Venture capital firm Bullish eyes Aggieland
Texas A&M is the starting point for many young professionals who go on to excel in professional fields, with some even starting their own businesses after graduation. This Aggie excellence has caught the eye of Bullish, a venture capital firm stationed in New York City, who has been trying to tap into the entrepreneurial and investment opportunities in Texas.
Micheal Duda, a co-founder of Bullish, and Amanda Zhao, an investment analyst, sat down to discuss the company’s plans to visit Aggieland and the office hour event they will be hosting on April 22 at the Memorial Student Center between 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Duda explained how Bullish wants to reach people beyond the traditional sphere of financial influence.
“While we celebrate the Stanfords, the Bay Areas, the Ivy Leagues, we’re wanting to spend more time in other cities and college towns,” Duda said. “It’s the areas that maybe aren’t written in early-stage publications but have entrepreneurs that can prove something in College Station just as much as they can prove something in New York City.”
Part of the reason A&M is such an important place to visit was because of the plethora of student organizations that cater to students’ interest in business, entrepreneurship and investment, Duda said. There is clear interest from young professionals who want to take a leap and get real-world experience while pursuing their education, and Bullish wants to give Aggies that opportunity.
“We’ve seen more entrepreneurial clubs pop up and venture capital clubs pop up,” Duda said. “A lot of them are thirsting for more real-world stuff — there’s only so much data you can pull, but people want to listen … We’ve already talked with the entrepreneurial group, and they’re really about food and markets. That’s normal … and represents small businesses in America.”
Duda noted the popular Aggie student business Runner’s High Cookies, which offers fresh cookies and fast deliveries to the Bryan-College Station area, emphasizing the importance of innovation and business know-how even with a small and simple operation.
“What they [entrepreneurs] don’t realize is that even if you’re doing a business that’s been done before, there’s more people watching than you might think,” Duda said. “Not everyone is going to be paving the way, but there still needs to be activity — people replanting the seeds, so to speak.”
Offering office hours has become an essential part of reaching out to other communities, and is also a way for the company to connect back to its roots, according to Duda.
“We’ve done office hours going way back,” Duda said. “I started Bullish after doing a ten-minute office hour in a dive bar with First Run Capital … just 10 minutes with someone who’s in the business that I got advice from and it gave me the confidence to just do it.”
Bullish has been testing out their office hours service at a variety of different locations on a multitude of topics, hoping to reach aspiring business owners and give them advice and guidance in a low-stakes setting. This allows those aspiring entrepreneurs to grow their confidence, receive validation and guidance and have a setting where they don’t feel they have to pitch their idea “Shark Tank” style.
“Venture capitals get a bad rep for being very transactional,” Zhao said. “Even if you got into a coffee chat call, you feel the need to prove yourself … Office hours is really the opposite of that. We really want to be here for a brainstorm and be helpful in any possible way … This is a way to get founders to put their shield down and really just share their ideas and hear our ideas.”
Duda said starting and maintaining a business is hard and that failures are going to be a big part of the learning process. He emphasized that no one ever sees the amount of hardship start-ups have to go through before they see an ounce of success and profitability.
“A lot of the best start-ups succeed because the founder was naive enough to not know what they couldn’t accomplish,” Duda said. “When you find great entrepreneurs from all over the country, they’ve identified a problem, they’re smarter than us, they’ve done all the work, they’re passionate, but paranoid as to why they could fail.”
Zhao sympathizes with the struggles of business owners and entrepreneurs and understands that venture capital firms often have the easiest role when it comes to fostering success for a business. She shared some advice for any business owner or entrepreneur trying to get their idea off the ground.
“You can’t be in it just for the job because it’s not a job, it’s a mission,” Zhao said. “That idea and purpose is the energy that gets you out of bed every day. … You have to ask, does this idea give you so much energy that you can see yourself working on it 24/7 for the next couple years or more?”
Duda compared the relationship between Bullish and the founders they work with to a marriage — there’s got to be transparency between the good and the bad. Rejection is an essential and humbling part of the process, but Duda said success is possible even without investment from a firm like Bullish.
“Not everyone gets venture capital funding and not everyone needs venture capital funding,” Duda said. “Less than 1% of all startup businesses in the U.S. get venture capital funding. … We still keep in touch with businesses we didn’t invest in. We looked at 2,200 businesses last year and made new deals with three. … We’re still rooting for entrepreneurs, and nothing will make me happier than proving me wrong.”
As a young professional, Zhao wanted to let Aggies know what it’s like to work with a company like Bullish and their unconventional work culture that can break down the hierarchical barriers typically found in the business world.
“We’re a small team, so the hierarchy is quite flat,” Zhao said. “Bullish encouraged me from day one to shake off the ‘cog in the machine’ type of role and have a voice with conviction. … It’s a privilege way beyond my years, so being able to flex that muscle while being woven into the business and franchise of Bullish is truly so special.”