Our December newsletter is coming at you a week early, hopefully hitting your inbox before you disconnect for a holiday break.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2023 is authentic, which has always been a guiding principle here at Scroobious. In the article, it states that brands, social media influencers, and celebrities aspire to be authentic as it is the gold standard for building trust. The key to authenticity, in my opinion, is how you behave in addition to what you say. Just as data speaks the truth, actions and behaviors showcase whether a person is truly authentic or whether they are virtue signaling.
Investors often ask about your "moat" - what gives you a sustainable competitive advantage? Authenticity is one of the sturdiest and hardest to replicate market advantages, and we now have three years of moat-building behaviors. There's a reason we get daily calls and emails from founders and investors wanting to chat or get involved in our efforts. I'll highlight just a few of those reasons here:
• Lived experience. We are a WBENC certified woman-owned business operated by people who share first-hand experiences with the wins and challenges of our community members. Lived experience, and the ability to communicate empathy, not sympathy, shapes our relational understanding and sense of others' authenticity. Just as a diversity of skill sets lowers execution risk, our diverse lived experiences enable us to relate to and serve our founder, investor, service provider, and accelerator customers.
• Legislative activism. The mission of working toward equitable participation in our innovation economy is bigger than any one company, and we are active participants in creating the broader change the world deserves. I helped strategize, write, and testified for California Senate Bill 54, recently signed into law, which requires venture capital firms to publicly disclose diversity metrics about their investments. I testified in support of MA Senate Bill 978/House Bill 1708, An Act Relative to Fair Investment Practices, which aims to extend workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination protections to venture capital and equity investor relationships. I'm now working with other states and countries looking to pursue similar legislation.
• Advocacy and giving back. Our three year catalog of consistent press, updates, events, and social posts like this recent one about male allyship unwaveringly focus on actions over words. Behind the scenes, we have collectively spent hundreds of hours coaching, listening, advising, connecting, introducing, promoting, and amplifying our community members. We are a tech company with a scalable platform, but the users of our platform are humans in a system stacked against them who can recognize an authentic advocate who ACTS versus one who espouses empty words
of advice.
• Results. Our members have shared countless wins, which means so have we. Our 2022 Community Report highlights our measurable and demonstrable impact last year, and having seen the 2023 Community Report come together, holy guacamole, I cannot wait to share it with you all in the new year!
I don't know what the 2024 word of the year will be, but we will always have authenticity as a central pillar. I end my newsletters with "I appreciate you," and it isn't a throwaway line. I mean it; it's authentic. I appreciate everyone who has been part of our Scroobious journey over the past three years, whether big or small.
Be you founder, investor, partner, or ally, I hope you are able to enjoy time with loved ones and rest over the next week. Celebrate all you have achieved over the past year and contemplate what you want to strive for in the next. |
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Read on for some great upcoming events and opportunities, the Morse Minute, and don't miss our featured founder at the end! Thank you for reading this. Thank you for helping us. I appreciate you. |
Allison Byers, Founder & CEO |
Click on an update to learn more and access content. |
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| Virtual Workshop: Join us on 1/16 from 2-3 pm ET where Felicity Hassan will share how to prepare for and make a great first hire. |
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Resource: Scroobious community member Melissa Powell was inspired by our advocacy and created Startup Probono to connect experts with innovative startups that need hands-on help, not just guidance or mentorship. Join now to be an ally and use your time and skills to help transform a founder's potential into success! |
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Funding: Applications for investment are open until January 31. LongJump is a first-check, founder-led fund, based in Chicago, designed to invest in the next generation of founders. |
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| Casper Blockchain Grants: The Casper Association aims to support the adoption of blockchain technology via Casper, a scalable blockchain network. To support innovation within the blockchain industry, Casper has opened the Casper Accelerate Grant Program. Rolling applications. |
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OpenAI Startup Fund Accelerator: The $100 million OpenAI Startup Fund has opened applications for the second cohort of its Converge startup program focused on entrepreneurs using artificial intelligence in innovative ways. The fund has more than $10 million to invest across 10 and 15 companies selected for the six-week accelerator. Participants in Converge-2 will each receive $1 million in equity financing in addition to exclusive speaker sessions, mentorship, and access to the fund’s network of AI builders. Prior experience working with AI is not required to apply. Applications are due 1/26
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Total Mom Pitch: The Total Mom Pitch is Canada's LARGEST small business search that encourages mom entrepreneurs to follow their dreams. You will have a shot at national media exposure, expert feedback & advice, funding opportunities and a chance to snag the grand prize valued at $50,000 in funding and business services and support. Applications due 1/19. |
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| Inclusive Entrepreneurship Fellowship: The Lab for Inclusive Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University will offer 12 small business owners from Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island a 20-week long capacity-building Fellowship. Applications are due 1/19. |
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Morse supports diverse founders through their Scroobious corporate sponsorship and their legal professionals create exclusive content for our community to help entrepreneurs. |
This month Elizabeth Resteghini shares a primer on issuing stock options to startup employees. Some highlights are below, and click here for the full article. Stock options can be a great way to attract new talent and are frequently used to help incentivize and retain employees by encouraging them to stay and grow with the compony because they have an opportunity for stock ownership in the business down the road. You will often want to issue stock options with a vesting schedule. -
A typical scenario is a four-year vesting period with a one-year cliff. This means the stock options would vest over four years' time but during the first year no options will vest. At the employee's one year anniversary 25% of the stock options will vest and the other 75% will vest in equal monthly or quarterly installments over the remaining three years.
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Incentive stock options can only be issued to employees. Advisors or directors would receive non-qualified stock options.
- The price per share that the stock options are granted at should be the current fair market value of the shares. This can be discussed and approved at a board meeting and may or may not be based on an independent 409A valuation.
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Granting stock options needs to be approved by the Board of Directors.
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Each newsletter features the perspective of one of our members. I encourage you to reach out to offer networking, investment interest, or expertise. |
This month, we highlight Dana Fry, the founder and CEO of Ujamaa Financial. Ujamaa Financial is a digital wallet app built for black and brown college students and graduates to speed up paying student debt while building credit and financial literacy.
The two-sided marketplace brings culturally competent financial services providers together with a social community. Loyalty rewards are paid in fractional assets. The company is also a 2023 Black Ambition Prize Semi-finalist, MassChallenge alumnus, a 2022 Money 20/20 Amplify cohort member, and a 2022 Founder Institute San Francisco alumnus. |
"I founded Ujamaa Financial to empower black, brown, and first-generation college students by addressing the impact of poor financial choices, excessive student debt, and low credit scores on building generational wealth. This mission was inspired by my own parents' loss of inherited assets due to financial illiteracy. As a mother of two, including a special needs child, I was determined to set our family's financial train back on track and leave a legacy of financial security for both children without burdening one child to support the other.
After talking to friends and community members, I realized the pervasive and devastating effects of poor financial literacy in our community, as well as how student debt was hindering the progress of our students and graduates striving to get ahead. Ujamaa Financial evolved into a mission larger than my family, providing an opportunity to open doors for our community to help ourselves and prosper together." |
Do you want to be more Scroobious? Let's chat! - If you're a founder or accelerator considering PiP but have questions, book an intro call.
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If you're a company looking to support diversity in the startup ecosystem, let's chat about collaboration.
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If you're an accredited investor looking to access our deal flow, sign up here.
- If you'd like to sponsor
founder accounts and get involved in our community, let's chat!
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