entrepreneurship

Empowering Female Founders and Entrepreneurs of Color in Los Angeles and Beyond

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Spring, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti sat down with our Case Foundation VP for Social Innovation, Sarah Koch, at Urban Tech Connect, a conference designed to support and provide networks for startup founders of color.  Together they explored how the Los Angeles tech ecosystem has grown over the past several years—from a record numbers of startups calling LA their home to an influx of funding rounds and the many high-profile acquisitions and exits—and how important the building of ecosystems to support founders from all backgrounds has proven to be across the country.

In 2017 alone, startups throughout the the city of Los Angeles raised $7 billion in capital, through an upsurge in new investments and new firms. And more than $1.4 billion was raised in 2017 across 16 funds. During the conversation Mayor Garcetti shared how his office has sought to expand their startup ecosystem through programs like the Grid110’s and the creation of the TechFair LA which featured more than 200 leading regional startups.

Watch the video as Mayor Garcetti and Sarah share more on how we can be intentional about how we fund, mentor and support female founders and entrepreneurs of color in thriving cities like Los Angeles and beyond.

35 Impact Investing Conferences to Explore

Posted on by Case Foundation

At the Case Foundation, we hit the road each year to spread the word about Impact Investing movement. We also look to learn about the latest thinking in Impact Investing and work alongside all those who are expanding the world of investors looking for both a financial and social return. Along the way, we are continuously reminded of the impressive global community of impact investors who are dedicated to sharing their discoveries, failures and best practices, and we find these experiences invaluable for our work.

Interested in learning more about Impact Investing? Want to brush up on new opportunities and the latest thinking? Our team has pulled together a list of some of our favorite annual conferences and events where Impact Investing is on the agenda or is a favorite gathering place for those who are committed to investing for impact.

Check out this list of the 35 Impact Investing Conferences to Watch in the coming year and beyond.

