Introducing The Initiators Guild
Part I: We are trying something new.
This is Part I of a series of blogs introducing The Initiators Guild, a new project by INVANTI. Other posts in this series: Part II, Part III, Part IV.
Over the past three years building INVANTI we have learned that, too often, insights about problems remain locked within the communities who experience them, and the people who have what it takes to turn those insights into impactful companies never get a chance to start them.
We believe there are two barriers getting in the way of these people — who we call initiators — from turning these overlooked insights into impactful companies.
First, it’s hard to get started. We’ve met so many people who have deep experience with important problems, read everything they can get their hands on, talk to anyone who will listen, and still feel like they are spinning endlessly in information and insights. It is hard to make the transition to actually starting a company.
Second, once they do get started, they have a hard time making progress on their own, especially at the earliest stages. For as much as it’s common to hear, “Early on, the idea doesn’t matter — it’s all about the people”, current entrepreneurial infrastructure does a poor job of supporting those without ideas yet. Most incubators, accelerators, etc. are off limits until they have an idea and traction — leaving these initiators to turn to the internet and fend for themselves
In the past, we’ve attacked these two barriers through our in-person, full-time cohorts. However, now more than ever, it is important to activate people to build innovative solutions and impactful companies — even if the in-person, full-time model is not right for them.
So we are building and testing something new: The Initiators Guild. It’s a digital, remote guild that activates and supports these initiators to create companies that impact the daily lives of Americans. We get them started before they have an idea and help them always find a way to make progress.
What is an initiator?
Initiators have access to the insights locked up in communities closest to problems, and the capabilities and drive to do something impactful, but haven’t been able to translate those insights into an idea yet. They may not see themselves represented often in the current entrepreneurial scene — and may have never even considered entrepreneurship as a path. But there are four characteristics that make these people primed to start an impactful company.
- They take action.
- They are humble, but confident.
- They have experiences or skill sets that give them an edge on a problem.
- They have a deep commitment to starting something impactful.
What insights are we talking about?
We believe there are overlooked opportunities to create companies that could help the majority of Americans. We are specifically interested in insights that can help people in three areas:
- Managing their Day-to-Day
- Building Resilience
- Taking Advantage of Opportunity
We look for these insights intentionally in areas like financial health, employment, small business, housing childcare, transportation, and physical and mental health, but are open to other areas as well. We love problems that require the type of founder dedicated to aligning profit with impact from the very beginning.
What is it like to belong to the Guild?
We are excited to engage with initiators to make sure they can get started and always find a way to make progress. We are designing the Guild to work for people who are all-in on a problem, people who are still exploring, people who can devote 40 hours a week, and people who want to make progress while keeping their current job.
We help you make and track progress.
We know that the ambiguity and sheer volume of information that initiators face when they start working on a problem is overwhelming. We provide digital tools and 1:1 support to help you organize your thoughts and visually track your progress as you move through the three phases of our process: Build Hunches, Evaluate Problems, and Develop Concepts. We also know that narrowing down what to work on is hard, and it is critical that those decisions are informed by what matters to you. As you’re making progress on your concept, we also help you make progress on defining who you are as a founder and the kind of company you want to build.
We provide access to the Guild team and partners.
We’ve been through this process before and we know that digital tools alone are not enough. Our team loves working with people in this phase and as a member of the guild, when you get stuck, we’re there to help you find a path forward.
Over the three years we’ve been running INVANTI, we’ve had conversations with dozens of research organizations, foundations, and investors who are hungry to offer access to experts, support, and funding for people bringing innovation solutions to problems they have a mandate to solve. We hear over and over again that these organizations can’t find enough people working on the specific problems they care about — the Guild is a place for you and these partners to connect and collaborate.
This aspect of the Guild is also a particularly interesting opportunity for the startup studio component of INVANTI. We are making progress on the first version of that partnership so stay tuned for more details soon…
We help you engage with other initiators, both inside and outside the Guild.
Starting something new can be a lonely endeavor. The Guild is meant to be a place to engage others, share skills, solicit and give feedback, find ways to collaborate with like-minded people, and share in the ups and downs of starting a new company. Not only will you have the Guild to lean on, but we will also be able to invite successful initiators and friends of INVANTI to share their stories and expertise.
What’s next?
We are launching applications for the first phase of the Initiators Guild today and will start with an initial cohort of 20 people. Those accepted will start by going through our on-boarding program called Activate. Over 9 weeks, our team will introduce members to the tools and process we have built, orient them to the online community, and help them reflect on the type of company they want to start.
Over the next week, we will be releasing a series of posts that expand on the idea behind the Initiators Guild and how it fits into the larger vision of INVANTI — creating a model for entrepreneurship that brings together people, problems, & place. Subscribe to our mailing list, Medium, Twitter, or Facebook feeds to follow along.
Please share this post and the Initiators Guild website with anyone you think may be a good fit, and feel free to connect us if they are interested — we would love to talk to them.
