It's a Match... Made in Tech Heaven
Hi, everyone! 👋 Let's kick things off with a question today:
Who hasn't tried online dating at one time or another? I'll admit it. I have.
What's it like when the site is for founders on the hunt for a business partner? That's the focus of today's Generation Si! But, first, how about subscribing to show your support for this newsletter?
FIRST, THE MISMATCH
You think it’s tough finding your perfect match online for dating? Try looking for your ideal partner for your tech business -- where your money, your career and your future are all on the line.
Just ask Maxeme (“Max”) Tuchman. This Latina had already been through one mismatch with someone she describes as a great human being. But… (there’s always a but, right?)
“We had the same personality type. We both wanted to be in the investor meetings. We both wanted to be on stage pitching a company. And no one was running the business.”
INDUSTRY: Education Technology (EdTech)
STARTED BUSINESS: 2017 (publicly launched)
LATINO/HISPANIC CONNECTION:
Max Tuchman – Parents were both born in Cuba
Alvaro Sabido – Born in Spain, parents were both born in Spain
EDUCATION:
Max Tuchman:
Harvard University - Master’s degree in Business Administration and Management
Harvard University – Master’s degree in Public Policy - Education
New College of Florida – Bachelor’s degree in Political Science & International Studies
Alvaro Sabido:
Imperial College London Business School - Master’s degree in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management
Universidad San Pablo - CEU (Madrid, Spain) - Bachelor’s degree in Engineering & Computer Science
Universidad Antonio de Nebrija - (Madrid, Spain) - Engineer's degree (Industrial & Automotive Engineering)
DREAM JOB AS A KID: Max: “I think I wanted to be an international spy … and then it became an international human rights lawyer.”
Alvaro: “I thought I was [going to be] working on the technical side of the Formula One team.”
Max says, “That’s still his dream. I don’t know that that’s changed much.”
Alvaro Sabido - Hey, the Formula One dream had to start somewhere!
BIGGEST GOAL YET:
Max: “Global domination.”
Alvaro: “I think every entrepreneur, every maker, wants to see their project through. So I think, for us, regardless of… where we go, or how far we go, I think it’s just seeing the project through, whichever the outcome. If it’s global domination, great. If it’s an acquisition or whatever - any type of thing where we can say, all right, this project is in good hands.”
Alvaro Sabido (Co-Founder & CTO) and Max Tuchman (Co-Founder & CEO) of Caribu
LOOKING FOR MR. “TECH” RIGHT
The business Tuchman referred to is Caribu. It’s an interactive video chat platform specifically geared towards making the experience better for kids and adults. It allows for activities like reading books, play dates and activities virtually.
The reason Tuchman was looking for “Mr. Tech Right” was because she needed to find someone who had the technical chops to help carry out her vision.
She already had a teaching and business background.
And then this guy, Alvaro Sabido, piqued her interest on the FounderDating site.
Here's how she describes him: “Alvaro just loves to cook. He doesn’t love being at networking events. He doesn’t want to pitch investors.”
Then Tuchman reflects on what she’s all about: “I am… at networking events. I love meeting strangers... I just love that.”
So the natural question she poses is, “So where the hell were we supposed to meet in the wild, right? Where are those two personality types supposed to meet?”
Sabido went on the business cofounders' site because he “… very much wanted to stay back on the building side.”
So what was on Sabido’s co-founder’s wish list?
“The two kind of key things that I was looking for is someone with a business degree and… an education background.”
The big day: Tuchman graduates from Harvard University
ALWAYS CHECK THE SPAM FOLDER
There were a couple other things that made Tuchman stand out to Sabido, namely, “She happened to live… five blocks from where I was staying in Miami.”
Plus, he says, “She happened to also check her spam folder and see my invitation.”
Ok, that’s always helpful.
He says, “I basically decided, let’s meet up. We’ll do a little hackathon. And if we don’t want to kill each other after that, it might work.” (FYI: A hackathon is an intense, marathon-like event where computer programmers and others work together on a tech-related project for a short period of time)
As you might’ve guessed, they didn’t want to kill each other, even after the hackathon, which is always a good start.
They’re honest about the sacrifices and the risks they took early on in their venture.
Tuchman says, “I was actually a White House Fellow working at the Treasury Department when he reached out.”
THE PARENTS FREAK OUT
She actually had a job offer at the Treasury Department. “And my parents were, like, freaking out, as usual, because I make these crazy decisions. I have all these business school loans. I was getting offers after business school for… $200k salaries.”
