![]() As a founder you have to have this almost relentless obsession with solving a specific problem, so if they have a personal background in what they’re pitching, or know the market better than the investors, that’s a big opportunity for me. I look for three things: team, TAM and traction. What are some things you look for when evaluating a company you might want to invest in? When founders take money from me, they’re getting valuable advice from someone they might not hear from otherwise. We were in a low-interest rate environment and companies started thinking more about who they should be taking money from. In the past four years there was such a huge influx of investors thanks to things like the subreddit group wallstreetbets and apps like Robinhood that were removing trading fees. I noticed there was a mismatch between the folks that were deploying capital and the folks building startups. What was the impetus for founding Spice Capital? When founders take money from me, they’re getting valuable advice from someone they might not hear from otherwise Maya Bakhai Today, Spice has a large focus on the creator economy, so while I did not fulfill my childhood dreams of becoming a pop star, I’m doing the next best thing by supporting businesses that look to improve the lives of independent creators. Ultimately, after being exposed to great professors and clubs at Stern School of Business, I decided to pursue a degree in finance and data science. ![]() But my first-generation south Asian immigrant parents would only support me if I got a business degree, so we compromised and I studied music business. I originally wanted to go to NYU so I could be in New York City and pursue a music career. When I was child, I dreamed of being a pop star. How did you first become interested in finance? No matter the amount, I want you in my community,” she said. “If you’re a dude you can pay $250,000, but if you’re from an underrepresented group, you can invest $5, $1,000 or $10,000. While most venture capital firms require a minimum buy-in of $250,000, Bakhai has erased the minimum financial barrier to entry for women and people of color. Part of her mission is bringing an entirely new generation of investors into the fold. She also oversees the Spice Jar, a group chat on the Telegram platform where founders on the Spice roster can connect and bounce ideas off one another. Her newsletter, Hot Sauce, is a compendium of blogs, tweets and podcasts for fellow tech and crypto obsessives. “The only way to break the culture of finance, tech and venture capital being this boys club is to have women and people of color in positions of power,” she said.Ĭreating a sense of community in the dog-eat-dog world of venture capital is part of Bakhai’s mission. Since founding her firm, which operates out of her Brooklyn apartment, she has infused some 40 businesses with anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000 in capital, from a web3 chess platform to a carbon credit company that uses blockchain. I just have the hustle mentality Maya Bakhai I just have the hustle mentality.” I don’t have this traditional résumé. “I didn’t work at JP Morgan or any of those big banks,” said Bakhai, who grew up in an Indian household in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her first investment, a bet she placed as an undergraduate on the footwear brand Crocs, has since ballooned over 350%. “In past jobs, whenever a company’s branding or messaging or team diversity was bland, I would always say, ‘We need to add some spice to that,’” said Bakhai, whose CV includes stints at the accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thirty Five Ventures, the venture capital firm co-owned by the basketball star Kevin Durant.īakhai taps into her perspective as a young person of color to identify companies that more traditional firms might pass over. According to recent data, companies founded by women receive less than 3% of all venture capital investments, and women make up less than 15% of investors. ![]() Maya Bakhai, 28, founded her company in October 2021 with the goal of adding some seasoning to the predominantly white, male, fleece-vest-clad field of venture capital. ![]()
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