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Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
From an L.A. parking lot to a $1 billion deal — the red-hot success story of Dave's Hot Chicken
It started in an East Hollywood parking lot: one small fryer, no permits, a few heat lamps and a tent constantly battered by wind. A trio of friends — all from L.A.'s Armenian community, and all high school dropouts — scraped together $900 in 2017 because they believed that their Nashville-style fried chicken stand was the future. Now Dave's Hot Chicken is worth $1 billion. This year the modern specialist in the decades-old spicy fried chicken style that originated in Nashville became one of L.A.'s most astounding small-business success stories. The chain currently operates about 320 storefronts, with 800 more planned. Dave's Hot Chicken has opened as many as five new locations in a day. ('Oh, we've done that multiple times,' co-founder Arman Oganesyan said casually.) The spiced, craggly, neon-red chicken tenders and sandwiches can now be found in London and Dubai just as easily as in Hollywood and Ladera Heights. And those are now valuable globetrotting chicken tenders. In June private-equity firm Roark Capital acquired the homespun chain, which began with a five-month renegade stint, valuing Dave's at $1 billion. 'Ever since Dave's started it changed my life, but this [deal] gives me a little bit of security,' Oganesyan said. According to Oganesyan, who declined to share the figure of his new net worth, the payout was 'a lot.' 'Let's just say it's starting to look like a phone number,' he said of his bank account. The 33-year-old entrepreneur, born in Armenia, moved to Los Angeles when he was 2 years old and met another Dave's founder, Tommy Rubenyan, in kindergarten. In middle school Dave Kopushyan became another fast friend, and eventually the chef, co-founder and namesake of their company. Until 2017 the thought of owning a restaurant empire — let alone a single restaurant — never crossed Oganesyan's mind. But that year the aspiring actor and standup comedian noticed Nashville hot chicken starting to trend, primarily given the success of Chinatown's Howlin' Ray's, a West Coast beacon of the dish. The fried chicken is typically coated in a mixture of cayenne and paprika that singes the tongue. It was invented by Thornton Prince III, of Nashville's Prince's Hot Chicken. His descendant Kim Prince brought her family's legacy to L.A. in 2017 with her Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw restaurant, Hotville Chicken, but closed it in 2022. She now serves her famous Hotville fried chicken via Dulanville Food Truck, which she runs in collaboration with restaurateur Gregory Dulan. Prince's sparked hot chicken restaurants throughout the country, but it reached a fever pitch in Los Angeles with Howlin' Ray's. Oganesyan knew Kopushyan, a former Bouchon line cook, had the culinary skills to test the waters, but it took a little convincing to get him on board. But after a taste — and witnessing the popularity — Kopushyan had to try to create a recipe of his own. 'Arman brought me to Howlin' Ray's and it blew my mind,' Kopushyan previously told The Times. 'We saw the lines at Howlin' Ray's and we knew it was going to be a good business.' When not working shifts at Echo Park vegetarian restaurant Elf Cafe, Kopushyan toiled in his home kitchen with spice blends for four and a half months, obsessively tinkering with breading, seasoning and frying. The three friends ate it every day, tasting and discussing each batch in Kopushyan's Hollywood apartment. He wanted to steer the pop-up in a cheffier direction, incorporating their own house-made bread and pickles, while Oganesyan wanted something more tailored to his own 'simple palate.' Eventually they found compromise. The recipes, however, remain secret. They scraped together about $900: $315 Oganesyan had saved, $300 from Kopushyan's most recent Elf Cafe paycheck, and another $300 from Rubenyan. When the trio deemed their product ready, Rubenyan's parents spotted an opportunity: Across the street from their East Hollywood flower shop sat a vacant lot. They knew the landlords, who gave the trio their blessing to use the space. The plan was simple: Pop up for roughly a year, then spring for a food truck and slowly grow the operation into a bricks-and-mortar. Things moved at a much faster pace than any of them imagined. Dave's Hot Chicken debuted in May 2017 running Monday to Saturday, informally, in the parking lot. 'If we got shut down, we got shut down, back to square one,' Oganesyan said of the business plan. Fortunately for them, it never happened. As word of mouth spread curious customers lined up for meals that included two tenders with fries, slaw and slices of white bread, nearly identical to what the chain offers today. A few weeks later the team added sandwiches. Eventually they would expand the spice-level offerings from the simple choice of mild or hot to today's seven options ranging from no spice to reaper. 