Q&A with Rashaun Williams, Guest Shark, Atlanta Falcons Limited Partner, Venture Capitalist and Financial Literacy Advocate

1. How did you start your career at Goldman Sachs and what did you learn during your time here that helped you in the next phase(s) of your career?

I started at Goldman Sachs as a Summer Intern in 2000 in New York. After graduating from Morehouse College in 2001, I had multiple full-time offers in the city but it was important to me that I was based in Chicago so I could support my family and give back to my community. GS was the only firm that allowed me to work out of Chicago, which I am still grateful for to this day. I accepted a full-time offer to return as an Analyst in 2001 in Fixed Income Sales & Trading on the corporate bond sales desk. I am so thankful to my Chicago crew including Tracey Benford, Steve Schragel, Penny Suris, Kirk Baldwin, Jim Mangan and Doug Penick!

Having grown up in the south side of Chicago where my dad was a drug addict, my mom was on welfare, and four out of six of my best friends were killed by the time I graduated college, I suffered from a great deal of anxiety and depression. None of my colleagues or managers knew this about me as I pretended like everything was perfect just to try to fit in. It took me a while to open up and acclimate to the firm, but once I did, I started to feel more comfortable in my own skin and was able to strengthen my relationships with clients, thus increasing my performance. Working at GS greatly impacted my world view and professional development. I experienced culture shock at first, but I was thrown right in and found ways to add value from the beginning. I learned how to sell at GS, how to be technical and how to become #1 with clients.

In 2004, I was recruited to Wachovia and was offered a promotion from Analyst to Vice President. I ended up being the youngest VP at 23 years old. I took many learnings from GS with me, such as how to find relative value, my foundations for the financial market, underwriting and having "refrigerator relationships." The training program was amazing and the exposure to the best sales people, traders and bankers in the business really set the bar for me.

2. In 2001, you founded the Kemet Institute, a non-profit focused on providing free financial literacy, entrepreneurship and life skills classes to under-served communities and schools. How did you develop your passion for financial literacy and entrepreneurship?

As a young kid, I never understood why some people were fortunate and others were not. My childhood led me to a desire for a deeper understanding of money, and the pain of growing up without basic necessities fueled my passion to reach financial stability and teach financial literacy to others. The pain really fueled this passion I have today for financial literacy. Morehouse College also taught us that we were responsible for our community and those we left behind.

3. Fast forward to 2024, you were featured as a guest Shark on multiple episodes of ABC’s Shark Tank. Tell us about what inspired you to join and about your experience on the show.

I was an early investor in Coinbase, Robinhood, Dropbox and Lyft from my first early-stage VC fund when I left Wall Street. During the IPOs of those companies, CNBC would invite early investors to discuss what they saw in the company and what they expected to see while going public. The folks at Shark Tank saw one of my CNBC interviews and asked if I would be interested in speaking to the producers. I jumped at the opportunity because it gave me a platform to further pursue my investing activities while also teaching about entrepreneurship and investing to the masses.

I used a combination of lessons learned at GS and advice I heard from others during my experience on Shark Tank. While at GS, I learned “there is no such thing as bad deals, just bad prices,” which I used several times on the show and stuck with me throughout.

Tune in to see me on Shark Tank on March 21^st at 8pm EST! I was included in the season premiere which is still on Hulu as well.

4. As a venture capitalist, what has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned while successfully starting, investing in and exiting several companies?

A few of the top lessons I’ve learned are:

The top 20 VC firm makes 90+% of all the returns in venture capital, similar to how the top 20 investment banks probably make 90+% of all banking revenue in the country. So instead of competing, I became a liquidity provider to them given startups are staying private for longer while VC firms are still 10-year funds.
Silicon Valley top VC firms don't "pick" winners, they MAKE them! They offer so much capital, resources, relationships, engineers, strategy and guidance that if you don't get money from them, you are at a huge disadvantage.
Secondaries are the new IPOs. I have been able to successfully make 1-3x in 1-3 years in late stage, 4-6x in 4-6 years in growth stage, and 10+x in 10 years in early stage by understanding #1-2 as well as taking advantage of the secondary market to find liquidity when the IPO market or M&A dries up.

5. What drew you to the Atlanta Falcons? How did you decide to become a Limited Partner in the organization?

For the first 10 years of my career, I was focused on learning, building my balance sheet and relationships, and being a top advisor. For the next 10 years, my focus was on being an investor and making lots of small non-control investments in fast growing companies. This current 10-year sprint is all about ownership.

I have been buying HVAC, mechanical contractors, dirt hauling businesses and others, where I own 100% in my family office. And I have been focused on diversifying out of tech and public equities into non-correlated assets like sports teams. I was part of a group bidding for the Commanders but thankfully did not win as the Falcons became available and I live in Atlanta!

The Falcons is the largest franchise here, the NFL is the largest in the country and Arthur Blank is clearly the best owner in football! This endeavor has changed my life and my wife and kids absolutely love it. My 6-year-old is already plotting to take over my ownership when I pass away! One pleasant surprise is how much football unifies this city.