S2EP10: We Launched the Category with Leah Solivan

She drew the blueprint for the gig economy in 2008. Uber. Lyft. DoorDash. They all came later. In the moment, though, she navigated significant disbelief and had an investor call her “babe” mid-pitch. . She built it anyway.

In this episode of The Capital Flex, I sit down with Leah Solivan, founding CEO of TaskRabbit, the company that built the gig economy before any of us were calling it that. Nine years later, she had raised $50 million and exited TaskRabbit to IKEA. Now, as founder of Precedent VC, a pre-seed and seed fund backing category-defining teams, she’s writing the checks.

We get into what fundraising looks like when you're years ahead of the market, and the investors you meet can’t see around the corner as you can. We cover the product demo that built conviction faster than any pitch deck could and the sequencing strategy most founders don’t leverage enough. We also talk about the random Silicon Valley office tour that turned into one of the most talked-about acquisitions in gig-economy history.

Key Takeaways:

• If you're building ahead of the market, expect to pitch 50 to 100 investors per round. Early conviction is rare. That's what creates opportunity. 
• When the room can't connect with a problem they've never had, stop explaining and start demonstrating. Live experiences can make the problem tangible and build conviction faster than a great pitch deck. 
• Treat every fundraising conversation as mutual diligence. The way an investor engages today is often the best predictor of your partnership tomorrow. 
• Most founders lead with their best investors and wonder why the pitch falls flat. Save your highest-leverage conversations until your story has reached its full potential. 
• Conviction is a muscle, not a trait. Contradictory advice can come from the most brilliant of people. Listen carefully, absorb every perspective, then make the decisions only you can make. 

My Reflection & Challenge:

Leah sat across from an investor who called her "babe" mid-pitch. She finished the presentation and left. No drama, no confrontation, just a clean read on capital that would cost too much. Most founders override that instinct because the check feels too important. Leah didn't. That's a skill every founder can flex. 

Knowing which rooms to walk away from is only half the equation. The better question is how to create conviction in the rooms worth staying in. Leah's live demo did what no pitch deck could: it allowed the room to experience the problem instead of simply hearing about it. She created the conditions for people in the room to see it for themselves. 

This Week's Challenge:

Before your next investor conversation, do these three things:

1. Find out if this investor has ever lived the problem you're solving. If they haven't, your job is to help them experience it. 
2. Look at your investor list and sort it honestly. The names you most want to hear yes from should be the last ones you pitch. Protect them until your pitch has been sharpened by every earlier conversation. 
3. Write one sentence that answers this question: Why are you the only founder who could build this specific company? Not your team. Not your traction. You. If you can write it in one sentence, you're ready to say it in the room. 

Capital is not just money. It’s a long-term relationship. Choose wisely.

Links and Resources: 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/precedent-vc/  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahsolivan/   

If you enjoyed this conversation, follow The Capital Flex, leave a rating, and share this episode with a founder who needs it.

And if you’re looking for a more candid space to talk fundraising, power, and building inside systems not designed for you, stay close. The conversation continues.

Production and Administration work completed by Smart Podcast Solutions and Elevate Business Solutions. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

