When faced with an existential crisis in business, tech founders are left with three basic but tough decisions: maintain the status quo, change markets, or shut down the business.  Prior to the pandemic, our guest, Fatima Dicko had launched a rapidly growing business which served as the “Craigslist” for college campuses.  When universities shut down, she found herself pondering which of the three decisions she would make.   Today, Fatima is leading the charge as an innovator in proptech.  Her team at Sugar is closing on a $2.5mm funding round to enable their mission to bring connectivity to residential living.  In this episode, Fatima gives a live sample of her investor pitch.  It was completely unplanned, and she nailed it! Make sure you tune in!   Founder Bio: Fatima Dicko is the Founder & CEO of Sugar. Sugar makes residential properties feel like home by fostering community among residents and integrating deeply with the technology stack that powers modern buildings. The company has raised VC funding from some of the top investors in the PropTech sector. Before Sugar, she worked as the youngest senior engineer on a product innovation team at Procter & Gamble, receiving several awards such as ‘Most Transformative Product Research’ and the P&G ‘Global Innovation Seed Fund Grant’. Fatima came to the U.S. from Mali at a young age and grew up in New York City, receiving her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University and MBA from Stanford Business School.  Fatima is a frequent mentor and volunteer for organizations such as Built By Girls, Black Girls Code and MLT.   Timestamps: 2:36  What Fatima and her family moved from Mali, Africa to New York City 5:26  The decision to study chemical engineering at Columbia Univ. 6:45  Developing products 3-5 years from going to market (at P&G) 11:10  Getting started as an entrepreneur + Uncomfortable conversations with parents 14:00  Humble beginnings and overcoming failure on the path to entrepreneurial success 19:20  Pivoting: Launching Sugar as a “hyper-local Craigslist” on college campuses 21:15  Should I shutdown? How Fatima decided what to do after COVID shutdown college campuses 27:28  Fatima’s approach to raising a $2.5mm VC round 32:51  The little known secret to interacting with investors 36:57  Fatima’s experience building an MVP and the VERY interesting way she found her CTO