And, yet, she knew what she had to do. So she told her parents her decision.
“I was going to go and take no salary and work with this guy I’d never met in my life… And we were going to, like, build a company together. And imagine trying to tell that to Latino parents who are also Jewish?”
One of the perks of serving as a White House Fellow: Photo opp with the former FDOTUS (First Dogs of the United States)
FINALLY, A PAYCHECK
Sabido made sacrifices, as well. “I was living with my parents… And we [Max and I] hustled for a year and a bit. Almost two [years], until when we actually started being able to pay ourselves and be actual adults.”
One of the biggest lessons was in fundraising. And that’s even though both have business degrees.
Sabido wants to clear up the misperception that it’s easy – that it’s common for a “startup bro” to have an idea and be able to raise $10 million, just like that. He says, overnight success “doesn’t exist.”
Tuchman explains, “So we started with pitch competitions because we, literally, had almost no traction.”
High-profile investor in Caribu - Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers
LEARN..AND THEN UNLEARN
She says she got really good at pitch competitions and then appealed to angel investors. Unfortunately, it’s a totally different pitch. Worse yet, “The most frustrating part about it is that, at each stage, you kind of have to unlearn everything you learned at the last stage.”
Still, they persisted.
“And then we got a predatory term sheet from an investor, and we ended up trying out equity crowdfunding which, again, I had to learn like, literally, in the middle of the night how to do crowdfunding.” (FYI: A predatory term sheet is a non-legal, written document that outlines conditions of a deal that take advantage of, or set unfair terms, for one of the parties involved)
CREATING THE PLAYBOOK
The thing is, there was no playbook. Tuchman says she and Sabido created the playbook on how to build a successful equity crowdfunding campaign, in particular for women and people of color. It was so successful, Tuchman is credited with being “… the first LatinX founder, male or female, to raise $1 million” that way. The company has now racked up $5 million in funding.
Fast forward to today.
Tuchman no longer has to eat a steady and inexpensive diet of Chicken Nuggets.
FounderDating no longer exists (It was acquired by CoFoundersLab).
But the professional partnership that blossomed between Tuchman and Sabido from the original site is still going strong.
The company does not release revenue figures, but she says the company is going strong, as well. It's not surprising. Caribu was named one of Apple's top 15 apps of 2020. It also made Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2019 list.
WHAT A MATCH!
And it all goes back to two well-educated dreamers trying to find the missing link to make the big business dream complete.
Here's how Tuchman realized that things just clicked: “Oh my God. He really wants to build the thing. And I can go sell the thing. And we’re truly like a match made in heaven.”
As some of you may be thinking, if only traditional online dating worked out this well.
THE TIP JAR (tips passed out courtesy of Max Tuchman and Alvaro Sabido)
STARTING OUT:
Max: “Well, you don’t have to have a co-founder. But if you are going to have a cofounder, make sure it’s a complementary skill set.”
Alvaro: “If only because it can get very lonely… This isn’t a job that you go out and you have a food stand or something. This is a job that you sit in a room looking at a screen. So, you know, you don’t underestimate the value of partnership for your own mental health.”
Max: “Such a good point… It’s kind of nice to have someone to ‘gut check’ with.”
Alvaro: “Advice #2, which is, don’t build it for yourself. Listen to your customers… If you’re doing something and you want people to use it, listen to them because they’re the ones that are going to pay you for it.”
STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid-career):
Alvaro: “There is a time to move forward. And the worst thing that can happen is you fail within a year. And then that’s it. You go back to a job like you did… If you are, basically, at the level where the opportunity cost is high because you have a high-paying job, that means you are capable of getting a high-paying job again in a year. The only thing is that you’ve gotten a mini-MBA in that year.”
Max: “If you’re obsessed with a problem and you feel like you have a solution and you want to work on this 20 hours a day, then... dump that job! Jump in, chancletas [sandals/flip-flops] first! Go build the thing the world needs. But don’t go become an entrepreneur just because you hate your job.”
STARTING OVER:
Max: “Career switching is very hard.” She suggests you find “that co-founder in that space, or an adviser who is in that space, that can team up with you so that you’re kind of bringing your skill set, but you’re kind of learning from the career that you want to jump into.”
“Go get an office at a co-working space… Like, literally, co-working where you kind of have to have the collisions with other people at the cafeteria, in the co-working space, near the bathroom, and you start meeting different types of people who are doing a lot of interesting things… It’s like $300-$400 for a seat. And it’s the best money you will spend.”
