Michael Davis with Olive Tree Ridge

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: [00:00:15] Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast. Founding partner with Olive Tree Ridge, Mr. Mike Davis. Good afternoon, sir.

Mike Davis: [00:00:35] Good afternoon, Stone.

Stone Payton: [00:00:37] So I have a lot of questions. I suspect we won’t get to them all, but I think maybe a really good place to start would be if you could articulate for me and our listeners mission purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks? Mike?

Mike Davis: [00:00:55] Yeah, that’s a great place to start. We are out there, I would say, almost myopically focused on making sure that women and immigrant founders are able to access capital markets, right? Yeah, it’s just really unfortunate the amount of systemic barriers that prevent high caliber women and high caliber immigrants who are running amazing businesses from accessing equity capital, debt, capital or related instruments. It’s quite obfuscated. It’s a very sort of murky industry that very few people understand.

Stone Payton: [00:01:39] So when you say systemic, that suggests to me and I’m a middle aged white guy who’s made a little money, okay, but but, but it suggests to me that this the challenges here are well beyond just, you know, like a simple racist kind of thing. It’s more complicated than that, isn’t it?

Mike Davis: [00:01:59] That’s absolutely right. By no means is this a commentary about racism. This is a commentary about sort of asymmetry of information, access to information and sort. So how do you tilt the scales in favor of these incredible entrepreneurs and again, doing so systemically, meaning repeatedly making sure that that you are that we here at Otter, that what we’re doing here is more teaching and guiding along with the traditional services of investment banking, asset management, etc..

Stone Payton: [00:02:41] So how did you get on this path?

Mike Davis: [00:02:45] It’s a long journey, but I think it starts with that. I myself am an immigrant, right? I mean, you cannot tell by my name Mike Davis, but I’m 100% Persian. My parents immigrated to this country just like millions of others after the Iranian revolution. And and it was tough. It was brutal. It’s especially pronounced when you’re in a new country, new language and new environment, really. And I guess real definition of success. Right? It eluded me for the longest time, Right. I mean, the kind of pillars are there, right? The foundational understanding is there. You need to get a good education. You need to be hardworking. You need to be out there and kind of toiling, sharpening your spear, if you will. But how? And the means by which making that journey sort of easier, less onerous, or even having something as simple as a mentor or guideposts along the journey would would have been hugely beneficial. So so that’s what I’m doing, right? I started the company in 2019 after, I don’t know, 13, 14 businesses of my own, having started 13 to 14 businesses of my own and realizing, you know, it’s time for me to sort of give back. And, you know, my my fortunes are not quite made yet, but how do I do so? By upskilling and sort of illuminating the way for others so that they can continue doing the good work that they are doing.

Stone Payton: [00:04:33] So as you were kind of describing your back story, I was trying to to kind of get in the other person’s shoes a little bit. And I was trying to envision myself, even with my experience base, trying to go to Persia and access capital. I mean, just even just that one thing alone, like I would be right. So there’s there’s some culture geographical. There’s, there’s, there are a lot of what you call them systemic barriers, aren’t there.

Mike Davis: [00:05:02] That’s right. That’s right. I mean if you if you take just that example alone, right. You you know, step one in that process is getting to Iran. Right? Right. Where are you going to go? Right. Is it Isfahan? Is it Tehran? Is it Shiraz? Is it is it a regional city? And then who do you who do you talk to? What’s the what’s how are meetings conducted? Right. Like very basic questions that a lot of folks who are native to America and have mentors and and. Again, guideposts that they can follow along their journey. Take for granted, really, or assume as a ever present prerequisite.

Stone Payton: [00:05:47] So it’s one thing for someone like you to have the the drive, the passion, the ethos, the mindset, the sense of purpose to to go down this path and serve these constituencies. I, I would think it’s quite another to recruit, develop, train and continue to sustain a culture that lives into the to the values that you want them to live into and engages in the operational disciplines the way you want them to. Can you speak a little bit to to that side of the business? Because it’s got to go beyond? Mike I’m sure.

Mike Davis: [00:06:26] Yeah. The good news is that I have some really smart friends and I’ve met some very dedicated folks along the way to help me achieve this at scale. But the sort of early days, you know, it was as it was as simple or as basic as, are you female? Are you an immigrant? If yes, the conversation can continue. Like this very basic flowchart that then over time becomes more nuanced. Are you coachable? Is the business that you’re building something that would benefit society? What are your capital needs such that, like bootstrapping does not make as much sense as taking on outside capital? These are the types of considerations that get built over time. But the other thing that happens over time is so the ecosystem or let’s say the network is almost self selecting, right? Like great entrepreneurs know great entrepreneurs, great female entrepreneurs, no other great female entrepreneurs. So, you know, it makes part of my job easy and that I don’t spend as much time as one would imagine you would need to on business development, sales, etc. It’s more around vetting and making sure that that quality bar remains high.

