By Amy Nelson

In my role as CEO of Venture for America, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time in more than 20 emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems around this country. People ask me all the time: what place has surprised you the most? It’s an easy answer: Birmingham, Alabama. I think the Magic City has exactly what it takes to continue building meaningful companies and attracting world-class talent.
And Steve Case agrees!
Venture for America partnered with the Rise of the Rest® Road Trip and we’re thrilled that Birmingham is their 3rd stop on the tour this Spring. Rise of the Rest® is a nationwide effort powered by Revolution to showcase founders in emerging startup ecosystems across the U.S. On May 9^th, the Rise of the Rest® team will descend on the Magic City to showcase the startup ecosystem and invest $100,000 from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed® fund one a local startup!
I’ll admit, when I was first introduced to Birmingham, I was a skeptic. When Thrive Capital Partner, Birmingham-native Jared Weinstein, and former Alabama Power Company EVP, Steve Spencer, invited me down to Birmingham, I told him that expanding our VFA program to the city was a longshot. By the time I returned from that trip, my mind was made up: we’d be foolish to miss this kind of opportunity. Since then, the city has become VFA’s fastest-growing market. I’ve never seen a place quite like the Magic City. So, what makes Birmingham so magic?
They know what they are good at.
Much has been written about industry clusters, and Birmingham is a fantastic example of relying on an area’s historical strengths to build a new generation of businesses. Shipt, a Birmingham-based grocery-delivery service and Instacart competitor, had one of the biggest exits of 2017: a $550 million acquisition by Target. That’s no accident: logistics companies like Altec and warehousing operations for a multitude of Fortune 500 companies have long dominated the Birmingham market, and next-generation companies like Fleetio and BLOX are poised to take up this mantle to great success.
Another area where Birmingham shines is healthcare. UAB is a tremendous asset, occupying 100 square blocks of real estate and acting as the largest employer in the state, and companies like HealthSouth, Medical Properties Trust, and Blue Cross Blue Shield add to the local knowledgebase. We have been fortunate to partner with companies like Pack Health and TheraNest which are led by some of the most impressive entrepreneurs I know.
There are also exciting innovations happening in the food and beverage space, which is unsurprising for a city that has more James Beard award winners per capita than any other. Eugene’s Hot Chicken, HERO Doughnuts, and Domestique Coffee are just the beginning of a new wave of food and beverage companies coming out of the region.
They support each other.
Co-working spaces and business incubators are a dime a dozen. I’ve been to many in the Midwest and South that are eerily empty; real estate is cheap so spaces are overbuilt. They may have memberships but no one seems to actually work there. Folks pay lip service to “collisions” but it turns out no one actually knows what the team down the hall is working on.
Not so at Birmingham’s Innovation Depot, which boasts 100+ startups under their roof. Building community is a tricky thing, but the Depot has a palpable spirit of camaraderie and genuine mutual respect that sets it apart from its peers. I’m only an occasional visitor, but every time I’m at the Depot I’m greeted with the warmth and enthusiasm of a lifelong friend. Every founder I’ve met in Birmingham speaks about the city and ecosystem with passion – these are not folks who will be compelled by the siren-song of Silicon Valley. That kind of environment fosters true collaboration and a drive to build something bigger than yourself.
What Innovation Depot got right was the mix of real estate (single person desks to companies of up to 50), programming (labs and accelerator programs like Velocity that use the mentorship and resources of the community), and community building (beyond happy hours). For example, unlike most university innovation centers, which are cordoned off from the outside world, UAB has its Innovation Lab located at the Depot, where students and faculty benefit from direct contact with industry.
They invest locally.
Capital is always a challenge for every entrepreneur, but in Birmingham, funds are beginning to flow. Successes like Shipt are inspiring more angel investors to keep their dollars in the Birmingham ecosystem. Founders here can focus on what’s important: building companies that solve customer’s problems, not raising money.
Alabama Power Company (APC) was VFA’s lead donor when we took the leap into the Birmingham market in 2015. Folks find this puzzling all the time, but it makes perfect sense: APC can only sell power in a very specific territory; their business relies on attracting new customers to that place and retaining the old ones. That means investing in the future: great opportunities means more talent in the region, and high-tech and manufacturing companies are outsized consumers of their product. It’s forward looking in a way that other utilities are not, and it’s paying dividends.
Launched in 2017, Alabama Capital Network (ACN) is a community economic development organization facilitating growth locally in Birmingham and more broadly in Alabama’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. ACN is bridging the funding gap faced by local and state-wide companies in the early growth phase of business by investing directly in companies and connecting them with a network of investors, mentors, advisors, service providers, and corporations.
Philanthropy is also getting into the game. As one of the most philanthropic cities in the country, it’s no surprise that organizations like Innovate Birmingham and Velocity have come out of the gate with major support. Foundations like the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham are focused on putting their money into entrepreneurial and tech-centered programs that will help strengthen the future of the city, like Venture for America and Innovate Birmingham.
Like all other cities, Birmingham faces its share of challenges, and entrepreneurship is by no means a silver bullet, but seeing wealth being generated in the urban core of Birmingham (as opposed to the suburbs) gives me a sense that things are moving in the right direction. A generation of leaders is emerging committed to making Birmingham a place rife with opportunity for all its citizens, and I’m thrilled that Steve Case and the Rise of the Rest® team will have the opportunity to experience the greatness of the Magic City.
 

