Warm Welcome And Banter

Kelvin Crosby 0:06

Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, a Samaritan Partners podcast. We're not waiting for change. We're investing in it. Join us as we speak with entrepreneurs and thought leaders that are focused on creating a more accessible world. Hey, hey, hey, so good to see you even though I can't see you. It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and I'm so excited that you're here and Investing in Accessibility. I'm your host, Kelvin Crosby, and I got my co-host Chris Maher. How you doing, man?

Chris Maher 0:44

I'm good, Kelvin. It's good to see you to be with you, my friend. How you doing?

Kelvin Crosby 0:48

I'm doing good. I mean, 6-7, man. 6-7. Come on. You know?

Chris Maher 0:58

You're killing me. You are killing me. That is so unfair. Trying to make me feel old again. For our listeners, while we were doing prep with our wonderful guest, who will introduce in a minute. We were talking about just some current event stuff, and 6-7 came up. And I was being honest, and I said, I don't really know what that means. And they kind of laughed.

Kelvin Crosby 1:19

6-7, man. 6-7.

Chris Maher 1:22

Yeah, and then on the last on the last episode with my daughter Charlotte. You're calling me dad and Uncle.

Kelvin Crosby 1:29

Hey Daddy, how you doing, man?

Chris Maher 1:32

Just making me feel old. All right. Well, it's good to be with you, my friend.

Kelvin Crosby 1:36

It is. And I'm glad we can have a good laugh.

Chris Maher 1:38

Yes. We need that. We need some laughter.

Kelvin Crosby 1:41

Y es.

Chris Maher 1:42

We need some laughter.

Kelvin Crosby 1:43

Yes. But I'm excited about today's guest. And this is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to this one.

Meet Molly And Origins With Remarkable

Chris Maher 1:48

Me too. Yeah. So for the the the next installment of the accelerator series, we have a wonderful guest today. And her name is Molly Lazarus. And she runs the US Accelerator for Remarkable. Molly, welcome to the show.

Molly Lazarus 2:02

Thank you. Excited to be here.

Chris Maher 2:04

Well, it's so wonderful to have you here. And so Molly, I'm going to give a little backdrop on how Molly and I know each other, but we actually connected through Peter, who runs the Remarkable Australia, right? Which you folks are a division of. And I think I had connected with Peter on LinkedIn. He's like, oh, you got to connect with Molly. She runs our US group. And I went back and I looked in LinkedIn. I believe you and I, the first time we talked was in October of 23 and had a wonderful conversation. And then a few months later, we palled around at CES in Vegas in January of 24. And we've been we were fast friends ever since and now try to collaborate with each other as much as we can. So it's a great pleasure to have you on the show today.

Speaker 1 2:47

Great to be here. And first impressions of you, Chris, was you know, we'd met, we had talked in Zoom. Do listeners know how tall you are?

Kelvin Crosby 2:55

Wait, wait, he's tall? Maybe that's why I got hit by so many things.

Molly Lazarus 3:02

First time I saw you at CES, you like came up the elevator, and I was like, You're so much taller than I expected.

Chris Maher 3:08

Well, it's true. Zoom, Zoom does distort things. You really have no idea, right? But yeah, I'm like, I'm 6'2, though. I'm not I'm maybe a little above average, but I guess when you had were used to seeing me on Zoom, it was maybe a little bit of a surprise.

Molly Lazarus 3:21

I mean on Zoom, you're like 10 inches tall.

Kelvin Crosby 3:23

I mean, I I I think I think we need to get a costume sign that says if Chris guides you, just be prepared that you're gonna get hit by things because he doesn't see things on the floor, he's too high.

Personal Story And Path Through Startups

Chris Maher 3:34

There you go. There you go. So, Molly, before we get into all the wonderful work that you're doing at Remarkable, let's take a step back. And if you could share with our audience just a little bit of your work and personal background and kind of the journey that you took to get to joining Remarkable. And let's let and and and in that kind of talk about because I know and your husband Sam, who is awesome and who I adore as well. You guys have some pretty personal connections to disability, and I'd like to hear about the camp, the summer camp for sure. Let's bring that out. But let's start there and then we'll get into Remarkable.

