025: Raising Startup Capital on Twitter with Lolita Taub and Chrissy Cowdrey

In this special two-part episode of She Starts Up, I'm sharing a startup story and interviewing two women on opposite sides of the narrative, Chrissy Cowdrey and Lolita Taub.

More about Lolita

Lolita Taub is a first-generation Latinx operator and investor pushing for diversity in tech. She's acting Chief of Staff and interim head of sales at Catalyte; a scout at Indie.vc, Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, and an LP at Operators Collective and Portfolia's Enterprise Fund; and a mom to the cutest Dachshund mix.

More about Chrissy

Chrissy Cowdrey is CEO & Founder of Stagger. Chrissy's career has been rooted in leading creative teams through the human centered design process. She's designed digital experiences for startups and large companies ranging from Disney, USAA, Logitech and frog design. As an avid traveler and addicted to seeing the way other parts of the world works, she designed Stagger to solve a problem of visual storytelling for herself that has grown into a business focused on visual storytelling and brand building for businesses. When she's not working, she spends her time staying active and planning for her next travel adventure.

Listen for...

Part 1

• An announcement some exciting news: I've made my first investment in Stagger, an app for visual storytelling for your brand.
• The tweet from Lolita Taub that got me over 30 pitch decks for review, sparking the investment in Stagger.
• Lolita Taub's story and background, including how she became involved in the startup world.
• How working with an executive coach allowed Lolita to find her purpose and magic sauce: connecting people to resources to achieve goals and produce results for all.
• Lolita's involvement in the startup community and the projects she is currently working on, including an investor and startup matching tool.
• The importance of diversity in startups, teams, and investment. Lolita is helping to create a world where technology is led by the diversity of our population

Part 2

• What it was like for me, a former founder raising capital, being on the other side of fundraising as an investor.
• How Chrissy stumbled upon Janine's tweet expressing she was looking to invest and how the conversation continued from there.
• The story of how Chrissy came up with the idea for Stagger, and how she turned her idea into a widely-used app by influencers and small businesses.
• Chrissy's experience with fundraising and what it was like to raise money during COVID-19.
• The evolution of Stagger's product and ways it will help small businesses and businesses with storytelling and building their brand.
• Behind the scenes of Stagger, including user testing, building the product, and juggling fundraising and product management.

Listen Now on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play!

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Connect with Lolita Taub Online

Lolita's Twitter

Lolita's Newsletter

Schedule a Call with Lolita

Connect with Chrissy Cowdrey Online

Chrissy's Email

Chrissy's Twitter

Mentioned in this Episode

Startup Investor Matching

Raising During COVID - Virtual Demo Day

Startup Investment Consideration Form

Fundraise from Scratch Course (if you use the link + promo code TeamLolita, you'll get 10% off)

Arlan Hamilton's Book

Stagger.it