Marcus Stroud '16 - Overcoming the Odds
2/15/2021
Each year, D CEO magazine announces the “Dallas 500”, a list of the 500 most influential business leaders in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This list regularly features names like Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones. In 2020, it featured its youngest-ever member, a linebacker-turned-executive, Marcus Stroud ’16.
A Venture Capitalist, Stroud is co-founder and General Partner at TXV Partners, which is based in Austin and has a presence in San Francisco. The fund is focused on software and consumer technology with a specific focus within health, wellness and fitness.
Stroud was also a four-year member of the Princeton University football team and was a member of the Tiger squad that won an Ivy League title in 2013.
By any measure, things are going well for Stroud. In his mid-20’s he’s twice been recognized (2020 and 2021) alongside the titans of business in the thriving economic region that is North Texas. He’s appeared on NBC’s Press Here: Silicon Valley, TechCrunch, Venture Capital Journal, CrunchBase, Austin Business Journal, Axios and AfroTech. He made lifelong friends and won a championship ring at Princeton. Stroud has a lot to feel positive about.
It wasn’t always that way. Far from it.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, Stroud’s family lost everything and he was left homeless.
A friend, Jake Raulerson, who was a high school All-American football player and went on to play at Texas and Arkansas, sent out a mass email to college coaches with Stroud’s film. Years later, Stroud was best man at Raulerson’s wedding.
“One of those schools was Princeton,” said Stroud. “Coach Verbit got back to me via that email and asked about hopping on a call the next day. I remember hearing the phone and he said ‘Hey, my name is Steve Verbit from Princeton and I'd love to talk to you. We love your film and we'd love to start the process of recruiting you.’
I'm just like, are you guys KIDDING ME? Princeton wants to recruit me?Marcus Stroud
They started calling my Counselor (Denise Moore) and my AP English teacher (Adria Butcher). They called me into the classroom and told me Princeton wanted ‘This, this and this from us. Let's get to work.’ It hit me then that, gosh, wait a minute, I'm really signing up to potentially go to Princeton.”
All of this seemed surreal to Stroud, a young man who been through so much already.
Not wanting to get his hopes up and potentially suffer another heartbreak, he stopped returning calls and closed himself off from those, whether it be coaches or counselors, who were helping him navigate the process.
When his Counselor asked one of his favorite teachers for a letter of recommendation, the teacher told Stroud’s Counselor he didn’t want to “set Marcus up for failure.” Several of Stroud’s “friends” also did not see Princeton as a reality for him and thought his recruiting process would fizzle out.
That was not the only negativity Stroud dealt with during that time. Voted the first Black Class President in the history of his high school, a title he held all four years, the local newspaper ran a story on Stroud called “The Face of Prosper.” He notes that this story drew some backlash and it was the moment his mother told him he had no choice but to go to an excellent school, Stanford or above, and that he was meant to lead.
“My desire to attend an incredible institution was all as a result of my mother,” said Stroud. “She believed in me and pushed me more than anyone ever has.”
Fortunately, there were others who also believed in Stroud. Moore and Butcher did everything they could to ensure he got into Princeton.
“It got to the point where they called my mother, she didn't know about any of this,” explained Stroud. “She came and found me at a friend's house and said ‘Get your bleep-bleep behind out of here! We're about to go finish this application.’”
Stroud re-dedicated himself to the process. While he was always strong academically, his class at Princeton was highly-competitive so he re-took a few tests to ensure he’d get accepted.
The day before they flew to Dallas to talk Stroud and a few other recruits, Head Coach Bob Surace and Verbit had gotten word of whether or not Stroud had gotten accepted to Princeton.
“My whole high school was freaking out,” proclaimed Stroud. “All the coaches, all the teachers a couple of my friends, some parents, everybody was in the office just waiting for the coaches to come in there and say whether or not I got accepted. When Coach Verbit and Coach Surace both walk in with their black Princeton vests the big P on it, they're like ‘Hey Marcus, we just got word from the admissions office that if you want to be a Tiger you've been accepted.’
Everybody started crying, screaming, jumping up and down and doing cartwheels. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life.Marcus Stroud
As improbable as it seems, Stroud’s acceptance to Princeton was foreshadowed by an event in his youth, a happier time.
