Renae Merle ’12
My Experience
During my fellowship, I worked for Jalia Ventures, a small venture capital firm that makes investments in minority-owned companies with a social mission. Jalia is supported by Josh Mailman and Serious Change LP. I completed several projects during my fellowship. My primary obligation was to conduct due diligence on business plans submitted by entrepreneurs seeking funding. When business plans or pitch decks were submitted, Jalia’s chief of investments, Kesha Cash, would assign them to one of three interns. We would review the materials submitted, interview the entrepreneur and then make a recommendation to the team on whether to pursue the investment. I was looking for signs that the company was a good investment fit for Jalia, having met all of the mission criteria as well as having a strong business model.
During my fellowship, I also helped revamp the Jalia’s website, organizing and collecting materials and hiring a web developer. I also completed a consulting project during my fellowship for a group of economists who wanted to study the options for a for-profit business model that would support the distribution of their material.
All of these projects were key to Jalia’s mission to increase the pipeline of minority-owned companies receiving venture financing
During my fellowship, I often called upon skillsets I honed during my time at Columbia Business School. For example, reviewing business plans required me to think strategically about the business model being used by the entrepreneur, to assess the competitiveness of the marketplace they were entering and to truth-squat revenue projections submitted. I had to make clear arguments for my investment recommendations during team meetings and network after hours to build connections with others in the industry. These were all skills I developed at CBS through my strategy, corporate finance and accounting classes. When helping with the revamp of Jalia’s website, I referenced my marketing classes to ensure the site would project the right message.
I faced several challenges during my fellowship. The amount of networking required was surprising and challenging for me. Initially, I felt uncomfortable forcing my way into conversations or touting my job and Jalia’s mission to strangers. By putting myself into those situations, I learned a lot about the importance of networking and building connections. By the end of the fellowship, the process was second nature and I began to look forward to it. It was often the most interesting part of the several talks I attended and helped build my confidence.
I had to quickly learn the impact investing space – its players, language and norms. Despite taking several classes focused on the topic, I quickly realized that the depth and size of the industry was much deeper and larger than I understood. I set up Google alerts on the names of key players mentioned in meetings and sought out industry news daily. That helped me frame my conversations inside the office and during networking sessions.
I also learned a lot about how I was perceived outside of journalism circles. In many cases, I felt like the norms of the journalism world were perceived as unnatural quirks in business circles. I, for example, am naturally reluctant to render an opinion on a topic, particularly in public and without deep research. What is more natural for me is to analyze a topic, weigh pros and cons and lay out both sides of argument. That type of process, evidently, is unbearable in the business world and not well respected. I am also a natural listener, not prognosticator and it was a feature in my personality that I had to be conscious of and adapt during this fellowship.
I have several takeaways from my fellowship. One of my chief takeaways was the importance of organizations like Jalia Ventures. One of the best parts of my job was talking with entrepreneurs. They had an infectious enthusiasm for their (sometimes) kooky ideas that was hard to resist. I talked to so many people dedicated to their ideas and who were risking it all to see them to fruition that it inspired to begin thinking entrepreneurially myself. But without organizations like Jalia, many entrepreneurs of color would not have the opportunity to pursue their passions.