Stone Payton: [00:07:54] And then the people around you who are on your on your team, you’ve got to you’ve got to you’ve got to recruit and develop there. You’ve got to pay some special attention there, too, don’t you?

Mike Davis: [00:08:07] Yeah, that’s right. Absolutely right. And and, you know, one of the things that I talk about with operators, but also try to sort of take those lessons in myself is find analogous business models, find analogous systems, networks that are doing what it is that you hope to do. And I was really fortunate to get my MBA at a school called INSEAD. It’s it’s a business school located in France and in Singapore. And they’re one of the most interesting things about INSEAD is that, you know, just like a lot of their peers, top tier schools in the world, they they promote about 1000 students a year, 500 per promotion. But they make sure that no more than 10% of the class is any one nationality. And so, wow, that is that is really interesting, right? That what is that experience like? And fortunately, I had the ability to attend and graduate and I see now the benefit of that diverse thinking, that global mindset and really gives me a model to to use when building Olive Tree Ridge and expanding it.

Stone Payton: [00:09:28] So now that you’ve been engaged in this pursuit for a while, what are you what are you enjoying the most and what’s the most rewarding about the work?

Mike Davis: [00:09:39] I guess I love my clients, right? It’s it’s it’s quite comforting to know that I have built a business serving the folks that I want to be like. It’s quite interesting to have a service mentality. I am. I exist to serve my clients and the kind of benefits the positive externalities of that is just like any other parent out there. My kids will run into the office and they’re excited to share something with me. They don’t know what my meeting schedule looks like. They don’t know if I’m available or not. But it doesn’t matter because the folks that I’m talking to inevitably themselves are parents. They are folks that understand what this. I hate using the phrase new normal, but what this kind of like hybrid work situation really looks and feels like. And that like being a good father, being a good husband is part and parcel to being a good operator.

Stone Payton: [00:10:50] Okay. Let’s talk about the work a little bit, especially the early stages of it. If you could just kind of describe what what happens if someone begins to tap into your work, those early conversations. Walk us through a little bit of that process, if you would.

Mike Davis: [00:11:05] Yeah, absolutely. So I think first and foremost, we’re talking about what does the world look like if you’re successful? And that’s that’s just a very open ended question, kind of almost on purpose. I want to see where that conversation goes. And if if it’s about self enrichment, like, I think it’s going to be a rather short conversation. But, you know, if you’re telling me a story about what the world looks like and it aligns with what I hope the world looks like or is additive to what I hope the world looks like in the future or the future of my kids. So that’s where we’re getting there. That’s one check in the check box. The other is sort of coach ability and sort of flexibility of thinking. That growth mindset. Some people call it lifelong learning. You know, are you open to hearing that perhaps you don’t have all the answers? And I’m not saying that I would be the provider of that gap or bridging the entirety of that gap. But, you know, as I introduce you through my network and again, like I said, my friends are all smarter than I am as I introduce you to my friends. How’s that going to go? So we sort of talk through some scenarios and then the sort of the brass tacks of it comes down to how much capital are you looking to raise? Right.

Mike Davis: [00:12:34] And some of that is stage dependent. Some of that is how capital intensive of a business are you running. And then it really falls into sort of three. And this is why OTR is broken up into the three kind of business units that we have asset management, investment banking and CEO coaching. If your business falls within the guardrails of one of our existing funds, one of our existing sort of sectors or geographies of focus, and we are able to play the role of investor, we will explore that path. If that is not true or perhaps like for a multitude of other reasons, you would like different capital than what we would be able to provide, then perhaps you are a better fit for our investment banking business. And there we would use our relationships to source either equity or debt or again, some hybrid financing structures on your behalf. And then the third business unit and the primary reason why the third one exists is if you are earlier stage than that, you are high potential business, great founder, great work ethic, great kind of global mindset. But you’re just early, right? Then we will talk about a coaching relationship. How do we get you to ultimately become bankable or become an investment grade opportunity for venture fund or private equity fund or whatever?

Stone Payton: [00:14:12] So it makes perfect sense to me that you would be working with some people who may just have a gap in information, just a lack of knowledge on some of these topics. But I wonder if you don’t sometimes run into people that think they have information and they do, but it’s just I don’t know if it’s if it’s a myth, a misconception, an assumption, just some things that people feel like they know about this arena. And then over and over again, you you sort of run into the same thing and you have to sort of get them back on track. Are there misconceptions and myths in your world around these topics?

Mike Davis: [00:14:49] Oh, absolutely. Absolutely right. The ease of fundraising is one of them, right? Like God bless TechCrunch. But you know, not every single company is destined to become a unicorn, right? Just because you and your buddies sit in Starbucks and have a latte does not mean that whatever discussion you’re having will result in an investment grade opportunity for investors, Right? That those are things that the culture, the media all are sort of they play a role in that narrative. And I look at it as it’s my job to share with you my opinion and share with you some of the underlying data that I’m using to form that opinion. And again, the thing that I say is, listen, you’re entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts, right? And so if we have divergent opinions and you don’t think that we’re going to be helpful to you or you don’t want to you don’t want to be flexible in that thinking, you know, there’s perhaps other ways that you’re going to see success.