  • Vatican Impact Investing Conference, July 8 – 11, 2018, Rome – Hosted by Catholic Relief Services and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Impact Investing experts and Catholic leaders from around the world will convene in Rome to share and evaluate blended finance models and investible vehicles to address systemic challenges of great importance to both the Catholic Church and the global community. These challenges include: Climate Change, Health, Migrants and Refugees, and Youth Unemployment.
  • The Impact Conference at Sustainatopia, July 17-21, 2018, Moscow – This conference gathers leading Global Impact + SRI investors, funds, social entrepreneurs, foundations, nonprofits, B Corporations and policy makers.  Attendees from more than 60 countries share their best practices from a global ecosystem of social, financial and environmental sustainability.
  • Impact Capitalism Summit Nantucket, July 18-19, 2018, Nantucket – Mainstreaming impact and showcasing stewards of capitalism are this year’s themes at the Impact Capitalism Summit run by Big Path Capital in Nantucket. This year’s conference will explore how institutional investors are finding market performance returns by looking at diversity as a potential source of arbitrage.
  • Endowments & Finance Summit, – September 6-7th, 2018, Washington, D.C. –  This summit is a forum at the nexus of philanthropy, finance, investment and policy where C-Suite foundation leaders go to explore the shifting forces in the investment landscape, gain invaluable insights on trends, strategies, and new regulations and have candid conversations about threats to business models.
  • North American Family Impact Investing Conference, September 26-27, 2018, San Diego – During the two days of this conference, family business, office and foundation owners and executives share experiences of Impact Investing and debate the key opportunities and challenges that they face. Meanwhile, experts in academia and industry discuss the infrastructure and how Impact Investing can be scalable.
  • Mashable’s Social Good Summit, September 2018, New York – Held annually during the United Nations General Assembly week, the Summit unites a lively community of global citizens and progressive thought leaders around a common theme: #2030NOW. Attendees focus on how we can unlock technology’s potential to make the world a better place. Past speakers have included Jean Case, Shazi Visram of Happy Family, Kathy Calvin of the UN Foundation, Matt Keller of XPRIZE and many more. Watch last year’s summit HERE.
  • Wealth Management Impact Investing Forum, September 2018, location TBD – The RIA Institute’s Wealth Management Impact Investing Forum gathers an intimate group of senior RIA, multi-family office and single-family office executives together with thought leaders and elite providers for an afternoon of discussion and debate about Impact Investing opportunities and risks for wealth managers. The forum focuses on the most critical Impact Investing trends in the individual investor industry and the specific ways in which wealth managers can incorporate these strategies into their portfolio profitably and with measurable impact.
  • Impact Investing Forum North, September 12-13, 2018, New York – The Impact Investing Forum North unites top influencers, both public and private experienced investors, money managers, and service providers that are leading the charge in the Impact Investing space. Defining Impact Investing, portfolio construction, asset class opportunities, and the role of the investor are just a few of the stimulating topics to be covered at this event hosted each year by the Opal Group.
  • Exponent Philanthropy, September 28-30, 2018, Philadelphia – The National conference offers timely and relevant educational content for staff, donors, and trustees at all levels of experience and serving all types of foundations (including community and family foundations) as well as individual donors, donor advised fund holders and managers, philanthropic service professionals, and thought leaders in the field of philanthropy.
  • Net Impact, October 25-27, Phoenix – For more than 25 years, the Net Impact Annual Conference has inspired and informed attendees on the most cutting edge and impactful ideas to change the world. An annual favorite, this event creates a space for the brightest young impact leaders from around the world. With specific paths mapped out for students, new graduates, emerging leaders, and those changing careers, all attendees will leave with their own map of their path to purpose. The event will explore examples of transformational change that defy traditional expectations.
  • GSG Impact Summit The SRI Conference, October 8-9, 2018, New Delhi – The Summit unites hundreds of impact leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, corporates, social sector and government leaders and leading market builders. Together they will explore current and future actions by the GSG, the National Advisory Boards and partners to catalyze the impact economies of the future.
  • High Water Women’s Investing for Impact Symposium, October 17, 2018, New York – High Water Women’s Investing for Impact Symposium has evolved into an important gathering for female impact investors who want to connect with other investors, advisors, and investment professionals. Topics include the practical realities of building an impact portfolio, the opportunities and challenges for acting, the latest developments in Impact Investing and women in the impact investment marketplace.
  • SOCAP, October 23-26, San Francisco – SOCAP convenes thousands of innovators in finance, entrepreneurship, business, government and philanthropy from across social and environmental issue areas to accelerate the market at the intersection of money and meaning.  
  • GIIN Investor Forum 2018, October 30-31st, Paris – The Forum provides a unique opportunity to gain insights from industry leaders, discuss cutting-edge research, and network with over 1,000 global practitioners. Whether you are currently making impact investments or exploring the opportunities, this is an opportunity to take part in the discussions shaping the future of the market. Speakers include executives from the the Rockefeller Foundation, Bain Capital, Blue Haven Initiative, MacArthur Foundation and Catholic Relief Services, to name a few.
  • The Fast Company Innovation Festival, November 2019, New York – Each Fall, thousands of attendees convene in New York City for Fast Company’s unique take on the field trip with 100 plus Fast Tracks. Attendees have the rare opportunity to go behind the scenes at New York City’s most innovative companies where they experience talks, workshops, demos, networking, and sponsor activations. The 92Y also host thought-provoking keynote sessions at companies like Charity: Water, Donors Choose, Swell Investing, Ellevest, Global Citizen, Instagram, Rent the Runway and more.
  • The SRI Conference, November 1–3, 2018, Colorado Springs -The SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing (formerly SRI in the Rockies) is the annual gathering of investors and investment professionals working to make money and direct the flow of investment capital toward a truly sustainable future. The SRI Conference is the place for professionals interested in responsible investing to learn and network with colleagues, and to grow and deepen their professional understanding of how to make money and make a difference—at the same time.
  • Social Finance Forum, November 7-8, 2018, Toronto –  Now in its 11th year, the Social Finance Forum, organized and convened by the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, attracts more than 500 investors, entrepreneurs, finance professionals, charity leaders and public service visionaries who are reshaping markets and ensuring that every dollar makes a difference.