This is the Capital Foot. I'm Naseem Sayani. This show codifies the Capital Playbook because no founder should have to learn the hard way. We talk about what really happens behind closed doors. The bias, the breakthroughs, and the things no one says out loud. If you've ever walked into a room and felt the system wasn't built for you, you're in the right place. Welcome to the Capital Flux. My guest today is Leah Sullivan. She's the founder of TaskRabbit, a company we probably all know well. A company that redefined how people access services and flexible work. She founded TaskRabbit after a simple realization that everyday tasks could be outsourced through technology, helping to spark what became the modern gig economy. It's really fantastic to be talking to someone who did that because we take it for granted right now in such huge ways. TaskRabbit was acquired in 2017 by IKEA. It was nine years old at the time. Leia had transitioned from CEO to executive trailer woman and led the acquisition effort in that role. And so has seen everything from launching a company of fundraising for it, growing it, and then getting it through an acquisition, which is such a brilliant perspective to have on the pod. She also hosts her own podcast called Breaking Precedent, where she interviews innovators and leaders who are changing and challenging the status quo. She serves on the board of PetMet Express, where she chairs the compensation committee, which is a great role for a woman to be in, and is actively involved in philanthropic and cultural initiatives, including the San Francisco Ballet. Across everything she does, Leia is drawn to people and ideas that don't just follow the playbook, they fully rewrite it. So there's a lot of things we have in common because I tend to operate by that same ethos. So I am so excited to have you here today. Thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for inviting me on.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Absolutely. If you could, for everyone listening, just tell us a little bit more about your background and maybe just a something interesting about TaskRabbit that we may not know from the outside or anything else that you're doing right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yeah, wonderful. So, you know, I started my career actually as an engineer. I I studied math computer science. I minored in dance. That comes back to and ties back to the San Francisco ballet. But out of school, I got my first job as a programmer at a small startup that was bought by Lotus and then bought by IBM. So I ended up at IBM for like eight years. I mean, I was there a long, long time as a software engineer. And you know, this was a time where you would code and you would have build release rooms and then you would burn CDs and you'd ship them around the world. So just imagine that for a moment, right? Because quality of code really mattered. If you introduced a bug or regression into the code base and it got shipped and burned to a CD and it was deployed at Deutsche Bank, like that's a big problem, right? So it was a really cool experience, actually, really interesting experience. From there, I founded TaskRabbit. I had the idea because I was out of dog food one night, and I thought there's gotta be someone who can get me this dog food. It was February of 2008. So the iPhone had just come out a few months earlier. And as an engineer, I was really interested in these emerging technologies, social location, mobile. And so I ended up quitting my job at IBM in 2008 and built the first version of the Task Rabbit site, got it launched in Boston, where I was living at the time, you know, and it kind of snowballed from there. It ended up being this nine-year journey, raising venture capital, exiting to IKEA. And, you know, now I've jumped over to the investing side full time.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Gosh, it's incredible. Uh it's such a great transition from being an engineer to begin with to launching a company, growing it, and then ultimately selling it. You know, what's really interesting is I was also at IBM. I was there for about five years.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

And I made where did you work? What did you work on?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

I was in the management consulting services business. Uh I had come over with the acquisition from PwC. Yes. So I was the the the new blue. We call we were called the new blue folks. New blue. We were new blue. And I was there for about five years, so a good long time. And I left in 2006 when I started business school.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Wow. So we overlapped. We overlapped. We were good.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Well, I was in Cambridge. Where were you located?

SPEAKER_02 4:24

I was in Los Angeles. I was I was out of L.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Other sides of the country, but overlapped at IBM. You know, it was a great experience. I learned a ton there. I learned a lot. It was great.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

It was a fantastic company. I learned a lot. You know, the experience, the people, the kind of work I got to do over that five years was tremendous. And yes, while I might not work for as big a company today in that stand of my life, it was perfect because a huge company was great. There were so many different things to go do. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. Amazing that we were there at the same time. Yeah. Uh, so the pod, as you know, is all about fundraising experiences and in particular how these really manifest for women in the venture ecosystem because so many things are so different when you're fundraising whilst female versus our male counterparts. And I get all kinds of phone calls at insane days and hours and emails about just crazy stuff that's gone on. And so I had this idea for the pod on a post-it on my desk for two years, and then finally got off the ground and really wanted to showcase what happens, how we deal with it, and then what the insight is so that other founders can can learn and walk into rooms with better prep. So if you could, if you think back to your fundraising journey, I always I ask everyone this question first, but if you could characterize your fundraising experience in three words, what three words would you use?

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Grueling, lonely, devastating. I don't know. Every single round we raised was so difficult. So we we raised $50 billion total.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

That's incredible. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

You know, it is incredible. And particularly as a woman, particularly as a Latina woman, like even less, even less when you look at the percentages goes to, you know, women of color. So, you know, it was a tough road at every single round that we raised. I must have pitched like 50 to 100 investors every single round, and I got one yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Oh. One yes. Even now, I've had conversations where it's like you pitch 70 to 80 to get to the one.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

