Long-Standing Figure in San Antonio’s Tech, Startup, and Venture Capital Scene: Cat Dizon
Cat Dizon is a Cofounder and COO of Active Capital, a Board Member at Geekdom, and holds leadership positions at several non-profits mentioned below. She’s proved a long-standing leader in San Antonio’s startup, venture capital, and technology community. Texas Venture Alliance had the opportunity to dive more into her impressive career below.
Upon reviewing your previous interviews and learning about your journey, it’s really inspiring not just from the venture capital standpoint but importantly also entrepreneurship. Could you tell us more about your operational background and how this best serves your portfolio companies and your investors at Active Capital?
I have been an operator for over 26 years in several different industries which has allowed me to experience how to operate companies at many different stages, work through unique industry challenges and lead specialized teams to grow and scale businesses. That experience gives me the confidence to advise and actively support our startups because I know what they are working towards and can offer the right level of guidance, when it is most needed. When talking with our investors, they recognize my firm’s ability to be a special resource for our portfolio companies and are pleased to know that we are more than just capital to our founders.
You hold multiple board memberships including leading as a chair and/or trustee, for Geekdom, Mind Science Foundation, and Girls Inc of San Antonio. Would you like to share how and why you got involved with specifically those organizations, and your objectives working in leadership roles there?
In San Antonio, Geekdom is where local startups begin their journey. As a local city leader and investor, I want to ensure that our startup ecosystem has the right resources to help entrepreneurs launch and grow startups in our city. As Chairman of Geekdom, I can work closely with the board members and great staff of Geekdom to help shape the vision for the organization and install the best programs of entrepreneurial education to offer the community and help them build profitable companies.
In 2019, I learned about the impactful work that the Girls Inc. of San Antonio was doing in the city to educate and inspire our girls to be strong, smart, and bold and help them understand their full potential of reaching their goals to be empowered women. I quickly found tremendous fulfillment in serving on the Board of Girls Inc. to help bring support to their programming and I enjoy being a resource for girls.
This year I have joined the Mind Science Foundation, whose mission is focused on educating the public on consciousness and neuroscience. The organization helps fund and support early-stage researchers and offers accessible educational programs focused on this field of study. This effort is a new focus for me which I am energized by as I am learning so much about fields of study that highlights so much about our lives and how truly incredible the human mind works. We are ever reaching for more knowledge on the mind, and this is where the work of advanced research is happening.
You have been living such an adventurous life in your career. By age 20, you were already operating a salon & spa business, and went on to obtain experience in a variety of industries such as law, restaurant, manufacturing, and running the first technical team at Rackspace. Are there other industries you’re still curious about that you just haven’t gotten to yet?
I always enjoy learning about new business markets so Real Estate is the next investment category that I will be leaning into as it is the most traditional market for investing. I now see it go hand in hand along with many other investment opportunities that cross in many successful investment portfolios. While it is a new market to me, I know that there is a helpful network of investors that have many years of success in Real Estate. So, I will be able to draw on their experiences and advice to help me along on this new path.
You mentioned in previous interviews not being afraid of having a new love and passion in your career– but were there moments you felt of being lost, or that feeling of doom, that you might be moving in the wrong direction and if so, how could you tell, and how did you deal with this?
It wasn’t until I was in the middle of my technical career that I would learn something that would change my professional world. I realized that just because I was successful at my job, didn’t mean I loved or even enjoyed it. I did the work because it was what was expected or needed from me and I was proud of operating at a critically high level, but I wasn’t happy. When I talked about leaving, company leaders would ask me why I would leave something that I was so good at doing. For them, it didn’t make any sense.
I think some people stay in jobs that they are great at because they feel like this is what they are meant to do because they have the talent for it. But I trusted myself enough to know that I could find new things that I can be great at and that would bring me the joy and passion I wanted for myself. And I did.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges in the venture capital landscape, particularly in the B2B software space, and how do you navigate them to drive success for your portfolio companies?
I tend to find that startups that are looking for VC funding are moving so fast that they aren't thinking about how to present their company metrics or know how to talk through their go to market strategy for growth. A lot of founders struggle with this, which makes fundraising harder. I believe that working with them and helping them understand the path to get to their next level is truly important.
Usually, after our initial investment, we work closely with the startup to show them what we're looking for, how we look at the business to make it grow. We have seen not only an increase in growth but also see the founders’ knowledge grow on how to operate better overall.
On the topic of landscapes, let’s talk about the history and the current landscape of San Antonio. You’ve seen the city change so much– what are your favorite places to eat, activities to do in town? Have any remained the same, and/or are there interesting new establishments you like to patronize?
San Antonio’s landscape has changed so much over the years. Today, we have several areas around town that make our city unique. We have an elevated family-style culture at The Pearl, that is home to several restaurants with changing menus and a range of casual to posh sceneries.
Downtown, we have a few more hotels that bring to life the restaurants and art installations along the River Walk. On the edges of town, we have a few destination resorts/spas and theme parks that are a real treat for all, from the tourists to San Antonians looking to relax.
What do you think are the opportunities for Texas’ future that you look forward to, and how will or how might San Antonio fit into that?
I think Texas VCs and Angel Networks are building a special network and collaborating more now than ever before. With the new firms that have launched in Texas and other Investment Firms that have setup offices in Texas, we now have more opportunities to get our Texas Startups funded. With that being said, we are seeing more successful capital raises and more interest from first time entrepreneurs to start a business.
You’ve been nominated and a finalist for the Investor of the Year Award at the Champions of Change event, a well-deserved recognition by DivInc and Notley. Congratulations on that and for being amongst such great professionals in the industry. Would you like to share with us about your efforts in the diversity space and what are you excited about?
At Geekdom, I championed the effort to launch a Womens Founder Network to promote local female entrepreneurs in SA. We conduct monthly networking events and have grown in our first year and we have over 60 members in the network.
I support many local initiatives to support women in venture or women in tech. I will always accept an invitation to participate in pitch competitions, discussion panels or mentoring opportunities that support women founders.
View more about Cat Dizon on her Texas Venture membership page here.