  • Sorenson Winter Innovation Summit, February 6–8, 2019, Salt Lake City – The Winter Innovation Summit is the premier cross-industry event in social impact, innovation and investing. Earlier this year the Summit brought together policy makers, funders, nonprofits, and social entrepreneurs to explore the future of social innovation across the globe. More than 700 guests unite for the latest breakthroughs in social impact, innovation, and investing, skiing the greatest snow on Earth and experiencing the 2018 Sundance Film Festival which takes place the same week.
  • World-Changing Women’s Summit, February 2019, location TBD – gathers the most successful women in conscious business for conversations on developing yourself as an authentic, conscious leader in the workplace, how to develop a more inclusive workplace culture, best practices for raising capital and how you can scale your company while staying true to your values. Last year’s gathering included female influencers from Google, the Beneficial State Bank, Solstice, SheO, Pipeline Angels, Seed Spot and B Lab.
  • Economist Impact Investing Forum, February 2019, location TBD – Join Economist editors and 200 financiers, institutional investors, policymakers, academics, impact investors and philanthropists at the second iteration of Investing for Impact: risk, return and the future of the world. This past February speakers included National Geographic Chair and Case Foundation CEO Jean Case, Audrey Choi of Morgan Stanley, Case Foundation board member Sonal Shah of the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University, Saadia Madsbjerg of the  Rockefeller Foundation, Debra Schwartz of the MacArthur Foundation, Liesel Pritzker Simmons of the Blue Haven Initiative, Amit Bouri of the GIIN and Kesha Cash of Impact America Fund.
  • The Heart Series, February 14-15, 2019, El Segundo, CA – Explores topics like how your company can make an impact, maintaining your brand promise to your customers and the earth, interactive experiences that promote social change, how to activate Millennials and youth and dreaming up big impact partnerships. On site attendees also have plenty of cool eco inspired perks including wellness shakes, meditation resources and massages. That’s my kind of conference!  Speakers include leaders from companies like SOKO, Share Our Strength, CLIP Bar, Nerd Wallet, Blavity and Swipe Out Hunger.
  • Greenbiz Summit, February 2019, location TBD – Leaders from global brands will meet as they discuss and learn the opportunities at the intersection of business, technology and sustainability.  Last year’s speakers included executives from Target, Apple, Bloomberg, and the World Wildlife Fund.
  • Harvard Social Enterprise Conference (SECON), February 2019, Cambridge –  SECON draws almost a thousand practitioners, academics, students, and young professionals. Speakers include influencers and leaders from Omidyar Network, Root Capital, Accion, Mastercard, One Acre Fund, Trillium, Twilio, the Rockefeller Foundation, Accenture and many more.
  • Duke Conference on Sustainable Business & Social Impact (SBSI), February 2019, Durham – SBSI focuses on the theme of working towards solving our greatest social challenges through innovative methods and cross-sector collaborations. The event has grown to one of the largest conference of its kind in the Southeast, with more 500 people attendees who are making the world a better place while looking to the future of social impact and sustainability.
  • SXSW Conference, March 8-17, 2019, Austin – Next year marks the 26th Anniversary of SXSW, the world renowned gathering that unites more than 420,000 people from across the globe. Each year SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people expand their knowledge and have the opportunity to meet fellow innovators on a mission to change the world. Conference goers take a deep dive into innovative ideas that contribute to a better and more equitable world. Browse past social impact sessions HERE.
  • Confluence Philanthropy’s 9th Annual Practitioners Gathering, March 4-7, 2019, Brooklyn – Confluence Philanthropy’s Annual Practitioners Gathering is a four-day conference where asset owners and their advisors meet at the cutting edge of mission-related investing. This Gathering represents the most advanced foundations, investment managers, and advisors in Impact Investing today.  They are distinguished by a commitment to building the field through collaboration, innovation, and their investments. Join us for deep strategic thinking, critical discussion, sharing and most importantly, fun.
  • Skoll World Forum, April 2019, Oxford – Launched by the Skoll Foundation, the Skoll World Forum accelerates entrepreneurial approaches and solutions to the world’s most pressing problems by uniting social entrepreneurs in a pursuit of learning, leverage and large-scale social change. Past speakers have included president of the World Bank Group, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Winnie Byanyima of Oxfam International and Hamdi Ulukaya of the yogurt empire Chobani.
  • Yale Impact Investing Conference, April 2019, New Haven – Impact On Record hosts the Yale’s Impact Investing Conference that includes a day of engaging conversation, presentations and interviews about impact investing. Topics include women and wealth, technology and impact, government and policy, impact funds, emerging markets and faith-based investing.
  • Milken Global Conference, April 2019, Los Angeles – Each year the Milken Global Conference brings together the strongest minds in business, government, technology, philanthropy, academia and media to examine global challenges and find actionable and collaborative solutions to some of the most important questions of our time. Watch videos from past conference speakers HERE.
  • Impact Capitalism, April 2019, location TBD –  At Impact Capitalism, you will hear from prominent family offices, institutional investors and influential foundations about what is driving their impact investment decision-making and experience an exciting lineup of discussions, debates, and performances across asset classes and impact themes. Over 300 family offices, asset managers and fund managers representing over $150 billion in investable assets take part.
  • US SIF Annual Conference, May 2019, location TBD –  US SIF Annual Conference gives you the opportunity to network with leaders of sustainable, responsible and impactful investing. Hear from leading investors, CEOs and policymakers, and to learn about new approaches, trends and policy developments in the field.
  • Engage For Good, May 2019, location TBD  – If you work at the intersection of cause and commerce, there’s no other event that focuses exclusively on this work and how to engage consumers and employees with social good efforts. Nearly every global brand for good attends include executives from eBay, Fidelity, J.P. Morgan Chase, Omaze, PayPal, REI, Scholastic, The Home Depot Foundation, Univision Communications Inc. and more.
  • Social Innovation Summit, June 4-6, 2018, San Fransisco – The Social Innovation Summit is an annual event taking place in Silicon Valley which represents a global convening of black swans and wayward thinkers. Where most bring together luminaries to explore the next big idea, they bring together those hungry not just to talk about the next big thing, but to build it.
  • Mission Investors Exchange National Conference, TBD 2020 – Produced every other year, the conference is one of the most anticipated events for impact investors in philanthropy, offering an action-focused, collaborative, and personal space to renew and build partnerships, experience on-the-ground impact investments, share investment opportunities, meet leading voices in the field, and shape the future of the Impact Investing movement.
  • Sustainable Brands Conference, multiple dates, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Detroit, Madrid, Bangkok and more – the events are held throughout the year in cities around the globe. The Sustainable Brands conference provides another welcomed perspective as sustainability and design leaders gather from around the world to share profitable business models that deliver brand purpose. Join business intelligence, finance and sustainability leaders to discover innovative tools, ideas and methodologies that capture tangible business value and translate it into financial performance.