Molly Lazarus 4:09

Awesome. That sounds great. Well, so I had always worked in the disability space kind of my whole life. My mom and her sister both had ALS. So I learned really early, like assistive technology, what is accessible, what is not accessible, and started working at summer camps for people with disabilities when I was 12. Camp Jabberwocky on Martha's Vineyard. Now we have multiple camps that we work at and are trying to build our own. So we are definitely through and through camp people. But I always thought that the way to work in disability space was to become a teacher and to work, teach special education. So I did that. I became a first and second grade teacher. And while I was teaching, I was noticing how important it was to individualize. No kid had the same needs, disability disability or not, every kid is different. And so I started building some technology to help individualize for each of my students. And along the way, someone was like, I think you're running a startup. And I was like, Oh yeah, sure. And I went home and I Googled, what is a startup? This was like 2012, like before, you know, startups were just the thing people did. So ended up finding a co-founder, building out the startup. About two years later, we were accepted into Y Combinator, which is an accelerator on the West Coast, and kind of went that way for a while, ran that company for four years, worked at a few others, and in January of 2020, I left my job to go full in on what we wanted to do, which is building a camp, an accelerator, and retreat space specifically for people with disabilities. We call it the Joy Lab. And of course, we know what happened in March of 2020.

Chris Maher 5:58

Great timing.

Molly Lazarus 5:59

Great timing to try.

Chris Maher 6:00

And a thing called the pandemic kicked in.

Molly Lazarus 6:05

So that kind of got put on the back burner. And I was like, you know, one thing we can do remotely is an accelerator. And I didn't know a lot of them in the space, but I knew that I had a background in disability, I had a background in startups, and I had a background in education, which kind of came full circle to be setting us up for an accelerator. So my husband and I started kind of laying down the foundation to build our own. And at some point, I cold emailed Pete in Australia at Remarkable. They didn't have a US program at the time. And I was just like, hey, can I pick your brain? I'm gonna build something like this in the US. Like, would love to learn from you. Little did I know they had a nonprofit in New York that was looking to build Remarkable that year. And they were like, we haven't hired anybody to run it yet. Like, do you want to just come do it here? And as a former startup founder, I was like, I don't have to fundraise for my own thing, like a hundred percent. I will totally jump in and start doing the work that I want to do versus the fundraising for the work that I want to do. So that's really where it got started. And I have to say, like it really daily, you know, sometimes in hindsight, you don't know why you're doing all these random jobs, but then you suddenly get to the job you're doing now and you're like, oh my gosh, it all makes sense. And I really do believe that it all makes sense and the work that I'm doing right now kind of truly brings it all together.

What Remarkable Is And How It Works

Chris Maher 7:33

Yeah, it it really does. Is a coalescing of all those things in your background, the things that you that you're passionate about, that you're good at. Quick question before we get into kind of what Remarkable is did your experience at Y Combinator also shape and influence how you have approached Remarkable? And like, was that experience was it positive? Was it not so great? Was it eh, so so?

Molly Lazarus 7:58

It absolutely did. I mean, Y Combinator was one of multiple accelerators that we went through. And so I really got a feel for the opportunities. When I was in Y Combinator, I was kind of in their like tiny education cohort, which was run by, you know, Jeff Rolston, who was the head of YC for like 10 or 10-ish years, Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Tim Brady, like all the like titans of this group were running this tiny cohort of 10. And so I did learn a ton, learned a ton about Silicon Valley and the way they approach things. I do think the biggest learning I got from there was like strategic connections are valuable. I don't necessarily think all accelerators are accelerators, though. I think a lot of them are decelerators, which I often say to folks. And so I think there's aspects of YC that I've taken. There are aspects of YC that were really not great and uh have also brought into the accelerator and saying we don't do things like that. And so I do think it's valuable. I mean, people would arguably say it's one of the most prestigious accelerators, so it's valuable to have seen how they do things and then to bring the best parts in and to leave the worst parts behind.

Chris Maher 9:21

There you go. I like that. So, hey, something we're gonna come back to is the you just said, you know, they're more of a decelerator than an accelerator. I want to unpack that a little bit, but let's let's get into that after we start to talk about Remarkable. So let's get into it. So, like, you know, what is Remarkable and what are you folks doing there and how do you go about it in terms of supporting startups?

Molly Lazarus 9:45

So we are a four-month accelerator. We support and fund companies that are building products for people with disabilities. Some of our founders are disabled, some are not, but the focus is really: are you creating a remarkable innovation for the disability community? Remarkable being, you know, we really want to see an innovative approach to a rethinking accessibility and writing and things like that. That's just kind of a metaphor I'm working with. But so we provide around $50,000 in seed funding. And we do a really, really personalized program. We only take between four and eight startups a year generally. And it's a very different type of accelerator. I think you could call any founder that has been through our program and they would tell you that Remarkable is different. And I think that's good. I think every accelerator should have a flavor, and we kind of have carved our niche as being more on the coaching side of it than really on the curriculum side of it. And I think that for founders who are working with who are generally post-product, post-revenue, that's really where they need the support.

