Lorine Pendleton on Angel Investing and Legacy

When was the last time you read Time cover to cover? This episode’s guest would read and discuss the magazine issues with her father every week as a child. It was an activity she didn’t quite appreciate at the time, but those in-depth discussions provided a foundation for understanding the world beyond Harlem and sparked a lifetime of curiosity and an industry-spanning career.

Lorine Pendleton—investor, advisor, and attorney—started her career in the halls of Capitol Records, earned her law degree, and continued her path in startups until discovering an unsettling fact: Less than 1% of venture capital was deployed to Black founders. Today, Lorine is a Lead Investment Partner at Portfolia in the Rising America Funds, which are dedicated to funding historically ignored founders and communities.

In this episode, Lorine shares insight into the unique path she has carved through technology, entertainment, and law. Calling upon her investment expertise, she discusses the challenges faced by women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals in gaining access to and receiving funding. Lorine provides a glimpse into the decision-making process at Portfolia, and she explains the role entrepreneurship can have in shifting wealth, particularly in the next decade. Later in the episode, Lorine shares with Eric several highlights in recent investments, how TIGER 21 is cultivating an empowered network of high-net-worth individuals, and her relationship with angel investing. 

• (2:22) - “Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.”
• (7:01) - A father’s influence
• (9:02) - Harlem in the 70s
• (10:14) - Moving to the ‘burbs
• (16:34) - Attending Brown University
• (20:35) - Capitol Records
• (25:15) - Exploring the world of startups
• (27:37) - Pipeline Angels
• (30:40) - Portfolia
• (35:58) - The decision-making process
• (39:11) - Investment highlights
• (40:30) - TIGER 21
• (43:35) - Angel investing

Lorine Pendleton is a seasoned investor, business development executive, attorney, and public speaker with extensive experience in the legal, technology, media, and entertainment industries. She is a Lead Investment Partner at Portfolia in the Rising America Funds, the New York Chair at TIGER 21, and a Board Member of the Angel Capital Association. Lorine received a BA from Brown University and a JD from New York Law School.

Eric Satz—entrepreneur, serial investor, lover of hot peppers— is the founder and CEO of Alto. The idea behind Alto was born out of a problem. Eric found a clear need to give people more control over their investments (and investment opportunities) in a simple, streamlined way and created Alto to make these opportunities available to all investors, not just the ultra-wealthy or institutional investors. 

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