We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Justis Mendez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Justis below.
Justis, appreciate you joining us today. When you were first starting out, did you join a firm or start your own?
We decided to start our own firm instead of joining someone else’s. – Justis Mendez & Pablo Casilimas met at UF in 2016, we were both involved in early stage startups and has a passion for building communities/events. We then met professor Marty Schaffel who inspired us to create a collective of the best and brightest to meet at different venues once a month. While creating this ecosystem we would get inspired by YCombinator to take the next step and create a formal program to educate and fund early stage founders. In 2020 we launched our accelerator, and after 2 years we helped 40 companies raise over $13M and even had 1 company get acquired.
The decision to start a firm instead of joining one came because we already did all the hard work of creating a pipeline and program that gave us a massive advantage. After sourcing startups for a majority of the early stage funds in Florida for free it was time for us to get compensated. But since we were two young hispanic kids most funds decided to pass on paying us for the deals and wanted to invest in these companies without us getting compensated.
After all of our hard work we decided that we need ownership and that less than 2% of fund managers are hispanic. We needed to create our own table and destiny instead of trying to fit in at someone elses table where we weren’t welcomed or compensated. We want to be an inspiration for others who look like us to break into their respective industry and create ownership instead of always working for someone else.
Justis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
OneSixOne Ventures is a preseed fund investing in enterprise software startups. So far we have deployed $1.4M into 10 companies all over the country. Our first investment was into Betr which is a sports gambling company now valued at $300M.
We are most proud of the work we do for founders. We have robust programs that we do all over the country helping them with all areas of focus including fundraising, building product, closing customers, and so much more. Being able to see the impact we have on these companies makes it all worth it!
We also have programs to help educate potential investors. There are a lot of people that want to start to invest in this asset class but don’t know where to start. So we host workshops helping them understand how to find investments, create a diversified portfolio, a winning investment thesis, and structure the deals. They also have the opportunity to take a look at some of the deals we invest in as well.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Starting off in Cleveland, Ohio I was born to a single mother of 3. She was working at a pizza shop so my grandparents or others had to help watch us. As many kids with single parents do, I was enamored by the street life and the money/respect that it could bring. By the time I was 14 I was kidnapped and involved with people that could ruin my life. I ended up losing over 35+ friends or family members by 17. When I turned 18 my best friend was on First 48 involved in a gang murder so I chose to move to Florida for a better life. I ended up sleeping on the floor in a walk-in closet for the first 6-8 months before eventually launching my first company by 19. This is why I am so passionate about inspiring and supporting others in similar situations. Showing them that they too can strive and turn their life around.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One major thing I had to unlearn is scarcity. When you come from a background of extreme poverty all you can think about is that there’s never enough of what you need. So then you operate out of a mentality of greed or lacking trust. Once I unlearned this I started to operate out of abundance and my life drastically changed. I was able to give infinitely more because I knew there was so much more for all of us! I was able to make introductions to others knowing that there’s plenty more opportunity and resources. When you operate out of abundance there is no limit, and you are so much more powerful in the way you move.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://onesixone.ventures/
- Instagram: @justismendez
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justis-mendez-a78453b6/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ9lzCOi6VEgVxf5qY9uNww