“Reflection is what makes entrepreneurs think more strategically”
Deborah Alden, managing director of the accelerator BF+DA, talks about their approach to reflection, not having a set curriculum and the importance of an ecosystem.
Hi Deborah, great to finally meet you. Could you tell me a bit more about your role as managing director at the BF+DA and your background?
So as the managing director I oversee everything that has to do with the entrepreneurs and the overall operations and strategy of the accelerator. My background involves a lot of social innovation work and building new models around design and entrepreneurship, oftentimes with education as an integral part.
Tell me a bit more about the BF+DA.
Most entrepreneurs have been in business 1–3 years before coming here so what they need when they come to us is support in business development. We don’t really have a curriculum since they come in at different stages, but what we do have is a structured mentorship program that focuses on developing the entrepreneurs where they’re at. We help them to look at their social and environmental impacts and support them in growing their business responsibly.
That’s interesting that you don’t have a set curriculum, since that seems like a main selling point for a lot of accelerators and incubators.
Yeah, we have a very high touch approach instead and that’s just because everyone is at a different stage. Every entrepreneur also brings in a different expertise so what they need is different. For early stage companies it’s easier as there are basic milestones and blocks of knowledge that you need to go through as you go through a program.
You mentioned responsible growth. What does that mean to you?
For us it’s looking at the decisions you’re making. We’d like to make sure that the entrepreneurs are thinking about more than just bringing in the money. Money is really important, but understanding the other cost that’s involved in what you’re making is also important. So we look at the values of each entrepreneur, asking them what they care about and support them to make choices that aligns with that. We’re not telling them how do to things, just making them aware of the choices that are available.
How is the mentorship program structured?
We focus on goal setting on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. So I check in with the entrepreneurs once a month and what we do then is look at the goals from the last month. How did those goals go? Were they able to achieve them? If not, why not? Is it a time issue? Do they ned some other support that we can offer? That helps us understand what they’re prioritizing. For a lot of companies that’s the first time they’ve done anything like that and it gives them some kind of structure and accountability that they’re often looking for.
On a quarterly basis we also have one of our entrepreneurs in residence along with a sustainability advisor in our reviews. We look back at the successes they’ve had during that time because a lot of them get their heads in the weeds and forget how much they’ve achieved. By really diving into those moments we can celebrate them but also use them as a springboard for the next quarter. It’s about taking that time to reflect.
How do the entrepreneurs respond to reflecting?
Most of them haven’t really done it before. I’d say 99% of them are completely new to that, and maybe 75% are new to the goal setting approach. Being an entrepreneur they just get caught up in daily problems and forget that they’ve, for example, grown their sales over 200% since last season. Sometimes there’s a lot of tears and things like that because they’re either just so proud of themselves or they’ve never really given themselves the chance to look at what they’ve achieved so far. So they need to step back and look at that. Combining reflection and goal setting means they are putting that stake into the ground and by sharing it with someone else means there’s accountability as well.
How did it come about that you incorporated those parts into the accelerator?
We saw it as a good communication channel for both the entrepreneurs and us so they can share what they’re struggling with and through that we know where to support and help them. By them setting goals and being more strategic we can also connect them with people in our greater network.
Reflection and accountability are what the entrepreneurs mention that they really appreciate. They say it’s what got them to think more strategic about their company instead of constantly thinking about the next deadline.
By only thinking about the next thing it’s hard to move towards your ultimate goals.. They end up churning and it doesn’t help them to move forward. Taking that little look over the horizon is really helpful, along with understanding the steps it will take to get there.
What other support are you offering the entrepreneurs?
We think it’s really important to have cross-pollination. Half of our founders are designers and the other half are coming from law, marketing, trading and other fields. So we encourage and pull from the founders themselves and ask them to share something they’ve experienced, either from their current company or past endeavors, that they believe could be relevant to other companies in the accelerator. So sharing that experience or their specific expertise is really important.
But it’s also about looking at each entrepreneur as a whole person and figuring out their needs and from that give them technical, business or sometimes emotional support.
You mentioned being an ecosystem before. How do you bring that whole ecosystem together?
Besides the sharing we do a full day retreat in January where we bring in outside speakers and do workshops. The purpose is to loosen everyone up and create this open and generous peer-to-peer community. We also do social hours once a month, but people are so busy so they don’t always show up to that. I mean, it’s really friggin hard to be an entrepreneur and it’s such a rollercoaster ride so it’s really hard for them to maintain and be part of the community. That’s why the annual retreat is mandatory so people start having those conversations with each other. And we’ve seen a lot of benefits come out of that, including collaborations. There’s also a lot of sharing that happens because of that and they hold their own lunch and learns.
Can the public access this ecosystem as well?
Yes. So for example we do a Textile Tuesday where we bring in sustainable textile suppliers and that’s open to the public. We want to help connect the dots between designers, producers and supply chains. If we can do that it creates a better and stronger web of supply and demand for those goods and from that hopefully prices go down.
So what value does the ecosystem have for an entrepreneur?
It’s the relationships and the accessibility. We had an entrepreneur that moved from knitwear to wovens. She had never sourced textiles before but because we have a relationship with her and understand her style and her ethics she could get support from our sustainability lab, work with our pattern maker and our sample sewers. Now she has a small production right here in the lab. A bigger factory might not have taken her seriously or given her the time of the day because of her lack of experience and knowledge. Now, when questions rise, she can walk down the hall because she has those relationships and advocates in close proximity. So the whole ecosystem of relationships helps the entrepreneurs grow.
This accelerator is built off the legacy of the Pratt Design Incubator, where budding designers had access to a low risk, safe space to see if their idea had legs with a little bit of ad hoc mentorship. Now we’ve taken that same approach but developed a more robust structure surrounded by the whole ecosystem.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience Deborah! How can people find out more about BF+DA and get in touch with you?
Thank you! To get to know more about the accelerator check out our website and I’m on Twitter, even though I’m not that active on there.
I’m researching culture building in startups for my MA in Digital Media Management at Hyper Island. For more info: http://bit.ly/building-startup-culture
