Samyr Laine and his spouse, Ayanna Alexander-Laine, began Freedom Path Capital in 2023 and are working their means towards a $50 million fund.
Each are former Olympians who competed for Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, within the triple soar. Now they put their grit and willpower to work for founders eager to launch and scale client manufacturers.
“I love people and connecting with people,” Alexander-Laine instructed TechCrunch. “We know how to merge talent and business, and found that athletes are good in these spaces. We also have the stamina to conquer other things and other entities outside of sports.”
They, together with a 3rd basic companion, Ivan Lopez, have invested in seven startups to date with a small first fund shut. These embrace a hair care firm by Issa Rae known as Sienna Naturals; a pet product firm began by Kaley Cuoco known as Oh Norman!; Ciara’s Ten to One Rum; and Kudos, a diaper firm backed by Mark Cuban and Gwyneth Paltrow.
There are one other seven investments within the pipeline as Freedom Path Capital continues to lift capital, Laine instructed TechCrunch.
To the Olympics and past
Laine is aware of what it’s like to begin and scale corporations. He was beforehand working as senior vice chairman of operations and technique at Westbrook, the enterprise agency based by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. He additionally frolicked as director of operations at Roc Nation, working with Jay-Z. In the meantime, Alexander-Laine is getting her doctorate in enterprise administration and can concentrate on healthcare finance and healthcare inequities.
Laine additionally is aware of what it’s prefer to fail. He tried out for the monitor group within the seventh grade and ended up being minimize the following yr. It wasn’t till he was a junior in highschool that he determined to attempt once more with monitor, this time getting severe with the triple soar.
All was good, although. Laine ended up going to Harvard and setting some monitor information with the group. He additionally was roommates with Mark Zuckerberg. That they had a four-person dorm room freshman yr, and so they even shared bunk beds. Laine ended up being perhaps the eleventh particular person to get on Fb and try it out, he mentioned. He additionally was a trivia query on the present “Cash Cab” about which Olympian was roommates with Zuckerberg, Laine mentioned.
“Mark was always a builder, and we knew he was going to do something tremendous, of course,” Laine mentioned.
When Laine transferred to The College of Texas, he was uncovered to a brand new world of monitor and discipline. Teammates there competed on a unique degree, as many had been world junior champions. Laine competed in his first Pan-American Video games in 2007. He additionally tried out for the Olympics in 2008 and missed competing within the triple soar by just a few centimeters.
He was balancing coaching and going to legislation college at Georgetown College when he tried out for the Olympics once more in 2012 and certified. Lots of people instructed him it was an excessive amount of, however now when anybody asks him for recommendation, he tells them to “go do the thing you won’t be able to do.”
“I thought if I could go to law school and balance it, I could get there,” Laine mentioned. “At that point, I was No. 7 in the world in the triple jump, and going to the London games, my goal was to win Haiti’s first medal since 1928. I qualified for the finals but didn’t end up getting a medal.”
For 10 years, Laine and Alexander-Laine competed world wide as professionals in monitor and discipline. Laine realized from his UT teammates learn how to earn money doing that. He was additionally in a position to get sponsorships and financial help from the Worldwide Olympic Committee.
Working for Will Smith and Jay-Z
After that, he had some further careers in sports activities earlier than he obtained into leisure and brand-building at Roc Nation. Laine labored with Jay-Z to construct and scale his manufacturers that embrace spirits, attire, hashish and a guide publishing division. He even managed some platinum recording artists. From there, he went to Westbrook to do comparable issues for Smith and Pinkett Smith. He was there for 4 years earlier than beginning Freedom Path Capital.
“I wasn’t necessarily allocating capital and investing, but I did have a front-row view into some of the investment decisions that Roc Nation’s fund made,” Laine mentioned. “I am an operator at heart, so it gives me a unique perspective on how we do diligence on investment opportunities and can support our portfolio companies.”
Freedom Path Capital’s thesis is to put money into talent-led companies, and he actually is aware of what he’s searching for. Laine has helped Smith and Jay-Z achieve success with a few of their manufacturers, however has additionally seen some circumstances the place talent-led manufacturers didn’t go the best way they have been alleged to.
Now that he’s on the opposite facet as an investor, Laine mentioned it’s his job to guard and vouch for the entrepreneurs whereas additionally defending his restricted companions from what appears like a nasty funding.
“Having been at a place where I know what it takes for these brands to win, we’re looking at our portfolio very differently than most people,” Laine mentioned.
Not each product has what it takes, he mentioned. Freedom Path Capital is searching for merchandise which have product-market match, in fact. If there’s a celeb behind it, there needs to be a great connection between the particular person and product, and the particular person has to need to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
Laine mentioned there have been instances when he handled a star who wasn’t keen to do a photograph shoot or go to Goal to advertise the product.
“We’re not just talking about endorsements anymore,” Laine mentioned. “We’re talking about you owning a significant part of this company. I’ve seen things fall by the wayside, and really promising brands and companies fail as a result.”
