Latest news with #KauffmanFoundation
Business Journals
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Journals
Kauffman Foundation Project grants awarded to advance education, workforce, and entrepreneurship initiatives
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation awarded Project grants to 27 organizations that have the potential to close economic mobility gaps in the Kansas City region. Project grants represent more than $32 million in total funding being disbursed during the next three years. This funding was highly competitive with more than 250 organizations applying for the funding and 25% advancing from the letter of interest (LOI) stage to the full application stage; ultimately, 10% of those were selected for funding. Those that advanced are especially focused on unique approaches to advancing economic mobility in Kansas City. 'This funding acknowledges the importance of bold, strategic efforts,' said DeAngela Burns-Wallace, Ed.D., president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. 'Project grants allow organizations to pilot new ideas, scale proven models, and create momentum around programs that support long-term community transformation. They serve as catalytic investments – fueling innovation, fostering collaboration, and amplifying the impact of initiatives that are deeply rooted in the needs and strengths of the communities they serve.' expand Meet the inaugural Project grantees Accelerator for America: Project connects workforce and training providers in the skilled trades industry in the KC region. The Aspen Institute: Project helps emerging KC leaders build civil discourse skills through connection and cultural exchange. Beacon Media, Inc.: Project creates a hub on automated uploads of public meeting data, and training for local editorial staff. CHWC, Inc.: Project creates a Small Contractor Loan Program for small contracting companies in Wyandotte County. Community Capital Fund: Project funds an intermediary to strengthen nonprofits driving economic mobility in the KC region. ConnectED: National Center for College and Career: Project ensures equitable access to high-quality college and career learning in North KC schools. Credit & Homeownership Empowerment Services: Project expands Porterhouse KC's 811 retail incubator program to reach unmet demand. The Curators of the University of Missouri (KC STEM Alliance): Project funds KC STEM Alliance career preparation activities. El Centro, Inc.: Project supports expansion of the Economic Empowerment program serving digital literacy, GED classes, and business support. Generating Income for Tomorrow: Project expands technical assistance to support 33% more East Side Kansas City business owners than currently served. Greater Kansas City Community Foundation: Project supports the Hispanic Development Fund's Family College Prep Program and bilingual college advising. Goodwill of Western Missouri & Eastern Kansas: Project scales adult basic education programming to increase the number of working age adults with a high school diploma. Literacy Kansas City: Project sustains and expands adult education and literacy (AEL) programs. Kansas State University: Project expands the Kansas State College Advising Corps program to 12 KC area schools. Keystone Community Corporation: Project implements and scales programming to remove barriers for underrepresented groups and reduce fragmentation within the innovation-led startup ecosystem. The Metropolitan Community College Foundation: Project launches a Diesel Technology Degree in the Fall of 2026. Mid-Continent Public Library: Project supports expansion of the existing Excel Adult High School program, focused on library patrons interested in starting businesses and those interested in pursuing better career options. Operation Breakthrough, Inc.: Project scales and expands youth career and entrepreneurship programs. Ownership Works, Inc.: Project expands a new national model that will increase employee-owned businesses and create wealth for employees with potential for impact in KC. Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation – Kansas City, Inc. (Prep KC): Project expands in-school college access and exposure programs starting as early as elementary school. Per Scholas, Inc.: Project provides nationally recognized IT skills training, professional development, and employment support to students in the KC region. Show Me the World Project: Project expands its youth global education, international travel, entrepreneurship, and STEM learning to the Kansas City Public Schools. Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity: Project will give construction entrepreneurs a pathway to economic mobility by improving access to work on public construction contracts. TNTP, Inc.: Project seeks to increase the post-secondary readiness of a focus cohort of approximately 1,000 students entering four KCKPS middle schools next year through their 11th grade year. University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.: Project elevates a university-community partnership model providing career readiness technology education for justice-impacted women in the greater Kansas City area. Western Governors University: Project supports the development of community-led nursing pathways through a unique one-year Bachelor of Nursing program for RNs who do not currently hold nursing degrees. Youth Ambassadors, Inc.: Projects prepares youth ages 14-18 with career skills through ACT WorkKeys Assessments and programming. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that provides access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity – regardless of race, gender, or geography. The Kansas City, Missouri-based foundation uses its grantmaking, research, programs, and initiatives to support the start and growth of new businesses, a more prepared workforce, and stronger communities.