These conferences bring together individuals who are pioneering the Impact Investing movement—and they create a platform for professionals who are committed to making a difference or want to learn more about this rapidly expanding field. We hope that they will bring new light to the importance of investing for financial and social returns and give a space for new people to join the movement!

We hope these suggestions help you take the next steps on your Impact Investing journey—whatever stage of it you’re on. Have a conference you want us to keep on our radar? Share it with us on Twitter @CaseFoundation!

7 Fearless Founder Podcasts to Listen To

Posted on by Case Foundation

Everyone loves a good success story, and entrepreneurs tend to have especially fascinating ones. The road to success rarely goes in a straight line; rather, most successful people have encountered quite a few failures and obstacles along the way.  

Learning from these challenges and failing forward is what often leads to breakthroughs. As our Be Fearless principles state, making big bets, failing forward, trying brave experiments, working with unlikely partners and letting urgency conquer fear can be the keys to success for entrepreneurs.

Being fearless isn’t always easy. But seeing stories of fearless entrepreneurs who have braved the path before can be the inspiration capital needed for aspiring entrepreneurs to begin to build their businesses. That’s why telling the stories of entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, and lifting up role models whose stories are not told as frequently in mainstream entrepreneurship coverage, is so important. Our #FacesofFounders campaign has brought together stories of entrepreneurs across race, place and gender, what they struggle with, what they’re building and why inclusivity makes entrepreneurship even stronger. We also regularly share stories of those changing the narrative of who is and can be entrepreneurs in our weekly newsletter, Breaking Good.

But sometimes hearing—not just reading—stories can be uniquely powerful. So, we asked the Case Foundation team to share some of their favorite stories of entrepreneurship, as told by podcasts. While there are many great stories out there, we compiled a list of nine podcast episodes of entrepreneurs who each stand out in a different way. Read on to learn about some of the founders who inspire us and remind us to Be Fearless.


Spanx—Sara Blakely on NPR’s “How I Built This”

Sara Blakely’s story starts with selling fax machines and ends with her becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire in the US. But her journey to get there may be less well-known. She launched Spanx with the money in her savings after seeing a need for an undergarment that incorporates the control top feature of pantyhose without the legs of pantyhose.

Blakely’s journey gathering support from manufacturers, patent attorneys, buyers and even Oprah is an inspiring one for women founders pitching unique and disruptive products. The story of how she convinced a Neiman Marcus buyer to work with her is also a funny reminder that unconventional methods can sometimes be the most effective ones.  

Be Visible—Andrea Guendelman, on Backstage Capital’s “Mission and Values”

As fans of Inclusive Entrepreneurship, we loved hearing about the journey of Andrea Guendelman, who co-founded Be Visible. Recognizing a lack of available professional mentoring and networking resources for Latinx professionals, she built Be Visible as a professional social network for the group.