Kelvin Crosby 10:59

I mean, I I find one of the things that you're talking about is it's such an important thing, right? Is really tailoring each company to their needs rather than just hear the blanket, get more underneath it, and figure it out. You know? Um I mean, I've been through a few several accelerators myself. And it was one of those I'm like, this isn't gonna work out. Like I I realize what what what they're asking me to do and how to get there and so forth. I'm like, mm-mm, no. I just don't see that happening. And so the the way you explain it, like this is tailored, this is coaching, this is how do we work from here to get to here up then? Once we go accomplish that, then I'll work on the next part. And I think that's super important. I mean, especially when you're looking at an accelerator because if you're not looking at it, you're if you're just looking at an accelerator just to get into the accelerator and just get your company going, it I don't know if that's the best idea. And really tailoring your company to or not necessarily tailoring, but really looking at your company and looking at the accelerator, is it a good fit?

Equity, Funding Model, And Regenerative Capital

Molly Lazarus 12:06

I think that's thought on. I think you're bringing up a really good point, and it's something that I will talk to founders about a lot, right? Your greatest resources as a founder are your time and your equity. You are not making the big bucks yet. You are chasing a dream, you only have certain opportunities. And so to be in our program, there needs to be a match on both sides. One, I need to believe that we can accelerate you. And some contenders will come to me and not get accepted, and they'll be like, why didn't I get in this time? And I'm like, look, I actually think that in six to eight months, your business will be in a better place where we can put our resources to work for you. And I know that's frustrating to hear, but like I deeply do not want to waste your founder's time or take their equity when I don't think we can provide value. So I want to make sure that we can provide value. And then on the flip side, I want the founders to make sure that they want to engage with this experience and that they believe it will provide them value. And so it's really a collaborative conversation. It's not like we just take the best companies that apply. We really take the companies that are like strong companies, but also mutually in the right place to go through this experience.

Chris Maher 13:23

Yeah, I think I think that that meeting meeting them, one, that that sort of transparency and honesty and giving that feedback, I think is so important. I think a lot of programs you don't get accepted and then like you don't really know why, and there isn't that conversation. And so I think that that sort of transparency and honest feedback is fantastic that you do that. One thing I want to circle back on before we we forget it. You mentioned that the companies that go through your cohort, they get about $50,000 in investment. I know you're putting, you know, as much, if not more, of that in in terms of the time and effort you guys put in. Can you talk a little bit about the economics of that? If we've got any startups listening. So do you are do they get the 50K and it's whatever their most recent round was or what their next round is, or do you have a certain a certain set percentage of equity that you want to take for that 50K?

Molly Lazarus 14:14

Yep. Again, we do this differently. So, like I said, we understand that equity is a really precious resource for a founder. We try to come in at the terms of your most recent raise. And so that tends to mean that we're able to work with companies at a variety of stages, not just that like early stage, I'm gonna give away 6% of my equity to this startup. We realize how challenging that can be for future fundraising and things like that. And so we will come in generally at the terms of your current round. And if you don't haven't raised, we will generally work with you to come to a percentage that feels fair to you and to the goals of your business. Now, our model is interesting because we are a nonprofit who takes equity in for-profit businesses. And I really like that model because what I say to founders is, you know, if you go through Y Combinator, if you go through what's the one that's everywhere, Techstars. If you go through Y Combinator, if you go through Techstars, you are basically giving equity to fill the pockets of people who have enough money to put money into the accelerator in the first place. If you have an exit, if you go through Remarkable and you give your equity to us, your exit becomes regenerative capital back to our nonprofit. And then that goes to future founders who are building disability tech. So it feels to me like a better place to land in terms of acceleration and accelerative capital.

Are Big Accelerators Decelerators

Chris Maher 15:49

I love that. I love how you make that it's that kind of evergreen circular flow of the dollars. And I love that, I love that term generative capital. And you're right. I like, I mean, listen, I've I've gone on record as saying that that some of those more traditional, larger traditional accelerators, some of whom you've mentioned here, I think you could say that they are they are venture capital funds masquerading as accelerators. They take such an aggressive amount of equity for not that much capital, but they're able to do it. And a lot of entrepreneurs think that, oh, that's my holy grail. I can brand myself as, oh, I graduated from you know Tech Stars or Y Combinator, I went through their cohort. And maybe for some it it it's worth it. Maybe they learn a few things and maybe they do get that, you know, next next round of investment, you know, getting LPs from from or investors from those, from that experience.

