The money is always talking. We help you listen.

Finding funding can feel like searching for a secret club with no address󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄸󠅚󠇒󠇋󠅖󠇢󠄰󠇑󠅆󠇜󠅾󠅼󠆡󠅨󠅁󠆟󠅵󠆺󠇬󠆕󠆡󠆝󠄤󠅇󠄄︈︌󠆤󠇂︇󠄚󠄫️󠄐󠄯󠆪󠇄󠄽󠅍󠆶. We did the legwork, so you don't have to󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇑󠇢󠇂󠇚󠆯︌󠇫︋󠄴󠄐󠅄󠇨󠄷󠅦󠄬󠄮󠇪󠅑󠅝󠄠󠅁󠄓󠅲󠅭󠆹󠆦󠄈󠄋️󠄅󠇘󠅫󠄵󠇈︀󠆼󠇠󠄺󠅍󠆋. Here's who's writing checks, where they're based, and how to get in the room.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︌󠇌󠄲󠄦󠅤󠆱󠇫󠇭󠅢︌󠆧󠇫󠆫󠅲󠆿󠆤󠅣︌󠇎󠄸󠇇󠄢󠇙󠆦󠄪󠆀󠆐󠅖󠅠󠅐󠅶󠄮󠄪︁󠅸󠄧󠅧󠅁󠅻󠇉Born Inside Google

Black Angel Group— Started as an informal collective of Black Googlers and Alphabet employees who decided to pool their capital and put it behind seed to Series A startups worldwide󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇛󠅹󠇟󠇒󠅻󠄚󠅢︉󠄏󠆥󠅇󠇈󠆩󠄔󠇮󠆇󠆄󠇗󠆸󠇤󠄒󠄤󠄌󠅱󠄴󠅦︌︈󠆷󠄴󠆽󠄫󠆺󠇂󠅢󠆑󠄓󠅥󠄕󠅋. Now 50+ members strong with affiliates across the US and Europe, including senior leaders from Google Cloud and Gradient Ventures󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅝󠇄󠅵󠅵󠄑󠇐󠅯󠄞󠆢󠇅︃󠇄󠅕󠄶󠄧󠆯󠇦󠆐󠇭󠆋󠅬󠄈󠄿󠇥󠄥󠄢󠄗︈󠆸󠆠󠇍󠄹󠇌󠅡︅󠆖󠆄󠅂󠄰󠆀. About half their portfolio companies are led by underrepresented founders, not because it's the rule, just because diverse networks source diverse deals󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅝󠆿󠄀󠅭󠇅󠆭󠄢󠅝󠆖󠅿󠄨󠇙󠅜󠇏󠇖󠅏󠆞︀󠄅󠄃󠅝󠄁󠅌󠄡󠇖󠅗󠆸󠅓󠇗󠇓󠆅󠅕󠆫󠇖󠅠󠇟󠅝󠄲󠅎󠇎. The mission is simple: more Black capital, more Black investors in the ecosystem󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇕󠄴️󠅷󠄿󠅚󠆍󠇏󠅤󠄶󠆕󠄟󠇞󠇭󠆎󠅠󠅻󠄗󠆾󠇓󠆮󠅥󠅦󠆙󠄃󠅤󠄘󠄼󠆵󠄁󠇏󠅐󠆇󠆆󠄤󠇛󠄒󠅖󠇨󠆄. If you're building something ethical at the seed stage, this is one of the most valuable rooms you can get into.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅫󠄭󠇮󠇔󠅴󠅫󠅔󠅙󠇟󠅒󠆷󠅗󠄺󠄻󠄮󠄨󠄜󠄰󠅪󠅦󠆩󠅜󠄳󠅍󠄉󠆨󠅰󠆗󠄤󠄬󠅣󠆴󠅞󠅢󠄀󠆃󠄧󠅳󠄳󠅮Google for Startups Black Founders

