Taj Eldridge: No fear, just legacy
The venture capitalist and innovation educator, and trusted advisor discusses the decisions that made him.
Taj is the co-founder and managing partner at Include Ventures and the managing director for Climate Innovations at Jobs for the Future. His leadership spans capital deployment, policy engagement, and inclusive economic development.
He is known for championing underrepresented founders and driving systemic change through strategic investment. Read more about him:
Ritika: You are such a known force and pillar in the VC community. So many people look up to you.
What were you like when you were younger? Could you have imagined that you would be a venture capitalist?
Taj: Absolutely not. I always say my parents were rich with knowledge, but not rich with wealth.
I grew up in an area of Dallas that was majority African-American, majority working class. Most kids my age back in the 80s had two aspirations: to be in sports or entertainment.
I loved to read.
I remember it was dangerous in our neighborhood, so I often stayed inside. I was just curious. I wanted to know what words meant, how to say things differently. I spent most of my time with the Encyclopedia Britannica and the thesaurus.
My mom saved up so much money to buy that encyclopedia set.
I didn’t learn about startups or venture capital until college. There was a gentleman named Reginald F. Lewis, a member of my fraternity. He was one of the first Black millionaires—before Oprah, before Bob Johnson. He made his money in private equity.
That was the first time I learned what alternative investments were. I remember seeing what he did, how he changed the food industry, and thinking: I want to do that.
Ritika: What was your path into VC? What were your college days like?
Taj: My path was definitely unconventional.
I studied poetry and literature. To be honest, I thought I was going to be a rapper.
So I figured, let me study the craft. Let me study poetry.
I didn’t become a rapper. I ended up working at Wells Fargo, which was my first job out of college.
And here’s the funny thing: I realized my background in literature helped me. I was able to attract customers because of how I told stories. That’s when I realized storytelling mattered. There’s a saying in sales: features tell, benefits sell.
And to sell benefits, you need to tell a good story.
I was horrible at math. I flunked college math courses. I never thought I’d work at a bank, but there I was. I had wanted to work at a newspaper, but the local paper in Dallas folded. This was 1997, right at the beginning of the internet wave.
I moved to Nevada on a whim. My roommates and I were sitting at home, and I said: I want to move. I threw a dart at a map. It landed near Vegas. The next day I packed my bags. I called apartment complexes on the drive over.
That move taught me I had an appetite for risk. Which later became useful as an entrepreneur.
In Vegas, I stayed with Wells Fargo and kept getting promoted. I ended up in California. I spent about a decade at Wells Fargo. Then I went to UBS Investment Bank. That’s where I started meeting high net worth folks—early MySpace investors, startup founders.
From there, I joined a private equity fund as Chief Economist. I’d finished my MBA and was working on my PhD in economics at Claremont. Around that time, I started investing my own money into startups. The first company I advised was in digital marketing. Then I got into e-commerce and social media.
I also became a COO. I ran a few of the companies I invested in. That gave me the founder perspective, which I think is critical in VC.
Eventually UC Riverside called me. They liked my work in the wine space. Wine is agriculture. It’s farming. Riverside is focused on agtech and cleantech. I became the first accelerator director at UC Riverside. We did a lot of outreach. We made Riverside the #4 place in the country for minority entrepreneurs, according to Forbes and Money Magazine.
Ritika: What needs to happen at a systems level to truly unlock funding for underrepresented founders?
Taj: To me, it’s never been a pipeline issue. It’s a relationship issue.
I’m in a historically Black fraternity. These relationships last beyond college. I know so many people with degrees in engineering, business, economics. The talent is there.
The problem is, VCs tend to back people they already know.
I’m glad groups like Backstage Capital and Harlem Capital started shifting that. Arlan Hamilton was often the first check for founders who went on to raise millions. But we need second checks too—who’s writing the Series A?
Ritika: Why does cleantech, particularly as a source of new value creation, need to prioritize diversity?
Taj: Because it’s not just tech. It’s infrastructure. It’s survival.
I’ll give you an example. When scooters came to LA, they all showed up on the west side. None in East LA. None in South LA.
At the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, we worked on a deployment strategy for scooters in those areas.
And guess what?
The scooters look different. They’re three-wheeled. They have baskets. Why?
Because people are using them for groceries. For commuting. Not just short joyrides.
Ritika: What do prospective cleantech founders need to know, particularly those who may be overlooked or disregarded for opportunity?
Taj: Start by educating yourself.
I love The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. A young kid in Malawi builds a windmill for his village after reading an engineering book. He solved a real problem.
There are a lot of problems left to solve. You just have to listen. Cleantech isn’t just apps. It’s fashion. It’s food. It’s waste. It’s logistics. It's survival.
Founders need to understand capital too. It’s not just venture.
There’s venture debt, grants, philanthropic capital, city pitch competitions. In one of my startups, we couldn’t raise traditional VC. So we strung together hundreds of thousands through pitch wins across the country. Non-dilutive.
Ritika: When you’re considering potential investments, what makes a founder stand out to you?
Taj: Resilience. Clarity. And no fear.
A few years ago, I was diagnosed with FSGS. It’s the same genetic kidney disease Alonzo Mourning had. It was life-threatening. It changed everything for me.
I stopped being afraid.
Most of the decisions we make in life are about fear. We stay in jobs because of fear. We delay our dreams because of fear. Once that was gone, I started making decisions that mattered.
We’re all going to die. That’s not morbid. That’s freedom.
If you’re not scared of losing everything, you can start building the things that last.
Portrait illustration by Kat Cao