How We’re Building The Leading Community In Los Angeles For Diverse Entrepreneurs
Written by Carolyn Jones and Ali Zafiris
With this year coming to an end, we want to reflect on our mission, celebrate our milestones, and share more about what’s been going on at Grid110. We kicked off our seventh year of programming at the start of the new year, and it’s been full speed ahead ever since. Just recently, we celebrated:
- 🔥 — Supporting 215 companies
- 💰 — Our founders raising $57M in outside capital
- 🤝 — Partnering with incredible organizations to pair our programs with non-dilutive funding.
- 🙌🏾 — Expanding our Los Angeles programming & opening up our virtual community to entrepreneurs across the United States and Puerto Rico
- 🏅 — Becoming an award-winning organization
There is still a lot of work to be done, and we are so excited to build upon these efforts. We want the startup industry to better reflect the world around us. We thrive to create an environment where founders from all backgrounds feel welcomed and empowered to succeed. We do this by investing in our founders, our companies, and our community.
This #GivingTuesday — the world’s celebration of giving — we invite you to join us in our efforts to raise $10,000. Learn more about how you can support our work and stay involved here!
Who Are We:
But first, let us reintroduce ourselves to those who may be unfamiliar with our work. Grid110 is an economic and community development non-profit dedicated to creating clear pathways to success for early-stage entrepreneurs. Our work impacts individuals who are often overlooked by traditional startup ecosystems.
Since launching in 2015, we’ve graduated 21 cohorts and supported 215 companies through our core and partner programs. Each cohort is comprised of companies ranging in business models, products, and industries. We provide each of these early-stage companies with:
- Tailored programming;
- One-on-one mentoring from EIRs (Entrepreneurs-in-Residence) and leading domain experts;
- Over $67,000 in perks and discounts; and
- A thriving community of passionate, diverse, and generous entrepreneurs.
Our programs are unlike many other cohort-based incubators and accelerators. We do not take equity in exchange for participation in our programs, nor is there a fee that companies have to pay. Most importantly, our dedication is always to the founders. We pride ourselves in bringing remarkable people with great ideas together and supporting our founders in every way we possibly can.
Our Secret Sauce:
Our mission is to foster the most thriving, inviting & inclusive community for all entrepreneurs. We believe that anyone with the goal of becoming an entrepreneur should have the chance to pursue it and receive support along the way. Over the past seven years, we’ve worked with founders across various business verticals and stages. Our alumni stretch across 40+ industries, from brick and mortar businesses to AI-powered businesses with a global vision and everything in between. Similarly, we work with early founders in various stages of their business, from ideation to MVP with early traction to founders looking to grow and scale.
Creating a diverse community of tech companies, brick and mortar small businesses, and founders from all backgrounds provides a varying perspective that exposes a new way of thinking for each respective founder. A software company founder can learn something about servicing customers from a coffee shop owner, who can learn something about growth and scale from that software founder.
Founder Profile:
Our community is comprised of:
Our Community:
The Grid110 community is at the heartbeat of what we do. We’re built, maintained, and grown by our community, without whom none of this would be possible! Our focus is to bring added value to the entrepreneurs we work with. We want to be the best supporter for early-stage founders, whether through partnerships, workshops, or networking opportunities. Here are just a few of the new community-focused initiatives we launched this year:
- We launched a Youtube channel! The idea behind our new Youtube channel is to make resources more widely and readily accessible. We want to make sure that no matter where a founder is or what time of day it is, they can feel part of the Grid110 community.
- We launched a monthly event series for founders who are fundraising! Our funding pathways series is designed to help founders understand various funding and funding resources available to them. Some of our past speakers include Najva Sol from Calm Company Fund, Sruti Bharat from All Raise, Ashley Ramirez from Halogen Ventures, Batul Joffrey from Kapor Capital, to name a few.
- We have a big focus on partnering with other organizations that have similar missions and values to continue to grow our community and access to resources. StartOut, a nonprofit focused on supporting LGBTQIA entrepreneurs, is one such organization and has been one of our closest partners this year. Earlier this year, we hosted a StartOut x Grid110 networking event where we engaged over 100+ startup founders.