I'm not a bankruptcy attorney, but a friend of mine is one at Kirkland & Ellis󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︃󠆝󠆂󠄫󠅇󠄐︂󠄉󠅶󠅛󠄴󠄊󠅴󠅵︄󠄦󠄚󠇏󠄚󠆘󠄍󠄑󠇛󠇎󠇇󠄜󠅹󠄠󠄪󠆱󠅏󠅪󠇒󠇡󠄄︀󠄚󠆄󠆊󠄚. So every time I think about catching up with him, I read a few bankruptcy cases to carry a conversation for our catch up󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆾󠅽󠅌󠅎󠅐󠅖󠅸󠅱󠅑󠆴󠇨󠇅󠅃󠇎󠆍󠄄󠄜󠆼︂󠄻󠆡󠆿󠆬󠆏󠅎󠅖󠆦󠇘󠆺󠅝󠅹󠄝󠅊󠆃󠆟󠄥󠄑️󠄂󠄬. One bankruptcy was really interesting this year󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︈󠄊󠆟󠄁󠅘󠆷󠆬󠇃󠅒󠅇󠆩󠅰󠆲󠅿󠄖󠅏󠄰󠇑󠄜󠄝󠅜󠄓󠇪󠅢󠄔󠆦󠅫󠄁󠆝󠇕󠄁󠅹󠄹󠅙󠄞󠇀󠅠󠆵󠆺󠆪 and I learned some stuff about it which I felt would be fun to share.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︎󠇮󠄛󠇀󠄆󠄽󠅙󠆽󠅭󠆒󠅞󠄛󠅕󠅊󠅬󠅛󠄌󠆁󠄃󠄱󠇎󠇌󠇛󠅠󠆥󠄬󠅠󠇏󠆘󠅕󠆅󠆖󠄬󠆀󠄑󠆬󠆋󠅉󠇥󠇎Food52 filed for bankruptcy󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆰󠄽󠅏󠅹󠄬󠆛󠄒󠇪󠇀︊󠅬󠇂󠅠󠆇󠇤️󠆀󠄖󠄯󠇢󠅁󠆦󠄥󠇯󠅮󠅏󠅺󠇁󠆪󠆦󠆇󠅭󠅣󠅵󠅧󠄍󠆭󠅧󠄜󠆼. The brand you probably know from those beautiful kitchen photos and the cookware you bookmarked but never bought󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅘󠆼󠆉󠄄󠆷︁󠅌󠄨󠄅󠇄󠆄󠄇󠄕󠅂󠄇󠅜󠅁󠇋󠄐󠆩󠄆󠅆󠇗󠆌󠅻󠆼󠅃󠅙󠅛󠅍󠄂󠆣󠅗󠄇󠄤󠅾󠅓︄󠅑󠆻. Yeah, them󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆰󠇕󠆡󠇅󠄑󠅻󠄷󠄸󠆖󠆯󠇮󠄾󠄷󠅣󠄣󠅯󠇋󠄖󠅇󠅒󠇣󠇓󠄔󠆐󠅟󠇡󠅝󠅃︄︌󠄬󠆵󠅲󠇅󠅴︈󠄌︂󠄀󠇝. They filed for Chapter 11 in January of this year and needed money to keep the lights on while they figured out their next move󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅕︌󠆅󠆎󠅧󠄂󠄒󠆑󠇡󠄺︋︆󠅪󠆖󠆜󠄌󠄡󠇐︆󠅞󠅂󠇖󠆠󠅑󠅖󠅨󠄘󠄎󠆁󠆽󠆍󠄛󠅲󠆂󠅜󠆍󠄚󠅃󠄅󠆽. That money is called DIP financing, and the way they structured this particular deal is what caught my eye.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆲󠆣󠅌󠆁󠆒󠆎󠇟󠇎󠅶󠄻󠅄󠆚󠆈󠄠󠇉󠆯󠇧󠇊󠅍󠅟󠆡󠅼󠄴󠆊󠄿󠆹󠄮󠅥󠇈󠅟󠄛󠆯󠄏󠄟󠆷󠅱󠄱󠇅󠆨︄Let's get into it󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄗󠅏󠅩󠄾︉︆󠅣󠄊󠇢󠆝󠅐︉󠆑︂󠅌󠆭󠄺󠅪󠆲󠄿󠄸󠆈︊󠆇󠇚󠄓󠆻󠅂󠅳󠄘󠄘󠆽󠆚󠆈󠇔󠄼󠄤󠄽󠅘󠄨. Here's this week's edition of The Dime💰.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆮󠇋󠆫󠄉󠇡󠅷󠅞︌︋󠆏󠇊󠆘󠄯󠇞󠆌󠆵󠆭󠄂︀󠅃󠅆󠄬󠅗󠇙󠄗󠅄󠅄󠄠󠄵󠆘󠄀󠆋󠅤󠆿󠆜󠆾󠄱󠅵󠄨󠇡First, What the Hell is DIP Financing?

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅟󠅬󠄕󠇩󠇠󠅷󠅣󠄸󠅅󠆐󠇀󠅥󠄛󠅐󠇀󠇙󠆡󠄤󠄩󠇩󠇢󠄧󠆨󠆻󠄙󠄣󠄘󠆧󠆮󠄟󠇌󠄷󠄘󠄆󠇎󠅍󠅜󠄼󠅺󠆺DIP

You don't work in tech. You don't know what a NAV loan is and you don't care. You're a teacher in Ohio, a nurse in Atlanta, a union electrician in Pittsburgh, a firefighter in Phoenix. You've been putting money into your pension every single paycheck for fifteen years and you're counting on it being there when you retire.

Here's what nobody told you.