Technical.ly
25-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Economic development has something to learn from — and teach — ecosystem building
Traditional economic development hunts for economic winners and big infrastructure, while ecosystem building focuses on stitching together many disparate parts, yet practitioners increasingly note they have much in common. The two approaches are converging under 'entrepreneurship-led economic development,' with certifying bodies adding courses and professionals code switching between the terms to build broader coalitions. Tensions persist — some grassroots efforts are dismissed as 'nice to have,' and some ecosystem builders scoff at 'fusty' marketing — but history suggests new disciplines mature by setting standards and proving outcomes. → Read on for details and join Chris Wink's weekly newsletter for more Rob Williams remembers an unusual family dinner-table debate from his childhood. His botanist father insisted that ecosystems were strictly natural phenomena. His small business-advocate mother argued that economic development could learn deeply from nature's interconnectedness. They each had a point. Today, Williams is the founder and director of SourceLink, a category-defining nonprofit software platform spun out of Kauffman Foundation research. It is among the first in a constellation of tools that introduced the 'ecosystem building' metaphor to traditional state and local economic development, a big, boring and quietly influential discipline around creation of jobs, business and regional output. Williams has an unusual balance. He's among the earliest definers of entrepreneurship ecosystem building, and he also has traditional economic development training. 'We can't thrive as economic developers without placing entrepreneurship and innovation at the heart of our strategies,' Williams said. Williams is part of an industry transformation, and like other professional and academic changes before, it takes time to sort out standards. In the 1830s, sociology emerged from political philosophy to better understand the 'social physics' of how culture shaped individuals. In the 1980s, behavioral economics began as a splinter group before later shaping the entire field. In both and many other cases, individuals obsessed over a narrow set of differences within a larger, more established discipline long enough that those differences became their own field of study. Local entrepreneurship boosters who identify as 'ecosystem builders' are attempting something similar. In the 2010s, community organizers, startuppers and post-Great Recession economic activists formed coalitions around the country. Stewarded by funders led by the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, these business and economic types took hold of the ecosystem metaphor. Then the post-COVID entrepreneurship boom gave ecosystem building its primetime moment. 'The pandemic showed us the fragility of some of our systems and the power of local entrepreneurship to build resiliency,' Williams said. Today about 1,000 people list ' ecosystem builder ' as a job title on LinkedIn. Overwhelmingly they are entrepreneurs, small business advocates and self-identified connectors. In 2010, published the word 'ecosystem' about 100 times. Last year, we did so over 1,000 times, a 10x increase in 15 years. A similar, if lagging, surge followed in books. Dating to those childhood debates between his parents, Williams understands better than most the nuance of the ecosystem metaphor: Many overlapping, differently-sized, independent species interact in unexpected ways to support each other. Traditional 20th century-style economic development focuses on economic winners (established businesses) and top-down investments (industrial policy and big infrastructure projects). As set down by the Kauffman Foundation, ecosystem building focuses on nascent entrepreneurs and stitching together many disparate parts of a local economy. Economic development is the big-game hunter storming the bush. Ecosystem building is the botanist carefully handling a butterfly. These differences can present discomfort. Politics are an obvious one: standard economic development has been a bastion of American-style conservative capitalism, whereas ecosystem building adopted progressive concepts of mutual aid and, quite literally, environmentalism. Rather than an obstacle, Williams and others see this as an opportunity for coalition building. One of the only ideals that unites Americans across the political spectrum also unites progressive ecosystem builders and conservative economic development leaders: entrepreneurship. 'Entrepreneur-led economic development' The work of integrating ecosystem building into the larger and more-established economic development can now focus on terminology and process. The International Economic Development Council, the trade's primary certifying body with more than 4,500 members, is a natural leader, introducing courses and certifications. The group received more than 100 applicants for its director of entrepreneurship position, according to LinkedIn, a role that Williams's own mother held. IEDC CIO Dell Gines, who spoke this month at the Technically Builders Conference, is a long-standing ecosystem-building champion, dating to his time at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He has helped incorporate ecosystem building tenets into established economic development. Williams too. For example, Williams adopts IEDC's preferred phrase of 'entrepreneurship-led economic development' (or ELED in the industry jargon) when speaking with more establishment economic development leaders. Other times, he relies on the 'ecosystem building' term. Insiders cite subtle differences but on the whole, they're becoming interchangeable. 'We have so much in common that it's more about language differences,' Williams said. 'You're code switching depending on who you talk with.' The merging isn't complete. At our storytelling-focused Builders Conference, one longtime ecosystem builder sneered on-stage at fusty economic development marketing. On the other side, a traditionally-trained economic development leader confided in me earlier this year that much grassroots 'ecosystem building' seems like 'a lot of Millennial bullshit.' For her, the small gatherings and resource mapping strike her as nice to have but not critical in her budget-constrained reality. The lesson from past discipline changes is that both approaches have something to teach, and to learn. Ecosystem building can sound faddish, and so years of establishing best practices and outcomes are welcome. Williams credits the 2017 book ' Beyond Collisions' as an example. Inspired by this, Technically has put forward a data-backed case for the economic outcomes of storytelling, another demonstrably important but squishy-sounding concept. Likewise, though, traditional economic development can overlook the real-world actions of individual humans. Entrepreneurs don't choose places to start companies. Entrepreneurs choose places to live and then start companies there. Place-based economic development needs humanity. 'It's like a Venn diagram but there's a lot more in the middle,' Williams said. 'There's no entrepreneurship-led strategy that's sustainable without a healthy ecosystem around it, and no ecosystem-building initiatives can work sustainably without critical economic development-led supports.'