Throughout the podcast, Andrea breaks down the underlying barriers that separate Latinx professionals from many opportunities available to the wider population. She talks about the group’s unique needs and how Latinx Millennials specifically can be supported and encouraged to be engaged and connected citizens. She also has an interesting backstory that crosses countries and industries before launching Be Visible. Listen through the end to hear about where the platform is going and which big client Be Visible just landed.


Hamdi Ulukaya—Chobani, on Fast Company’s “Innovators Uncensored”

For a lesson in humble beginnings, hard work and compassionate leadership, listen to Fast Company editor, Robert Safian’s interview with Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO of Chobani. Ulukaya’s path to success was untraditional, to say the least. He started in a closed down factory in a small town in upstate New York, working with a team of just five people and had no prior formal business, marketing or managing experience.

What was the first thing his team did after opening the factory? It’s not what you’d expect, but Ulukaya’s story bucks tradition from the beginning and you have to tune into to hear it straight from Ulukaya. After Chobani’s massive success, Ulukaya shares how he didn’t let success go to his head, how he has sought to stay accountable to his employees and how he doesn’t shy away from wider issues, like the refugee crisis. Listen to the interview to hear him tell the story of two refugees (of the 600 he’s hired) who found success working for Chobani. Ulukaya’s story is the story of a leader rebelling against assumptions about how businesses are run and putting purpose at the center of his business.  

Capway—Sheena Allen, on “VC Cheat Sheet”

Sheena Allen took a non-traditional route to entrepreneurship, launching Capway, a Financial Tech company, from rural Mississippi. Allen talks about her journey to launching the FinTech company, which serves different groups of financially underserved consumers and talks about the unconscious bias that she had to overcome to succeed.  

The ‘aha’ moment that led to her launching Capway came in a grocery store, where she saw a long line of people waiting to cash their checks. Through more research, Allen identified the massive gap in financial services for unbanked and underbanked populations—which leads to people cashing checks at nontraditional financial institutions, like grocery and convenience stores. Despite there being a huge market to serve this community, gaining support from investors was a challenge. Allen shares how she’s been able to find success and find the right investors to work with. And she holds nothing back, giving very direct advice to women and other underrepresented entrepreneurs looking to build support and sharing her advice on how to ask for help the right way. Listen to her story for insight into the experience of an entrepreneur building support for a service for underrepresented consumers.


Radio One—Cathy Hughes, on NPR’s “How I Built This”

For some serious entrepreneurial inspiration, you’ll want to listen to Cathy Hughes’ journey to radio success, which involves a fair share of bumps in the road along the way. As a young, single mom, Hughes moved from Omaha, Nebraska to Washington, DC to help launch the radio station at Howard University. She found success there by creating shows that catered to underrepresented communities in DC, but her journey didn’t stop there.

Hughes’s path to becoming a media mogul takes unexpected twists and turns, including a stint of living with her son in the young, struggling radio station she bought. Her story of navigating entrepreneurship, motherhood, success and expansion as a female founder of color is interesting for so many reasons; from the creative to the financial to the personal.

Coss Marte—ConBody, on Gimlet Media’s “Start Up”

Part 1 and Part 2
This is a story about second chances. Coss Marte is an ex-convict who spent four years in prison for selling drugs. Fast forward to today and he’s running a successful fitness business, ConBody.  

The inspiration for the company came while Marte was still in prison. Dealing with health problems and the confinement of prison, Marte developed his own workout routines that could be done in small spaces and without weights, and he helped other inmates do the same. In the podcast, Marte shares his story building up a customer base, battling negative perceptions and making sure to hire fellow ex-convicts, who struggle to get jobs after leaving incarceration. The podcast begins and ends with Marte and his cofounder, Jenn Shaw going to a pitch competition where they’re starkly reminded how much they stand out; he being Latino and Shaw being a woman among a crowd of mostly white, Ivy league grads. The story of his journey there, and the results of the pitch competition, will inspire and surprise you.


Mariam Naficy—Minted, on “Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman”

Mariam Naficy is a two-time founder who launched both her companies in uncertain times. She started with Eve.com, the first major online cosmetics seller, which she launched in the late 90’s, a time when the future of the internet was unclear. In fact, to obtain the domain name, she actually had to make a deal with a very powerful five-year-old by the same name. From there, Eve.com raised $26 million in its first year and continued to scale rapidly until she sold the company in 2000.

After moving on from Eve, Naficy moved on to her next venture, Minted, an online stationary store. In this episode, she shares her challenges raising venture capital as a mom entrepreneur, and launching a company in 2008, at the height of a financial crisis. Minted would go on to raise $89 million in Venture Capital and ship to 70 million households, but along the way, Naficy faced a lot of teachable failures, which she shares with listeners.

