It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage

venture capital is the business of risk taking.

Being ready for anything, going above and beyond, and not waiting to be asked to do something if you see it needs to be done are key assets regardless of whether you want to go into the touring world, get your first gig stocking shelves at a grocery store, or close a million-dollar deal.

YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR EXPERIENCES AND UNDERSTAND THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE: AN EDUCATION BUILT JUST FOR YOU.

This is your time; we’re in the era of podcasts, of self-publishing, of blogs and social media. You can tweet or use your Instagram account for more intentional and purposeful content.

This to me means that if you’re asking people to be your mentor today and it’s not going well, repurpose that into a positive thing. Become your own mentor for a while. You can always learn more.

Backstage Capital is part of a movement; people are interested in what we’re doing, they’re following our progress and become part of our network because we represent something larger and more important than just ourselves. Founders know that we won’t be able to invest capital in every person we meet, but we want to be real with them, we want to be

Being so deeply truly yourself, as a nonnegotiable, is the answer to everything.

You—yes, you—have something to say. You are intelligent, you are unique, you are interesting, you are intriguing. You may be a visionary.

This can be a lonely type of personality.