The RAISE Editorial team recently interviewed Lolita Taub, co-founder of The GP-LP Matching Tool, which is now partnered with RAISE Global to award eleven (11) fellowships to underestimated emerging managers. Lolita is the VP of Corporate Development at Catalyte and Co-Founder and General Partner of The Community Fund.

RAISE: Tell us about the RAISE GP Fellowship? 
Lolita: When Ben Black and I were brainstorming how we might join forces to support more diverse emerging fund managers, we came up with the idea of a RAISE Global Fellowship program. We have since awarded 11 invitations to up-and-coming managers leveraging our GP-LP Matching Tool. These firms have registered at no cost and are publishing their profiles into the RAISE LP Portal as RAISE Global Fellows, and they will be part of the 2021 RAISE Global Summit community. Fellows include:

• Amy Lameyer at WXR
• Siya Raj Purohit at Pathway Ventures
• Rachel ten Brink at Red Bike Capital
• Monik Pham at Soho Ventures
• Salone Sehgal at Lumikai
• Mac Conwell at RareBreed Ventures
• Andrea Paz Araneda Gutiérrez at Fen Ventures
• Leslie Feinzaig at Female Founders Alliance
• William A. Mejia Ramos at Arrebol Capital
• Check Warner at Ada Ventures
• Monica Saggioro Leal at Maya Capital

This program has resonated with many RAISE Global stakeholders and has been extended through other partnerships, such as All Raise.

RAISE: What is the Community Fund? 
Lolita: We believe that future unicorns will be community-driven. We back them. The Community Fund is a $5M institutionally-backed seed-stage venture fund on a mission to deliver outsized returns by investing in community-driven founders through our group of operator-investor partners. And, while we’re at it, we’re changing the narrative of who VCs are, who we invest in, and how companies become unicorns. ‍

RAISE: What is the founding story of Catalyte? 
Lolita: In 2000, Catalyte’s founder Michael Rosenbaum was a Harvard economics and law fellow. As an advisor to the Clinton White House, he advocated that underserved urban populations contain just as many people with talent to succeed in software development as any other place. But, unfortunately, they are just overlooked by a system that values pedigree over innate ability. To prove his point, Michael founded Catalyte, using machine learning to objectively discover and train candidates who have the potential to become great software engineers.‍

RAISE: What is your journey in venture capital? 
Lolita: This is a long story that I’ve documented in my post, From the Hood to Launching a Fund. The TL;DR: I got here thanks to community and persistence in being seen and creating value. The journey is tough, but so worth it when you know you were made for this industry and are in it for the long haul. 

‍RAISE: Outside of VC and Catalyte, what do you do with your time? 
Lolita: I do a few things including: 

• Work to close the tech talent gap and produce a sustainable, diverse technology workforce at Catalyte. 
• Serve my community of underestimated founders, funders, and friends, including co-leading the GP-LP Matching Tool and the Startup-Investor Matching Tool to address the social capital gap between underestimated founders and GPs with investors and LPs. 
• Create content on Lu.ma, Gumroad, and Twitter‍
• Spend time with my family and thinking of ways to live life fully. My latest idea includes becoming a nomad for a year in LATAM - to explore: the world, my indigenous roots, the emerging LATAM market, and to invest in future unicorns.

Interested in presenting or attending the RAISE Global Summit? Request an invitation here.

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Disclaimer

The Tipping Point Series (“Tipping Point”) is a collection of interviews with fund managers who (a) have previously raised a venture capital fund and (b) are providing advice and insights into the formation and management of venture capital funds (the “Presentations”).  Tipping Point is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security issued by any venture capital fund, including without limitation, any venture capital fund managed by Tipping Point’s speakers, presenters, or producers. 

The Presentations do not (a) provide investment advice with respect to any security or (b) make any claim as to the past, current, or future performance of any security or venture capital fund, and Tipping Point expressly disclaims the use of the Presentations for such purposes.  The Presentations are not intended to constitute legal, tax, accounting, or other advice or an investment recommendation. Prospective fund managers should consult their own advisors about such matters with regard to their venture capital funds.  Raising a venture capital fund involves significant risk of loss of income and capital, including loss of the full amount raised and invested, which may occur as a result of identified or unidentified risks.

Tipping Point is produced by Raise Conferences, LLC (“Raise”).  Raise is a private invite-only venture capital conference, which provides a forum for venture capital funds to network with and present to potential venture capital investors.  Although Raise produces Tipping Point, the Presentations are independent of Raise’s conference and do not provide any forum for the Tipping Point speakers, presenters, or producers to solicit the sale of any securities. 

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