Bill Spruill is the former Co-Founder and CEO of Global Data Consortium (GDC), which was acquired by the London Stock Exchange Group, making Bill one of the most successful African-American technology founders in the U.S.
He began his enterprise software career at the SAS Institute before leading a series of successful ventures focused on international address verification, matching, and data quality.
As an active angel investor, Bill has a proven history of successful exits, including DocFox (sold to nCino), Union Metrics (sold to TrendKite/Cision), Magnus Health (private equity acquisition), and Loqate (acquired by GB Group UK). He has also mentored more than 80 companies through early- and mid-stage growth and exit.
Currently, Bill leads 2ndF, his family office dedicated to driving high-outcome wealth creation through participation in the high-growth technology ecosystem. His work focuses on supporting both the founder community in Research Triangle Park, NC, and minority technology founders nationwide. 2ndF pursues these missions through a combination of for-profit investment activities as well as philanthropic investments in programs and initiatives.
Bill serves on the boards of the Center for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) and Triangle Family Services. He is also a Non-Executive Director at nCino Inc. and a proud new member of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Advisory Council.
Bill attended Northrop University in Los Angeles and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
1.) What is in your pockets?
I’ve got my wallet and keys, and often my passport.
2.) What exciting thing has happened recently for you or your organization?
2ndF, which we call Second Foundation, is my family office. We have a team of five full-time people. I’m just the old man who sits in the backroom and rumbles, but this awesome team does the day-to-day work. Second Foundation is focused on one core thing: wealth creation. We believe that wealth creation for founders and the founding team is the catalyst for growth.
We focus on wealth creation in two distinct aspects. One is related to the Research Triangle Park region and the creation among deep-tech and big-tech founders.
Secondly, we focus on wealth creation nationwide amongst people-of-color founders. That’s a big area of focus for me personally. We’re focused on driving programs that support wealth creation. We work on educating founders and their founding teams around preserving equity so that they drive more wealth from their transactions. We also help founders and others find the right set of investors that will help drive their businesses to higher outcomes.
The most recent exciting thing was that we launched a program called the Minority Achievers Initiative. We selected a cohort of aspirational founders from around the country who were building big-tech, deep-tech-type businesses and brought them together. We did it in partnership with American Underground first in October and again in January, and that was a fantastic program. A cohort said, “This is the work that needs to be done,” and I’m thrilled to be doing that work.
3.) What is your favorite coffee spot?
The Morning Times [in Raleigh].
4.) What keeps you up at night?
Wealth creation and how to help founders better understand the value of their equity as they’re growing their businesses. One of the biggest challenges is to educate founders on the notion [that] valuation of their business in terms of venture funding isn’t the metric to focus on. You want to instead focus on growth and revenue, and then valuation comes with that focus. I see many founders who trade their equity cheaply for funding and then, later, don’t receive nearly the wealth creation that they should have gotten. If we can solve that problem, then the rest takes care of itself.
In today’s world, the friction on globalism and cross-border trade also concerns me. My company, for instance, was acquired by a foreign company: the London Stock Exchange Group. I do worry because some of the walls that we are building now in the U.S will restrict and inhibit certain foreign transactions that could lower long-term valuations because of the limited market opportunity.
5.) What is your favorite restaurant or happy hour?
La Terraza. When I am in town, I eat lunch often at Sullivan’s on Glenwood Avenue. It does a proper lunch, and it’s one of the few places you can slip into. PRESS on Hillsborough Street is a favorite. It’s easy walking distance from the office, relatively easy to get a table, and we enjoy entertaining there.
6.) What is next for you or your organization?
What’s next is happening now. I’m a very active angel investor in the community, but it’s all driven toward wealth creation. I’m not going to use the term “legacy building,” but I’m in this next chapter of life already. This is the chapter in which I intend to remain and do good things for both the Triangle locally as well as for the black and brown community nationwide.
I just joined the board of the Smithsonian National African American Museum in Washington, D.C. I’m very much trying to engage on that level in life. On the other side of that equation is enjoying life as much as I can. I’ll be traveling a fair bit over the next three months, including a month or so in Australia, back to the U.S., and then to Europe. [I went to] the Final Four and enjoy the fact that I worked really hard to achieve the success that I have. This also highlights why wealth creation matters for founders. It means that I can enjoy life, do good work, and not have to worry about doing the next thing in order to build on the wealth because I’ve already achieved the necessary level of wealth.