7 Tips to Succeed at a Startup When You’re Working From Afar

Startups often offer employees more flexibility than traditional companies. Rather than be confined to a cubicle in a corporate office building, many startup employees can work from any location with a reliable internet connection. For some, working from anywhere can turn from an occasional bonus to a permanent lifestyle if their jobs become fully remote.

Remote work can have amazing perks but also comes with pretty big challenges. One moment you’re relishing the freedom and the next you suddenly find yourself wondering where work stops and where your personal life begins. Because of the autonomy remote work allows, to make the most of it, you really have to figure out both what works for you as an individual and what works best for your team.

Follow these steps to avoid the common pitfalls and conquer working remotely like a champ.

For yourself.

Establish a routine.

In the early days of working remotely, the abundant freedom can quickly knock you off of your usual work game. Working where you want, how you want, and possibly when you want can quickly go from amazing to overwhelming.

One tried and true way to regain a sense of control and normalcy is to establish a daily routine that works for you. For some remote workers, that means getting up, getting fully dressed and having breakfast just the same as if they were headed into an office. For others that can mean starting the day by getting right to work, and then squeezing in a workout and shower at lunch time.

Whatever it is, try to have a daily routine, completely different from what you do on days off or weekends to mentally signal to yourself that it’s time for work.

Location, location, location.

One crucial element to finding your routine is deciding the best location for you to work. That might mean creating a home office space in your apartment. You might prefer to set up shop on your couch, your bed, or kitchen table.

Just because you work remotely doesn’t mean you have to work from home. For some people, working and living in the same space can cause stress and take away their ability to fully decompress and relax during time off. In that case, a coffee shop, your local library, or even a museum might be the best move. Lastly, if you crave the familiarity of working in an office, you should speak to your manager about renting a desk in a local coworking space.

There’s no right answer, it’s simply about finding the location that allows you to be the most focused and efficient at completing your projects. It may take trying a few different places before you find the right work location for you.

Find a tribe locally.

Humans are social creatures by nature. Even if you are more introverted and crave solitude, working remotely can turn into working lonely. Really fast. Make sure you’re still getting regular, steady human contact.

If you choose to work from a coworking space, take the opportunity to meet the people working around you. You might find other people working remotely who understand the joys and struggles of an atypical work arrangement. It will also allow you to connect with other players in your city’s local startup ecosystem.

Beyond coworking, join a local meetup or professional group for your industry or specialty. This gives you the chance to both network locally and build up your professional contacts and to learn from others working on similar challenges.

For your team.

There is no such thing as over communicating.

We all tend to have an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to life. When you work remotely, this can come back to bite you. If your colleagues and managers can’t see what you’re doing all day, they may start to assume that’s because you’re doing nothing. It’s unfortunate, but it’s human nature. But the good news is that because it is such a common thought process, it’s really easy for you to work around it.

The key to avoiding this pitfall is to over communicate on your projects and work. At the start of your work remote arrangement, err on the side of sharing more information, not less. Don’t assume that your manager or team knows what’s going on. Tell them.

With your manager, make sure they have no questions about what you’re working on and your progress. Blind copy them on emails as an FYI on your projects. If you’d normally have just one weekly check-in, consider having two — one on Monday to lay out your priorities and one on Thursday to update them on the current status of your projects. Whichever frequency you choose, insist on having regular status meetings and check-ins with your manager, even if their schedule is pretty busy. In fact, if your manager is super busy, that’s even more reason to make sure they’re fully aware of what you’re working on and that your work is in line with their overall priorities for the team.