I'm telling you, like, people don't realize how how many conversations, how many meetings, how many pitches it takes. And, you know, I think it's a for me, it was a combination. My experience was a combination of things. One is, you know, Task Rabbit was a great idea, it was a great company. But when I walked into the pitch room, it was very, very rare that I would see a woman at the table, a female partner at the table. Okay. So I'd walk in and I'd pitch a room of men about how to outsource home errands and tasks to men that were not in charge to home errands and tasks. Right. And so many times, many, many times, the majority of times, the feedback I would get would be like, oh, let me ask my wife about this, or let me have let's have our admin try it. And I was just like, even like a company like Task Rabbit, which like feels so obvious today, like literally was the precipice of the gig economy. Like, it did not resonate with the people that controlled the capital. One thing that helped, and this is like a learning I learned along the way, is because I knew I wasn't walking into the room and like resonating and connecting immediately on the idea because they just never experienced the problem themselves. Is I would walk in, and as part of the pitch, I would post a task at the beginning of the pitch and I would say, deliver cupcakes to this office. And I would show them how it worked. And then I'd finish the pitch. We would like pack up and leave. Cupcakes would be delivered like an hour later.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Oh, incredible. It's such a great, that's a great party trick for a room like that, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

It was like figuring out ways where you can kind of show off your product, even if it doesn't immediately connect with your audience. Like we just had to be creative about it. So that was, you know, that was one thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

It's so interesting because even that feedback, right? Let me let me call my wife, let me talk to the admin. It's the same feedback that people building in women's health are getting right now.

unknown 8:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

It's it's the it's the same phrasing. It's the same thing. Let me, I don't, I don't know anything about endometriosis. Or I had one where she's working on an imaging product for breast cancer, and some man in the room said, Oh, my wife had breast cancer and she's just fine. Is this really an issue anymore?

SPEAKER_00 8:57

And you just go I mean, it's just like the the size of these markets too, the size of the women's health market, massive. Like, look at companies like MIDI, just closed a hundred million dollar round. Huge. You know, actually led by one of my friends, Eric Kim at Goodwater, a man, led that round. And I was so excited for him because he did get and he did the work. It's like people just need to do the work, even if it's not an idea or company that you personally, you know, have this problem. Like, do the work. These companies are massive companies, the markets are there.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

And you were ahead of the curve, right? Task Grabbit was a precipice of the gig economy, as you said, like ahead of a massive change in behavior that was happening, but they weren't seeing enough. There weren't beacons for it. Like it's it was just not quantified enough.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

We were so, so early. We're almost a little too early, to be honest. Like, man, if we had waited another two years, we would have saved ourselves a lot of hassle. But 2008 was early. By 2010, you started to see companies, you know, honestly, like Lyft and Uber, they didn't even start till like 2012. 2012. Yeah. We were so, so early. So we actually, you know, to our credit, I think laid a lot of the groundwork. We did a lot of the education for consumers and for investors on what this gig economy could be. And then, you know, others kind of came in and rode that wave as well that we were building. But we were early, and that made it hard, you know. But that that's that's that's what it was.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

That's what trailblazing is all about. That's what it comes down to. Uh what were, if you had one or two of the most insane fundraising moments, what did you see happen and how did you respond? Like what's the what are the other learnings for you from those days?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Yeah. I mean, we had all kinds of crazy things happen, you know, and in the later rounds, like in the growth rounds, I was joined in pitches by Stacey Bronville Pott, who was my COO at the time. She's amazing. I promoted her to CEO when I became chair of the board. And I remember just this one pitch that Stacy and I were in. And the investor had come by the office. He had brought with him his like 20-something year old girlfriend, because the girlfriend wanted to see the office. Fine. Okay. Okay. Fine. But then she like kind of hung out in the waiting room. He came in so we could do the pitch and chat with him. And in the middle of the pitch, he like leans back and he puts his hands behind his head and he goes, babe, babe, listen. And I was just like, Stacy and I were just in such shock as to what was happening. Yeah, that that sort of like dismissive, just demeaning, disrespectful nature.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

With his girlfriend in the lobby to call to call you babe is deeply unreasonable. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Deeply unreasonable is an understatement, right? No, exactly. I mean, my God. So, you know, there were there were little sort of things like that that would happen. Like, we went on with the pitch, we ignored it. We were like, this is just annoying. We just need to get him out of this office right now, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

This is not someone we want to partner with. But yeah, I mean, I think you see all kinds of just crazy, insane things when you're pitching hundreds of investors over the course of a day.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Sure, you're going to see all kinds of things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

So what became your, aside from ordering cupcakes, your core strategy for really getting the rooms of investors to to invest in something that that didn't exist yet. How, how does what did you do? How do you replicate that in other places?