- Our slack has a very active community, including several channels for various topics, such as our #wonderwomxn channel for female-founder resources. We even have a #parents channel. We share grant opportunities, pitch competitions, and relevant startup resources daily.
- We also implemented a cohort accountability group in the past year where each cohort member is paired with a handful of other founders. These accountability partners meet once a week at designated times to check-in, discuss challenges they face, and share support and advice.
Grid110 Impact + Results:
We are an award-winning organization that has supported 215 companies ranging in industry and stage. Our founders have gone on to:
Grid110 Founders Are Leading The Charge And Paving The Way:
While the number of women founders and founders of color leading venture-backed companies grows, venture funding is severely disproportionately allocated. For instance, industry-wide data shows that in 2020, women entrepreneurs received 2.3% of venture funding, while Black and Latinx founders received a combined 2.6% of venture funding.
At Grid110, we have been taking intentional steps to address these disparities in access to capital. We believe it’s important to highlight the various funding pathways available to founders, including angel investing, venture capital, grants, small bank loans, crowdfunding, and pitch competitions. We support founders with finding the best pathway for them.
Out of the $57 million that Grid110 founders have raised:
As you can see, there has been so much to celebrate! This past year alone, we expanded our programming and reached more founders than ever before. Below are some of our major milestones:
- We received the Social Justice Award from Dot.LA! We were recognized as a company that has made the biggest impact on driving social justice to create a positive, significant, and sustainable impact.
- In recognition of our work and commitment to underestimated founders, we were accepted into two programs: Techstars Foundation Accelerate Equity and Resource.
- In collaboration with PledgeLA and the Annenberg Foundation, we partnered on the PledgeLA Fund for South LA Founders, explicitly designed for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs. Companies selected for this program received a $25k grant, three months of tailored training & support, and one-on-one mentorship from established founders and C-Suite Executives. Learn more about the inaugural cohort here.
- In partnership with Slauson & Co, we launched our very first national program, Friends & Family, and received a record number of 591 applications. We will select 20 companies to kick off the program in January 2022. Learn more about this program here.
- We doubled our team in 2021 to 7 team members + 3 EIRs.
Thank You + Looking Ahead:
We honestly couldn’t have done all of this without the support of our Griddies, community, mentors, funders, and partners. In particular, we are grateful for the continued support of the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA Economic & Workforce Development Department, along with recent support from the Annenberg Foundation, Hilton Foundation, Techstars Foundation, LA2050, Rubio Butterfield Foundation, Anchorpoint Foundation, Schultz Family Foundation, and Okta. It’s truly a collective effort, and we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge and thank this incredible community! As we like to say at Grid110, it takes a village. Heading into 2022, we are excited for what’s to come.
Looking ahead, here’s a preview of what’s to come:
- Our goal is to support 100+ new companies in 2022.
- The Friends & Family program will kick off in January 2022. The goal of this 12-week program is to demystify fundraising and give founders personalized guidance on becoming a category-defining company. Entrepreneurs selected for Friends & Family will receive a $20,000 cash grant with an opportunity to be awarded more during the program to help offset startup costs and serve as their “Friends & Family” round.
- After a successful pilot program in South LA, the PledgeLA Founders Fund is expanding access to Black & Latinx entrepreneurs across LA County. More information on how to apply coming in March 2022. In the meantime, you can learn more about this program here.
How To Support Our Efforts:
We’re gearing up for an exciting and ambitious year. We would love for you to be a part of it! Want to support us in our work? Below are quick ways you can make a difference:
- We welcome your support of our Giving Tuesday campaign, which is going on until Nov 30. Donate here.
- If you are interested in partnering with us on an upcoming program, please fill out this partner form, and we will get in touch with you shortly.
- Are you interested in being involved as a mentor or speaker? Please fill out this interest form, and we will get in touch with you shortly.
- Stay up-to-date on our announcements and events by joining our newsletter via this form!