Molly Lazarus 16:44

I think what you're saying used to be true, right? Like when I did YC, I was one of 10 companies that did YC. Now they take at least 500 a year, you know. Back when I was applying to things, and I didn't do Techstars, but back then there was like Tech stars. It wasn't like Techstars, any location that exists, right? And so I do think that as the number of accelerators have increased as they franchise their model, as they're taking bigger swings and taking more startups, but like not really personalizing it at all, you don't get that same, we were a part of X accelerators, so now pay attention to us, maybe YC, but even then there's kind of a understanding from what I have heard that only if you're in the like top 5% of that cohort will they really pay you any mind and accelerate you and connect you with the folks that you think you're gonna be connected to through those programs. So I do think that that has changed and it really brings up the question like, what is the purpose of accelerators? And I think we are addressing that head on, but I'm not sure the industry is as much.

Chris Maher 17:58

Yeah, no, I think it's a really I think it's a really good point. I think another aspect of those more very large traditional accelerators, because they're doing so many cohorts and so many companies are going through, once you graduate that eight to 12 week program, you're they're kind of done with you. Like they don't have the bandwidth to to continue along in your journey and provide that advice and guidance. I know you do that because just as of recently, you and I talked about a company that went through your cohort, I think it was last year or the year before. And I know you're still in touch with them, you're still giving them feedback and guidance. And and I think that's something that's very unique about an accelerator like yours is the relationship doesn't end once they graduate your four-month program. That's that's almost kind of really just the beginning. Yes. Right. And so let's so let's dig into that a little bit in terms of and not don't want you to give away your secret sauce, but what are what are generally some of the important things that you folks touch on in a cohort? Generally speaking, I know that you do a lot of kind of customization and it's very a very bespoke experience, but generally speaking, what are the things that the companies that that you folks work with, what are the commonalities in terms of where they need the most help and guidance? Does that make sense?

Two Universal Founder Challenges

Molly Lazarus 19:12

It does. And there's a couple answers here, but I can say without a doubt, now having done this for five years, there are two commonalities that every startup, no matter the stage, no matter the location, no matter the focus, will struggle with. And so we built those in as like core foundational parts of the program. So there are two foundational things that I think every startup struggles with. One, I think how to work and build, work with your team, build a team, make hard decisions. And so the one non negotiable we have is we have an executive coach who works with the startups deeply in our first week together as a person. We really deep dive into the what we call problem. Solvable problems and unsolvable problems. So really we work really early to identify what are the solvable problems within your team. And then they work with our incredible executive coach, Laura, every other week with their full team to address those things. That could be internal dynamics, that could be how to grow a team, that could be what are the processes of our team to work better. But I have never met a startup who did not need some of that because in the beginning, startups are so human. They are just people with dreams and not enough time and, you know, pulling things together. It's hard. The second thing that I see is around how do you collectively move your team forward. And so we model processes around how do you goal set, how do you evaluate those goals, how do you check in on those goals every month? What are, you know, we do it through OKRs. So we set your program OKRs, we do monthly check-ins with me, we do weekly check-ins on priorities, we have conversations of whether your priorities are aligned to your goals, because startups tend to have shiny object syndrome. And I understand it. I understand it. And too many years of shiny object syndrome, and you realize you haven't gone anywhere, but you've won a lot of pitch competitions. And so what I say is you never necessarily have to stick to your OKRs. You never necessarily have to stick to the decisions that you make around planning because startups move quickly. But I need to teach you the muscle with your team to say, hey, decisions are changing. And we are having a conversation as to why and we're making that decision. And I think we try to teach that muscle to all of our startups. Those are the only two practices that are not bespoke. Beyond that, every startup comes in, we do deep dives with them before the cohort starts. We do strategic projects based on their specific needs. So if you are fundraising, we will support you. We have an incredible fundraising coach. I happen to be married to him, but he is also incredible. Sam, he will coach you, build, help you build your data room, help you build your story. Then we have a VC that used to be a VC in the space, but is no longer, that they're able to pitch every month to get iterative feedback on. But that's only if you want to fundraise. Some of our startups are not doing that. If you're specifically like, hey, I need to figure out how to close my B2B sales contracts, we have a coach that works with you on that and we do a strategic project on that. And so every startup in this program could be doing a wildly different thing. And I think the key is we have a small group and we have a strategic coach in most areas that we pay. So they're invested in not pontificating at the startup for an hour and then, you know, moving along. They're invested in creating that accountability of, hey, this is what we said we'd work on because it's aligned with your OKRs. Like, let's see it through. And so I think I'm kind of went full circle and I think Chris and told you the whole shebang, but I do think that like there are some things that are pretty specific, and then there are some things that are not. A lot of them, if we lit worked with the startup for all the startups for their whole lifetime, would overlap. But that doesn't mean in the moment that they come to us that any of them will be working on the same thing. And I think that's kind of the fun part of that.

