Food For Founders #37 (KnowCap Q1 2019 Update)
F3 is a FREE weekly newsletter where we find the best concepts on the internet that will move the needle in your business.
This is going to be the first of many quarterly update issues. I want to provide content that is helpful in aiding readers of “Food For Founders” in their startup journal, but I also want to share what I’m working on from time to time. It’s self-serving, but I think with the mission at our company being what it is…it also may help some people as well.
Q1 for KnowCap has been a wild ride. Lots of momentum flowing through our mission, although the barriers haven’t broken yet.We have been able to meet some amazing people and network our way to
Highlights
Made it past the first round of selection for $250,000-$1M in funding from Kauffman’s Capital Access Lab program
Established a community partnership with Invest Atlanta ( economic development arm of the city)
Was approved as one of a few select projects being promoted by the city of Atlanta in the Downtown Opportunity Zone
We’re meeting with Stripe to discuss a partnership with their Atlas program (this would make it more accessible for founders within our ecosystem to set-up legal entities that are easier to fund)
Allowed the first startup into our Exchange program (announcement coming later)
Partnered with General Assembly to launch the only FREE and recurring founder-focused educational event in Atlanta
Signed our first international client through our ARIA brand (which is inside of the KnowCap Studios program)
It feels good to see that on paper. On the day-to-day front, it feels like we aren’t even making a dent in our efforts…two steps forward and fifteen steps backwards. We signed up to change the world and we plan on doing just that. There’s too much at stake not to.
Did you know just 4 states control 80% of venture capital dollars? Guess where most of their investments a geographically located? Guess how much of VC capital goes towards black founders? 1%. Zoom out a little further and only 9% of VC-funded startups are women-led.
Zoom out a little further, only 0.62% ever raise VC funding in the first place. Do that math on how likely it is for a black-female founder to receive venture capital?
This problem has reached its apex and our goal at KnowCap is to give people access to human capital resources that they would otherwise need to get VC funding to tap into. We don’t make you hear 300 “no’s” before hearing a “yes” like Zoom’s founder (which just IPO’d). We don’t require a lengthly application and credit check like bank loans.
We just require founders work on a problem they know well and are passion about. And we require them to be determined to solve it. Starting with just an idea, KnowCap can help aspiring entrepreneurs build their companies quickly.
Feel free to tell your friends about us, we’re accepting applications into our programs.