Explore " tech investor" with insightful episodes like "Defying the Down Market w/ Vista’s Robert F. Smith", "Matt Smith: Maximizing Your Potential", "Clarence Wooten on Grit, Entrepreneurship and Empowering Underrepresented Founders" and "Lessons from a CRE Tech Investor" from podcasts like ""Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast", "Everybody Pulls The Tarp", "Danielle Newnham Podcast" and "The Crexi Podcast"" and more!
We ask Vista’s CEO how he continues to do deals at an astonishing clip, despite the challenging conditions of today’s market.
If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series on LinkedIn, follow me here.
This week Andrew talks with professional footballer Matt Smith. At age 18, Matt was released from a football training program and thought that might signal the end of his chances to play professionally. He was interviewing for jobs in business and playing semi-pro football when things started to click. He had a red-hot 6 months at the semi-pro level and signed his first professional football contract. Today, Matt plays for Salford City and has scored over 100 goals in his professional career. He is also an avid angel investor and passionate about helping startup founders build game-changing businesses. Matt's story is a masterclass in the value of relentless work ethic, following your passions, and believing in yourself. This conversation will help you maximize your potential in anything.
Show Highlights:
2:22 - Getting cut from training program at age 18
3:02 - Meeting with Paul Dickov
4:08 - Power of hard work and enthusiasm
6:14 - Overcoming "talent gap"
8:30 - First professional contract
8:45 - Mental side of professional sport
10:31 - Overcoming imposter syndrome
12:56 - Role of data & analytics in sport
13:45 - Maintaining human element
16:37 - What makes great teams
17:27 - Evolving as a leader
17:55 - Learning from other leaders
19:12 - Angel investing
22:13 - "Getting your plates spinning"
22:21 - Networking
23:19 - Experience getting an MBA
24:33 - Identifying startup founders to invest in
27:10 - Making sacrifices to achieve success
CONNECT WITH ANDREW ON SOCIAL
Twitter: @andrewhmoses
Instagram: @AndrewMoses123
NEWSLETTER
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“As a kid, I lived in a place where as a young Black man, you had only two choices: become a predator or become prey.”
This is a quote from today’s guest - Clarence Wooten – serial tech entrepreneur, investor and entrepreneur in residence at X, Google’s Moonshot factory.
Clarence grew up in a tough area in Baltimore which instilled in him a level of grit that ked him on to a hugely successful career in the tech industry.
In this interview, we go back in time to what it was like growing up in that environment as well as how he got into tech and the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey.
From starting Envision Designs, whilst studying architecture as an undergraduate followed by that got acquired. Clarence then co-founded and was CEO of ImageCafe.com – regarded as the Internet's first online superstore of customizable websites templates, it was acquired for $23 million by Network Solutions in November 1999, just seven months after it launched.
Clarence was also founder and CEO and Chairman of Progress.ly - an enterprise SaaS platform that made it easier for enterprises to turn business processes into visual, repeatable, workflows in the cloud. Progress.ly was acquired by Box in June 2018 He also founded Groupsite.com in 2006, a self-serve SaaS platform for building private, branded communities of interest.
These are just some of his accomplishments. Clarence is also an investor and does a lot of work to encourage and empower more underrepresented founders in tech.
Clarence is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and has degrees in Business Management and Computer-Aided Design for Architecture and Engineering. He is also the only African-American to have founded and led two startups to successful acquisitions by publicly traded companies with the sale of ImageCafe to Network Solutions and Progress.ly to Box.
This is an incredible episode with an amazing entrepreneur and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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Let us know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.
Clarence on Twitter @clarencewooten
Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and Instagram @daniellenewnham
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Mentioned in this episode:
Clarence's EIR at Google X appointment announcement
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This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng.
This episode of The Crexi Podcast covers lessons learned from investing in commercial real estate technology with Hunter Dallas of Leon Capital Group.
The Crexi Podcast explores various aspects of commercial real estate in conversation with top industry professionals. In each episode, we feature different guests, tapping into their wealth of expertise and exploring the latest trends in the world of commercial real estate.
In this episode, Crexi's Ashley Kobovitch sits down with Hunter to discuss important lessons learned as an investor in both technology startups and various commercial real estate assets and businesses.
Their wide-ranging conversation covers:
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our newsletter to receive the very next one delivered straight to your inbox.
For show notes, past guests, and more CRE content, please check out Crexi Insights.
Ready to find your next CRE property? Visit Crexi and immediately browse hundreds of thousands of available commercial properties.
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About Hunter Dallas:
Hunter Dallas serves as Managing Director for the Private Equity division at Leon Capital Group. With an emphasis on healthcare and technology, Hunter is responsible for sourcing platform acquisitions, transaction structuring, strategy execution at the board level, and driving organic and inorganic growth within Leon Capital’s portfolio companies.
Prior to Leon Capital, Hunter was at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the real estate financing group within the Investment Banking Division. At Goldman, Hunter was involved in over $1.5 billion in debt financings, emphasizing structured products in markets across the United States. Prior to Goldman, Hunter worked at Caterpillar Financial in their finance leadership development program, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our newsletter to receive the very next one delivered straight to your inbox.
For show notes, past guests, and more CRE content, please check out Crexi Insights.
Ready to find your next CRE property? Visit Crexi and immediately browse hundreds of thousands of available commercial properties.
Follow Crexi:
https://www.crexi.com/instagram
https://www.crexi.com/facebook
https://www.crexi.com/twitter
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