The NoDegree Podcast – No Degree Success Stories for Job Searching, Careers, and Entrepreneurship

E155 | How a Bus Washer That Slept in His Car Became a Venture Capital Success–Brandon Brooks

Episode Summary

Dive into Brandon Brooks' incredible journey from high school struggles to conquering the venture capital (VC) world.

Episode Notes

His first job was bagging groceries. Then, he earned $30/hr as a bus washer. Brandon Brooks lived in his car at the time. It was during this time he had the idea to create a a crowdfunding platform.

Find out how he achieved success in the venture capital world, secured a partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers and how his grit, hustle and determination helped him to broke into the VC world, all without a college degree. 

Timestamps:

• 02:02 Brandon Brooks: VC & Investor
• 2:47 how to succeed as a VC & salary expectations
• 5:19 Elementary school was great but he flunked in high school
• 06:22 Bagging groceries, washing buses and how those jobs helped him in his career
• 12:50 How he became the founder of the first black-owned crowdfunding platform
• 15:16 How the Pittsburgh Steelers partnered with his company
• 18:43 Challenges with starting a Venture Capital fund
• 23:18 What it was like to not have a college degree in the Venture Capital space
• 24:43 Advice for founders that don’t have a degree
• 27:35 How to stay motivated as an entrepreneur
• 28:10 Mistakes he made that you can learn from
• 30:53 Reflections: advice he’d give to his younger self
• 33:57 Mistakes founders make when talking to VCs
• 37:45 Future goals: Plans to help all entrepreneurs have access to all the tools they need

Support/Contact Brandon:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialBBrooks/
• Zinsu Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoZinsu 

Resources mentionded in this podcast:

• Resume course: https://bit.ly/podcastpca

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