Monthly Archives: March 2022

Feature 2021

34. The Importance of Negotiating Your Equity with Brooke Harley



Unsure whether and how to ask for more equity when negotiating your new compensation package? The 30 minutes you spend negotiating your new employment agreement could change the course of your entire future, and negotiating for more equity can be the driving force for that change.

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Brooke Harley, Founder and CEO of Class Rebel, to shed light on compensation negotiations and explain ways to ask for more equity. Brooke discusses Class Rebel’s role in preparing their students and arming them with the foundational key terms and concepts that make up an equity agreement.

Brooke discusses: 

  • The potential long term impact of equity negotiations
  • The importance of understanding the basics of stock option plans and how they work
  • The value of seeking out a competing offer
  • Understanding what’s negotiable in an equity offer and what’s not
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Brooke Harley:

Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:

About Our Guest:

Brooke Harley is the founder and CEO of Class Rebel, an online class e-learning company that offers classes focused on wealth, building angel investing, and the basics of managing equity.

She also has an MBA in finance and earned a JD from York University before founding Class Rebel. Brooke has worked as a corporate attorney as well as a venture investor and startup board member.


Feature 2021

33. LatinX Representation in Tech and Venture Capital with Cheryl Campos



Less than 1% of all professionals working in venture capital today identify as LatinX, and only 1.2% of LatinX founders had access to or received VC funding in the last year. However, there are several leaders in the finance and tech communities actively working to change that.

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Cheryl Campos, Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic and co-founder of VCFamilia, to discuss how her organizations and ones like them are working to level the playing field in tech and increase the levels of LatinX representation in venture capital.

Cheryl Campos discusses: 

  • Why opening up venture capital to other communities will not only diversify the startup funding landscape, but also lead to more diverse products being launched and brought to market
  • How Republic has supported over 600 underestimated founders by helping them find access to funding
  • The work that her organization, VC Familia is doing to create a community and a sense of belonging for Latinx professionals in venture capital
  • How other venture capital firms can get involved to help make sure that more diverse professionals are finding career opportunities in technology and finance 
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Cheryl Campos:

Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:

About Our Guest:

Cheryl is passionate about the intersection of finance, technology, and social impact. She is the Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic, a one-stop-shop for founders to raise capital from both accredited and non-accredited investors. She is focused on introducing underrepresented founders to both traditional and alternative funding sources in order to help their startups thrive. In other direct investing roles, she is a scout for Lightspeed and an investment partner at The Community Fund. Cheryl is also one of the founders of VCFamilia, a community of Latinx VCs supporting current & emerging investors through collaboration.

Previously she worked as an analyst in a Connecticut-based private debt & equity firm with an emphasis on minority and women entrepreneurs. She started her career in Investment Banking at Barclays, working in the Financial Institutions Group and Structured Finance. She holds a BA in Economics with honors from Harvard University.


Feature 2021

32. Talking to Your Family About Money with Amy Castoro



We’ve all heard the statistics and read the articles about the pro athlete or entertainer who lived a life of luxury for years, spent money freely, gave it away, didn’t respect it, and then one day, they were no longer at the height of their fame and success, the dollars stopped coming in, and they were flat broke. However, what doesn’t get reported on nearly as much is the phenomenon of wealthy families who lose their fortune across just one or two generations.

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Amy Castoro, president and CEO of The Williams Group, as they discuss the process and preparation for a smooth transfer of wealth among multiple generations. Amy illustrates the critical need for open communication about more than just money in order to maintain healthy family dynamics during and after a wealth transfer..

Amy discusses:

  • Maintaining healthy family dynamics during the transfer of wealth between generations
  • What to consider as you begin to think about the role you want your wealth to play in the lives of the people you care about
  • Communication strategies to help families build trust when talking about money
  • How much financial support is too much support to offer your adult children
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Amy A. Castoro:

Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:

About Our Guest:

Amy Castoro is the president and Chief Executive Officer of The Williams Group, which prepares families for the smooth transfer of wealth among generations.

For ten years, Amy has specialized in preparing high-net-worth families to successfully transition their wealth while keeping their families united and in control of their assets. She is an accomplished author, keynote speaker, and senior family coach. Amy leads family members; high-net-worth advisors; business leaders; executive managers; and teams from Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits to innovate, lead, and work better together. Amy’s experience with The Walt Disney Company, Adecco Corporation, and Grant Thornton Management Consulting provide her with a strong foundation of leadership in organizations.

Amy is the author of Bridging Generations—Transitioning Family Wealth and Value for a Sustainable Legacy. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in organizational psychology from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and is a Master in Somatic Coaching through the Strozzi Institute. Also, Amy completed a three-year business course with Hecht and Associates that emphasized the design of new offers and optimizing threats and opportunities in business.


Feature 2021

31. Are NFTs a Fad or the Future? with Jesse Krieger



Not that long ago, we were all trying to wrap our collective heads around this thing called Bitcoin and how it was promising to revolutionize the way we all pay for goods and services. And now, before we’ve really even come to a consensus on whether cryptocurrencies are a digital currency, a store of value, an investment asset class, or something else entirely, the conversation has shifted to a different form of digital gold called an NFT.

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge is joined by Jesse Krieger, Chief Content Officer at PowerFan.io, an NFT minting platform for authors and other content creators, allowing them to create and sell exclusive works directly to their audience. Jesse discusses the ways in which cryptocurrency and NFTs differ, how NFTs are changing the narrative of the creative marketplace, and the potential impact NFTs have on ownership and artist royalties.

Jesse Krieger discusses:

  • The key differences between many of the more popular blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and their individual purposes in the marketplace
  • The higher income potential for artists and creators that distribute their content direct to consumers via NFTs
  • PowerFan’s ability to help create and distribute content as an NFT and their accessibility to credit cardholders
  • The multiple use cases for NFTs and the ways in which the space might evolve
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Jesse Krieger:

Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:

About Our Guest:

Jesse is the co-founder and Chief Content Officer of PowerFan.io where he helps authors, artists & creators leverage NFTs and blockchain asset strategies. Jesse is also the Founder and Publisher of Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Press, a publishing company that has helped over 500 authors through the entire author journey, from writing and creating a great book, to providing expert publishing support with editing, design, layout and marketing strategy. He has authored and published two best-selling books on two different continents and been featured on over 100 media outlets for his bestselling book Lifestyle Entrepreneur and entrepreneurial endeavors. Jesse also holds degrees from University of California, Berkeley, as well as National Taiwan University and Beijing Normal University.