Black Entrepreneur Experience
Description
What happens after you successfully build a company and experience an exit?
For entrepreneur Su Sanni, it meant taking what he learned from one venture and applying it to a new problem: affordable transportation in communities underserved by public transit.
In Episode #583 of Black Entrepreneur Experience, Dr. Frances sits down with Su Sanni, CEO of Dollar Ride, a mobility company focused on making affordable transportation more accessible, particularly in transit deserts.
Su shares the story of his first company, WeDidIt, a technology platform for nonprofit fundraising that was acquired by Allegiance Fundraising Group in 2019. He explains what he learned about building a company that creates value for potential partners and acquirers—and why an acquisition can take years to develop.
He then explains how his personal experience growing up in a transit desert, combined with his family's history in New York City's dollar-van industry, inspired the creation of Dollar Ride.
Su talks about identifying an underserved market, listening to drivers and riders, building technology around an existing community-based transportation model, and creating partnerships that could help expand access to affordable transportation.
In this conversation, Su discusses:
• Building a company with value creation in mind • Understanding what makes a business attractive to a potential buyer • Transitioning from one venture to the next • Identifying business opportunities through personal experience • Building around an underserved market • Listening to customers and potential users • Creating partnerships to support growth • Staying nimble when circumstances change • Experimenting with new business models • Learning to think differently about the future • Building companies designed to create economic opportunity • The importance of having the right people around you
Su also shares one piece of advice he continues to work on himself: everything you think will happen may take twice as long.
This From the Vault conversation looks at entrepreneurship beyond the initial startup launch—building value, recognizing opportunities, adapting to changing circumstances, and using business to address real-world problems.
Guest: Su Sanni CEO, Dollar Ride