We were lucky to catch up with Kim Folsom recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kim thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?
It might sound cliche but as I’ve gotten older, I feel that I’ve gotten wiser. One of the most important lessons I’ve taken away from my 25+ years of experience is that there’s no such thing as failure, it’s learning and recognizing the lessons. You really have to learn from all experiences, good and bad, and then adjust accordingly. That’s the driving force behind the idea of perseverance. I recently gave the commencement speech at the City University of Seattle graduation ceremony with my underlying message about “persisting and pushing through.” There are going to be failures and there will be wins. The thing you need to remember is that it’s not the worst thing in the world if someone tells you no. You just have to keep moving forward toward your goal – persist and push through. An example of that is when I was setting out to create Founders First. I had a vision of two people that would serve as my advisors that I could turn to for help when needed. I didn’t know either of them personally but that didn’t stop me from working toward my goal. The first person, I sent him a message out of the blue on LinkedIn saying that I would be in his area on a certain date and asked if we could meet for a chat. The other, I kind of stalked to see where his next speaking engagement would be. I had this idea of working with Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful. I knew that I had only one opportunity to make a good impression on him. I made a point of being the first person in line after his session to tell him that I was starting a revenue-based financing firm that serves women and people of color, which I knew he was a big proponent of. I let him know a little bit about my business plan, enough to pique his interest. He has an ego the size of Texas so I made sure to play into that. After the Q&A session, I took the opportunity to ask if he would give me a quote for the press announcement for Founders First. Once he said yes to that, I asked if he would be an advisor for my new company and he said yes to that as well. So now, we meet about once a year to discuss how things are going and to get his advice. At the end of the day, the best thing I’ve learned during my many years in business is to persist and push through – no matter what – and you can do anything.
Kim, 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?
I’m Kim Folsom, my day job is the Founder, Chairperson and CEO of Founders First Capital Partners. We are the largest private provider of funding for diverse-led main street businesses and the only national Black- and women-led, revenue-based capital platform. Founders First is my seventh venture. And my life has been an incredible journey of entrepreneurship. From mentee to mentor, I’ve been through 6 accelerators, launched 7 ventures, raised 4 rounds Series A funding and successfully exited 3 companies.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
It wasn’t so much that I had to pivot but I had to learn to be more resilient and determined while working in a very male-dominated field. I kept seeing my male counterparts getting opportunities handed to them while I struggled. That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands and launch my first business.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Founders First is my seventh business, or as I like to say, my last. And while I have raised $150 million in committed capital, the process of securing investors for Founders First in my mission was not a simple journey. I have a background as a tech entrepreneur and thought that the same people who funded my tech companies, such as angel investors or VCs, would be interested in what I was doing, given my success record. Instead, I had to find people, the right people, that had that, “do good and do well” as a mission. So, while a lot of people say, “Wow, you raised $150 million in committed capital.” They think that was an overnight experience. It was not. I worked hard and I hustled to make connections and meet the right investors and organizations that believe in what we’re doing at Founders First. It’s easier to make you and your business look appealing to investors when you’re doing something good, and you’re doing it well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://foundersfirstcapitalpartners.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/founders_first_capital/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/f1stcp/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimtfolsom/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/f1stcp
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCadqC8UNVFH0c_6NBdkE-hA