We hope these podcasts inspire you as much as they have our team. For some more #BeFearless inspiration, check out our Be Fearless hub, and to learn more about how we’re championing entrepreneurship for all through inspiration capital and more, check out our Inclusive Entrepreneurship page and #FacesofFounders series.

This Month in Social Good

Posted on by Case Foundation

February may be the shortest month of the year, but this February was packed with news in the world of social innovation. In particular, we saw new data, stories and perspectives brought forward in the world of Inclusive Entrepreneurship that we’d like to reflect on and use to power the movement. I spent some time rereading our weekly Case Foundation Breaking Good newsletter to gauge some of the conversation around supporting diverse entrepreneurs this month. Here are some of the articles and trends that stood out to me: 

Black History Month is a reminder to uplift Black entrepreneurs—past and present

Every day is a great day to celebrate the achievements of groundbreaking innovators in history and the people who are carrying on their legacies and building their own. But as Black History Month comes to a close, we’re given a renewed commitment to uplift the stories of Black entrepreneurs—sharing both the contributions they bring and the unique challenges they face. 

With that in mind, we were inspired by reflections from successful Black entrepreneurs on how they succeeded in a world filled with barriers designed to stifle their progress. One of the Be Fearless quotes that stood out came from Urban One founder, Cathy Hughes: 

“[Don’t] let anyone convince you that your dream, your vision to be an entrepreneur, is something that you shouldn’t do. What often happens is that people who are well meaning, who really care for us, are afraid for us and talk us out of it.” 

There’s a glaring gap for women entrepreneurs

As reports highlighting data on entrepreneurship from 2017 begin to come out, the statistics on women entrepreneurs are disheartening, to say the least. According to Pitchbook, businesses with all-women founding teams received just 2.2 percent of all venture capital in 2017. Teams with a mix of genders received just 12 percent, and a whopping 79 percent of venture capital went to all-male teams (the remaining 7 percent was unreported). 

To change these numbers, there isn’t an easy fix. We know where we can start—more women launching businesses, more women in venture capital, fewer cases of bias at the hands of investors—but none of these alone will solve the problem. Partners are stepping up across industries to build solutions together that will collectively challenge the systemic biases that affect how opportunity is distributed in our culture. Data and storytelling can play major role in that, which brings us to our next trend. 

We need to support data and storytelling on underrepresented innovators

Sherrell Dorsey is doing just that. Dorsey founded a daily newsletter called ThePLUG to report on founders, investors and innovators of color. This month, she talked to Vice about the need for more data on Black entrepreneurs. This is one of the many great points she made: 

“A lot of times, especially in the black community, when you look at entrepreneurship, there’s been very little data collection—like, the kind of businesses we’re creating, the kind of problems that we’re solving. (…) A lot of times investors are looking for patterns in data, so when that information is not shared in public, you get a knowledge gap.” 

To extrapolate out from what Sherrell is saying, if investors don’t have the data they are used to having when making investment decisions, they are less likely to fund initiatives. Therefore, having a more robust dataset on Black entrepreneurship could help spark solutions across the board. That’s something we’re working towards as we champion inspiration capital as a core part of our Inclusive Entrepreneurship work. By uplifting the stories of underrepresented entrepreneurs—stories that share both their challenges and their unique insights—we’re hoping to change widespread assumptions about who is and can be a talented entrepreneur. 

Entrepreneurship can flourish across in all communities across the U.S.

Another widespread assumption about entrepreneurship we’re working to challenge is the notion that Silicon Valley is the only great place to launch a company. Fortunately, that idea is being challenged by entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem builders across the country. We loved hearing about how Kela Ivonye, founder of connected delivery storage service, MailHaven found Louisville Kentucky, not Silicon Valley to be the best place to build the company.  

On the ecosystem side, we’ve been inspired by news about places like Raleigh, where a program is helping formerly incarcerated individuals pursue entrepreneurship. In the Midwest, a variety of organizations are working to support the region’s female entrepreneurs. And in New York, three of the city’s major banks announced plans to give a combined $40 million to programs supporting women and entrepreneurs of color there.  

This month, Engine also interviewed an ecosystem builder in Colorado as part of an ongoing series we love, #StartupsEverywhere, where the outlet talks to the people building entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country. And this week’s Kauffman Foundation newsletter poses important questions on how we can build inclusive ecosystems, including a powerful video by Melissa Bradley on her experiences as an entrepreneur, investor and ecosystem builder. 

