm not going to get that because I have student loans.' There's nothing more painful than that," Mitchell shared. "At Lendtable, our goal was always to go and solve the pain. When you think about how you grow the fastest, you go to the buyer who's willing to pay for you to solve their pain and their problem. While targeting employers in the beginning would’ve made sense, it’s a strategy that we’re looking into now as we continue to grow."

"Also, when you’re just starting out and need customers, you should always go after the lowest hanging fruit. Then as you grow and build up the product, it’ll be easier to attract bigger clientele. For example, if we had 1000 people working at Walmart using Lendtable, it’ll be far easier to pitch Walmart corporate because some of their team is already using us," Sheridan added.

Finding product-market fit

Investor Marc Andreesen defines product-market fit as "Being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market." As a founder, when you identify a need in the market and have built a solution that customers actually want and will buy, you've found product-market fit. Finding product-market fit is crucial for any business to grow and survive. Some founders never find it, some find it fast, and others find it slow.

"I actually think that product-market fit is a moving target and that it looks different at every stage of your company. At Lendtable, we’re always looking for product-market fit because we’re still growing," Mitchell shared. "The really good companies are always finding a renewed product-market fit. If you look at the big guys like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, you’ll see that they're never slowing down. You could argue that they have product-market fit on their core product, but they’re always looking to create new ones. For us, it's a similar thing."

Advice for founders

During their time growing Lendtable and navigating previous business ventures, Mitchell and Sheridan have learned a lot.

When asked to share their advice for founders, here's what they had to say:

On going from idea to prototype

"If you can't convert customers when you have nothing or when you’re not where you wanna be, you won’t be able to convert customers when you have a full blown app. For this reason and more is why you should rapidly build out your prototype or MVP, but don’t overly build and spend too much time or money on it. Build the simplest thing to get people in and to get feedback, and then grow from there," Mitchell shared.

On earning revenue

"When you’re building your business, the most important thing you can have is revenue. You need to be very critical about why your revenue numbers aren’t ticking up, and be intentional with your goals. If you’re pre-revenue and you’re using some other kind of metric for success, you need to be ultra critical about that progress too," Sheridan advised.