I’ve been a graphic designer for nearly two decades. I understand the industry in and out but that still didn’t prepare me to run a successful business. Being a business owner, I didn’t realize the amount of time I would spend strategizing and developing the business. I couldn’t fully appreciate that at the end of the day, it’s on me to provide food on the table for my team. I had to learn a tremendous amount to understand how to run a business in a short amount of time.

One of the challenges in the earliest days was realizing that it was not sustainable to run the business by myself. In order to create an efficient business, I needed to hire people to help with things I personally wasn’t good at. Which meant I had to learn H.R. very quickly. When I brought in a co-founder to fill out the different fields, there were so many questions – and answers – I had to seek out myself like employment law, navigating contracts, company benefits, salary negotiations, and so much more on a daily basis. I did not do everything correctly but I learned and grew along the way.

Having a co-founder who understood the ecosystem and had a business background was extremely helpful. We were able to bounce business ideas off each other. In time, my co-founder was able to take meetings when I was overbooked. One vital part of our success was being supportive and having the ability to help others grow. At the end of 2022, my co-founder decided to step down to pursue his own company. The transition was particularly hard for me because I suddenly felt alone. Things that I had depended on my co-founder to fill in, now came back to needing to do and figure out myself. However, the fact that “I couldn’t run the business by myself” wasn’t entirely true. I re-evaluated my situation, expanded my skill set, and picked up the pieces to keep going. We are now still collaborating on a different scale with the same mission to help startups grow.

I’ve grown a lot in this space and really love the relationships I’ve built with the companies we support. Seeing the circular impact my business has on companies’ end users is rewarding. Watching them launch successful products and support their own customers makes me excited. I’ve been in Portland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for about 5 years now and I appreciate how close-knit it is. We’ve gotten to collaborate with so many different types of companies in different sectors. I’m extremely grateful for the support of Himalaya Rao-Potlapally, Cara Turano, Juan Barraza, Angela Jackson, Ross Barbieri, Arsh Haque, Josh Wylie, Abigail Van Gelder, Sal D’Auria, Jonah Peskin, and many others – who truly believe in me, and empower and encourage me to keep going.

I’m hoping to create a small impact with my story on all BIPOC women who think they can’t do it by themselves. I am on a mission to help companies amplify their vision with my skills and experience. With this genuine mission, I think I can go far and I hope other women of color feel inspired to launch their own businesses. There is never a perfect time or a stage where you will know all the steps before you start. The important thing is that I took the leap- and through all the highs and lows- it’s been worth it.

What does it mean to you to start a business as a female?

So I was previously a social worker and that’s how I started my professional career. And I started that in the East Coast in New York. And so while I was working in social work, I was working in high risk areas and what that means is that it’s socially, and economically disadvantaged and there’s low literacy and graduation rates. What that also means like in execution, is that it’s a place that has a low socioeconomic status of a neighborhood and so there’s not a lot of funding going into schools, either from taxpayer dollars or from federal funding, because federal funding is tied to graduation metrics and all the other stuff.

And so schools in high risk areas don’t often have a lot of funding teachers that are like, you know, the teachers that are there are like they have been there for a while, and they’re like kind of resigned, you know? And I worked in that environment. And the reason I bring that up is because it’s super important to my VC career to have started from non-finance background and a non-investment banker background.

I think a lot of times when you ask people like, how did you get to be running a fund or in VC, the answer is all the same. You know, like I got an MBA, I went and I worked in a top-four consulting firm. I’m an investment banker. I was a finance major. And while those are all really important skills, I think that actually there’s a ton more diversification needed in the VC space from people who don’t come from those backgrounds so that they can bring their unique perspectives into all the different jobs that a VC does.

And so for me, I think that my social work background really helped me to understand one the way in which people perceive other people, maybe just based on how many connections they have, like what their network is and what their net worth is, and they’re like slash socioeconomic status. And for me as a social worker and I’m able to like understand people in a different way, and I try and I tend to look at people through a different lens, you know, like instead of looking at it from that perspective, I’m like Well, what are their strengths?

What is their cultural background? What are all the things that make them? Right. Because in social work, that’s what you’re taught is like, don’t just look at a person’s behavior or circumstance right now. What are all the things like that have led to this particular outcome? And so when you look at founders in the exact same way, you tend to evaluate them and their ventures very differently than if you’re only looking at it from like a very narrow perspective. Or like a very traditional finance perspective. And so anyway, that experience really shaped me. I didn’t know anything about me. So when I was going through social work, but I ended up going into consulting just to be more proactive within my social work practice. I ended up then getting an MBA to because I was like trying to get into consulting firms and they were like, You need an MBA.

