I worked at Rackspace for 11 years. I helped manage the business functions, learned about technology, and then dove into mergers and acquisitions, where I learned how to grow and scale businesses. It was then that I realized my true love was working closely with founders – not necessarily to get them acquired but to really help them launch themselves, reach their potential, and grow and scale their companies.

FINDING THE RIGHT FOUNDER
I learned that the most significant aspect of a startup’s success is having the right investor in place. As a founder, you must have a firm conviction and criteria around taking on an investor. It shouldn’t just be about the dollar amount but aligning the vision and strategy of both startups and investors.

Founders must research and learn about investors and find those that will not only back them in the future but won’t hinder them from great opportunities, pivots, or change-ups. Understand the type of investor you want around you, how they support their investment and the type of relationship you need.

At Active Capital, we strive to be the first call a founder will make to share the good news and the first call when bad news comes in. We’ve seen it all in business before and will help founders.

COMMUNITY FOR STARTUPS
To be a founder, an entrepreneur, is a very tough and lonely job. Entrepreneurs and startups not only need help, guidance, and funding, but they need a place to go to vet out ideas, to think BIG, to compare themselves to what’s being built in the city, to figure out how they compromise, how to find similarities, and what they can do better.

A community is what makes these types of cultures. These startups will continue to grow if they come out of these communities that support them at every level of their growth. They are amazing reinforcements for each other.

San Antonio is the hero of this story. It is part of each business and person here – and a companion and business partner second to none.

San Antonio’s community makes this place attractive for founders and entrepreneurs. In other cities, startups can easily get lost in the competitive nature of business. We’re doing things differently here – and it works.

Cat Dizon is co-founder and COO of Active Capital, a venture firm based in San Antonio. It is a seed-stage venture firm for ambitious founders building the future of cloud infrastructure and B2B SaaS. she runs the firm’s business functions, including investor relations, due diligence for investment activities, and all operations, including legal, accounting, and finance. Previously, she served as Head of Business Operations/ Staff Operations and Director of Corporate Strategy and Development at Rackspace for 11 years.