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What is a disadvantaged entrepreneur?

February 28, 2012 in Entrepreneur, Founder Machine Foundation with 0 Comments

What is a disadvantaged entrepreneur? It’s a topical question for me at the moment. I’m trying to find my first cohort of entrepreneurs for Foundermachine.org and it’s not proving quite as easy as i first anticipated.

My original idea was to take 10 or so entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities in Atlanta and put them through a 3 month start-up accelerator (with mentors, education and some funding). The whole thing is predicated on the fact that the successful start-up programs like Y-Combinator (San Francisco), TechStars (various cities) and FlashPoint (Atlanta) unintentionally exclude entrepreneurs “from the wrong side of the tracks”. Little effort is made to reach out to communities where entrepreneurs lack opportunity and it’s ultimately reflected in the make up of the businesses selected to participate. There’s nothing wrong with these elite incubators, i applaud anything positive done for entrepreneurs and i was a mentor on FlashPoint program in Atlanta and saw how effective it can be.

Myself and another mentor of FounderMachine (Johnson Cook) initially wanted to target entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities but this soon became difficult to implement because we couldn’t define a “disadvantaged” community. Some of the community organizations we approach rightly didn’t know who to approach as potential entrants. After some conversations on Quora and Facebook another approach was suggested – why not target “disadvantaged entrepreneurs” instead.

How then should they be defined? What is a disadvantaged entrepreneur? I’m sure if you ask most entrepreneurs they would consider themselves disadvantaged. It’s a hard one though: a “rich” kid from an abusive home environment is surely as disadvantaged as a “poor kid” with supportive low income parents.

Here’s some possible criteria:

  • Low income
  • From a low income community
  • Physical disability
  • Minority
  • Went to a public school in a low income area
  • Has a unique story

Maybe, it’s the last one on this list that is important. There is no canned answer to the question “What is a disadvantaged entrepreneur?” and we should view it on a case by case advantage.

If you know how we can find good candidates for our first cohort of entrepreneurs let me know or direct them to apply on the FounderMachine.org website.

Who’s an entrpreneur:

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Founder Machine Kids Boot Camp gets ready it’s prototype for Soccer911

August 3, 2011 in Founder Machine Foundation with 0 Comments

We achieved a good deal today when we met. Today’s goal was to map out our prototype. We wanted to leave the session with a clear view of exactly what the product is – how ever ugly – and how we plan to launch it.

  • The Founders reported back on their findings after talking to prospective customers and things look good. Soccer players seem to like the idea of having last minute soccer supplies at the game venue.
  • The basis of a Profit and Loss was established, so we’d get an idea of how we’d make money and how much it would cost to do so.
  • We set out to establish a set of hypothesis on which to base our business. These will be used to drive and reiterate our offering. Hypothesis were broken into 5 core areas – customer, distribution/price, competition/barriers, demand creation and product. As we take the prototype to market we’ll report against these hypothesis.
  • We didn’t quite achieve our goal of finishing the plan to launch the prototype but we came close. Here’s where we left things: the list of things to do next week – the devilish detail.


Young founders learn how to build a start-up at the Founder Machine

July 29, 2011 in Founder Machine Foundation with 0 Comments

The “young founders” were busy in their second workshop. Having ditched their first business model because there didn’t seem to be a pulsating market for food paste in a tube (and after much deliberation), they elected for something more basic.

Business idea #2 is “Soccer911″. Given that we only have 5 weeks to get this up and going we’ll have to stick with this one. The basic premise is to provide recreational soccer players *emergency* soccer gear (think shin guards, studs, tape, shorts) at the soccer field when and where they need it. The idea could also be rolled out to other sports.

Here’s the business model:

 

Next stop; customer discovery – “do people really want it?”

More at Founder Machine Foundation - “Giving every young person an equal chance of success in business regardless of their background.” The current group of young founders herald from inner city Atlanta and are aged 12 to 19. 

“He {my son] hasn’t come up for air since and is excited about what he is finding…I feel like you have given him a gift with this camp.” – Lisa (Atlanta parent)