So I went and I got an MBA to like while I was there, I heard about the concept of entrepreneurship. And what I learned from my MBA program is that anyone can start a business. And growing up as an Asian person, I think that I was really taught that you can only have a business if you have like a million dollars or like several PhDs.

This is something you start at the end of your career, not at the beginning or the middle, not it where you don’t, like, have a solid idea of what it is that you’re doing. But in MBA school, that whole script was flipped and I was like, Well, if anyone can start a business, then I’m anyone, you know, and like, I can figure it out.

And so Natasha, my wife and I started a business called Karma to be able to just like launch and see what happens. And it was really fun and it was really, really great in terms of like learning lessons, being able to build communities within Oregon. We didn’t know anyone when we moved to Oregon, but launching a business helped us to like meet a ton of vendors and meet a ton of customers.

And meet a ton of founders. And that’s when I first heard about this idea. of VC. You know, coming from like an Asian background, like the only way that I’ve ever heard anyone back home, like getting money for their startup was like, they sell something and they get money for that. Like that revenue they put into their business and they grow it further or they get a bank loan, right?

Like that revenue they put into their business and they grow it further or they get a bank loan, right? And I remember sitting in my first Angel Group meeting, and all of these individuals were just sitting around listening to pitches and they were like, Yeah.

And I turned to my next door like my next neighbor here. And I was like, Oh, what do you think? And I was like, Yeah, I might put in 25,000. And I was like, What? Like, you have 25,000? Like right now to just maybe put into a company. When I’m hearing that, it’s like super high risk. It probably is going to fail and like you’re not going to get your money back.

And I remember thinking like, and this is why it’s so important for different people have different backgrounds to be in VC because as a social worker, I fought tooth and nail for a student to get like $2,000 worth of services like I had fought for 12 months. And I felt like everyone in the administration and all the teachers and everyone to be able to get them $2,000 like and that wasn’t even cash for them.

It was like in, in the form of services, you know, and I was like and this guy’s just going to write a $25,000 check like and it’s just going to be like that. And that to me, that’s when I realized like I need to be in the space because also the people, the other people who are in the space only come from traditional backgrounds.

And so like here’s all the humanitarians on the social scientists and like the anthropologists all working in these fields and we’re all struggling to get money to our clients. And then all of the finance people are all the investors are all here and they’re only giving money away to like certain types of people. And I’m like, there needs to be a bridge here, right?

We all need to we need to come together so that we can unlock that capital to our clients and our people. And so that’s why I got into VC And then that’s also how I got into VC was through the university, having like a student-led fund post that I went and I like looked at as many funds as I could during my time there.

And I just like networked with them and literally was like, I’ll do work for free, like, whatever you want. I’ll do diligence on your companies. You don’t have to do it. I’ll do it. I can just shadow you. I’ll do anything. Let me let me do stuff with you. And I ended up working across seven funds like that and doing their diligence work for a couple of years.

And then, you know, a couple of funds then like Portland Seed Fund needed someone that was like going to be dedicated to them. And so I worked with them. I worked as an analyst and then an associate and then a deal lead. And I just started to like learn the inner workings of venture capital in an established fund.

I also was recommended to be Oregon OEN’s (Oregon Entrepreneur Network) Angel Food Manager like it was a fund manager of a new fund. And I was like, How different could it be? You know, it’s smaller than for a Portland Seed Fund, but it was super different because my role was a fund manager and not like an associate. And so I had to set up the fund.

And so I did that. I think I like really miserably failed the first time, but I learned a ton, and then I did it again at the Mid Valley Angel Fund in 2020 And then I just kept setting up SPV’s for different types of people, for different investors. And then that’s how I learned, like, okay, now I have the knowledge of how to work in an establishment.

Now I know how to set up a new fund, and now I bring that together and that’s what came into Black Founders Matter.

How is being a managing partner for Black Founders Matter?

It is so different than I thought it was going to be like truly different. You know, when I was working in all these funds, when I started to realize is that even when there’s a willingness by GP’s like everyone wants to invest diversely, but then I’m like looking at their portfolio and I’m like, this isn’t diverse. And so every single time it was just my mission to help them diversify their portfolio.

So everything I was doing was around that, bringing them diverse deals, making sure that they heard those pitches like really my role was convincing the general partners to invest in the entrepreneur, right? And so like that’s all my role was and like I was like just I felt like really comfortable in that, like being a social worker and know how to fight, you know?

