Promise Venture Studio: A User Guide for Social Entrepreneurs in Early Childhood
Welcome, Changemaker! 👋
If you’re passionate about early childhood development, you’re in the right space. Read on to learn about how Promise Venture Studio can support you as a social entrepreneur in the field.
Questions? Leave them in the comments below!
Why Promise?
Promise Venture Studio is a nonprofit accelerator that can be a powerful resource for social entrepreneurs in early childhood. We provide several offerings designed to support equity-driven innovators and accelerate the impact of equity-driven ventures in early childhood.
Here’s a quote from a recent participant in an office hour session.
“(Promise) gave the best advice anyone has given me in three years! You really helped me.”
- Adam Stofsky, CEO, Briefly
Glossary
First, let’s clarify some language we will use in this guide that you may encounter when engaging in the Promise community.
- Early Childhood Development (ECD) — That super crucial period from the earliest days of pregnancy to age 5. For more visibility into the critical importance of early childhood development, check out “Why Invest in ECD”.
- Venture — Any org, for-profit or nonprofit. Check out our index of ventures in the community and early childhood field.
- Promise Venture Network — Our community focused on early childhood social impact. Made up of leaders and ventures in the field.
- Member of the Venture Network — That’s you, after our onboarding! Typically, our members are founders and leaders focused on increasing the impact, scale, and sustainability of the organization. Free to join at any time here — Get Started.
User Guide:
Let’s dive into what Promise offers:
1. Strategy and Thought Partnership:
Strategy Calls: Dive deep. Reflect. Strategize. It’s not just for you, you’re welcome to invite other leaders on your team.
Office Hours for Thought Partnership: Sometimes, you just need someone to listen or offer a new perspective, with a unique eye toward the experience of a social entrepreneur and early childhood leader. Our team is available to provide insights, challenge assumptions, and ask questions so you feel confident in your path forward.
Here are some potential starters for how you can use an office hour session:
2. Peer Connections:
When you join the community, you’ll connect with others pursuing early childhood social impact. We’re talking 300+ ventures and 700+ members! Once we understand your work, we can make valuable connections to peers within the community and our networks.
Members are invited to join our Slack community and mailing list. You can see the full list of ventures in our community on our venture index.
“We just published a piece highlighting the opportunity in early childhood. I wanted to thank you for all the energy you’ve invested in the venture index! I used the company list there as a cross reference against Pitchbook for a more comprehensive slice of the ECE market.”
- Chian Gong, Partner, Reach Capital
3. Community Events:
Engage, learn, connect. Regular events and opportunities for shared learning and to build connections with peer leaders.
“I can’t tell you how many of my work relationships trace back to Promise…(it) is so hard to measure in terms of impact, but I hope you know that your goal of building an early-childhood ecosystem is absolutely happening.”
- Bethany Robertson, Parents Together
4. Essential Readings:
Start-Up Guide for Social Entrepreneurs in ECD: Your ECD social enterprise ABCs. Dive in.
Newsletters: A curated treasure trove for early childhood entrepreneurs. Take a look.
5. Deeper Support:
Promising Ventures Fellowship — our flagship fellowship program for leaders advancing equity in early childhood. Learn More.
Early Childhood Leaders of Color Collaborative — a member-led collaborative focused on power-building, sustainability, and social capital for leaders of color in early childhood. Join us.
Let’s make ripples in the ECD world together. Dive into the Promise Venture Studio community! Reach out with questions at any time to team@promisestudio.org.