Alvaro: “Find someone who can go on the journey with you, and go to the places where you can find them.”
He adds, “Know what you don’t know… If someone thinks they know everything from reading TechCrunch articles… It’s going to be a very difficult journey.”
I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN:
Alvaro: “Just be careful who you get into… business with, in terms of the funding.”
“There’s no advice that applies to every… type of product, every type of market, audience cohort. You know, there’s guidelines to understand and look at data or look at user feedback… in a way that gives you real information vs. just numbers. But, otherwise, you’re going to have to try everything.”
Max: “There’s no version where you don’t make mistakes… You’re just going to make different mistakes than Alvaro and I made.”
BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”/BEST “HOUSE” ADVICE:
Max: “Don’t leave your purse on the floor.”
She’s not exactly sure what her parents were worried would happen if she left her purse on the floor, but the advice stuck with her. So she ponders the possibilities:
“Your money’s going to run out of your purse, if it’s on the floor. I don’t know if bugs are going to run into your purse. I don’t know.”
Side note: Of course, Max said this just as I had my purse on the floor during the interview. No money left - that I know of. No bugs rushed in – that I’m aware of.
Alvaro: “Balance. Find balance. And this is kind of like a work/life thing.”
You have ".... your ambitions, your career and what not. But then there’s also the life that you have to live and the people you love. And don’t lose track of those - those relationships and your own personal time. And this is similar to the [advice about] partners and mental health and that sort of stuff… No one has ever, you know, succeeded by going into a cave and doing nothing and having no interactions and stuff. So, there’s only so far you can go by yourself.”
NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE
HELP ON THE OUTSIDE...because we can all use a helping hand:
HOW TO STAY OUT OF THE EMAIL CEMETERY!
Suffice it to say, most of us are probably overwhelmed with emails. But when it's you who needs to find a way to break through the pile to get your message across and not end up in the trash bin, you may want to get a few pointers. This class is here to help. It's offered by the National Entrepreneurship Center and SCORE. The instructor definitely has a sense of humor, too. She uses classifications such as The Apologizer, the Used Car Salesman and the Corny Cornball to show you the best way to up your email game. Interested? Learn more at the link below:
https://nationalec.org/event/how-to-stay-out-of-the-email-cemetery/
NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTER & SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, November 18, 2021
8 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. EST
FREE
WORKING ON THE INSIDE...because we know our culture has a hard time asking for help:
BEING A BETTER LEADER: DEVELOPING YOURSELF AND YOUR TEAM FOR SUCCESS
Who doesn't want to be a better leader? Admitting you could stand to learn some leadership skills may be a little difficult. Finding the time may be even more of a challenge. Not if you watch this on-demand webinar from the SBA which lasts a little more than an hour. It tackles everything from identifying areas for growth to improving your judgment and commitment to understanding how emotional intelligence powers your team's performance.
Check it out here: https://sbdcorlando.com/webinars-on-demand/
(Note: The webinar is in the center on the third row of the page of the link)
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS ISSUE: How do business partners find each other?
If they're not family members or become partners through marriage, anecdotally, it seems like a lot of them (at least the ones I've met) attended the same college, bonded while in school and decided to make a go of it together.
But in the tech world, "collisions" in co-working spaces, in meetups and in tech-related circles seem to now generate many partnerships in that space.
So I found the whole concept of "shopping" for a co-founder through a website fascinating, especially since I've heard of plenty of business partnerships that just didn't work out.
I also thought Tuchman's background was interesting because her name doesn't "scream" Latina (at least to most people). I wanted to find out how this impacted her, if at all, as a founder and businesswoman.
Tuchman says when she walks into a room, no one looks at her name and says, "Oh, Latina." She compares it to her business partner, Alvaro Sabido, and says, people may look at his name on his resume and discriminate. She calls it one of the "insidious pieces that we don't talk about."
She is also quick to point out that, because she's a woman, she was not able to use the advice that was out there for fundraising. She said it just didn't apply. That's why she had to come up with her own playbook and is now committed to showing other women and, in particular, minorities, how to fundraise and how to make sure they get a seat at the table.
With less than 1% (that's right - less than 1%) of venture capital funding going to Latinas and Black women founders, according to a report by digitalundivided and highlighted in USA Today, it's clear that we have a long way to go to level the playing field.
And that's what we're trying to accomplish here; we're trying to make sure all voices are heard and get a shot at the dream. We can do it by sharing success stories, providing tips and information and encouraging access - for all.
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Tuchman with her debate students (when she was with Teach For America)