Building startups and wealth with purpose

Building startups and wealth with purpose

From The {Closed} Session by Tom Chavez -- super{set}

January 5, 2026 · 35 min · Episode 61

About this episode

The episode discusses the innovative funding strategies of Sean Mendy at Westbound Equity Partners, focusing on underrepresented founders and the alignment of impact metrics with business outcomes.

Most VCs chase momentum while missing systematic market dislocations worth billions. Sean Mendy, co-founding partner at Westbound Equity Partners, built a $125M fund targeting the 97% funding gap for underrepresented founders. He didn't do this out of charity, but as alpha generation through expanded deal flow and objective evaluation frameworks. The conversation reveals how network-driven sourcing creates self-reinforcing homogeneity, why impact metrics must align with venture-scale business outcomes, and Westbound's 50% profit-sharing model that attracts values-aligned founders in competitive rounds. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

People in this episode

Host: Tom Chavez

Guest: Sean Mendy

Topics covered

  • venture capital
  • underrepresented founders
  • impact metrics
  • profit-sharing
  • startup funding

Keywords

  • venture capital
  • funding gap
  • underrepresented founders
  • profit-sharing model
  • impact metrics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Westbound Equity Partners, super{set}, art19

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