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah. So getting the investors on board, like I said, I mean, we pitched 50 to 100 every single round. None of the rounds were were easy, but I will say, like, there was a period of like 18 months where the majority of money came in. It was probably like, I don't know, 20 to 25 million dollars out of the you know, 50 we raised came in in like an 18-month period. Okay. So it was this riding this wave of, okay, the gig economy is a thing, all these competitors had popped up. You know, other investors were investing in companies like FumbTech or Handy or Home Joy was one. Oh my God. My investors were so worried about Home Joy. They were like burning $2 million a month and then like flamed out in 12 months, right? But we were always just, I think because I started the company in 2008 at the start of the Great Recession, and I'd left my cushy job at IBM. I had maxed out credit cards to build this company. I was very careful with money, very, very careful, and always thoughtful about union economics and like how can we stay profitable? How can we operate profitably? So that was kind of the mantra throughout. Even at the height of the craziness, when you know all the venture capital came in, we were still like, nope, we're gonna operate like in a very measured way. And that paid off.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Efficient burn rate, right? Super efficient burn. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yeah. That really did pay off.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Yeah. Well, and that is, you know, it's not uncommon for women running businesses to keep the burn rate extremely efficient. It's it's a it's a character trait more than anything else. As you meet other women or even through your podcast, right, as you're interviewing women who are breaking precedent and changing, rewriting how things happen. What have been the most striking things for you? What have you what have you seen be the moves that these women pursue?

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yeah, such a great question. And it has been really exciting on the podcast just to get to hear these people's stories and not just business and tech people. So, you know, I've interviewed like Samara Hernandez from Chingono Ventures, you know, who raised, you know, a $50 million fund one to deploy straight out of Goldman, has an incredible story and background, like perseverance, I think outsider mindset, just didn't even have the concept of she couldn't do it. Like this wasn't something she couldn't do. She just went for it. Lynn Jurich from Sunrun took the company from zero to public with a five-month-old baby on her hip. Like amazing. Like, did the roadshow while nursing her baby. And she has a really interesting story too, because with Sunrun, she really had to wait for the solar technology and for the market, the consumer market, to really meet her where she was. And it took a long time. And so again, that perseverance, that passion, that dedication.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

