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In the first months that President Trump has been in office, his administration has made multiple moves affecting the rights and protections of LGBTQ people.
Though some of Trump’s executive actions have been blocked by courts, most LGBTQ people in the US remain wary of Trump’s policies, including LGBTQ entrepreneurs seeking funding for their business ventures.
“With the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that’s already been put in place and what Trump has already said that he wants to do, or is hinting towards, I think there may be more investors that are a little bit nervous to put into LGBTQ+ startups — especially those that are in the media space,” Elliot Tomaeno, an angel investor and the founder of Astrsk PR, said on an episode of the Living Not So Fabulously podcast that aired Feb. 12.
Tomaeno shared his advice for LGBTQ founders, saying that though things may seem bleak, he believes that not all hope is lost to get your startup off the ground.
For starters, Tomaeno cautioned business owners to “stay out of politics” if it’s not an integral part of one’s company.
“If you don’t have to be political, don’t be right now,” Tomaeno said. “I think we do need a lot of LGBTQ+ founders out there championing and making sure that we don’t see some of this legislation go through. But I do think if you’re in a space that doesn’t have anything to do with politics, maybe stay out of politics for the moment.”
Though Tomaeno admitted this may be “disempowering” to some, he recommended “not courting any controversy” in the current political climate.
“Nobody wants to hear the same thing that everybody else is saying out there in the media,” Tomaeno continued. “If you don’t have something unique to say, maybe don’t say anything at all.”
This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, though. He found that with some clients, publicly sharing a value that’s “a little bit left of center, if you really believe it,” has shown positive results.
“I saw that some of our clients that did the best were those that weren’t afraid to take risks, weren’t afraid to say something that maybe was slightly unpopular,” he said. “But it was something that was really true to the core of their business and what they believed in.”
For the most part, Tomaeno said the investment outlook will likely be muddied until venture capitalists and angel investors see how proposed legislation pans out, as their investing habits tend to go hand in hand.