Stone Payton: [00:16:04] You know, it also strikes me when you were speaking a little bit earlier about bringing different kinds of resources and opportunities to bear. You must from time to time kind of be quarterback. You must have people trusted advisors that are outside of your domain of expertise and experience that you’ll bring in to help shore things up. Is that accurate? Do you find yourself working with other practitioners and other domains to pull this off and really help 100% still?

Mike Davis: [00:16:37] And that is that is 100% like this is not a one winner takes. All right. This is not a zero sum game. Imagine imagine it right. If I’m if I’m successful, then I’m introducing companies that are further along in their trajectory that have posted amazing metrics and that become quite interesting for asset managers with perhaps later stage strategies than mine. Right. And the vice versa is also true, right? That maintaining that relationship or those relationships within capital markets, within, you know, other trades transaction support folks is important because sometimes they don’t you know, others are having conversations that don’t exactly fit their box and they want to be helpful and again, create value in the ecosystem in its totality. And so there’s there’s kind of like three different conversations happening, one with the potential operators, with with the operator. The second one is with Capital Partners. We might introduce to them. Or third is capital partners that we don’t even know yet, but we know would be better suited than the ones that we have existing relationships with. So it’s sort of like the Glengarry Glen Ross notion always be selling, right? You are always expanding that network. Every conversation has a potential of being productive, perhaps not today, but definitely if you take a long view.

Stone Payton: [00:18:18] All right, before we wrap, let’s leave our female, our immigrant entrepreneurs. And let’s be honest, anyone who is listening and is willing to grow and learn, they’re going to benefit as well. Let’s leave them with a couple of pro tips. Something to be thinking about. Reading, doing, not doing. Yeah. Let’s leave him with a couple of actionable things to kind of help them on this path.

Mike Davis: [00:18:42] How about we narrow it down to three tips? Okay, perfect. If you are early stage, if you are thinking about an idea, if you are trying to maybe take your first few steps, what I would encourage you to do is stop reading news and others opinions of the industry and think about what is the problem that you are solving and how does your solution solve that problem in a way that incumbent solutions are not right? And so really getting into that mindset of like, where is the white space or sort of the negative answer, the opposite of the question and so the opposite of the question. So that will help help you advance your thinking. So that’s a pro tip for early stage founders, for those who are looking to get perhaps some third party assistance with capital raises or equity or debt, that doesn’t matter. Not all investment banks are the same. And choosing your investment bank, the investment bank that you want to work with has more to do with the chemistry that you have with the investment bank than it has to do with the brand name of the investment bank. And again, this is no slight against some of my more recognizable IB buddies, but it has to do with what’s the likelihood that the investment bank understands where you are at and is willing to put in the work right there? Is there just like just like all fundraising is not as easy as TechCrunch suggests, right? Not all investment banking mandates go and get completed in a matter of weeks.

Mike Davis: [00:20:34] Sometimes it’s a grind. Is the bank that you’re talking to the investment banker that you’re talking to kind of shaped and configured such that they are willing to grind it out with you? So that’s maybe for the folks that are looking for bankers. And then lastly, for those who are considering taking capital from a fund, I would almost suggest the same thing, same advice, except slightly different. Right? Getting investment from a brand name firm, certainly helpful. But think about where you are as a business and where your gaps are. Where are your flanks exposed, and will that venture capital firm, will that venture capital partner, it comes down to that person that you have or likely to have the strongest relationship with? Are they someone who is a capable be willing to kind of shore up the flanks along alongside you right after getting the capital? You still got a business to run, right? There’s still day to day challenges. So so think about that. Right? So maybe not so obvious pieces of advice there, but maybe that’s three things.

Stone Payton: [00:21:50] Well, and you bring up such an important point when you start down this path as an entrepreneur, you still got your day job. So try to pull this off on your own. I mean, no, you need the guidance and expertise of somebody like Mike and his team. Where can our listeners connect with you? Tap into your work and learn more. What’s the best way for them to do that?

Mike Davis: [00:22:16] So. So two ways. One email Just shoot me an email. Mike at Olive Tree Ridge dot com, super straightforward. The second way LinkedIn, we post a ton of material on LinkedIn. Hopefully it’s valuable to you and you know, and introduce yourself. Don’t, don’t be a stranger.

Stone Payton: [00:22:35] Marvelous. Well, Mike, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. Thanks for joining us. And and thank you for the work you’re doing, man. You are putting a dent in this universe and we sincerely appreciate you.

Mike Davis: [00:22:52] Well, thanks for. Thanks for having me on the show. And I appreciate.

Stone Payton: [00:22:55] It. My pleasure. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Mike Davis, founding partner with Olive Tree Ridge. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.