# Unicorn Founder Julia Collins Shares Entrepreneurship Lessons The first Black woman to co-found a billion-dollar startup reveals her fundraising strategies - **Source:** [Entrepreneur – Latest](https://brifing.si/source/1bee40f8-abda-4cd6-b055-05148ce79f53) - **Published:** 2026-08-26 - **Topic:** [Entrepreneurship](https://brifing.si/c/entrepreneurship) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/69ea11d3-c45a-4540-a4bc-885f6abf630f ## Zume Pizza: Path to Unicorn Status In 2015, Julia Collins co-founded Zume Pizza with Alex Garden, pioneering automated pizza production. The company reached unicorn status in 2018 with a $1B+ valuation, making Collins the first Black woman to co-found a billion-dollar startup. Zume's innovative model combined robotics and AI with food delivery, disrupting traditional pizza industry operations through technology-driven efficiency. ## Pivoting to Sustainability with Planet FWD After leaving Zume in 2018, Collins shifted focus to climate tech with Planet FWD. The platform helps brands measure and reduce their carbon footprint, particularly in food and retail sectors. Collins successfully raised over $500 million for this venture, demonstrating her ability to identify and execute on emerging market opportunities while addressing pressing environmental challenges. ## Early Lessons at Mexicue Collins' entrepreneurial journey began in 2010 as the first employee at Mexicue, a Mexican-American BBQ concept that grew from a NYC food truck. This experience taught her capital efficiency without VC backing, relying solely on profitability for growth. She gained firsthand understanding of product-market fit - how businesses flourish when meeting genuine market needs versus struggling with misaligned offerings. ## Building the Right Team Collins emphasizes that regardless of industry or product, success ultimately depends on the people behind it. Even in the AI era, she maintains that human ingenuity drives solutions. Her team-building approach at both Zume and Planet FWD prioritizes cultural alignment and diversity. She actively cultivates environments where different perspectives fuel innovation and problem-solving. ## $500M in Funding Insights Having raised over half a billion dollars, Collins shares nuanced advice on investor selection. She warns founders not to be dazzled by term sheets with impressive numbers, stressing that the highest offer isn't always the best. Thorough due diligence includes investigating how potential investors have treated founders across various outcomes - successful exits, moderate results, and even failures. ## Valuation ≠ Self-Worth Collins identifies a critical founder pitfall: conflating company valuation with personal value. She explains that valuations often don't reflect reality, making them poor metrics for personal success. Maintaining this distinction proves essential for entrepreneurial mental health. Her perspective helps founders navigate the emotional rollercoaster of fundraising without tying self-esteem to financial metrics. ## Authentic Leadership Advantage "When I tried to be less nice, I sounded ridiculous," Collins advocates for authentic leadership. As an underrepresented profile in tech, she found that being genuine built lasting credibility. Her experiences demonstrate how artificial personas alienate both teams and investors over time. This approach particularly resonates with diverse founders navigating predominantly homogeneous venture spaces. ## Expanding Representation in Tech Collins' achievements establish her as a powerful role model for underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship. Her dual impact across technology and sustainability creates meaningful change. She actively mentors women and minority founders to improve representation in venture funding. Her journey exemplifies the potential for a more inclusive startup ecosystem that leverages diverse perspectives for innovation. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.entrepreneur.com/building-a-business/first-black-woman-to-co-found-a-unicorn-company-breaks-down-her-business-advice-julia-collins — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._