And really being ahead ahead of what the market was already doing, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of times when you are or you feel like an outsider to a system or industry, you're really able to see where the leverage points are and where sustainable change can really be made. And I think that gives you an edge. So I think women have a huge edge on a lot of these industries because of that outsider mindset.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Yeah. What do you what do you believe are the traits that female founders innately have that maybe aren't getting showcased or appreciated enough versus traits that we maybe need to build or refine?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yeah. Well, you know, I talked a little bit about this on another podcast with Scott McGrew, and he was asking me what patterns I had to unlearn when I started Task Rabbit and then went into investing. And I think for me it was like about how to trust myself and have conviction. And that was like a muscle I had to develop. And for me, it was something that, you know, I wasn't necessarily born with. But I think as I built TaskRabbit, what I realized is I could get a lot of different advice from really smart people. I would ask two brilliant CEOs the same question and they would give me two very different answers. And it was always up to me, because I'm the one in my business, to really make the call and make the decision. And so building that muscle of conviction was something that I had to learn over time. And I think many women have to learn that over time.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah, it's a real, a real theme around trusting our guts has come up over and over again. And in most cases, if the founder hasn't trusted her gut, something has gone wrong. But if she had just really trusted her intuition and filtered out outside voices in some cases, right? Because the mantra is if you want capital, ask for advice. And if you want advice, ask for capital. But I don't know, we don't always need all of that advice. And so knowing how to filter a lot of it is is a real muscle flex and it really has to be developed well because society isn't reinforcing that for us on its own, right? That's right. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. How did how did that intuition feed into getting the business sold? How what was that? Take us through what that process for you was or where the lead from IKEA came from and how you worked it through.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Yeah. Well, IKEA was a partner that from day one, literally day one, IKEA Furniture Assembly on TaskRabbit was a very popular job. And so it's 2008 in Boston. People are posting to get help with their IKEA furniture assembly. That continues to grow. So I'm always like, wow, it would be great if we could have a partnership with IKEA. So it took years and years and years to figure out how to get in contact with them. They are a private, family-owned company out of Sweden, not very easy to contact. And so we worked for years to figure out how to get in. What it took was we opened our London market. So the first international market was London. That is a big market for IKEA as well. And serendipitously, there was a consultant in London that was putting together a roadshow of executives from Europe that wanted to come to Silicon Valley and visit different like hot startup offices. And so he called me up and was like, Oh, can I bring this, you know, contingent by? And I was like, Well, who's on the list? IKEA happened to be on the list. Okay. There was like 10 people. IKEA was on the list, and I like zeroed in on this. And so it was actually Stacy and I. We prepped for the meeting where these execs were coming by the office, and like, we did not care about anyone else. We just wanted to meet the woman from IKEA. So we had this like whole presentation about IKEA and TaskRabbit and like this cool partnership we could do. So, anyways, we hit it off with a woman when she came by the office, and we were open in London. So it was a great test market because we were kind of in their, you know, neighborhood, in their backyard. And so then it organically kind of snowballed from there. And it wasn't an immediate, obvious decision that we were gonna sell to IKEA. We actually hired bankers, we ran a process, we were out raising a growth round at the same time. So it's like, you know, when you're a CEO, you gotta like fire on all cylinders and have lots of options going, right? But in the end, the offer from IKEA came in and we just felt like this would be a great way to continue to expand globally in a way that wasn't just all on us. And it's been awesome because I know the CEO of Task Rabbit today, Anya Smith, who's amazing, you know, and she's like, IKEA has invested more in TaskRabbit as a standalone than like you ever even raised. You right it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Because they it comes off their balance sheet and it's a private company. And if it's really working for them, then they they'll do that. Yeah, it's really exciting to see. Yeah. Oh, that's great. The negotiation with IKEA was easy, hard. How did that go?

SPEAKER_00 21:02

It was always friendly. And I think that was part of the reason why we felt so comfortable moving forward with them because we felt like it was very values aligned. We felt like the cultures were aligned, and they have been. You know, there were at the time kind of two other strategics in play, and it was clear like, like, who wants to end up there and work for those people, right? Like it's just kind of like so it became very obvious because the negotiation process with them was so pleasant.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Okay, okay. That's it's good. It's good that it was pleasant because that's not it's not typical, not always the case. Yeah, it could also be very Swedish of them, uh to just not maybe do things the way some things happen uh in America sometimes. Yeah, yeah. So you're so task grabbed was also early kind of at the intersection of of consumer and and AI, but we weren't calling it AI back then. How did that evolve with The company as it grew, how would you how do you think about the opportunity now? Because now you're looking at deals, you're on the other side. How would you characterize what's going on with consumer and AI right now? And what what's the opportunity? And is really the funding landscape understanding it fully?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Well, you're right. Because even back, you know, when we were building Task Arabbit, we were using AI and we had huge data science teams that were building models. And the difference was it was much slower. It was a much heavier lift. We're gathering insights and then making, you know, tweaks to the matching algorithm or the operational systems very slowly. Today that's all changed. Everything is like at the speed of light, right? AI is really at a massive tipping point. You know, over 60% of Americans have used AI every day in the last six months, right? Like millennials and Gen Z and further, like it's incorporated into our lives. Over 90% of millennial parents use AI to help with parenting asks and jobs, right? Like I know I'm always like, hey, how should I respond to my 13-year-old about this? Like, do you have any advice, ChatGPT? So I think that's like the major difference today is we're at this tipping point. It's at everyone's fingertips. It's very pervasive. And so what I'm seeing as an investor is you know, moving from sort of this like infrastructure platform layer of open AI and anthropic and these massive, massive companies that needed to be built, needed to be created, need to exist into a more customer-focused experience, verticals, driving consumer experiences. You know, it's it's really fascinating. I the first investment I made in my new fund Precedent VC is in the therapy space.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