With the rest of your team, consider doing a digital check-in regularly to lay out what you’re working on for the day. Every Friday when Team VFA works remotely, each member of the Marketing team sends a quick update on Slack with the projects we’re working on for the day. It helps keep us accountable and also lets the rest of the team know what they can expect on certain projects.

Don’t go ghost.

Along the same lines, it’s important to communicate not just what you’re working on but how you’re working. Make sure your team knows when and how to reach you. Be available and responsive online. Respond to instant messages within a few minutes. If you can’t, make sure you explain to your colleague what you were doing that caused the delay. A simple “sorry, I was on a call” will go a long way to give your team confidence that you’re not spending your work time on personal pursuits.

If you’re going to work a schedule different from the rest of the team at your company’s homebase, make sure you clear it with your manager first and let everyone know. You don’t want people messaging you with questions at 4:30 if you’ve decided on a 7 am — 3 pm schedule.

If you need to step away from work during the day, be transparent about it. Set an appropriate status on your team’s instant messaging platform. Mark your calendar to show that you’re away. Try to align your breaks with the natural rhythms of the rest of the team. Run your errands at lunch time, just like you would if you were based in the home office. Again, because people can’t see you all day, they won’t know what you’re doing unless you tell them.

Stay in the loop.

When you are not in the same location as your peers, it can be easy to fall out of the loop on what’s happening with your company. A small update at the end of a meeting can be a crucial piece of information that impacts your ability to do good work. Make a concerted effort to stay in the loop. Prioritize joining team meetings. Insist on always including dial-in information in every meeting invite. When you can, opt for a video conference over a phone call. Just seeing your face will help your relationship with your coworkers and vice versa.

For each meeting, make sure the team designates a note taker and circulates the notes and all follow ups afterwards. This is just good practice anyway. But if you’re working remotely, this will be crucial, especially when there are meetings you have to miss.

Never skip face time.

After weeks or months of conference calls and video chats, you might to start to think of your coworkers as just voices on the phone or faces on your computer screen; and they may start to think the same of you. When you have the opportunity to interact in person, never skip out on it. So much of our relationships with coworkers happen in the moments just at the margins of work — grabbing a coffee together, walking to the same place to pick up lunch, catching up on the latest binge worthy TV obsession in the elevator. When you work remotely, you have to be really intentional about recreating these moments with your colleagues. Close, collegial relationships with your coworkers won’t happen unless you put forth some concerted effort to build them. You’ll have to consciously create opportunities for spontaneous bonding to replace the elevator rides and coffee runs you miss.

Try to travel back to your company’s headquarters as often as budgets and projects will allow. If there are opportunities to join in on work trips to other locations, volunteer and go. When you are together with the rest of your team, build in some social time. Ask a coworker you don’t see much out to coffee and catch up on life. On work trips, make a point to grab lunch or dinner together.

Working remotely can be an amazing opportunity to be autonomous and self-directed at work. But it can also cause some challenges if you don’t plan accordingly. Use these tips to set yourself up for success!

The 2018 Innovation Fund, our annual crowdfunding competition, has officially ended! You can find all of the Innovation Fund participants here. 

After four intense weeks of hustling, emailing, posting to social media, and reaching out to every friend, family member and former neighbor they’ve ever had for support, our Fellows have officially survived the 2018 Innovation Fund. The VFA Innovation Fund is an annual month-long crowdfunding competition with more than $20K in prizes. During this competition, Fellows work closely with the VFA team to refine their idea, create the right marketing materials, set a fundraising goal, and devise a plan—and that’s only the beginning. The real work comes in once their projects go live on IndieGogo and they’re officially raising money to turn their new ideas into full-fledged businesses.
And by raising money, we’re not talking small change. This year, our 11 Fellow-led teams collectively raised over $72,000 on Indiegogo! 2018 was our biggest and most successful Innovation Fund to date.
This is no small feat. Crowdfunding at this level takes weeks of preparation to launch, and constant time and energy to keep up throughout the month-long campaign. Our Fellows receive support from the VFA team and guidance from our partners at Indiegogo.
Beyond securing those needed pre-sales for a product, crowdfunding also serves as a great way for our Fellow to test the market and validate product-market fit. Even if the initial fundraising goal is not met, the experience provides invaluable feedback, allowing Fellows to refine, iterate, and ultimately improve their products. Using a platform like Indiegogo to launch a brand new product or service amplifies the marketing possibilities to reach more potential customers. It’s rapid market testing – with real buyers at the end!
To recognize the Fellows for their hard work, and more importantly, to help sustain their businesses beyond the initial launch phase, VFA awards additional prize money to the winning team. We are so excited to announce the winners of most funds raised for the 2018 Innovation Fund