Chris Maher 23:36

And that's you know, the fact that it it is you have you have a framework and a methodology, how you approach this. And it's not like you you and your team have have been working on that for years. And part of that comes from your own lived experience as an entrepreneur, going through other accelerators, et cetera, et cetera. And obviously with very deep experience within disability and assistive tech. And my guess is that's maybe why you also, you know, you don't have huge cohorts, you have smaller cohorts. And I'm I'm guessing that that that that's part of why. It's because it is this very deep relationship and very meeting them where they're at. Some of it, some of it is there are some common themes, and we're gonna touch on them for all of you, but you all may need a slightly different flavor of those things, depending on where you are with your business. And so I think it's super smart that you're it's really quite quality over quantity to an extent, right?

Bespoke Coaching And OKRs In Practice

Molly Lazarus 24:31

It is. And like, you know, there are models that like we might explore in the future. Like, what if we had this cohort this year just due to funding? And we had four, and I was really nervous, like, oh, is it gonna work? Is it gonna be too few? Because we get together three times during the year and the startups really end up becoming close and supporting each other. And that's a really important part. And I was worried about the number four. It is magic. Like, if we did like two or three, four cohorts a year, or like rolling cohorts with four, like four, no one gets lost, like the accountability to each other is high. We are really able to like know what's happening across all of the companies. And like, I I think of my role as the like the air traffic controller for the cohort. So, like I meet with every team on Monday. I say, what are your goals? Who do you need to meet with this week? What are you focused on? I connect them to those people. I get updates on what's happening, I get updates on what they're accountable to. And so I can do that at four. It gets harder at five, it gets even harder at six to really do it well. And so I think we unfortunately like can at this stage, like maybe we can grow, but at this stage we accept maybe five to six percent of our yearly applicants, but those who do accept it, get accepted, get like a hundred and fifty percent of our of our like love, support, connections, those kind of things.

Kelvin Crosby 26:03

It's more like a family, you know.

Molly Lazarus 26:05

It it's truly like a HR-approved family. You know, the word family can be risky, but I would say we are a close community of people who are willing to show up for each other and really believe in each other. And and I think that that connection that you know, I have everybody come out to a summer camp for a week in the first week, and we have bonfires and we do, you know, internal coaching and we coach in front of people. And if you're not diving in, everyone the first week is always like, uh-oh, where am I going? Why am I doing this? I don't want to give up a week of my time to go, you know, work with other teams. Like, what is this? And every year they walk away being community, right? It's it's hard. There's not a lot of money for it. There's like a lot of uphill battles, and having people around you to be like, oh yeah, we're there too. Like, we've got your back, we've got ideas, is just awesome.

Chris Maher 27:12

Yeah, the the the entrepreneurial journey isn't for everybody. It is a roller coaster, right? It is a lot of ups and downs, and it's really hard to keep that even keel where you don't get too high when you have that great day or that great moment, and you don't get too low when you have that really tough day or that tough week or that tough month, right? And so it can be one emotionally highs and lows, very stressful. It can also be super lonely. What I love about what you folks do, Molly, is you are creating this community, and it's not only a community amongst the entrepreneurs themselves, but then you're surrounding them with these advisors, subject matter experts, operators that can kind of become their own little personal advisory board. And we all like I didn't learn that until late in in my career as a senior manager and CEO. I wish I I wish I had known that earlier. I wish I had figured out to find those three or four or five people that could be like my confidants, my consigliere that depending on what was going on, I could go to them and and and just either pick their brains or get a get a pep talk when I'm having a crummy day. That kind of happened organically for me. But like if I had known that earlier in my career, I think it would have had a pretty profoundly positive impact for me.

