Ila Corcoran talks Stewardship, Community, Becoming an Angel Investor and so much more

Ila Corcoran started in real estate at 18, hosting open houses and working in property management offices while she was still in college. At a real estate startup she did about $80 million in deals and helped grow the team from 5 people to 35. Then a Black-owned wealth management firm recruited her, and she saw how much of investing is gated by who counts as "accredited." That led her to start Sengo. Sengo's mission is to reimagine fundraising and investing through education, community and access. It's a platform for pre-seed to Series A founders and for people who want to angel invest but don't know where to start. Ila says it has 880+ members, and its programming has led to over $38,000 in grants that went to founders who have since raised more than $6M. In this episode we talk about: How she got into real estate at 18 and what those early jobs taught her What opened her eyes to private markets How accreditation works and why so many people get it wrong How to start angel investing, even with $5,000 a year How Sengo supports founders and investors How the pitch competition started, and what's coming in November THE SENGO PITCH COMPETITION Ila and I run a pitch competition together, in partnership with Sengo. Five companies pitch live in front of expert investor judges and an audience: 5 minutes to pitch, 2 minutes of Q&A. The judges pick a winner who takes home $1,000, and the audience picks a favorite who gets a $500 Audience Choice Award. It's a real way to practice your pitch, get feedback and meet people who can help you. The final competition of 2026 is Wednesday, November 4. Applications close Sunday, October 25. Apply here: https://joinwestpeek.com/pitch Good People Should Meet Good People is a podcast from West Peek Community. We have conversations to expand people's worlds. Guest: Ila Corcoran, Founder of Sengo (@bysengo) Host: Scooter Taylor Recorded at WTF Media Studios. 0:00 Intro: Good People Should Meet Good People 0:50 Meet Ila Corcoran, founder of Sengo 3:39 Being a big sister, teaching and always learning 6:06 Starting in real estate at 18 10:32 The real estate startup: $80M in deals, 5 people to 35 16:22 Private markets, accreditation and why Ila started Sengo 19:03 Building the Sengo community 20:29 The grant tracker and $1M+ in grants 23:59 Angel investing: Ila's first investments 27:58 Do you need to be rich to angel invest? 32:05 How the pitch competition started 34:37 Prizes and success stories 39:11 How to apply to the pitch competition 40:13 Ila on money, stress and long-term planning 44:24 Closing