Meet Darrel Frater | Venture Capital Investor & 3x Startup Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Darrel Frater and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Darrel, is there something you believe many others might not?
Oftentimes, aspiring entrepreneurs are told that in order to start a business they have to take the “leap of faith” where they quit their job and go full-time on the business. I believe that this advice is often misleading and can be very detrimental to the success and livelihood of a founder if done prematurely.

When it comes to BIPOC founders, often times these founders do not have access to the startup capital needed to get their businesses off the ground and quitting a job to pursue a new business can expose that founder to a lot of unnecessary risk. I know this because I was one of those founders. Instead of working full-time on a startup immediately, I believe for founders that do not have access to adequate startup capital it may be more advantageous to build their company part-time while still working with another source of income until the business has made meaningful progress that will enable them to obtain the capital they need to go full-time.

Now as a full-time VC, I build my company on the side where I grow at my own pace and not feel the financial pressure of being a full-time bootstrapped founder. It has made the founder journey much more enjoyable and stressless.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The company that I have started is called TheClub. It is an interactive livestreaming platform designed to help people turn their passions into a career. We believe in a world where everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the way they earn a living. I am proud that we have inspired thousands of people to chase their dreams and equipped them with a tool to make it happen. Our app has build a strong community of DJs that are interested in making DJing their full-time source of income. To date we have over 3,000 DJs in our community. We’ve gotten here through a selfless pursuit to help others. When starting a business, it shouldn’t be about how much money you make. It should be all about how much value you provide to others; the money you make will be an abundant byproduct.

Building TheClub was not an easy task. As a black founder with no investor network, it was very difficult to obtain the resources I needed to get started. In order to develop the first version of my app I put tens of thousands of dollars on my personal credit cards in order to begin my journey with this business. I did this with the hope that my efforts would lead to attracting capital from investors along the way based on my company’s growth and traction. Unfortunately, I was not able to successfully land any investments from VCs. I learned that as an underrepresented founder, we are often overlooked by the traditional VC ecosystem and should rarely rely on those channels for investment when the survival of our businesses are at stake.

I would like founders all over the world to know that it is important to build your company on your own terms. Not all advice given to you will be relevant to the way that you will need to build your business. Be self aware of your unique needs as a founder and think about company building from the perspective of serving your customer in the most optimal way possible.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Although I am not from this city, I would highly recommend people to check out Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has an exciting emerging ecosystem for founders and innovators. There are so many startup founders that are moving to Tulsa to join in on the action. The engagement among these founders are absolutely amazing with the support of organizations like Build In Tulsa and Atento Capital of the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Some of my favorite locations are Notion Cafe, Gathering Place, and GolfSuites Tulsa.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Visible Hands VC. I joined Visible Hands as an investment associate in September of 2021. I was a full-time founder when I joined the team and transitioned to becoming a full-time investor in founders. Joining Visible Hands has been an impactful step within my career and I am very excited about the work we do to invest in diverse founders.

Visible Hands is a venture capital firm with a 14-week, virtual-first accelerator on a mission to highlight and invest in the limitless potential of overlooked founders. At the earliest stages of company-building, we provide meaningful funding (Up to $175K), personalized support, and social capital to help our founders build exceptional technology startups.

Website: https://VisibleHands.vc

Instagram: https://instagram.com/visiblehands

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/visiblehands

Twitter: https://twitter.com/visiblehandsvc