Community, Camp, And Safe Vulnerability

Molly Lazarus 28:30

I will say, and I think that it's a really interesting point that you brought up that you started and found that later in your career. But I will say there's like a couple things that I think early in your career and running a startup make that really challenging, especially on the startup side, which is you are constantly asked because of the way the startup space is to show how great you're doing and to really like never show weakness and things like that. And so one of the things we say to the teams as soon as they're accepted is we say, you're accepted. There's no way to get unaccepted. Like you are a part of a family now. You are gonna do yourself a disservice if you don't be honest with us. This is the moment to drop the facade to say, like, I am going to be up front and I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna dive into the process. I'm gonna trust that this group that you brought together isn't gonna like send my business out to everybody. And like, we specifically request that. It's in our startup documents, it's in everything that like this is confidential, this is your team. And I think that is so rare to get. And the startups that make the most progress in our accelerator are the ones that are willing to do that. The ones that are still kind of like, oh, I need to like have some sort of my walls up, they don't get as much out of it. And so I would say, like, whether it's your personal advisory board, whether it's like your startup like mentors that you keep on the side, like having people that you can talk to even early in your career, but really establishing with them, like, hey, I need a place to land that I can be honest. And are you are you comfortable being that person for me? Because like, you know, I know that you might be introducing me to other people in the future. Right. But like, are you comfortable if our relationship stays confidential and that we can really, I can really tell you the truth because that's the most effective way for me to grow? That I think establishing of the conversation and establishing of what the relationship dynamic can be and the mutual agreement on that can make that a lot safer than safer earlier in your career than like later in your career when you're like, I know I've made it, like people believe in me. Like now I just need people to like point me in the right direction.

Chris Maher 30:51

Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, I mean, I think you're you're creating a safe space for people to be vulnerable or a willingness to be vulnerable, not to like channel Brene Brown, but it's true. Like, and that that's amazing that like right from the get-go, you folks talk about that, you set it as an expectation. And it's you've obviously done a very good job of that because I I know a lot of the companies and entrepreneurs that have been through your cohort, and and they all come away with a very similar and very positive feeling. But it it it's really, I'd never heard you talk about it like that before, Molly. And I think it's fantastic, but it all starts with you creating that safe space for people to actually be vulnerable and to be willing to admit that they don't know everything.

Molly Lazarus 31:31

It's all about the container, you know. I think the first the first day I I give them my entrepreneur story and I tell them all the ways that I failed, right? And I'm like, all right, I did it. Let's all go from here, you know. Like I am I've been there and it it's really hard. And I think it makes a difference that I've been a founder and I have been both a successful and a failed founder because I think it it it's hard to open up if you don't feel like the person understands right what you're going through. Yeah.

Kelvin Crosby 32:07

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think one of the things is is for entrepreneurs. I mean, uh I know for me I'm I'm a solo entrepreneur. I don't I have a team. And that loneliness is thick. And what do you do with it? And and and the thing is and being vulnerable to like I have mentors and I have a I have accountability individuals that I work with. So that way they'll no day like you talked about, I can be vulnerable. I can be open. That is true. There is a facade like you gotta put on. And you don't I mean I hate it. And and I I d I do a very good sh good job at being authentic because honestly, the struggle is real. The struggle is real.

Molly Lazarus 33:00

It's really real.

Coachability, Feedback Filters, And Growth

Kelvin Crosby 33:02

And yeah, you you can either channel it for good, or you can channel it and it'll just eat you alive. Yeah.

Molly Lazarus 33:09

And I think, Chris, I think it's an interesting thing as an investor, right? I think so much of that at least kind of initi is put into companies, right? I think there's this, like you have to be we even when I went through YC, they were like, you can't charge because you need to have your numbers that are astronomical and it needs to be like through the roof and needs to be this, this, and this, and you need to show no weakness, and blah blah blah blah blah. Like you need to always have an answer. And I actually like would love to challenge that a bit because again, like I said, I found the companies that are willing to be like, I don't know, to make the most progress because they actually are open and they're like being vulnerable and being Honest. I'm just wondering for you, Chris, like how do you think about that?