• First Place ($7,500 Award): Lookalu, the easiest way to snap cute baby photos, raised $17,800 surpassing their original goal of $10,000
• Second Place ($5,000 Award): DIOP: Bold Streetwear, West African inspired clothing made from premium Ankara fabric, raised $16,193 – beating their original goal of $5,000 three times over.
• Third Place ($2,500 Award): Actually Good, a platform to empower rising comedic talent, raised $9,640 from over 180 backers.

Those aren’t the only rockstar campaigns. Some other highlights include…

• Bloom Edition, the world’s only magazine dedicated to inclusive fashion, raised 125% of their goal!
• The ABC’s of LGBTs, a helpful guide to begin family discussions on gender and sexuality, got a social media shoutout from @desmondisamazing, a prominent drag youth with a reach of over 40K on instagram.
• Mello{be}, mindfulness cushions for everyday life, raised 124% of their original goal!
• BOAT, the Bus for Outdoor Access & Teaching, raised $5,749 throughout the competition, and is still raising funds now!
• HiveLend, a platform to connect beekeepers and the farmers who need them, raised $3452 throughout the campaign.
• FloatMe, an ethical microlending app, raised $1,251 throughout the competition.
• Gregory, an AI-based tutoring software, raised $2,579 during the Innovation Fund.
• Hoodies for Diversity in Tech, a campaign to raise money for diversity in tech non-profits, raised $1,890 over the course of the month.

The Innovation Fund is an annual highlight of the Fellowship experience. It’s a time when we get to highlight and show the public all of the amazing projects and businesses our Fellows are working to build. In the past, the Innovation Fund has served as a feeder into our VFA Accelerator and is a springboard into full-time entrepreneurship for our Fellows.
Want to get involved as an investor or mentor to our Fellow Founders? Email us at launch@ventureforamerica.org.

This post originally appeared on Technical.ly Philly by Roberto Torres.

Why Philly is Venture for America’s biggest city

 A robust tech and entrepreneurship community in an affordable, well located mid-Atlantic city has made the Venture for America (VFA) program — a two-year fellowship program for recent college graduates — thrive in Philadelphia: out of the 15 U.S. cities where it has dropped a pin, Philly has grown to become its biggest operation since launching here in 2013.
Per the New York-based organization, the program has welcomed 100 fellows in Philly over the past five years, placing them at startups and small businesses across the city. Each year, the program welcomes around 40 new fellows from across the country. Some 50 local startups have hired Venture for America fellows, and there are 30+ alumni still living in Philadelphia following their time as fellows.*
It’s why the organization decided to host its 2018 Northeast Job Fair at Philly’s Pennovation Center. Happening Friday, April 13, the event will help 90 fellows from the Class of 2018 connect with 70 startups based in Philadelphia and other cities.
“I’m delighted to be hosting VFA’s Northeast Job Fair in Philadelphia,” said Keenan Corrigan, VFA’s Philly director. “Philly’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is robust and this fair is a fantastic way to showcase our city, our companies, and our supporters to the next class of VFA Fellows.”
Prior to starting their new jobs, fellows spend five weeks getting training and professional development from entrepreneurs and industry leaders.
“There, they learn from experts, entrepreneurs and industry leaders so they are ready to add value to their startups from day one,” the organization said in a statement. “Then, fellows spend two years working at their startups, serving as core team members while learning first-hand how to contribute to a growing company and ultimately helping entrepreneurs in cities like Philadelphia expand and scale.”
Ask Corrigan why the program has expanded here faster and she’ll roll out similar arguments to those found in Philly’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters: great location and pricing with a rich culture.
“It has to do with how affordable Philly is and the quality of life here,” said Corrigan, a Duke grad who has helmed the Philly VFA chapter since May 2017. “It’s low-cost, it’s close to New York and D.C., but there’s access to great culture, food, restaurants and things to do.”
Support organizations for entrepreneurs, both for-profit and nonprofit, also give fellows a path forward after the two-year period lapses.
“There’s a really strong entrepreneurial system here,” said Corrigan. “They know that they’ll have access to support organizations, resources, incubators and accelerators if they choose to start their companies here.”
—
*We were curious for an updated list of Philly-based startups founded by VFA alums. So here it is:

• LeagueSide (hired three VFA fellows in 2016 and 2017)
• NaturAll Club (founder Muhga Eltigani was recognized in the Forbes 30 Under 30 last year, hired two fellows in 2017)
• Magnolia (hiring two fellows in 2018)
• Philly Makerhouse
• Synotrac (2016 Dreamit portfolio company)
• Potluck
• Emile
• Compass (no longer in business)
• Doze (no longer in business)
• EagleEye

This post originally appeared in FastCompany by Elizabeth Segran
 

Too much screen time? This eyewear startup may have a $95 solution

Spending so much time in front of screens is hurting our eyes. According to The Vision Council, a full 60.5% of Americans report experiencing the symptoms of digital eye strain, which include dry eyes, headaches, blurred vision, and neck and shoulder pain.

A direct-to-consumer eyewear startup called Felix Gray wants to solve the problem. Taking a page from Warby Parker’s playbook, the company sells eyewear starting at $95 online. But unlike Warby’s lenses, Felix Gray’s is equipped with proprietary lenses that filter blue light and eliminate glare, which are two culprits of eye strain. Until now, eyewear specifically designed to protect the eyes from digital strain had yellow lenses and were particularly popular among gamers who spend extended periods of time in front of their computers.“Our innovation was creating lenses that are clear, so the glasses look exactly like any other pair you might find on the market, but you’re assured that you’re protecting your eyes from the negative effects of screens,” says David Roger, one of the cofounders of the brand.

Felix Gray launched two years ago with non-prescription lenses. Over the last year, the brand has been beta testing the prescription eyewear with people at various companies, who had the option of buying them at the end of that period. The majority of people ended up buying them. “Most of us don’t really understand how screens are affecting our eyes and bodies until we wear protective lenses,” Roger says.While the company could license its lens technology to other brands, Roger says the founders have no intention of doing so and they are focused on growing the Felix Gray brand. In a fun twist, Felix Gray’s seven frame styles–Turing, Nash, Faraday, Roebling, Jemison, Hopper, and Kepler–are named after inspiring scientists and mathematicians.

This post originally appeared on Essence.com by Marquita K. Harris.

ESSENCE is proud to celebrate extraordinary Black women who are breaking glass ceilings as flourishing entrepreneurs with compelling backstories. Join us as we highlight a few of the 50 women featured in our November 2017 issue and chat with them to find out more about how they got to where they are now and what advice they have for other young women looking to follow in their footsteps.
This week, we focus on Yelitsa Jean-Charles of Healthy Roots.
Q: What kind of company do you own?
Healthy Roots is a toy company that creates dolls and storybooks that teach natural hair care to young girls of color. Our dolls come in different skin tones, facial features and hair textures to show the beauty of all black girls. We also have books that function as illustrated guides on how to do natural hairstyles. I created this company so girls could have the dolls that I didn’t have growing up.
Q: What advice do you have for anyone dreaming of having their own business?
Don’t say no before you can say yes. It’s so easy to write off an idea or convince yourself not to pursue an opportunity before you give it a chance. Also, it takes three steps to do something: 1) Figure out what you want to do. 2) Figure out how to do it. 3) Do it.
Q: As an entrepreneur, what is the smartest decision you’ve ever made for yourself?
The smartest thing I’ve done is not allowing people to rush or strong arm me into making a decision I’m not ready to make. There is a creative process and research that has to be done before you make business decisions. One of the first things they taught me at Rhode Island School of Design was “measure twice, cut once.” Because once you make a mistake it’s harder to come back from it.
Q: When it came to launching your business what kind of support system did you have in place? In what ways you were helped?
When I launched my business I had the support of my friends, family and institutions like the Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and the MassChallenge Accelerator.
I have to say that with my family and peers. Healthy Roots would not be the success it is now. RISD gave me the tools and space to start this project. Brown gave me the funding and mentorship to develop it. MassChallenge gave me the business acumen and access to a network that remains helping me to this day.The mentors and connections I made through these programs are still some of the most incredible resources I have.
Q: Black women are America’s fastest growing group of entrepreneurs. However, we remain the most underserved, receiving less than 1 percent of all venture funding for our businesses. In what ways can our community better support one another?
I think people often think that encouragement is enough. They fail to take the time to think of ways that they can leverage their network to help, unless we explicitly tell them. The responsibility falls on entrepreneurs to make the connections of how someone can help connect us to a potential venture capitalist or beneficial contact.
If you know someone who can help a Black female entrepreneur, make that introduction. If you can write a check to support them, write the check. If you can purchase their product or service, do it.
We can better support one another by pooling our resources, making financial investments, and connecting people to the right contacts.
 