From celebrating past and present Black entrepreneurs and leaders, to building solutions for female founders, to tackling the data gap, to highlighting innovation everywhere—leaders in the world of Inclusive Entrepreneurship are getting to work. The stories we’ve seen this month inspire us and we can’t wait to read and share even more of these informative and inspirational stories. To learn more, sign up for our newsletter, Breaking Good. 

Is there anything we missed this month? Tell us about your favorite social good story you saw in February! 

A Month of Entrepreneurial Stories

Posted on by Case Foundation

Our Inclusive Entrepreneurship work at the Case Foundation is built upon the core value that we must change the way we all talk about entrepreneurship, expanding who we lift up as success stories and busting myths that hold entrepreneurs back. National Entrepreneurship Month gave us a great opportunity to dive into the subject again and to celebrate entrepreneurs from a wide variety of backgrounds. It also gave us a chance to provide an honest look at some of the challenges of entrepreneurship.

We focus our work in Inclusive Entrepreneurship on challenges across race, place and gender, driven by the stark statistics that show the disparities faced by diverse entrepreneurs. Just looking at venture capital distribution reveals that only 10 percent of venture-backed companies have a female founder and only one percent have an African American founder. And just 75 percent of all venture capital is being distributed to just three states; California, New York and Massachusetts. Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not. And many of these elements are central to the stories that were at the core of our National Entrepreneurship Month blogs.

November 1st was both the first day of National Entrepreneurship Month and National Stress Awareness Day, so we kicked off our series with an examination of the role stamina and support plays in becoming an entrepreneur. We asked our #FacesofFounders entrepreneurs how they manage the stress of launching and running a business. See what they said in Confronting the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship.

On Veteran’s Day, we shined a spotlight on veterans in entrepreneurship and ways to support them. Our friends at Bunker Labs took to #FacesofFounders to share how the organization is working to build an ecosystem to support veteran entrepreneurs. Read what CEO Todd Connor had to say in How Bunker Labs Is Building an Inclusive Ecosystem for Veteran Entrepreneurs.

Then we looked back at the Essence Festival panel our senior vice president, Sheila Herrling, moderated with a group of entrepreneurial changemakers. Herrling shares some of the top takeaways from the informative and action-inspiring conversation in Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship.

Finally, to celebrate Small Business Saturday and #Giving Tuesday we focused on some of the many ways individuals can support entrepreneurs running businesses of all sizes. Not every entrepreneur has the same financial and social resources, and in Keeping Entrepreneurship at the Heart of the American Experience, we highlighted the many ways that individuals can support entrepreneurs in their daily lives and with the purchasing decisions they make.

We hope these stories has given you a chance to learn more about entrepreneurs, their valuable contributions and how you can support them. To learn more and to access a list of resources on these subjects, visit our website, follow our Medium publication #FacesofFounders and subscribe to Breaking Good, the Case Foundation’s weekly newsletter, to see more from us on entrepreneurship, race, place and gender.

There is much more work to be done and while Entrepreneurship Month may be over, we will continue to champion building onramps to entrepreneurship for all with the goal of everyone having an equal chance at unlocking the American Dream. We hope you will join us.

Keeping Entrepreneurship at the Heart of the American Experience

Posted on by Case Foundation

Entrepreneurs are vital members of our communities. The products and services they provide, innovation they spur and jobs they create are critical to the economic wellbeing of a community and a core part of the American Experience. As we have seen in the growth of the Impact Investing movement over the past ten years, entrepreneurs are also increasingly focusing part, if not all, of their efforts on addressing social and environmental problems that other stakeholders have been somewhat ineffective at solving.

While we know that the idea of entrepreneurs toiling away by themselves alone in a garage is a myth, while bringing forward these innovative new ideas, many entrepreneurs do spend a significant amount of time working by themselves or in small teams before their business gets to scale. It takes a village to get a startup off the ground, but building the community needed to succeed can be challenging. For example, 48 percent of women founders cite a lack of available mentors as a barrier to success and the average cost to launch a startup is around $30,000 with reports claiming that 80 percent of funding for new businesses comes from personal savings, friends and family. This creates additional roadblocks for entrepreneurs without wealthy friends and families.

We believe that entrepreneurs are only as strong as the community around them — investors, ecosystem builders, their team, supportive policy and you! As we approach Small Business Saturday and #GivingTuesday, we have rounded up some of the ways that anyone, anywhere can help entrepreneurs succeed.