'We always tell people to get hot, because it's not called Dave's Mild Chicken,' Oganesyan said. The chicken — sourced from Wayne Farms — has been halal from day one, not due to religious preferences but to quality, a choice that multiple members involved said contributed to the seamless expansion into the United Arab Emirates. The early days were 'hectic,' according to its owners, who said they were 'working against the elements' with far too many customers than they were prepared for. An early article from Eater LA multiplied the lines overnight, with 60 to 90 guests waiting for at least an hour. Instagram and TikTok fueled the demand, creating more buzz and a flurry of parking-lot imitators across the city. Within a few months, the trio realized they'd need to ride the hot-chicken wave and expand earlier than planned. Rubenyan's brother, Gary, became a partner, allowing them to launch their first restaurant, a corner space in a strip mall on Western Avenue. They invited their friends to scrawl spray-painted phrases and sketches across the walls, an aesthetic now seen in Dave's locations around the world. Soon after launching their first storefront, investors John Davis and Bill Phelps entered the picture. Davis, a prolific movie and TV producer, had his hand in a number of fast-casual restaurants. He'd helped incubate and grow businesses such as Blaze Pizza and Wetzel's Pretzels with his business partner, Phelps. In 2018 the Dave's founders sold half of the company to Davis and Phelps, and tapped the latter as chief executive; the company launched the second Dave's in 2019, quickly followed by a half-dozen more. Franchises spread into San Diego and Orange County, then Canada, across the U.S. and into the United Arab Emirates and London. Lines at openings still routinely wrap around the block, eight years into business. 'I've been doing the restaurant industry since I was 15 years old — I'm 51 years old now, and I've never seen anything like Dave's or the fandom around it,' said Jim Bitticks, Dave's president and chief operating officer. Bitticks joined Dave's after the company's fourth restaurant, and had worked with Phelps and Davis at Blaze Pizza. The companies' franchise and expansion plans, he said, are similar: Roughly 99% of the restaurants should be franchise-owned-and-operated, with a few company-helmed restaurants to staff training teams, which then help open franchise locations around the world. The four founders still own and operate seven locations, including the first restaurant and three others in L.A., plus three in Las Vegas. They see themselves as a kind of In-N-Out for Nashville hot chicken — but with a globe-spanning reach. Within two years of Dave's partnership with Phelps and Davis numerous celebrities signed on as investors, including Drake, Samuel L. Jackson and Maria Shriver. 'It was great, but I emphasized to everybody that celebrities are not going to make or break your brand,' Oganesyan said. 'If your food can't stand on its own two feet, then it doesn't matter if the pope endorses you, nobody's gonna care.' Then in 2025, a breaded-and-fried bombshell: Multi-billion-dollar private equity firm Roark Capital would acquire 70% of the chain's business, a deal valued at $1 billion. The behemoth, Atlanta-based firm currently owns five dozen companies, nearly half of them food-based, including Subway, Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin' Cinnabon and Jimmy John's. Its courtship with Dave's was a long one. Representatives attended the opening of the chain's 15th storefront in 2021, and ever since, they kept in touch. In late 2024 the Dave's founders decided to expand into even more countries and 'nontraditional' spaces such as airports and food courts. After years of interest from Roark Capital they decided, in early 2025, to agree to a deal. Bitticks said that a stipulation of the acquisition was that all executives keep 50% of their equity, keeping them engaged in the future of Dave's Hot Chicken. 'None of us are leaving,' he said. 'We have gotten people saying, 'Oh, they sold, they're going to sell out,'' Bittick said. 'We're really focused on not allowing that to happen. Even though there was a sale and some of the equity changed hands, the whole point is that Roark Capital doesn't want to screw it up, either.' Eventually, Oganesyan said, he might like to start a new company. For now his focus is on Dave's and how far they can build the brand. 'I feel like the sky's the limit right now,' he said. Nearly everything — at least so far — has remained the same at the company. The same management team remains in place. Oganesyan will remain the branding officer, and Kopushyan the chief culinary officer. The founders' hope is that Roark Capital allows for an international expansion with minimal intervention in the existing chain of command. There's also the increase in access. With a network of global food suppliers, the Dave's team aims to secure better vendor pricing and similar scaling perks under the Roark umbrella — though the chicken's sourcing will remain the same. According to Dave's owners the food will not change, and if any new items are added to the menu, they will be closely related to the original dishes. Oganesyan said all employees will be retained. 'For the most part,' Oganesyan said, 'I think we'll continue to run the company the way it is.' After the acquisition, shareholders contributed roughly $60 million of their own profits to start a bonus pool for Dave's employees, including some store managers whom they felt had helped the business grow over the years. Before Dave's, Olivia Mendoza had never tasted Nashville-style hot chicken. The closest she'd come, she said, was Popeye's — not very close at all. But the spicy hot chicken would change her life, turning her into a first-time business owner in less than one year with the company. Along with Bitticks and three others, Mendoza owns and operates Dave's locations in Ontario, Fontana and Chino Hills, and a fourth is set to debut in Claremont this month, with more planned for next year. Could the excitement over Nashville-style hot chicken eventually fizzle out? 'Obviously, there's always things that come and go — a trend — and they die in a few years,' Mendoza said. 'But I feel like this is something that's going to stay because it's not just another brand. I think because of all it has behind it, and all the support that is there, that it will keep us going and growing as well.' The company hopes to bring its neon-red chicken strips farther into the UAE, U.K. and Europe. But to Oganesyan, no matter where Dave's opens and how far his hot chicken empire spreads, Los Angeles will always be the chain's home base. 'We're just so known out here,' he said. 'It's our hometown. It's like a home court advantage out here.'