Yelitsa Jean-Charles is a 2016 VFA Fellows and Founder of Healthy Roots Dolls.

At the end of 2017, VFA shared that we would not be expanding to any new cities in 2018, and that we intend to grow cohorts in our current cities to 10+. With this goal in mind, we are also no longer going to place new Fellows in three cities: Atlanta, Denver, and Nashville. This brings our total number of cities in 2018 to 15.
We made this decision in line with the goals and the framework we established in the VFA Strategic Plan. We want to focus our work on cities with a strong need for talent attraction and job creation, an existing entrepreneurial ecosystem, and a path to fundraising sustainability. Based on our experience over the past six years, we had the sense that some of our cities did not meet these criteria, and that our program was not as successful in those places as a result. We engaged a pro bono team of quants at Barclays to run a detailed analysis of all VFA markets (including comparative data from the top 50 metropolitan areas in the country) and their results confirmed our intuition: these three markets are not struggling to attract talent and create jobs. There was not a clear path to achieving our mission; so we decided to increase focus to places where we can fulfill those objectives.
We remain firmly behind our current Fellows and Alumni in these markets. They will retain full access to all VFA programming, including Launch resources. Our team will continue to provide support to Fellows in those cities. We are proud of what our Fellows are accomplishing at places like Guild Education, Stratasan, and Search Discovery, and we are excited to see what they continue to build. We are incredibly grateful to all who have supported our work and hired our Fellows.
We see this as the natural outgrowth of being a startup: we tried a lot of things in the early days, we learned, and now we know what the criteria are for us to achieve future success. We can act on that. Having fewer cities going forward means that we can do a better job in the markets where we are now focusing. We will be able to bring larger cohorts, improve the Fellow experience, and build deeper relationships.

The 2018 Innovation Fund, our annual crowdfunding competition, has officially launched! You can find all of the Innovation Fund participants here. Read on for the story of Bloom Edition, led by 2017 Fellow Sarah Cantu, who is raising $3,000 to create the world’s only magazine dedicated to inclusive fashion.

Growing up, I can recall exactly 0 times I felt completely happy with my body. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true. Even from my earliest memories from preschool, I always felt ashamed of my body. With frizzy hair, crooked teeth and terrible eyesight, I felt like there was more about myself that needed to be corrected rather than appreciated. Add to that the fact that I was perpetually chubby, and you get a kid with some serious body image issues.
For someone who loved to laugh and learn and play, I was painfully shy. It took me awhile to understand that the way I felt about my looks had completely seeped into my demeanor. I spent so much time wanting to physically shrink and correct my appearance to be non offensive, that I crafted my personality around it.

It’s not me, it’s…just about everyone.

Now, I wish I could say this storyline was unique. But as many of you probably know, it’s really not. There’s a number of studies on the subject, with numbers as high as 91% of women “who are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting.”
While body image issues affect people of all sizes, people who are overweight are disproportionately affected by bias and stigma because of their bodies. Beyond stigma, there are more quantifiable issues faced by overweight people.
One of the biggest reasons we started this project was because of lack of access to fashionable, affordable plus-size clothing. Despite the fact that the average U.S. woman is a size 16, the majority of fashion retailers don’t offer a plus-size clothing option. And when they do, they’re often a small selection of clothing and priced at a premium.
In addition to clothing, research shows that bias against overweight people can manifest in the form of inaccurate assumptions about personality, lower earning potential over a career, and more.

Eye-openers.

I remember the first time I found a plus-size fashion blogger (Gabi Gregg, AKA Gabi Fresh). I was in total awe. It was the first time that I remember somebody presenting plus-size clothing as something fashionable and creative, as opposed to a necessary evil. It was one of many steps that has helped me change the way I see myself.
I want to create that same experience I had when I first found Gabi Gregg’s blog for other people struggling with body image.

Enter: Bloom Edition.

