Brandon Mitchell has bootstrapped his way into building a solid base for his business ventures. He is the CEO and co-founder of WriteSea and has already raised over $2 million to support the vision.
WriteSea is an AI-powered tool that helps people on the job hunt and who’ve been hired to thrive in their careers. After pitching at the Black Venture Summit in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mitchell spoke to rolling out about his journey in entrepreneurship.
When did you know that you wanted to become the founder of WriteSea?
For me, I’m a serial entrepreneur. I started a few companies before WriteSea, so I’ve always been someone who has dreamed about generational wealth, becoming a millionaire — if not a billionaire.
Innately, I think WriteSea was just the next logical step. Before Writesea, I started a company called BrandResumes, an executive résumé writing business back in 2019, and I scaled that business up. It was very successful. … I was already helping job seekers — which is what WriteSea does as a software — but on a bigger scale.
Then after that — and in between that — I started a trucking company, a cybersecurity boot camp and a clothing brand. I was always someone who was focused on becoming an entrepreneur, and I think WriteSea was one of those businesses that … just made a lot of sense, based on my background. After we raised a few million dollars, we’re going to be able to achieve the goals that I set out to do.
Why is it important to start a business that not only solves a problem but you’re passionate about?
It’s key because I wanted to be a software founder. I wanted to be the next Elon Musk or Steve Jobs.
When I started to look at how they did that, they raised venture capital funding, which is a certain asset class for the one percenters or the people who can achieve big levels.
I said, “Well, if they could do it, I could do it, too. I’m college-educated; I’m just as smart and just as hungry.”
So we went out to raise venture capital funding, and only 1 percent of VC funding goes to Black founders, especially Black tech founders. … Through the grace of God, we were able to do that. We raised 2.5 million dollars as a pre-seed round in 2022, and right now we’re raising $3 million.
Venture capital, for me, was a life changer. You get access to really premium networks of quality people, and you get access to the people who are funding the next generation of companies that everybody loves to use …
Once I realized LinkedIn is the biggest network for professionals, I started reaching out to everyone who had “investor” in their title and “HR tech.” I’m not going to lie: if you reach out to 100 people, only one is going to respond. But, with that tenacity to not stop, I eventually broke through …
I know I screwed up the first few introduction calls with VCs, but I always ask questions at the end like if they knew another investor who would be a better fit. Then, I just got better with repetition. With anything in life, if you keep doing it, you’ll get better at it — and that’s how I was able to raise that money.
It’s insane how you hear that same one in 100 method for dating or asking questions at the end of job interviews. Meanwhile, you’re using those same methods — with a different network — and it’s a million-dollar difference.
As a culture, we have to do a little bit better.
I think the conversation needs to change from who slept with who and who’s on tour to how are we coming together for group economics. What businesses are you looking at? What stocks are you following? More financial literacy.
I think it starts at the dinner table when you’re growing up. Finances weren’t a big topic for me, but sports were.