Chris Maher 34:01

100%,I'm with you. Well, here for me, there's a couple things you said earlier. There's a there's a term that you used when you were talking about working with the companies in the different areas where they need help. And and you use the term coach. Like, well, we have a coach for this, and we have a coach for that, and we've got a coach for that. And and I and I I know that's intentional that you use that term. And and and for me, one of the big things I look for when I'm investing in a company, a big part of why I invest are the people behind the company, are the founder or founders and the senior team, because at that early stage, the people behind the business are as big a predictor of its future success, maybe more than what the actual business is. And I want to know that they are coachable. A big red flag for me is when I meet an entrepreneur, and many times it's a young entrepreneur who thinks they have all the answers and feel like they have to give all the answers. And when they don't know the answer, they'll fudge it or they'll say something, you know, just because they they think they have, as you say, like gotta be tough and have to have all the answers and feel like they've just, well, I don't know, but I'm gonna give them something instead of being like, you know, that's a great question. I I don't really have an answer for you in that, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, right? So I am with you. I think, I think, you know, people that are that don't have all the answers and that are coachable, that is a big part of what we look for in the entrepreneurs and the companies that we invest in. I love that you're teaching. One, you're creating an environment for that vulnerability. And when you set up an environment for that, almost by default, the individual becomes more coachable. They're more, they're more open to hearing feedback and listening and learning. And so I think that's that's wonderful that you do that.

Choosing Investors And Walking Away

Molly Lazarus 35:46

And I would push there's like two sides to that as well. Like, I think what I what we say to our founders is we will coach you and we will give you feedback, but we're also telling you our feedback may not be right. Your job is to be the filter for your startup, right? And I think that there is a difference between expecting a founder to be coachable in such that you tell them what to do and they do it. And there's expecting a founder to be coachable in such that you give them ideas and you help them create their internal filter to first hear them, acknowledge them, consider them, and then decide if they're gonna throw their money out or not. Right. And I always say feedback is only helpful if it's helpful. Like you have to decide what your filter is on feedback. But if your filter to feedback is immediately, no, we don't do that. Then I'm like, oh, ooh, that's that's an area we got to dig into. And that's why we have a coach, right? That's why we have an executive coach. We say, hmm, what was that resistance about? Like, you want to explore that with us? And then we get we you get a little, you get a little deeper. But I think not all feedback is good feedback, but I think there's value there. The other thing I think is important is like I was talking to a founder recently who was like, you know, I always felt like I needed to have the answers. And I was in a VC meeting the other day and they asked me a question, and I was like, I actually don't know. I'll get back to you. And he was like, it didn't seem like we were gonna move forward with the next like conversation. And then when I said that, it comes with age where you're like, no one has all the answers. So like, why would I? That allows you to be more willing to be like, oh, I don't know, let me think about it. Or I don't have to have this answer, but I think entrepreneurs who are often young because it's really hard to work at that pay level, they often don't have that like internal, like most people don't know the answers to the questions. Like most people don't have every answer, and therefore they feel like they need to act a certain way. And I think if you're listening to this and you're a younger entrepreneur, like know that you don't have to have all the answers, and actually not having all the answers makes you seem a little bit more seasoned sometimes because we've all as we've aged and no longer understand six- seven to come full circle. Six seven because I also don't understand six seven as we get older, like you you just know that like no one has it figured out.

Chris Maher 38:19

Yeah. And and yeah, and another conversation is in and the VCs who because you you VC for you, right? And and and that's a whole nother discussion about you know uh entrepreneurs, there's due diligence is a two-way street, right? Like investors are doing due diligence on you, but you need to be doing just as much due diligence on them, especially in those early stages.

Molly Lazarus 38:40

And look, if we're I like I I hear that, and I've also been on the other side where I'm like desperately looking to bring it forward. Me too.

Chris Maher 38:48

I've been there, I've been there too.

Molly Lazarus 38:50

I'll tell you the truth of kind of where we landed with one of my startups, which was we really needed funding and we needed to fund to move it forward. And at some point I was like, you know, I'll do whatever it takes to bring this forward, except the $300,000 check that came in was from an investor who had been blatantly misogynistic to me. He had, you know, asked me in fundraising, do I have a boyfriend? When will I get pregnant? Like all of these things. It was like the worst investor interaction I had. And he ended up being like the big check that was gonna come in. And with his check would have come a required board seat. And I walked away. I was like, I can't build a company with this person. And we ended up having to shut it down like a year later, right? Like that money would have made a huge difference. But I was like, my alignment with this isn't there. And I'm willing to give up something I really believe in because if you have the wrong person on your team, it can go in any sort of direction. And maybe that would have been fine, but I made that call and you know, still there's a part of me that wonders if I should have, but

Chris Maher 40:05

I admire I admire that Molly.

Kelvin Crosby 40:07

Not worth it, not worth it.

