Recently rolling out spoke with Barbara Jones, the founder and CEO of Lillii RNB Inc., as part of our Tech Talk series.
Tell us about your background.
I’m a technical founder. I have a computer science degree from the University of Texas-Austin. I have been writing software, doing software engineering since 2004. We have software running in 4,000 plus stores throughout the U.S., Canada and Japan. We’re kind of subject matter experts in the space of retail technology.
Are there things in retail technology that you feel like are exciting, or coming down the pipe?
Where I think things are really going is crypto and digital currencies. As consumers, we will be able to buy things with digital currencies and not just with bitcoins! I believe that retailers are innovating their point-of-sales systems and will start taking these digital currencies in-store, online and in virtual reality. We’re going to be able to buy things in the metaverse. There are already virtual stores in the metaverse where you can buy things for your avatar and your virtual world.
Retail technology is so exciting because customers are so technically savvy nowadays, retailers must keep up.
Is there anything else that you would tell non-tech founders, and especially Black female founders, about starting their companies?
I like to tell non-tech founders that there are all kinds of non-coding solutions that are in the market where you can build your own MVP — minimum viable product. These no-code or low-code solutions may not have any of the back-end functionality, but it’s enough for them to start showing prospective customers, “This is what I’m in the process of building.” You can show it to software developers, which will help them so much. And non-tech founders can build the MVP without knowing how to code.
What other advice do you have for Black women who are out there getting prepared to raise funding for their companies?
I’ve learned three things through this whole process of raising funding. First, do not cast a wide net. What I mean by this is to be selective when you pitch your business. When I started fundraising, I pitched to everyone and got a ton of no’s. Last year, I only targeted a small, curated list of investors and was able to close two rounds of funding.
The second thing is, as Black Women founders, we must become educated about this process because what you don’t want to do is raise money and give away all your company with the first round. … You must be firm on your company’s valuation and have the traction to support it.
The third thing, investors are looking for how they are going to get a return on their money. Make sure you know how much money you’re going to need to get you to that next milestone that you want to hit. … Don’t raise too little, don’t raise too much. Raise what you need to get you to that next milestone.