Pre-financial crisis in 2008, Stroud’s family was thriving in business and real estate and his house was chosen by then Senator Barack Obama’s campaign to host a fundraising event. Stroud’s younger brother happened to be wearing a Princeton beanie that day, which caused the future President to crack a joke about Michelle's alma matter.
Stroud’s mother made an off-hand comment about it being incredible if one her children would attend Princeton one day, to which Obama responded that “It would.”
Once he got to Princeton, Stroud was faced with a new set of challenges. His mother was unable to help him move in and he had never been on a taxi or a train, so he was forced to figure things out in the fly.
“I was so grateful for my teammates' parents that helped me get acclimated,” said Stroud. “I was especially grateful for Torii and Katrina Hunter - for visiting me right before camp started to help with getting my room situated, as well as just giving me words of comfort to know that everything would be okay.”
There were several bumps in the road; in his third game he tore his hip flexor and ended up with two hernias. He bombed a midterm, began to get frustrated with himself and thought about transferring.
“I then sat down with Dean Tara Kinsey, Dean Patrick Caddeau, and Coach Surace,” explained Stroud. “They inspired me. They helped me create a plan to get back on track and helped me every step of the way. They were incredible resources for me all four years, I truly can’t state how significant Dean Caddeau was for me from my first day in Forbes.”
That meeting proved to be a turning point for Stroud. He won a conference championship in 2013 and went on to start at inside linebacker. He learned valuable life lessons and went on to treasure his time at Princeton.
“Honestly, I can't overstate how important and how incredible Princeton is - if you allow it to be,” said Stroud. “Princeton has changed my life in ways that I can't even really put into words. It wasn't just the fact that I went through my undergraduate there. I have folks from and around Princeton who serve as incredible mentors and voices for me in business now. When I've had really tough times in business, it was Princeton alumni who guided me, showed me the ropes and taught me a lot.”
Post-Princeton, Stroud worked as a fixed income analyst in New York City for MarketAxess. He then moved to Texas to work for multi-billion-dollar asset manager Vida Capital. Following that, he entered the venture capital world with the Clubhouse Investment Group based out of Dallas, Texas, a venture group of celebrities and athletes. Despite his individual success, what fires him up the most is uplifting others.
Stroud is passionate about highlighting the successes, amplifying the voices of and inspiring the next generation of African-Americans in the private equity, venture capital and technology space.
“It's so easy to look at tech and point to folks like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, private equity titans and venture capitalists like Peter Thiel and Stephen Schwarzman," said Stroud. “There are so many incredible African-Americans in these spaces that haven't had the platform that those folks have had.”
Therefore, their voices can't be amplified. If more young African-Americans know that those people exist, you may start to see more African-Americans try to get into industries like private equity, venture capital and technology and start their own businesses.Marcus Stroud
“If I can amplify the voices of people like Princeton alumni such as John Rogers Jr. and Kneeland Youngblood, then that will make me feel good because I'm showing young Black boys and girls you don't have to be what the world tells you that you have to be, whether that's an athlete or a musician or whatever,” proclaimed Stroud. "You can be in the upper echelon of our society, in terms of what we value as success. That’s what I want to do, not just this month, but that's my passion for life.”
While his life’s passion is to inspire and uplift African-Americans in the tech world, Stroud is keenly aware of the importance of Black History Month. He believes it should not be the only time in which people shine a light on the excellence and success of African-Americans throughout our nation's history, but also loves the opportunity to shine a light on the excellence of African-Americans throughout our nation's history.
It’s a chance to honor the accomplishments of African-Americans throughout our nation’s history, a chance to educate society on the systemic challenges that still prevent upward mobility for tons of African-Americans, and a chance to amplify the black voices shaping our country today.Marcus Stroud
Stroud has already started to see his vision play out in real-time. Following his appearance on NBC's Press Here, he received a letter from an inmate at San Quentin State Prison saying he had watched the interview.
“He told us that he was inspired to start his own company after he got out of prison,” said Stroud. “He was taking entrepreneurial classes and was developing the skills necessary to thrive. It was that moment I knew what we were doing was not being done in vain. It was truly the most humbling thing.”
This month and every month, Stroud, a young man who has risen to remarkable heights from humble beginnings, will continue to live his passion.