Fast Company
6 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
KFC is staging a ‘Kentucky Fried comeback' with Colonel Sanders as rivals like Chick-fil-A eat its lunch
BY KFC is calling Colonel Sanders back into service as the ailing restaurant brand navigates what it calls a 'Kentucky Fried comeback.' On Monday, the fast-food restaurant chain kicked off a national television ad campaign featuring the return of Colonel Sanders that highlights the brand's origin story in an attempt to lure back diners who have gravitated to the sector's largest players, Chick-fil-A and Restaurant Brands' Popeyes, and smaller upstarts like Dave's Hot Chicken. While those chains have reported steady sales growth, restaurant operator Yum Brands has reported KFC's U.S. sales have declined for five consecutive quarters. 'We kind of lost a bit of ground,' says Catherine Tan-Gillespie, president of KFC's U.S. business, during an interview with Fast Company. 'This is about us getting back in the fight.' KFC's positioning has gotten so wobbly that it was recently ousted from the top three largest chicken chains in the U.S. by sales by Raising Cane's. Smaller chains like Slim Chickens and Dave's Hot Chicken have been accelerating their new restaurant openings and have had more success with narrowly focused menus. Growth for Dave's Hot Chicken became so appetizing that it recently secured a majority investment from private equity firm Roark Capital at a $1 billion valuation, even though the chain had just over 300 locations. 'Chicken is the world's protein and it's the only protein that can be eaten globally,' says Fred LeFranc, founder and CEO at restaurant consulting firm Results Thru Strategy. 'But, it's very, very competitive.' Bones of contention As the legacy incumbent brand, KFC has struggled with a menu that tends to favor bone-in chicken, while much of the growth has been for boneless chicken in the forms of tenders, nuggets, and sandwiches. The quality of service at KFC isn't as well regarded as it is rivals like Chick-fil-A, which puts a huge emphasis on friendliness from the staff, and the operating standards for stores has also been low. 'They let their stores get old and didn't refurbish them,' adds LeFranc. Tan-Gillespie concedes that legacy brands like KFC 'sometimes do lose ground if they lose touch with where customers are evolving or where competitors are intensifying.' A 10-year veteran at KFC, including leadership roles in Canada and the South Pacific markets and serving as a chief marketing officer for the U.S. business, Tan-Gillespie was promoted to the role of president in April to steer a turnaround. For Yum Brands, it is key to get the chicken restaurant chain back on track to align more with the healthier sales results that have been reported by the operator's other two big brands, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Her comeback plan for KFC includes retraining staff and a longer-term investment to renovate stores. KFC intends to use some corporate locations to experiment and evaluate what the restaurant concept of the future will look like. KFC is also giving a lot more attention to the food it serves, adding original recipe chicken tenders and a chicken-and-waffles combo to the menu. This week, KFC will add fried dill pickle slices, a trendy menu item that's also recently been featured at Popeyes and Shake Shack. The chain is also promoting a 'free bucket on us' digital offer, available on and the company's mobile app, which will give diners a free bucket of fried chicken for orders over $15. Famous mascot gets a fresh start As for the return of Colonel Sanders, in the past, KFC relied on a long-running gimmick of hiring big named celebrities to play the character, including Saturday Night Live alums Darrell Hammond and Norm Macdonald, actor Rob Lowe, and country singer Reba McEntire. Those advertisements were successful in breaking through culturally, but Tan-Gillespie says the latest campaign has a different goal of focusing more on the food and less on a casting gimmick. 