Molly Lazarus 40:08

Yeah.

Kelvin Crosby 40:09

I'll stand with you on that one a hundred percent.

Chris Maher 40:12

Yeah, we're gonna bring you back for another episode where we're gonna dig into, you know, kind of choosing investors and stuff like that. That would be that's a great conversation. But as we as we start to wrap up here, one of the questions that we always ask, but I think we've already covered it, but feel free to add anything else is kind of like what differentiates the Remarkable accelerator from others? I think we've talked a lot about that, but is is there anything else that you haven't mentioned about what you think makes Remarkable unique for an entrepreneur's experience that you want to mention?

Replacing Demo Day With CES

Molly Lazarus 40:42

Yeah, I think the one thing we we touched on at the beginning, but it's really exciting for us this year is, you know, I said we meet in person three times. The first is like deep dive in. Then we usually go to an abilities expo. We just went to one in Fort Lauderdale. But this year, for the first year, instead of doing a demo day, we're getting a booth for all of our entrepreneurs at CES. Much like we challenge the traditional accelerator model. I was like, what is the point of a demo day? The point of a demo day is to get you the strategic connections you need to be able to take your company past the accelerator, right? Well, where's the best place to do that? CES in a booth. You know, it doesn't need to be on a stage, it doesn't need to be in a city, it doesn't need to be a Zoom meeting where you like give your traditional pitch. The goal of a demo day is to get your strategic connections. And so this year, instead of a demo day, we're flying all of our entrepreneurs CES. We've gotten them a booth, we'll be in Eureka Park, and they're gonna get to meet, you know, 130,000 people. And hopefully, when the the chaos of it all dies down, like have some really, really strong connections to move forward with. And we're hoping to do CES every year moving forward. So I think that is really a new differentiator for us.

Chris Maher 41:57

That's fantastic. That's what a wonderful idea. Really, a really great idea. The so one more question, and then we'll kind of wrap up and you can tell us how people can connect with you and learn more about Remarkable. But any tips or advice for founders, early stage startups that are either navigating the accelerator world and kind of figuring out what's best for them or most appropriate for them, or just general advice for an early stage entrepreneur who's just now navigating the trials and tribulations of you know getting their business off the ground.

Advice For Early Founders

Molly Lazarus 42:31

What would I say to entrepreneurs who are navigating the journey? I think that it's gonna be an uphill battle. There's going to be really hard days. You have to really want to see this change in the world over many, many creature comforts that you may have enjoyed previously or maybe looking for. And I think building a company in this space is a daily introspection of do I believe that the thing that needs to be in this world is so important that I can give up a lot of things in service of it. And I don't think the answer always has to be yes. I think like if you don't feel that enough, the journey is gonna get too hard. And so when you're picking your problem, make sure it's a problem that you really, really, really feel like you have the right change for in the world. And I think that'll take you really far. But I think it's not gonna it's not gonna be easy and it could be really fun, but like make sure that you want to be on this this journey.

Chris Maher 43:48

I think it's great advice and really well said. Really well said.

Kelvin Crosby 43:52

So, how can people get a hold of you?

Molly Lazarus 43:54

So uh you can always shoot me an email. Uh, we were just talking at the beginning of this call about how terrible I am at email, but my email is Molly at remarkable.org. I approximately get back to people once a month. I try to do it more often, but I want to set the expectation. I'm also on LinkedIn at Molly Lazarus. And you want to check out all the different programs that Remarkable has. We have one accelerator here in the US, but we have some that you can do virtually in Australia. You can go to remarkable.org.

How To Connect And Closing

Chris Maher 44:23

Awesome. Molly, thank you so much for your time today. You are the best of my friend, and I'm I'm looking forward to seeing you in person at CES.

Speaker 1 44:30

So fun. I can't wait to see both of you in person. Exactly.

Kelvin Crosby 44:34

All right, that wraps up Investing in Accessibility. As I always say, go live beyond the challenges. I'll see you in two weeks. Thank you for listening to Investing in Accessibility, a Samaritan Partners podcast, where we invest in change for accessibility, not wait for change. If you want to follow us, you can find us on YouTube or LinkedIn at @Samaritan Partners. If you would like to invest in Samaritan Partners, email Chris at chris@SamaritanPartners.com. If you'd like to learn more about us, go to www.samaritanpartners.com. You can take the first step in investing in change by giving us five stars and sharing this podcast with everybody that you know so we can spread the word so that we can give access to all by Investing in Accessibility.