Founder Friday: Juneteenth Special - "How much do you need?" the question that changed everything

This Juneteenth, I've been thinking about what the freedom and opportunity to build actually look like in practice.

Sometimes it looks like someone believing in your vision before there's much evidence that they should.

Today also happens to be the birthday of someone who did exactly that for me: Jewel Burks Solomon. 🎂

Before she was an investor, Jewel built a technology company called Partpic and sold it to Amazon in 2016. After the acquisition, she immediately began using both the proceeds from the sale and her time to support other founders through angel investing and mentorship.

I was one of those founders.

Here's the moment I'll never forget.

Back in 2018, Jewel was holding morning meetings with entrepreneurs over breakfast at The Gathering Spot. At the time, Hairbrella had generated only about $20,000 in sales over the course of an entire year.

I believed deeply in what I was building, but I had reached a very real crossroads: we had sold through much of our inventory, and I did not have the money to produce more.

Over breakfast, I was updating Jewel on the business and trying to figure out how I could possibly fund the next production run.

She asked me, “How much do you need?”

I told her it would be about $30,000.

She stopped me and said, “I’ll send it to you today.”

Even writing this now makes me emotional.

It was the largest check I had ever received for anything. But even more than the money, it was a vote of confidence at a moment when I had very few options left for moving Hairbrella forward.

Her conviction gave me the conviction to keep going.

And then she did it again — at a whole new level.

Two years later, Jewel expanded her personal mission into Collab Capital, a venture firm created to fund innovative founders and build shared prosperity. And in 2020, Collab invested $500,000 in Hairbrella — making us the very first venture investment in the Collab portfolio.

That is what investing in Black businesses can do.

It is not simply a transaction. It can keep an idea alive. It can create jobs, build wealth, unlock innovation, and change the trajectory of an entrepreneur's life.

At the Collab Capital retreat, I received the CEO of the Year Award — and Hairbrella was officially inducted into the $10M Club, for crossing eight figures in a single year.

From "I'm almost out of money" in 2018… to that stage.

None of it happens without that $30,000 yes.

Which is why this Juneteenth feels so personal.

Jewel's example is the one I'm trying to follow. Back in early 2018 — when Hairbrella had done about $20K in sales and I had no idea if any of this would work — I wrote down the goal that still drives me: the goal was never to become a millionaire. It's to be the reason 10+ other founders become millionaires — to take one yes and turn it into a door for someone else, the way Jewel did for me.

"When we ask this community what Hairbrella means to you, one answer comes up again and again, right alongside the quality: that we're a Black-owned, woman-owned business, and that supporting us matters to you. I don't take that lightly."

Here's to freedom, ownership, and betting boldly on one another.

This weekend, as a thank-you to this community, take 25% off with code Juneteenth25.

P.S. Happy birthday, Jewel. Thank you for the question, the same-day yes, and every day since. I can't wait to be a "Jewel" to the next founder. 🤍