'We didn't necessarily want a celebrity to detract from that story,' says Tan-Gillespie. The newest ad does feature a celebrity component, with Canadian chef and The Bear actor Matty Matheson interacting with the Colonel in a few brief moments. KFC's campaign will also run on social media channels including TikTok and Instagram, as well as out-of-home advertising. It was developed by KFC's team with support from external partners including the creative agency Highdive, whose work in food includes campaigns for Mentos candy, Lay's potato chips, and the sandwich restaurant chain Jersey Mike's Subs. Tan-Gillespie says all of the elements of the campaign reflect a dual approach that she calls 'sales overnight and brand over time.' What that means is she hopes KFC can emotionally connect with diners with the return of a beloved brand mascot, while also driving more immediate sales with promotions and new menu items. 'The return of the Colonel, in many ways, equals the return of KFC,' says Tan-Gillespie. The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cult-Favorite Fried Chicken Chain Acquired by Company That Owns Arby's, Subway
Cult-Favorite Fried Chicken Chain Acquired by Company That Owns Arby's, Subway originally appeared on Parade. Dave's Hot Chicken has officially been acquired by private equity firm Roark Capital for one very pretty penny. The deal comes about four months after rumors of the sale first began circulating and eight years after the popular restaurant first began serving up Nashville-style chicken as a pop-up in a Los Angeles, Calif. parking lot, as first reported by The Associated Press. Now, it hosts guests at 400 restaurants scattered across the globe and in major cities like Dubai, New York and Toronto. Roark Capital—which owns Inspire Brands (the parent company of Arby's, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin', Jimmy Johns, and Sonic) as well as Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe's, Subway, among many other recognizable names—acquired the cult-favorite chain in a deal valued at $1 billion. Related:Pepsi Officially Acquires Cult-Favorite Soda Brand Before it was absorbed by the private equity firm specializing in franchised businesses, Dave's Hot Chicken was eyed by other celebrity investors, including rapper , who celebrates his Oct. 24 birthday with a hot chicken slider giveaway. The fried chicken joint's original leadership team isn't expected to shake up too much, as AP reported CEO Bill Phelps and the four childhood friends who founded the company will "continue to lead menu innovation, food quality, operations and marketing." "Our entire organization is excited about the fit between Dave's Hot Chicken and Roark," Phelps said in a statement shared with the outlet, adding that the brand is "looking forward to continuing to blow our guests' minds and unlocking growth and value for our franchise partners." In other related news, the fast-growing fast food chain has had much to celebrate in the first half of 2025, as it also opened several new restaurants in the U.S. and around the world in recent weeks, including locations in Bakersfield, Calif., Omaha, Neb., Sandy Springs, Ga., Springfield, Ore. and Pickering, Ont. Next: Cult-Favorite Fried Chicken Chain Acquired by Company That Owns Arby's, Subway first appeared on Parade on Jun 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How much did Drake make on the Dave's Hot Chicken deal?