That’s why I started Bloom Edition, an online magazine dedicated to inclusive fashion. While the fashion industry has made positive strides over the last few years, there’s more work to be done.
At Bloom Edition, we believe that fashion and access to clothing has the potential to positively impact the way that people see themselves. Magazines and digital content are one of the most accessible ways people to experience and be inspired by fashion, so we’re excited to work to subvert the norm of what many think fashion is and who it’s for.
Bloom Edition is dedicated to creating a space where a wider spectrum of bodies are celebrated through the lens of fashion. If you believe in our mission, we’d love your support of the campaign.
 

There are a lot of advantages to being an Executive Assistant or working closely with the CEO of your startup. Your days likely never look the exact same, you sit at the top of an organization and have a bird’s eye view of the strategy and work, and you can make a tangible impact on the effectiveness of a high-functioning executive. While there are a lot of advantages, the job is not always easy. CEOs are CEOs for a reason. They are excellent executors, have vision (hence the visionary stereotype), and are oftentimes willing to prioritize their work over their social or family life. CEO personalities are not one size fits all, but given their busy state of existence, they rely heavily on their EA to function on a daily basis.

When I first started my job at Venture for America, I’ll admit, I didn’t quite know what I was doing. I was supporting both the Managing Director and the CEO at once without any experience working with senior level executives (my background was in customer service management). I flew by the seat of my pants for the first few weeks, but who doesn’t at a new job? Luckily, I had very supportive colleagues who helped me get up to speed quickly and committed their own time to building my foundation. I’ve been in this role for almost a year now and have experienced highs and lows; found myself at galas escorting celebrity guests, and done my fair share of “grunt” work in between.

Here are four lessons I’ve learned (and am still learning) on how effectively support a startup CEO.

Be a master at managing up.

Managing up is certainly a buzzword in the professional world. I’d been told I could improve my performance by learning to “manage up” but it’s usually left at that. I had to learn quickly what “managing up” actually means.

Chances are the executive you support is extremely busy and doesn’t have time to think about how to get small things done.This is where managing up comes into play. When you “manage up” you are basically managing your manager by making their job as easy as possible. My best advice here is to put yourself in their shoes. Try to think like them and anticipate their needs. For example, when planning a trip, pretend you are the one who is traveling. What information would you need at the ready? Even little things go a long way, like attaching a train ticket to a calendar invite or adding a hotel confirmation number to their calendar. It’s easier to anticipate someone else’s needs if you think of them as your own.

You will make mistakes — learn from them.

I often send email communications on behalf of my boss, which occasionally includes sending mass email merges. Sending an email merge is an anxiety-inducing task for pretty much anyone, but sending them from a CEO’s email address adds a new layer of pressure. My co-worker and I were tag-teaming an invitation that was going out to 2,000+ people. We split the list into two batches (which ended up being lucky) and after passing through multiple rounds of edits and a few test emails, we hit send on the first one thousand recipients. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we made a major mistake in the body of the email and sent the wrong date for an event. Yikes. After an initial onset of panic, we went into full recovery mode and sent out a date correction email. While it ultimately worked out in the end, we (and in reality, our CEO) came across as sloppy and off-brand.

This mistake taught me an important lesson in paying an extreme level of attention to detail: re-read important communications one more time than you think you need to. The fact is, everyone makes mistakes — it’s what you do after them that matters. Reflect on your mistakes immediately and come up with actionable solutions to make sure you don’t repeat them. I still dread mail merges, but now, I know exactly what to look for when executing one and have not made the same mistake twice.

Get organized quickly. Build out templates and processes.

When supporting a CEO, delicately juggling all of the information and to-dos that come across your desk requires an aggressive amount of organization. This job is highly rooted in the short-term vs. long term for project and task work, and information is delivered in many different forms (email follow ups, Slack messages, team meetings, individual meetings, offhand, etc). There’s certainly no perfect system for staying organized but it’s important to find a system that works for you, and your CEO, within the first month or two on the job. For me, that’s a mixture of Asana, written lists, and post-its. It helps me to write things in two places, first physically on a piece of paper (old school, but really helps with memory) and then transfer to my digital to-do list.

Many of the core tasks of the job repeat daily or weekly (i.e. scheduling travel, preparing for meetings and conferences, etc), so it’s advantageous to build out a template or checklist to makes these tasks easily repeatable and ensures I don’t miss any crucial details. I have a template (via Asana) for each of my recurring tasks. I’ve also built out a guide for working with my CEO with information I need daily, like her flight rewards numbers and date of birth. Taking the time to build out these processes early on will allow you to scale your role and gain more responsibility quicker.

