Page 89 - Forbes - USA (December 2019)

F O R B E S B R A N D V O I C E W I T H I W C S C H A F F H A U S E N | PA I D P R O G R A M

businesses owned by people of color and women,
who receive as little as 3% of VC funding.

THE MOMENT OF INSPIRATION

Bryant left his Wall Street job but started sharing
small-scale investment ideas with friends, including 87
his future Harlem Capital cofounders, who began
ÕÃÌ } Ì }iÌ iÀ vÕ `ð º >ÀÀ ` Q/ } iR } iÃ] ¼ T

have all these really cool opportunities. Do you H
E
>Ûi f£ä]äää Ì «ÕÌ Ì Ü>À`à ̶½ i À Q* iÀÀi CHEF JON YAO GOES
M
>VμÕiÃR ÌiÝÌi` i] Ã>Þ }] ¼ Þ Õ >Ûi f£ä]ää䶽 O
We had $50,000 in 30 minutes.” Then one day in FROM LUNCHBOXES M
E
2015, over dinner in a cramped Harlem apartment, N
T
Bryant, Tingle, Pierre-Jacques and John Henry—who
completes the Harlem Capital quartet—realized that TO A MICHELIN STAR
Ì iÞ ÜiÀi iÃÃi Ì > Þ ÀÕ } > Ã > wÀ ° º7i½`
been building an airplane in midair,” Bryant says.
/ i ÃÌ>vv v v ÕÀ Ü>Ã > Ài>`Þ yÞ }] LÕÌ Ì iÞ ii`i`
a mission.

efore opening Kato, the trendy Taiwanese
THE MOMENT OF CHALLENGE restaurant celebrated by food critics and

BLA hipsters alike, Jon Yao almost quit the
As Bryant and his cofounders searched for
kitchen. Having run out of money while interning
entrepreneurs to invest in, they found that the buzz
for several chefs, he moved back in with his parents
was most often surrounding the same type of faces.
and agreed to lend a hand with their startup idea:
It occurred to them just how little venture capital
a lunchbox service for university students in Los
goes to people of color and women and set a goal
Angeles. Within three years, Yao helped them
of investing in 1,000 diverse founders. While this
launch the business, quickly transformed it into a
new MO for Harlem Capital Partners was inspiring
chic restaurant and earned the greatest accolade in
to its founders, it wasn’t especially motivating for
modern cooking: a Michelin star. The way he tells
the investors they approached. By Bryant’s estimate,
it, he failed very far upward.
they’ve heard the word “no” hundreds of times.

THE MOMENT OF SUCCESS THE MOMENT OF INSPIRATION

And of course, occasionally, there are yeses. One of Yao’s parents had spotted what they believed to
Ì i >À}iÃÌ «À Û>Ìi iμÕ ÌÞ wÀ Ã } L> Þ Ü >Ã > be a need in LA: grab-and-go meals for students.
minority stake in Harlem Capital and invested in its “They thought it would be easy,” Yao says, but
wÀÃÌ « i` vÕ `] Ü V Ãii
Ã Ì À> Ãi fÓx ° vÀ «>V
>} } ÛiÀy Ü Ì > Ì Ã > v>V ÌÞ] Ì i
Harlem has invested in startups like animal care concept wasn’t working. What was working was Yao’s
service Wagmo (founded by a woman); menstrual latest hobby: hosting friends for elaborate dinners at
supply company Aunt Flow (founded by a woman); his house. The meals impressed his parents’ business
and gig economy marketplace Jobble (founded by «>ÀÌ iÀð º/ iÞ ÜiÀi
i] ¼ v ̽à à >À` Ì À}> âi
a black man). And Bryant will continue to seek out lunchboxes, why don’t you do what you were doing

people who believe in his work, he says, returning to Ü Ì Þ ÕÀ vÀ i `ö½» / iÞ μÕ V
Þ « Û Ìi` Ì ÃiÀÛ }
Ì i iÌ>« À v yÞ }° º ̽Ã
>Þ v Þ Õ ` ½Ì Ü> Ì Ì Ì Ãi w iÀ i> ð Ü] >Ì ÃiÀÛià > `> Þ V > } }
be along for this ride. But we’re going to Mars, and 10-course tasting menu for $118. The cheap facility
then we’re going to Venus and then we’re hitting they rented became the restaurant’s sleek 27-seat
Pluto. So, see you there!” dining room, and Yao’s role changed from “son
helping out” to head chef.

D E C E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 9 F O R B E S . C O M