Jaclyn Johnson
speaker
489 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 27 Apr
Jaclyn Johnson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Friends That Invest · Investing Tips from a Successful Angel Investor | Jaclyn Johnson · 27 Apr 2026
podcast
So we're ready.
I think the angel investing markets are about to break wide open, especially as VC moves further and further away from early stage.
I know it's very frustrating, believe me.
But yeah, I would love, obviously, anyone who's interested, I can send you a link to join the private room and apply.
It'll be really fun.
And there should be a friends at best private room.
Yeah, it has evolved over time, but essentially Create & Cultivate is the largest media and events company for ambitious women. We're most well known for our large-scale conferences, which we host all across the country and hopefully world, where we bring together CEOs, content creators, and celebrities to talk about business.
I had sold my first company. So I had a company before Create and Cultivate. It was a marketing events and influencer agency. And I, again, when I started that company, I had no idea about selling companies. I had no idea that company would even be sellable. And so essentially when an offer came through to acquire that business, it was a whole new world for me.
I was trying to figure out what does this look like? What is the financial piece of it? What's due diligence? So I was basically a masterclass in selling a company and kind of doing it on my own. And after I sold that company, I realized like, oh, this is how you make real money as a founder, obviously creating something that someone wants that's valuable to that person. So I got a taste for it.
So when I was launching Create and Cultivate, which had already existed pre the acquisition of that company, I realized like, wow, this is something that has real opportunity to sell. At the time, most women's media companies were about Beauty, fashion, lifestyle with a sprinkling of career, whereas we were all careers.
So we had this big opportunity, I thought, to create something that would be very much acquirable.
Yes. Okay. So the timeline is crazy. So the first Create and Cultivate actually happened in 2011. So early, early days, but so small. Truly, I knew everyone that was there. It was maybe 25 women. And it grew organically year over year, I would say, as sort of a new business vehicle for that marketing agency. Like I really didn't treat it like a business.
It was really like selfishly to meet cool women and throw cool events. But I would say the turning point was, I would say, 2015 for Create and Cultivate, where it got big enough that I brought on a partner into that company, invested my own capital into it, and was like, this is a serious thing.
And then the other business was acquired in 2016, which, again, was another big year for Create and Cultivate. I stayed on board with that company for a year after selling it and did both full time, which I highly do not recommend. Very brutal. Yes. And so I did that. And then I went full time at Create and Cultivate after that.
I think circumstance really. I had moved to Los Angeles from New York. I'd always worked in corporate. So it was like a corporate girly and essentially got to LA and got laid off and didn't know anyone.
crazy. So I worked for Interactive Corporation. I see. I worked at CitySearch. I don't know if you remember CitySearch. But yeah, so I worked for them and then basically was laid off after three months. And it was really challenging for me for a number of reasons. One, I just moved to a city where I knew no one. Two, LA at the time, this is 2009, was entertainment and entertainment really only.
There was really no industries and I obviously had no experience in entertainment coming from New York.
and three was like my identity was really wrapped up in being a successful career woman so getting laid off was not part of the narrative i was trying to build and so after that i essentially was applying for jobs not getting anywhere and started freelancing for clients and so built up that roster enough to bring on another employee ended up getting office space ended up launching an agency by happenstance just as an aside you mentioned you got laid off which can be so painful have you ever been on the other side of that have you ever had to do a layoff
Yes, we had to do a small amount of layoffs during COVID, which was awful. I actually was very proud about how many people we kept on being that we were in events business. But yeah, it was awful. But I haven't had to do that in any other kind of circumstance. And I think COVID was a special one for sure. Not ideal, though, obviously for anyone.
Oh, yeah. So we were bootstrapped. So it was obviously everything is felt 10 times more, I think, when you're bootstrapped.
Showing 341–360 of 489 · page 18 of 25
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