Be visible and present.

Executives travel a lot. My boss is in the office on average two days a week and when she is around, she’s in back-to-back meetings. When you do get facetime, be present and available. Even putting yourself in physical proximity goes a long way. I’ve found that although I don’t have a lot of planned check-ins, she often thinks of updates and questions on the fly when we’re sitting at our catty-cornered desks (where those post-its come in handy!). Respond to emails quickly, even if it’s just to say that you confirmed receipt of the email and will get back with a more thorough response later on. If you have a team communication channel (ie. Slack), be active there as well to show your commitment to staying in the loop and being updated, as you may be a proxy for your boss. Sometimes it’s necessary to be responsive on the weekends and nights, but communicate your expectations and availability and set this boundary when you start. Don’t leave the office with time sensitive work unfinished, but understand what does need your attention out of office vs. what can wait until the morning.

If you’re struggling to find your footing in a support role, don’t fret. Every job comes with an adjustment period, but especially this role given that you are aligning with the work style of another person. Implement these tactics into your daily work life to help shorten that adjustment period. Learn what you can from your time as an EA; it’s an excellent foot in the door to an organization, you’ll learn a suite of transferable skills and you’ll gain access to a network of professionals that few are privy to.

The 2018 Innovation Fund, our annual crowdfunding competition, has officially launched! You can find all of the Innovation Fund participants here. Read on for the story of FloatMe, co-founded by 2017 Fellow, Ryan Cleary, who is raising $5,000 to support the pilot test of FloatMe, an ethical alternative to predatory lenders.

In the United States, there are more than 30,000 Payday and Title Loan storefronts. That’s more storefronts than McDonalds (14,146) and Starbucks (13,930), combined. Charging rates of 400% APR or more, they are often the only option for full-time workers in need of a short-term micro-loan after an unexpected emergency, to the tune of $46 Billion annually. We’re building FloatMe to offer a quicker and affordable alternative for employees in need.

The FloatMe Story

Right after moving 1400 miles for a new job in San Antonio, I sliced through part of my finger. With my savings nearly depleted from the move and student loans I faced a sobering decision: Do I go to an emergency room for stitches and hope my insurance covered it or hope that the bleeding eventually stops? Faced with thousands in Medical Bills if my insurance didn’t work in Texas, I opted for the latter.

54 Hours

I met my co-founders at Startup Weekend San Antonio, where we started talking about some of the financial stresses we’d gone through, despite saving and working full-time (like slicing your finger open).
We soon realized the problem was bigger than we realized: Each year, 96 million payday loans trap users in debt cycles lasting months. Most workers needed just a small amount to cover the emergency for a few weeks until their next paycheck or two came in. For them, payday loans were the only option; the few available alternatives just didn’t work.
We came up with an idea crazy enough to work: using technology to offer affordable advances to employees, reduce risks of defaults, and provide practical financial resources for the  non-wealthy. At the end of those 54 hours, we emerged not only as the 1st place winners, but as a determined team ready to keep pushing forward.
Hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of research later, we’ve built a product designed for employees.

How FloatMe Works

We work with employers to offer our app and online portal as an employee wellness platform. When employees login, they can connect their bank account info to verify their information and then can get started with our tools. When finished, the FloatMe app will offer:

• budgeting tools
• practical financial resources
• overdraft protection
• Access to short-term wage advances from their employers based on what they can afford based on Pew Research and the CFPB

We’ve realized that most workers don’t have a consistent annual pay cycle (most have 3 months each year where income drops by 33% or more)

So What’s Next?

We have an amazing team of 4 developers working with us to make FloatMe a reality, and as a result we’re preparing to pilot test a fully functioning product with a partner company in San Antonio, Texas starting this summer.By the time Fall arrives, we plan to starting rolling out our app and online portal across Texas. That’s why we launched our Indiegogo campaign, to secure the final resources we need to finish testing.

The 2018 Innovation Fund, our annual crowdfunding competition, has officially launched! You can find all of the Innovation Fund participants here. Read on for the story of Actually Good, led by 2017 Fellows, Ariana Ross & Elisa Meyer, who is raising $12,000 to help comedians monetize their viral content.

One night in in early January, I was contemplating these issues and had a sudden lightbulb moment. Fans want to support their favorite underrated video creators, and will even pay money to do so in exchange for quality entertainment. I realized that I could facilitate that support, while simultaneously helping creators take creative risks and produce more groundbreaking content.