Mohamed: I’m happy to be here, Spiffy. We, through the organization, are solving the significant funding gap for early-stage startups in Africa.
Patrick: It’s a pleasure to be here, Spiffy—thanks for having me! Did you know that LGBTQ+ founders are often overlooked and underfunded? They face an increasingly uphill battle to succeed in the competitive startup ecosystem. Stories of getting kicked out of families and friend groups simply for being a member of the queer community are commonplace. With these hardships, however, tenacity, drive, and a disruptive mindset are inherently planted and fostered. Chasing Rainbows aims to tap into this underlying resiliency in the LGBTQ+ founder community. We provide capital to companies that cannot rely on “friends and family” due to hatred or bigotry. Via our founder playbook and mentor-driven approach to portfolio management, we also provide support and guidance to these founders to get them to the next tier of funding.
Sonal: Thank you so much for having me, Spiffy! The American Heart Association mission is to advance education and access for all to ensure everyone lives a healthy life. Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer, while stroke is in second place? We are striving to change this by providing the resources for education, research, and knowledge to have a global impact in all. The goal is simple yet lofty—to have all live a healthy lifestyle for good heart health, which includes education of the need for healthy eating, exercise, finding solutions to limit tobacco at congress level, education on the value of good sleep, healthy living, checking your blood work, and knowing the disastrous impact when any of these activities are imbalanced.