Technical.ly
08-05-2025
- Science
- Technical.ly
The case for storytelling: Want your region's tech scene to grow? Start with a story, new data says
Author Ursula Le Guin put it best: 'There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.' Decades of brain science demonstrate why: Our world is too complex for our brains to process everything, and exchanging experience in the environment became a survival adaptation. Storytelling didn't evolve from the development of language, one theory holds; instead, humans invented language to advance storytelling. This is so foundational that we overlook it. As author Daniel Taylor put it: 'We live in stories the way fish live in water.' The omission happens everywhere, including in ecosystem-building circles. Entrepreneurs seek professional help with investor relations. Economic development leaders will splash out for a shiny website and yet another strategic report. But storytelling? Well, gosh, that comes later, say some. Marketing can figure it out. This is wrong-headed for one clear reason: Storytelling isn't an output of stuff we do, but an input into why and how we do it. The entrepreneurship boom has changed place-based economic development, and the emerging ' ecosystem stack ' requires a storytelling approach. Storytelling leads narrative change We've always heard that stories matter. Since the 1990s, rigorous research has piled up that it isn't just feel-good, new-age nonsense. 'Information is remembered better and longer, and recalled more readily when presented within the context of a story,' writes researcher Kendall Haven in his 2007 book ' Story Proof.' He cites studies that demonstrate storytelling enhances comprehension, memory and emotional engagement. We know why. When humans listen to a story in an fMRI machine, our brain activity lights up as if we are actively experiencing the story, notes academic Jonathan Gottschall in 2012's ' The Storytelling Animal.' Research shows humans do not engage with story as an observer — but as a participant. Our brain rewards us with dopamine when we find out how the story ends, because we might learn something about survival. It's simple evolution: The reason stories are sticky is because your brain is scanning for tips. And the brain makes no distinction between fiction and nonfiction, as novelist Lisa Cron shows in 2016's ' Story Genius.' When a reader identifies with the character and plot, the information sticks. Stories aren't an escape from reality, as we so often say. Stories are how we learn how to navigate reality. This follows for where we live. Compelling data and hard facts don't shape opinion about places, per new research out of Germany — authentic local stories from real people do. That's why one of Kauffman Foundation's central pillars from its 2019 ecosystem building playbook was storytelling. What does storytelling in this context actually accomplish? Reinforces success changes local opinion, which helps attract and retain others Highlights resources and best practices makes more information more accessible, serving to boost local intellectual capital and contributing to improved economic mobility Challenges gaps and places for improvement bring attention and can drive action Over a million years, humans evolved to respond to genuine, unfiltered and consistent stories from other humans. Why do so many leaders spend so much time and money doing everything else? 'Most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one' A storytelling process is inherently cyclical — publishing should invite feedback which should inform future publishing. uses storytelling as part of our journalism. Journalism comes with an ethical framework, and ultimately our responsibility is to help a community come a bit closer to its truth. Storytelling is an effective tool for journalism but the two are not the same. Likewise, storytelling is not just another word for marketing. Great marketers understand storytelling. But storytelling is a practice just like being data-backed is a practice. It's not a department, it's a worldview. Around the country, there are standout state and regional economic development orgs experimenting with storytelling tactics: The Pittsburgh Innovation District launched a high-end podcast studio for locals to tell their story; has joined in. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce is funding its own standalone startup news site, not unlike how Visit Philadelphia long pioneered a tourism-focused content brand. Likewise, the West Virginia Department of Commerce has branded its Daily304 content strategy. Entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs), individual ecosystem builders and the exploding category of content creators all contribute local stories. This is made possible because the platforms are familiar and the barriers to entry are low: live events, newsletters, websites, social media, podcasts and video. Two other big components of storytelling are often overlooked: What stories are being told, and who is listening. That first one is something a lot of people trick themselves into thinking is easy. As novelist Flannery O'Connor put it: 'Most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.' Media-making is so easy now that many overlook how hard it is to sustain. Storytelling is inherently generous. Help people understand something new about the world, and you get their attention long enough to change minds about something. For good or for bad. Trouble is that a lot of organizations (and people) struggle to tell their own story because it's difficult to reach the distance that's required to tell an effective story. Remember: The primary reason we listen to stories is because we're looking for insight into our own lives. Too often we're too selfish, or at least too close, to let others in. That last part — how to grow, engage and sustain an audience — is at least accepted as challenging. Media-making is so easy now that many overlook how hard it is to sustain. This reminds me of the concept of a community company: Informing and engaging a group of people with integrity earns trust and can have financial reward, but that must be a consequence, not a starting point. Data: Local storytelling drives wider recognition Helpfully, the effects of storytelling are becoming clearer and more measurable, even in the narrow case of tech, startup and innovation ecosystems. Within 5-7 years, regions with a dedicated ecosystem storyteller get on average 58% more follow-on coverage than peer regions without one, according to early results from an ongoing analysis. Ecosystems with storytelling grew twice as big as regions that started off as peers 10 years prior, according to a small subset with available data Storytelling strategies earned ecosystems coverage beyond peer regions conservatively valued at between $500k and $1.5M. Here's how this first phase of the analysis worked. From 50 states and regions of various sizes, paired places that in 2010 had similar populations, economies and the same number of verified results in Google News, a decent index of high-quality local, national and industry publishers. Though not all-encompassing, those publishers have had high SEO value and, now, are most likely to inform LLMs and other data sources: They're ideal for economic development leaders intending to raise their ecosystem profile. Of these ecosystems analyzed, six peer-regional pairs had at least a decade from when one added a dedicated news resource for its startup and tech ecosystem (there aren't many anymore). Half are Technically markets, and the other three had a different independent ecosystem news and information provider. Those pairs are of various sizes, parts of the country and including both regions and states: Atlanta/Dallas; Kansas City/Indianapolis; Philadelphia/Phoenix; Pittsburgh/Cleveland; New Jersey/Connecticut and Delaware/Rhode Island. From the very same starting point, the six places with a dedicated news resource earned on average 58% more stories a decade later than their peer region. Consider a few specifics: Even over a decade in which Phoenix's population surged past Philadelphia's, and where more state and federal investment moved in Arizona than Pennsylvania, the storytelling outcome is clear. In 2024, startups in Philadelphia — a core ecosystem — generated nearly 50% more stories from a range of national and local sources, than Phoenix. Even as Indianapolis strung a series of big ecosystem wins, and its population hovers far above the region we paired it with, the storytelling case study is clear. In 2010, both Indianapolis and Kansas City had a similar number of ecosystem stories. In 2024, Kansas City — where Startland News operates — generated 68% more than Indianapolis. Compare Atlanta and Dallas, two big, important fast-growing regional cities. In 2010, they were peers. After a decade of Hypepotamus's reporting, Atlanta had a third more stories in 2024 than Dallas. Delaware presents a compelling small-state story. Both Rhode Island and New Hampshire have more residents and have benefited from Boston tech spillover. In 2010, all had a similar number of coverage of its startup ecosystem. By 2024, Delaware — a satellite ecosystem — had a stunning 85% more than Rhode Island, and almost double New Hampshire. Look at New Jersey and Connecticut, two densely populated states surrounding and supporting New York City's economic engine and a global media headquarters. In 2010, they were virtually indistinguishable as startup ecosystems. In 2011, NJ Tech Weekly got its start. In 2024, New Jersey earned 15% more storytelling than Connecticut. Interestingly, each of these ecosystems have more general business publications, most behind paywalls, subscriptions or required memberships — as is the trend for business news and industry providers. All also have economic development and entrepreneur support organizations that produce more general marketing assets, like newsletters and social media posts. All have thriving local content creators and influencers. Something changes when the storyteller is a professional, and accessible. Want to put a dollar figure to that additional follow-on coverage that ecosystem storytellers brought? Taking together an average of industry assessments, we used a conservative average of $5,000 of value created for a given independent news story — a mix of value for the entrepreneur, their company and the place or ecosystem it is a part of. (Keep in mind that the data set already ignores content marketing that isn't indexed by Google News.) Using this metric, Atlanta last year got $1.5 million in value from Hypepotamus as compared to Dallas, and Kansas City got almost $400,000 from Startland News as compared to Indianapolis. Pittsburgh got $500k over Cleveland and Philly got $1.3 million over Phoenix via Technically. Delaware won more than $300,000 in extra storytelling over its peer base of Rhode Island, and the New Jersey startup ecosystem got more than $115,000 in added storytelling value