That pension? Your state pension, your union retirement fund, your university endowment if you work in higher education, your 401k if you work in the private sector? It is almost certainly invested in private equity funds, venture capital funds, and private credit funds. And those funds have spent the last decade betting HEAVILY on software companies.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, CalPERS, the largest public pension in the United States with $502 billion in assets, allocates billions to private equity. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas

In August 2011, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen wrote an essay in the Wall Street Journal that became one of the most quoted pieces in the history of Silicon Valley. The title was simple: Why Software Is Eating the World. His argument was that software companies were going to take over enormous chunks of the global economy, and that every industry had better wake up or get eaten alive.

He was right. Amazon ate retail. Netflix ate video rental. Spotify ate the music store. Airbnb ate hotels. Uber ate the taxi industry. Software didn't just show up to the table, it ate everybody else's food, ordered dessert, and asked for the check.

For the next decade, the smartest money in the world bet heavily on software. Venture capital poured in. Private equity firms built entire strategies around it. Valuations went through the roof. A company that could show recurring subscription revenue,

What is TBPN ?

A creator-led media startup — a daily, three-hour live tech talk show hosted by entrepreneurs Jordi Hays and John Coogan. TBPN had 11 employees, 58,000 YouTube subscribers, and generated $5 million in ad revenue in 2025. They were on track to clear $30M in 2026. Put a nice media multiple on that ( around 2-4x) and you easily get to $100M+ acquisition price.

Who’s the audience?

The technology industry: Tech founders, VCs, executives, and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. It’s a hit there, so capital flows easily, because what the Valley may lack

The story of Hollywood isn’t art. That existed long before (and will long after) this current iteration is transformed. The story of the Hollywood we know, is about studios being bought and sold, and in between, producing things we watched. A lot of those buyers, we would be shocked at. For instance:

In the 1950s, a music label called Decca, purchased Universal Studios.

NBC later merged with Universal, and then Comcast took it—all to say: institutions trade studios like assets, because they are.

The battle for Warner Brothers is about much more than movies, but we don’t have to act like it the first time something like this has happened.

This analysis focuses on Paramount’s case to the Warner Bros. shareholders—and how a presentation, positioned well—while Netflix plays the parallel public game.

But to do that, you need a deck that tells people why

It is not every day that one of the most sophisticated financial innovations in the world comes out of a Caribbean island rather than a Manhattan skyscraper, but that is exactly what happened when Jamaica, through Dr. Nigel Clarke, built a catastrophe bond to insure itself against hurricanes. Instead of waiting for international relief, hoping for grants, or borrowing money when the roof is already blown off the economy, Jamaica pre funded its own disaster recovery. In simple terms, the country convinced global investors to take the financial hit if a major storm hits Jamaica, not Jamaican taxpayers. If the hurricane qualifies, Jamaica collects the cash immediately. If it does not, investors get their money back with interest. That is not charity, that is contract law and capital markets working as climate defense. It is finance as survival strategy. This week I get to tell you all about it. Here's this week's edition of The Dime💰.

If you’ve been following headlines, you’ve probably heard about the court filings involving Uncle Nearest, the whiskey company celebrated for honoring the legacy of Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly enslaved distiller who taught Jack Daniel. But beneath the headlines about culture, brand equity, and leadership, there is a much more technical and sobering lesson for founders: how the very credit agreements that fuel growth can also put your company’s fate in the hands of lenders. Here's this week's edition of The Dime💰.

This case is a real-world example of what happens when debt meets default, and why every founder should think twice before signing a loan agreement they do not fully understand. The past few days I've been reading both the complaint by the lender (Farm Credit Mid-America, PCA) and the response by Fawn Weaver. I have attached them below for download so please feel free to

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how artists are structuring their empires. Not just deals, not just IP rights, but actual legal entities. As more creatives start looking at themselves like founders, the question isn’t just how to get paid, it’s how to build something that scales, protects, and compounds. One way we’re seeing this play out? Holding companies.

Artists are increasingly launching clothing lines, alcohol brands, production studios, and tech ventures under a central legal entity they control. Think of it as an ArtistCo. One LLC or corporation at the top, with subsidiary businesses beneath it. This isn’t just savvy, it’s strategic, and there are serious legal implications worth understanding.

The Jay-Z Playbook: Roc Nation as ParentCo

Although Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is a subsidiary of Live Nation, it isn’t just a record label, it too is a holding company. Under

No film director in the history of modern film, has grossed more money at the box than Ryan Coogler on fewer than 4 movies ($2.4 billion to be precise). I start here, because what I am going to say next, is something I've been thinking about since Sinners came out.*

The deal he has is not new structure or idea. It is just being presented that way. And it irks me, because instead of actually saying what's possible, people would rather pontificate.

First though, let's hear from Mr. Coogler himself.