And so I was just like, I know how to fight and I know how to keep advocating and like persisting. And then I was like, if I could only be a GP, then I wouldn’t have to convince anyone. I could just invest, you know, and now that I’m like, Oh my God, it’s like so many other roles outside of fighting now I don’t have to fight anyone to like push for the deals I get to make it.

But now I’m also responsible for the outcomes of all those deals and I’m like, responsible to the LPs and I’m responsible for compliance of the fund. And I’m, I’m responsible in that. Like, I think there’s so much allure to running around fund, but like when you run your own fund, now you’re in the business of investment rather than the like the advocating for entrepreneurship.

You know, it’s like a totally different role. Like now I run a business which is now I’m like, have to work on the business end of it, like with the compliance and the audit and the tax stuff and the admin stuff and like that’s what I spend the majority of my time doing is like running the business which is not at all what I thought of when I was like, if I could just get to the GP level, I could just spend all my time.

What could I do if I wasn’t fighting for the investments? But now all of my time is spent worrying about the investments. So it’s, it’s like a funny space to be in. I’m not saying that I would treat it like I, I really am grateful and happy that I’m a GP. I’m really happy that I get to like progress in my career and also more importantly that I get to not have to fight people on why this is a good investment, but rather spend my time worrying about what else do the founders need to be successful?

What other connections can I make for them? What other funding do they need? What other resources do they need? Those are great problems to have. So I wouldn’t trade it. It just isn’t I think in my mind what I even expected.

That’s yeah, that’s awesome. But like that’s totally different to like I’m, I’m, I’m learning things about this that I didn’t know as well. So yeah, this actually goes into the next So are you. Because obviously, like, you know, diversity is, is very important and it’s something that you fight for. So are you involved in any mentorship programs or sponsorship programs for women and underrepresented groups?

Yeah, absolutely. So one group that I just recently became a part of is called Transact Global, and it’s a group for women VC’s. And so that’s been really great. I also came up in the VC space by going through the VC University program, which is run by Venture Forward, which is a nonprofit arm of the NVCA which is the National Venture Capital Association.

And after going through that program and having mentors, I actually have referred people to the program and also become a peer mentor for that program, which helps me connect with other emerging fund managers and young fund managers and people who are thinking they want to go into VC. And I will say that I also now teach at Portland State University, and I teach MBA and MSF students.

How to get into venture and how to think about investment. And I would say there’s a fair amount of mentoring post me being their teacher, which as you know, is the basis of why Nathan, they are launching our nonprofit Venture Partners to be able to increase access to venture education and mentorship and a pathway for employment to many more students. That was succinct. That was like finally like a short answer.

What do you personally look for like yourself in founders and startups?

Yeah. One of the biggest things that I prioritize is the ability for the founder to demonstrate their hustle. And I think that’s because a lot of times I feel like other GP’s and funds over prioritize the relationships that a founder has and like the networks and the referrals and all of that versus like you’re saying, you have connections into this market.

Well, prove it by like being able to sell something to that market, you know? And so I think that’s what I look for in the hustle is like, I don’t need you to have like seven generations of legacy in this industry. I don’t need you to have like a Harvard degree, but like be able to be scrappy and be able to demonstrate that, like you don’t have to have like, you know, the top of the line product or technology, but just like show that your customer-centric and that your customer-centric. Plus you have the ability to convince any customer to purchase whatever it is that you want to sell them, you know, and like that is one of the biggest things that we look for at BFM is that they’re all post-revenue. That doesn’t mean that like they have recurring revenue or that they have a like they have dialed in on how to get that recurring revenue.

But all of them have at least the stickiness of being able to demonstrate their product market fit and their ability to sell into their customer. And then we can be like, okay, great. Now let’s talk about like your pricing model, your strategy for acquisition, your strategy for retention to get you to that retention or recurring revenue point. A lot of times they have to pivot a little bit, you know, their product and service offering, they have to dial it in a bit more to be able to get something that a customer wants to buy over and over again or like, you know, on a recurring basis.

And that’s okay that we can work on, that we can get resources for. But the thing that I think that a lot of funds don’t prioritize because they over prioritized relationships is that base level demonstration that you can do what you say you’re going to do Wow.

That’s pretty awesome. It seems like you definitely know what you’re looking for like completely. So I’m guessing because of all the years of experience that you’ve had working with VCs, that helps quite a bit too.