when compared to Connecticut. These independent storytelling operations all have relatively tiny budgets. The figures above suggest a 5x-10x return on annual value creation. Many factors drive regional growth, but ecosystems that invest in independent storytelling stand out. Using data from Startup Genome, which estimates value by tallying up startup valuations and exits over two-year periods, we can see the difference. Whereas Atlanta and Dallas were once peers in 2010, now Atlanta is far and away the winner: a $54 billion startup ecosystem over one less than $40 billion; Whereas Phoenix's population and overall economy has grown much faster than Philadelphia, when it comes to its tech and startup ecosystem Philadelphia has run away with it: almost triple as big a tech and sciences startup economy Even with population differences between Ohio and western PA, Pittsburgh is far and away the ecosystem winner over Cleveland: by almost 8 times; The data set evaluates Indiana as a state, not Indianapolis as a region, and yet, storytelling-rich Kansas City's ecosystem is effectively the same size as the entire state of Indiana Put it together, and the average storytelling ecosystem is twice as big as the one without storytelling. Investing in storytelling today will win your ecosystem a higher profile, better connections and then a faster-growing startup economy. Storytelling is just a tool of leverage: Once an ecosystem outgrows its few highly connected community leaders, you'll stay stuck in lower gear until there's a tool to distribute ideas more widely. A small event might be 20-30 people. A small ecosystem news story might get 200-300 views; over time that can grow to 2,000 to 3,000. Obviously bigger stories can far outperform that. On social, modest impression numbers can ring even higher. Because of the web's scale, we grade digital reach to a higher standard. But for local ecosystem building, storytelling is an obvious accelerant. We overlook storytelling because it is so ancient. Storytelling is not an output of stuff you do. It's an input in the ecosystem you're building.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
In The Rush To Scale AI, Are We Listening To Entrepreneurs?
Photo shows the letters AI for Artificial Intelligence on a laptop screen AFP via Getty Images Artificial intelligence is reshaping our economy at a remarkable pace—optimizing operations, transforming industries, and opening new frontiers for innovation. As policymakers and business leaders explore how to integrate AI across sectors, one vital question deserves more attention: How do we ensure small business support evolves with empathy, not just efficiency? When Access Doesn't Equal Impact For the millions of small and entrepreneurs driving local economies across the country, success rarely comes down to a single metric or model. Entrepreneurs—especially those navigating structural barriers—often require not just tools, but trust. Over the past five years, digital coaching platforms and AI-powered business assessments have become more common. But many have struggled to maintain deep, lasting engagement with users. Research from the Kauffman Foundation highlights the challenge. Entrepreneurs frequently disengage from support tools that don't reflect their lived realities or build meaningful connections. Accessibility, it turns out, doesn't automatically lead to impact. Why This Moment Matters This conversation is especially timely as the federal government proposes significant shifts in how entrepreneurial support is funded. The FY2026 budget recommends eliminating $167 million in technical assistance programs at the U.S. Small Business Administration, including the Women's Business Centers, SCORE. These programs have long delivered personalized, human-centered support—something no algorithm can fully replace. Still, the answer isn't to reject AI. It's to ensure that digital innovation works in tandem with human insight. A Case for Human-Centered Design One promising approach is emerging from a recent study by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO ). AEO's Business Health Assessment (BHA), piloted in 2024, used both traditional metrics (like cash flow) and personal indicators (like entrepreneurial mindset and stress levels) to create a more holistic and actionable picture of business health. When paired with coaching, the BHA became more than a diagnostic—it became a bridge to deeper, more effective support. The Future of AI in Small Business and Entrepreneurial Support The lesson is clear: technology can enhance, not replace, the human element. AI offers enormous potential to personalize, prioritize, and scale support. But its impact depends on how thoughtfully it's designed and deployed—especially for entrepreneurs who don't have the time or resources to navigate systems that weren't built with them in mind. As AI continues to influence the future of small business support, the path forward lies in balance. We need tools that are intelligent and intuitive—but also flexible and empathetic. We need funding that embraces innovation—while preserving the relationships that help entrepreneurs thrive. And above all, we need to design systems that recognize entrepreneurship as both a data-driven endeavor and a deeply human one. AI is not the enemy of small business. But it must be shaped by the voices of those it aims to serve. Because behind every business model is a human story—and behind every algorithmic insight, there should be a listening ear.