Like Toronto rapper Drake, the founders of Dave's Hot Chicken started from the bottom. This month, they may have all cashed in together. On June 2, the high flying chicken chain, which counts the music superstar as an investor, sold a 70 per cent majority interest to private equity firm Roark Capital in a deal that reportedly valued Dave's at US$1 billion (the deal's exact terms weren't disclosed). Atlanta-based Roark is known for its portfolio of major restaurant brands including Subway, Arby's, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins and Buffalo Wild Wings, among others. The sale capped a dramatic rise in the fortunes of childhood friends Arman Oganesyan, Dave Kopushyan, Tommy Rubenyan and Gary Rubenyan, who pooled US$900 together in 2017 to start a pop-up selling Nashville-style chicken out of a parking lot in Los Angeles. After six months of hour-long lineups thanks to word of mouth and social media buzz, the company started slinging its tenders, sliders, fries and kale slaw out of its first bricks-and-mortar store in an East Hollywood strip mall. Eight years later, franchising has helped Dave's Hot Chicken grow exponentially into 315 store locations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Middle East. Along the way, the chicken chain has benefited from a cult following and a troop of celebrity investors including Drake, who bought his minority stake in 2021. There's no doubt Drake's hype and social media buzz — the rapper has 142 million Instagram followers — has played a part in Dave's Hot Chicken's meteoric ascent. For the last three years, the superstar has celebrated his birthday on Oct. 24 by sponsoring a free chicken giveaway at Dave's Hot Chicken locations in Toronto. The latest valuation also marks a big jump from Dave's Hot Chicken's first deal in 2019, when the four co-founders sold a 50 per cent stake in the business for $2 million to a group of investors led by Bill Phelps, who became the company's chief executive, and movie producer John Davis. The investor group included such celebrities as actor Samuel L. Jackson, journalist Maria Shriver, television host and former NFL player Michael Strahan and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner. The four co-founders reportedly split the remaining 50 per cent stake. At the time of the Roark Capital deal, Forbes reported that Phelps and Davis were the company's largest shareholders with 'roughly equal stakes' (though both declined to reveal exactly how much they owned). Each of the four co-founders owned around 10 per cent of the business and sold 80 per cent of their stakes, netting a cool US$80 million each (before taxes), according to Forbes. So, how much did Champagne Papi make off of the deal? Bloomberg reported that Drake was among the company's biggest investors when he bought his minority stake in 2021, but his exact ownership percentage and how much he paid for it has never been disclosed. If the founders owned a combined 40 per cent (10 per cent each) before the deal and Phelps and Davis were the biggest shareholders with roughly equal stakes, Drake would have to own less than 20 per cent of the chicken chain, with the likely total being much lower than that. With each percentage point worth a cool US$10 million, even a five per cent stake would be worth US$50 million. The Financial Post reached out to Dave's Hot Chicken for comment about whether Drake sold any of his shares as part of the deal, but did not receive a response. Dave's is not Drake's first foray into the food world, but it appears to be his most successful restaurant investment to date. The rapper has opened two Toronto eateries in the last decade: Frings, a venture with chef Susur Lee and his sons that opened in 2015 and closed three years later, and Pick 6ix, a sports bar that opened in early 2018 and closed by the end of 2019. 'I tried the food and it was amazing': Drake buys stake in Dave's Hot Chicken chain Tim Hortons partners with actor Ryan Reynolds on breakfast boxes The rapper has also reportedly invested in green tea retailer MatchaBar and plant-based chicken company Daring Foods Inc. (the same year he bought his stake in Dave's) and collaborated with U.S. entrepreneur Brent Hocking to launch his own whiskey brand (Virginia Black) and champagne (Mod Sélection). • Email: jswitzer@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
09-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Forbes Daily: Immigration Protests Spark California Enforcement Face-Off
Dave's Hot Chicken is known for bringing the heat—and an unlikely group is reaping the rewards from the restaurant chain's success. The fried chicken company said last week it sold 70% of its business to private equity giant Roark Capital—which also owns brands like Subway, Dunkin' and Buffalo Wild Wings—at a $1 billion overall valuation. Its four cofounders struggled to pull together $900 to launch the first Dave's popup, but they'll now each pocket around $80 million pre-tax. Timing was key for Dave's. Chicken overtook beef as the most popular meat in the U.S. in 2010, and the trend is boosting other chains like Raising Cane's and Wingstop. Still, the company says it isn't worried about competitors. 'I went into a Popeye's and had their spicy chicken sandwich and said, 'We're going to be rich,'' says CEO Bill Phelps. Demonstrators protest outside a downtown jail in Los Angeles following two days of clashes with police during a series of immigration raids on June 8, 2025. Protests against President Donald Trump's immigration raids broke out Friday and continued through Sunday in Los Angeles, leading Trump to deploy National Guard troops—a move criticized as 'inflaming tensions' by California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. At least 60 people were arrested in San Francisco by early Monday after protesters gathering in solidarity with Los Angeles clashed with police. Despite questions around economic uncertainty in the wake of Trump's tariffs, the U.S. job market was relatively strong in May, according to a monthly report from the Labor Department. The positive data came after an earlier report last week showed the weakest monthly private sector job growth in more than two years, and stocks ended the day on a high note. Analysts worry Elon Musk's dust-up with President Donald Trump could further weigh on the already-beleagured Tesla, and on Thursday, a group of Goldman Sachs analysts cut their prediction for the company's sales. The analysts slashed their forecast for second-quarter Tesla vehicle deliveries to 365,000, which would be an 18% decline from the same period last year—the weakest quarterly delivery growth since at least 2015. The fight cost Elon Musk, with his fortune falling by $27 billion Thursday, but he's still come out ahead from his relationship with President Donald Trump. The world's richest man is still $145 billion richer than he was before endorsing Trump last July, worth $394 billion as of late Friday. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying the Intuitive Machines Moon Lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The biggest casualty of the feud could be NASA: Last week, Trump considered canceling Musk's government contracts, and Musk responded that SpaceX would decommission its Dragon spacecraft, though he later reversed course. NASA relies heavily on SpaceX for its operations—the company's rockets launched more than half of NASA's space missions last year—and while the agency has other partners in aerospace, many are years behind SpaceX in terms of development. MORE: While SpaceX has made itself indispensable to the government, some types of contracts could still be vulnerable for cancellation if Trump follows through on his threat. And the administration could make a greater impact by steering new business to others and reorienting its plans. The Maryland man whom the Trump Administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador was returned to U.S. custody, despite the White House previously insisting it could not bring him back. The administration indicted Kilmar Abrego Garcia on charges of transporting undocumented immigrants after repeatedly claiming without evidence that he belonged to gang MS-13, which he and his family have denied him having any association with. Temi Fagbenle and the Golden State Valkyries have attracted 10,000 season-ticket buyers—around the same number the Warriors have in the same arena. The WNBA's Golden State Valkyries are near the bottom of the Western Conference standings in their inaugural season as they start from scratch, but the Bay Area team has already guaranteed itself success on its balance sheet. Forbes estimates the team has locked in at least $20 million in sponsorship revenue this season and is projected to earn another $35 million from its 10,000 season-ticket holders and various premium ticket packages—figures that dwarf what any other WNBA team can generate. Venture capital veteran Theresia Gouw Venture capitalist Theresia Gouw is a woman of many firsts. Born in Indonesia to parents of Chinese descent, Gouw immigrated to the U.S. when she was 3 years old. She later became the first person in her high school to attend Brown University, the first female partner at venture capital powerhouse Accel and cofounder of one of the first female-led VC firms in Silicon Valley. 'The American dream is so central to my personal story,' she told Forbes in 2023. She now has another 'first' to add to her list. Gouw is America's first woman billionaire venture capitalist, worth an estimated $1.2 billion. Much of her fortune stems from her 15-year tenure at Accel, where she was part of the team that led that firm's lucrative early bet on Facebook (now called Meta). She now runs Acrew Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that she cofounded in 2019. Acrew raised $700 million in October to invest in data and security, health and fintech startups, bringing the firm's assets under management to $1.7 billion—with an emphasis on diversity, especially through its Diversify Capital Fund. Women made up just 17% of VC decision makers in 2024, per a PitchBook report. Things likely won't move toward parity anytime soon. On President Donald Trump's first day in office, he issued an executive order mandating the termination of all federal DEI programs that have supported women, people of color, individuals with disabilities and others. In addition, some of the world's biggest companies with powerful corporate venture capital arms, including Google, Meta and Goldman Sachs, have rolled back DEI initiatives. WHY IT MATTERS How Gouw will respond to the new political environment isn't clear, but for many years she has been a strong advocate for DEI, doubling down on the practice in several ways: starting Acrew, with a founding investment team that's 83% women or people of color; spearheading an initiative to bring historically Black colleges and universities into the VC world; cofounding DEI-focused fund of funds First Close Partners (now with $30 million in assets); and cofounding All Raise, a nonprofit that helps female founders and investors in Silicon Valley network and find mentors. MORE America's Richest Self-Made Women President Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' that passed the House could cause millions to lose coverage through changes to the Affordable Care Act, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It also institutes work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid that would take effect in 2026: Approximately 7.8 million: The estimated number of people who could lose Medicaid coverage $715 billion: How much the bill aims to slash in Medicaid, along with $300 billion in SNAP, also known as food stamps 71%: The share of working-age adults on Medicaid who were working full or part time or in school, while an additional 12% were caregivers, according to a 2023 report There's no perfect time to start a side hustle, but simply getting off the ground with skills you already have can put you on the path to success all the more quickly. Here are some side hustles to consider: service-based, like pet sitting or a cleaning business; creative-based, such as selling artwork online; or a fully digital business, like social media marketing and freelancing. Bettors are placing wagers on the relationship breakdown between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. What were the odds on Polymarket that the two would publicly reconcile by July? A. About 10% B. About 30% C. About 50% D. About 70% Check your answer. Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.