So it’s tremendously helped, you know, like I could never have predicted that I would be in this space. I’m like, for sure. While I was working at funds, I was so impatient, you know, I was just like, When will I run my own fund? And like, when will I be in the decision making seat? And I never thought about how all of these things are like building blocks to that.

But they definitely helped. Like, on fund structures. On what? Like the pros and cons, even on things like operations and like which type of like legal or audit or whatever stuff. All of those things are working in other funds has tremendously helped me. And absolutely, I can’t tell you how many times a founder pitched and like you can only get so much from a pitch.

You know, a founder can be super charismatic and like very charming and like especially when it comes to like men and when it comes to non BIPOC men, they tend to be very like what’s the right word? Like like illustrious on all the things they can do and like not the things that they are doing right now. And so it’s really hard to tell and like people can get really carried away by the charisma.

And I can’t tell you working as an associate I have to fill out reports for funders every year, especially if you have institutional investors like the state of Oregon. You have to fill out reports every year. And in doing so, I realize like how many of these people after a year still haven’t sold anything, right? And the revenue is still zero.

And that like over time made me realize like there’s a problem with overvaluing how well someone presents in the moment versus like what they’ve been able to demonstrate with their track record.

What is one thing you want to say to all the women and BIPOC community wanting to get into VC?

So I recently like just published an article on LinkedIn about this. I do think there is a heavy and sorry that was not like a weird flex for me to like I was just saying like if you don’t get this, like maybe I did a better job in writing or maybe I didn’t in that either. But I think that there’s this monumental professional pressure to conform to social norms in order to advance within an established organization.

And I’m not saying like my time at established organizations, including Portland’s, we did it tremendously helped me with where I’m at. But the reason and the things that make me really successful have to do with me not conforming to someone else’s version of how I should run things, you know, and like the things that are really everyone is always like, what’s your differentiator right?

But then they also want you to, like, assimilate into a normal, like them, the mainstream culture. But your differentiation comes from you being different from others. And so like really I think my, my thought is it’s a lot harder said than done. But if you can lean into every single thing that makes you feel different, if you can lean in and be like, okay, what has that difference.

Taught me in a way that I can bring something different to the table than someone else’s, I don’t think it’s always rewarded. But if you keep doing it the right opportunities come to you. I think that too often in my life I’ve been really good at assimilating to mainstream white culture. And because of that, I’ve gotten so many opportunities.

But also because of that, a lot of those opportunities have been like really terrible opportunities for me, where people were looking for me to rubber stamp an idea that was harmful to BIPOC communities, and I had to like endure a lot of like, smiling and like grinning and bearing it type of environments. And I think that Natasha, my wife, is a really good example of like not assimilating and not getting all the opportunities that I got, but the opportunities that she gets are better fit for her where they actually respect her intelligence and the value that she brings and aren’t just looking to tokenize her as this brown face.

But they get to say Wow, look at our diversity, but not actually place any value on the things that she’s saying. Right. And I think it’s been really hard for a personality like mine to say no to someone, especially when it feels like it’s a good opportunity. But I guess my advice is like, don’t be like me, you know, like lean into your difference and be able to stand proud in that difference and like respect your own worth and don’t say yes to everything.

So powerful this is like the quote of the month

That is very, very inspiring Himalaya.

You know, I feel like a lot of different people will say different things and everyone’s like, oh, I always say yes to an opportunity because you never know where that will lead you. Specifically, as a woman of color, a lot of people want you to say yes to things that actually are not good for you.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Especially, you know, like from my personal experience growing up in an Asian family you just say yes to any tiny little opportunity, like don’t miss anything, but you end up you know with a lot of learning curves to get to that point that you can say no.

And I will say, like, to this day, it’s been really uncomfortable for me to say no. And I am in a position where like now that I’m a GP people are asking me for things right and I’m like, Oh, my God, finally they’re coming to me and they’re asking me to do stuff. And it’s so hard for me to be like, no, even to like little things, right?

To be on a panel or to, like, give a workshop lesson. And I’m like, I know that what you’re asking me to do is not going to be good like, your audience doesn’t care about what I have to say, but it pains me to be like, no and not just no, but no, because your audience isn’t ready for me, you know?

Like, it’s hard to be confrontational, even though Xuan like, you know, like, I’m, I’m pretty confrontational in some spaces. It’s really hard for me to be confrontational when presented with an opportunity. I think we should be more confrontational and qualify for the opportunity.

Find Precious at preciousbugarin.com

Find Kate at outletpdx.com or Instagram @katebingburt