New York Times
07-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Harnessing the Financial Power of Women
Last year, $178 billion in venture capital was invested in U.S. companies, but only 19 percent of those investment decisions were made by women, according to the capital markets database Pitchbook. Just two percent of that funding went to companies founded by women. This imbalance — which has persisted for decades — is what motivated Trish Costello to start Portfolia in 2014, a venture capital investment platform geared toward women and one of the first venture firms in the U.S. to focus on women's health. That year, only six percent of decision makers at venture capital firms were women. Ms. Costello was part of a small team that founded the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City in 1994, and she launched and led Kauffman Fellows, a training program for leaders in venture capital, for many years. The venture capitalists she knew — mostly men — wouldn't even consider backing companies focused on problems like infertility or hot flashes. But Ms. Costello recognized the market potential and was right; from 2018 to 2023, investment in companies that support women's health (many women-led) increased 314 percent in the U.S. and Europe. Ms. Costello said Portfolia has 14 funds that invest in companies with a largely female target market in categories ranging from active aging to longevity to femtech; 90 percent of its investors are women. The firm has made 185 investments valued at more than $65 million in 118 companies. Nearly 70 percent of those are women-led ventures. Ms. Costello, 68, has been an entrepreneur since she was a child growing up in rural Kansas. She and her three siblings were taught early that when faced with a need, they should reframe it as an opportunity. 'There isn't a time I can remember when I didn't believe that if I came up with a good idea, I could make it happen,' she said in a video interview. The conversation was edited and condensed. How did you come to be focused on startup investment and especially in women's health companies? I have always been interested in money as fuel for innovation. Startup investing is about being able to identify the most promising opportunities and get the fuel in at the right time. When I left Kauffman Fellows, I felt like we had made a real shift to more women in venture capital investing. I had been doing some angel investing on my own and saw the market for women's health emerging, and it felt like no one else was seeing the opportunity. I remember I took two deals to V.C.s, companies focused on menopause. One guy said, 'There's no way my partners are going to do a menopause deal.' Back then, talking about anything related to women's health wasn't done. But I saw a lot of potential in these markets where women were the key customers, influencers and entrepreneurs. Only about 19 percent of investment partners at V.C. firms are women. You've said part of Portfolia's mission is to help women enter this world. How are you doing that? By bringing women in at a smaller amount of money and letting them learn. At a traditional venture fund you could invest $10 million and for that you get a report once a year; you don't get a seat at the table. At Porfolia you can put $10,000 into one of our funds and be at a monthly meeting where companies are evaluated; members can watch startups pitch and ask questions of the founders. There are four to five partners that run each fund and take into consideration what members want and their feedback. Our onboarding process for investors provides education all the way through — how to read a term sheet, how to evaluate a team, evaluate intellectual property, how to prepare to exit a company. In the decade Portfolia has been operating in the male-dominated world of venture investing, has it been able to move the needle to any degree? Yes, and it's just beginning. We've got 2,000 members, mostly women, worth $22 billion in combined wealth, investing their money in companies with solutions to help women. We have more than 16,000 subscribers, those interested in becoming investors and who support our work. This wasn't happening before. Venture investment isn't an organic system, it was created by men for men, and for the way men operate. They didn't try to keep women out, but women weren't in. Can you give examples of companies in which Portfolia has invested? Maven Clinic, a health care concierge for women in the corporate environment. Their largest client is Amazon. Maven is the first unicorn (valued at $1 billion) dedicated to women's and family health. Future Family, a fertility financing and care support company, was recently valued at $80 million. Osteoboost, a medical device — rather than a drug — that treats osteoporosis and was just approved by the FDA. What about male-founded companies? About 20 percent of our investments are in male-founded or co-founded companies. If a man is going to cure breast cancer, I'm going to back him. But I'm going to make sure he's got women on his team.