Head to #FacesofFounders to read more about how you can support the entrepreneurship ecosystem…

Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship

Posted on by Case Foundation

At the core of the Case Foundation’s Inclusive Entrepreneurship work is finding solutions that allow all innovators, specifically women and people of color, to explore and participate in the entrepreneurship arena and all it has to offer.

As a part of the 2017 Summer Essence Festival, I had the pleasure to host an engaging panel discussion with Kristen Sonday, Co-Founder of Paladin (and a #FacesofFounders winner!), Kathryn Finney, Founder of digitalundivided and Brian Brackeen, CEO and Founder of Kairos. These changemakers are disrupting the image of who is and can be an entrepreneur and are part of a movement to seize the opportunity that inclusive entrepreneurship provides and dramatically change the distribution of capital required to make that happen.

On the Essence Festival stage, we had thoughtful and action-oriented conversation trying to unbundle what’s at play behind the following set of stats: If women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, particularly black women, women-led businesses are outperforming their male peers in many VC portfolios and racially-diverse companies are outperforming industry norms by 35 percent, why does so little capital go their way? For context, less than 10 percent of venture-backed companies have a female founder; less than one percent have a black founder; less than one percent have a Latinx founder, and; a mere 0.2 percent have a black female founder.

These statistics make up the backdrop to the great conversation we had on stage. Key themes we covered are:

  • Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not.
  • It’s not just about the financial capital; social capital is hugely important.
  • He (because it’s largely men) who make the decisions matters
  • Media plays a big role in setting default narrative and images of who is an can be an entrepreneur.

I hope you’ll watch and share your feedback on social media using  #FacesofFounders!

Confronting the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship

Posted on by Case Foundation

November is National Entrepreneurship Month, and the irony that the month kicks off with National Stress Awareness Day will not be lost on any entrepreneur.

Throughout the month, we at the Case Foundation will be celebrating entrepreneurs and all of the contributions they bring. When we talk about putting our Be Fearless principles into practice, it’s not surprising that we often turn to startup founders for inspiration. For “Make big bets” you can’t help but think of Sara Blakely and Jeff Bezos; “Let Urgency Conquer Fear” evokes the story of Daymond John; “Make Failure Matter” conjures images of Oprah who was told she wasn’t made for TV, Elon Musk, or Thomas Edison who famously declared, “I haven’t failed, I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.”

But the story of many entrepreneurs, because they can be so inspirational, can also become over-glamorized. What we don’t talk about enough, however, is the stamina — mental and physical — required to be an entrepreneur. It’s an essential part of the narrative of who is and can be an entrepreneur. And since that very notion was the premise of our recent #FacesofFounders campaign, we reached back out to some of those featured founders to take on the topic of stress management.

Head to Faces of Founders on Medium to see what they said.

5 Quotes To Inspire You To #BeFearless

Posted on by Case Foundation

Make big bets and make history. Experiment early and often. Make failure matter. Reach beyond your bubble. Let urgency conquer fear. These are the five Be Fearless principles that serve as the common thread for groundbreaking, problem-solving success. Nonprofits, philanthropy, individuals, startups and corporations have leveraged these principles to bring forward world changing inventions, to shift our mindsets of what’s possible and to solve persistent social problems.

Our CEO, Jean Case, explained what the principles mean in our initial Be Fearless episode on Facebook Watch. Storytelling is not only a way to bring to life the historical and contemporary Be Fearless champions who have changed the world, but also a way to lift up those undiscovered fearless changemakers that inspire you. Through our Finding Fearless campaign, we’ve heard from people around the world with examples of a wide variety of people and organizations putting the Be Fearless principles into action. The stories we receive will have a chance of being featured in Jean Case’s upcoming book or uplifted by the Case Foundation in our work and we continue to review stories posted on the site on a daily basis.

But stories don’t always need to be long to be impactful. We have seen a single quote inspire changemakers to move to action, to overcome their fears and take the steps needed to start them on the path of transformational change. To inspire you and to remind you of those inspired by #BeFearless, here are some of these quotes.

On making big bets

On experimenting
 

On failure

On reaching beyond your bubble
 

On urgency
 

We hope these words of wisdom from changemakers of all backgrounds and perspectives inspire you to take a fearless approach to your own work. And we hope they inspire you to share a story, whether it’s your own or a story you love. If you’re looking for even more Be Fearless inspiration, check out our show on Facebook Watch, head to our Be Fearless hub, and tweet at us using #FindingFearless.

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