A year ago, Arlan Hamilton was bouncing from couch to couch chasing a dream. Now, she's leading a $5 million venture fund focused on finding the most promising female, minority, and LGBT entrepreneurs.
After another long day of chasing down potential investors, venture capitalist Arlan Hamilton was ready for bed. The only problem was, she had no idea where she would sleep.
As day turned to night, Hamilton sat at a table outside of a grocery store in Palo Alto, California, with a backpack, her suitcase, and nowhere to go on this Sunday in September 2015. For more than a year, she had been pursuing her dream of starting a venture capital fund focused on female, minority, and LGBT entrepreneurs. But it's tough to get a fund going when you don't have any money to invest.
Hamilton had met with every investor she could track down and cold-called everyone in tech she could think of. No one had written her a check. Why would they? Hamilton, an African American lesbian, was a Silicon Valley outsider. She had no track record as a venture capitalist. And she wanted to invest in a segment of founders with little proven success.
She'd spent everything to bootstrap her mission. For months, she'd been homeless, sleeping on couches, in motels, out of cars, at airports. As a weary Hamilton sat, contemplating her next move, her phone buzzed.
"I'm in," read the text from Susan Kimberlin, a tech veteran who made a name for herself at Salesforce and PayPal. Kimberlin was ready to bet on Hamilton to bring more diversity to tech--and her check was the lifeline Hamilton needed to get Backstage Capital up and running.
After another long day of chasing down potential investors, venture capitalist Arlan Hamilton was ready for bed. The only problem was, she had no idea where she would sleep.
As day turned to night, Hamilton sat at a table outside of a grocery store in Palo Alto, California, with a backpack, her suitcase, and nowhere to go on this Sunday in September 2015. For more than a year, she had been pursuing her dream of starting a venture capital fund focused on female, minority, and LGBT entrepreneurs. But it's tough to get a fund going when you don't have any money to invest.
Hamilton had met with every investor she could track down and cold-called everyone in tech she could think of. No one had written her a check. Why would they? Hamilton, an African American lesbian, was a Silicon Valley outsider. She had no track record as a venture capitalist. And she wanted to invest in a segment of founders with little proven success.
She'd spent everything to bootstrap her mission. For months, she'd been homeless, sleeping on couches, in motels, out of cars, at airports. As a weary Hamilton sat, contemplating her next move, her phone buzzed.
"I'm in," read the text from Susan Kimberlin, a tech veteran who made a name for herself at Salesforce and PayPal. Kimberlin was ready to bet on Hamilton to bring more diversity to tech--and her check was the lifeline Hamilton needed to get Backstage Capital up and running.