So it's an AI native app that sits within your text messages and communications with a partner spouse, or even it could be in a workplace environment, like with a boss or coworker, and it coaches you on how you're communicating. And it uses some proprietary LLMs and data based research, right? To provide real-time interventions. And so it's just like, wow, the the real-time nature, the personalization, the customization, it's really, really exciting.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Yeah, yeah. Is there it's it's so interesting because you can to embed itself in those interactions in a way that can facilitate better interactions, especially because we're all remote, we're not sitting in offices anymore. So that those organic relationship building skills are not getting built the way that they used to. So there's a there's a real opportunity for solutions like that, which is fantastic. Are there what parts of a storytelling around AI really resonate for you? So when you meet a founder and they have AI built into their business, whether it's tagged onto the name or real, uh how are you deciphering and and where what are the must-nos on how those stories get told?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

So one, I mean, I think I'm an investor that likes to know what your AI story is. Like you don't have to be AI native per se, meaning like you haven't built from the ground up an AI native stack. But for instance, the second deal in my fund that I invested in is a telehealth company for, I'm like thinking how much I can say, it's a telehealth company for clinics and hospitals to utilize. Um they sell in B2B, but it really helps with patient experience and patient care. The way they're using AI is really on the back-end systems and making their nurses and practitioners more efficient. And so, you know, I think every business today has got to have an AI story because you're just gonna be eaten alive if you don't, right? Like right.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

It's a little bit like digital. We used to say digital for everything. We don't say that anymore because it's ubiquitous. That's where that's where AI is going. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

That is exactly, exactly right. So so I'm I'm really enjoying seeing all the different use cases. And it doesn't have to be like, you know, up front in your face. It could be in the back end, it could make things more efficient, it could make the experience more smooth for the user. There's so many interesting things happening.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Yeah, no, it's great. It's really incredible to see how founders are one, how they're building AI native, truly AI native, and really thinking about like things like cultural competency or really understanding how they're gonna train it so that so that bias gets managed. And otherwise it's a we're just gonna accelerate all the bad problems from before. Yes. Uh but there's there are founders that are being incredibly smart about it, which which I appreciate because it uh if they're not thinking about those things as they build, then we're we're not gonna get any better with this incredible tool in our hands now. The last thing I wanted to talk to you about was you're now in a place where you're running your fund, you're writing a book, uh, you also have your podcast, your platform building in a really great way. Uh tell us about the strategy behind that uh and and where what what does that become when it grows up?

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Yeah, I mean, you know, it started with the podcast, and I just became sort of obsessed with being able to amplify people's stories of how they were shifting societal norms, challenging, you know, society and breaking through. And so that became breaking precedent. You know, from there it organically became a book. And I had always wanted to do a book, but I didn't want to do like just a TaskRabbit book. Like I wanted it to have more of a meaning. And so, you know, certainly at TaskRabbit, we helped create the gig economy and, you know, set new precedents for the future of work. But I'm also wrapping in other people's stories as well, and then giving readers a framework for how they can break through something in their own lives. So after I kind of had the podcast and book settled, I thought, you know what, this is the perfect time to spin out the fund. And the fund is called Precedent VC. It's all pre-seed and seed, all early stage focused. And it's really about finding that next generation of category-defining teams and companies. And so, you know, I tend probably like you to get drawn to the people and the stories that are providing societal change. And I think, you know, many times I'm drawn to the non-traditional stories, the women, the people of color, the immigrant, the outsider, and how they do it. And so I think amplifying those stories is so, so important. And so as I look at what I'm building, you know, it's it's like an ecosystem approach. And I'm calling the whole thing the precedent collective. And it's really about, you know, building an ecosystem around breaking precedent, being a precedent breaker and what that means.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Oh, I love that. I love that because it is if so many of those profiles you described are building within systems that were absolutely not designed with them in mind. And so you're pushing on walls, repainting walls, bringing in new furniture, whatever analogy works, but but quite literally having to change the room so that it can fit all fit and not even fit, but mold to expand from, right? The different profiles that are now operating within it, which is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Yeah. And I think so many times we just like bang our heads against the walls when we're in these systems that weren't built for us. And we're like, why is it like this? It's so frustrating, right? And then as I've interviewed all of these leaders across industries, you do start to see patterns of how they did it and like what's the common tactics and techniques. And so I think really breaking it down for people and giving them a way to break through, you know, that's my goal. I'm really, really excited about it. And I hope that it can inspire people who want to continue to, you know, push change forward.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. Could you share one or two, a little preview into one or two of those patterns or things that you've you've noticed?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yeah, well, we I I sneakily already talked a little bit about that outsider mindset, but that's a big one. And and there's a whole chapter in the book about that mindset. And and even if you're not an outsider, how can you start to develop that mindset, right? And push yourself to think outside of the box. So that's definitely one, you know. I think another one that really a pattern that I saw that really resonated with me is this idea of cross-functional training or multidimensional thinking. And so many of the leaders that I interviewed weren't just only focused on their one category. You know, they were they were studying all kinds of different things. They were interested in science and art and the law. And I think the idea of kind of like cross-training your brain to think across a lot of different dimensions is also a way to give you perspective on the thing that you're trying to break. And I think for me, that kind of goes back to my background with math, computer science, and dance. I've always been a big proponent of the arts. I danced ballet for 25 years before I started my company. And it's been a big part of my life. But I think that creative thinking and that discipline too, specifically with ballet, really has, you know, has been a big part of how I was able to break through in some of these things as well.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Right. Yeah, no, it's still grounded in math. It's still grounded in structures that real structures that deliver something really beautiful, but it it the discipline is still at the heart of it, right? Which is incredible. Do you think it's really important for women in particular to build platforms?

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Well, I think that absolutely. Yes. Because I think that we amplify different stories. I think we ask different questions. I think we build community and are social in different ways. And so, yes, absolutely. I think that's immensely important. And I think the more we can cross-collaborate too and like lift each other up is like so important.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Oh, absolutely. I I talk a lot about abundance mindsets and really breaking down what has been a lot of scarcity that we've been raised in and conditioned for. And the, you know, one woman gets the job, but there's one partner at the firm, or only one gets the promotion. And it just we don't have to operate in that mindset. There can be more, or we just build our own. And now we're in a generationally we're in a position where a lot of us can build our own. We're not having to wait for that table to open up. We'll just put another one next to it. Uh, I totally agree. Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

I I love, I love that point. It's just like go build your own system. Like, yeah, go, go do it then. And I, you know, I think getting there can be hard, and getting there is a privilege too, right? But I think that's why I'm so driven too, after my success with TaskRabbit and as an investor, to really be like, listen, I'm gonna keep going and I'm gonna rebuild this system and I'm gonna bring in new people and amplify their stories because like we we just we have to.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

We have to. Yeah, we have to. And now we have the wherewithal and the expertise and experience to do it. So it's it's even better that way. If you could leave the founders listening with maybe two or three must-knows as they prep for or step into fundraising, what would those be?

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Okay, so specifically fundraising focused. I would say one, run a really tight process. And what I be mean by that is like make your list of investors you want to talk to, break them out into categories like A, B, C group, start with the C group, work through the B group, put the A group last, because by the time you get to the A, you'll have heard all of the questions from all the other investors and you'll have nailed your pitch. And so it matters how you sequence these things. So that's one thing. You know, I think two is you know, it depends what stage and size you're raising at. But the more that you can show early traction numbers, like I'm a big fan of revenue, I'm a big fan of unit economics, like think through a business model, but like just have some hard numbers there that you're going after and and show that you're gonna measure KPIs and that you're gonna deliver, you know, ROI. So that's the second thing. And then what else? I would say, you know, have a great, have a great pitch deck that really tells your story and tell your story not just as a pitch, but tell your personal story as well and why you are built as a founder for this particular company and not just, you know, building some any other company in the world, but like what makes you perfect for this company.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Right. And really positioning it as founder market fit rather than because what we hear a lot is the why is embedded in why they built the company to begin with, rather than why they're the best person to build it. Uh it's putting that story in a slightly different place. I agree, is is really powerful. So, last question what can what can we all do to help you? What's your ask right now? What are you looking for?

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Yeah, well, listen to the podcast, breakingprecedent.com. I would love that. Send me pitches, send me deals, uh, deals at precedent.bc. And yeah, just you know, be a part of be a part of the community, the precedent collective, and go out there and break some precedents.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

I love it. Thank you so much for joining me. This has been brilliant. I think there's so much great learning, especially given all of your experience and the different roles you've been in. This is fantastic for all of our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Yeah, thank you so much. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Thanks for listening to the Capital Flex. If today's episode hit home, share it with the founder you love and follow me on LinkedIn for more.