Sept. 10-15: Entrepreneur Artist, Artist Entrepreneur at the RISD Museum

Are you an artist or an entrepreneur? Or are you both? Turn your lunch hour into something special next week and join RallyRI for Entrepreneur Artist, Artist Entrepreneur: Building Beyond Business, Dreaming Beyond Art. This series of lunchtime exhibits will introduce you to six amazing entrepreneurs who work at the intersection where art and business collide.

The exhibition is part of the RISD Museum’s highly anticipated fall show Locally Made. At the center of Locally Made is an experimental space—One Room— where artists and designers lead workshops, discussions, and performances that offer participants a window into how makers think and act.

From September 10-15 Entrepreneur Artist, Artist Entrepreneur will exhibit each day from 12pm-1pm and present interactive conversations with startup founders whose work is a powerful testament to the maker/artist culture that defines Rhode Island’s DNA.

Curated by RallyRI’s Allan Tear and Melissa Withers, Entrepreneur Artist, Artist Entrepreneur will introduce you to six companies that marry the best of business with the best of design. Creating companies at this intersection is a huge opportunity for Rhode Island, given our world class design talent and generations of “maker” expertise.

Presenters include:

September 10, 12pm: Aaron Horowitz on Medicine as Play
Aaron is the co-founder and CEO of Sproutel, a startup company that develops interactive toys for children with chronic disease. Aaron’s first product, Jerry the Bear, is an interactive teddy bear that helps children with diabetes understand and manage their condition through play. Aaron will talk about the special challenges and opportunities in designing playful experiences that transcend traditional medicine.

September 11, 12pm: Scott Harris on Everyday Digerati
Scott’s company, ShutterCal, is part of a new generation of tools that help everyday people use the power of photography to document their lives in truly meaningful ways. Scott and his company are advancing digital interaction while preserving the nostalgia and personal connections generations have always had with journals and photographs.

September 12, 12pm: Don Nguyen on Making Metal Move
Fabrication has changed in ways that allow us to transform materials into shapes never before possible. Don, a master fabricator, uses these tools to create objects that range from the practical to the magical.

September 13, 12pm: Wayne Losey on Printing in Three Dimensions
3D printing--one of the coolest things happening in manufacturing--is changing how we create objects in ways we can only begin to imagine. Join Wayne for a conversation on what happens when 3D printing, personalization & pop culture collide.

September 14, 12pm: Otto D'Ambrosio on From Shape to Sound
Otto D’Ambrosio uses a mix of magic and the mastery of materials to coax wood blocks into world renowned guitars. Recently, this process was documented in a video short that captures the sights--and the sounds--of this amazing transformation. Come see, hear and touch the wood that Otto turns from shape to sound.

September 15, 12pm: Martin Keen on The Body at Work
Millions of people walk all over Martin Keen every day--and he's totally cool with it. As the founder of KEEN footwear, Martin built a killer business out of taking good care of people's feet. Fast forward ten years and Martin, having sold KEEN to his partner, is back on the scene with Focal Upright Furniture, rekindling his inventor roots and his passion for making life better with a line of ergonomic furniture that maps how we work with how our bodies evolved - to be upright!

For information about Entrepreneur Artist, Artist Entrepreneur, contact Melissa Withers at melissa.withers at gmail.com.

About RallyRI
RallyRI is a project, funded through the RI Innovation Fellowship, to spark a startup revolution in Rhode Island through our world class talent communities in Art & Design, Food & Beverage, Social Impact, and Manufacturing 2.0. Learn more at www.RallyRI.co.

Founders League member and Betaspring alum Splitwise has just launched a project that will drastically improve the experience of moving to Rhode Island. MovingtoRI.org organizes all the info folks need when getting settled in our great state, from how to change a drivers license to how to get an overnight parking permit. Peppered in are the team's expert tips culled from their own relocation experiences; our favorite is the insight that the Cranston DMV will have you in and out super quickly. MovingtoRI.org will surely be an invaluable resource to all the entrepreneurs flocking to Rhode Island to build their vision at Betaspring and the Founders League.

Splitwise's core products are a website and app that help people keep track of shared expenses and IOUs. With Splitwise, friends, roommates and family members can keep track of who owes who, and pay each other back via integrations with PayPal and Venmo. Splitwise graduated from Betaspring in Spring 2012 and has since hired 2 full-time employees, and been featured in TIME, MSN Money and Business Insider.

 Sproutel Co-founder and Founders League own Hannah Chung recently won a pitch competition at Fortune Magazine’s The Most Powerful Women summit! Chung beat out three other startups as she presented in front of a panel that included Warren Buffet and AT&T global marketing officer Cathy Coughlin. Buffet, who casually referred to himself as “the papa bear” to Hannah’s “mama bear,” called Chung’s pitch “extremely good” before the two had time to meet up for a photo op.

Sproutel’s approach to treating illness through play appeared to really strike a chord with the judges, some of whom could see applications to their own children’s health situations. Though Sproutel’s only product, Jerry the Bear, currently targets children with diabetes, they have plans to expand into autism and asthma as they validate and improve their approach to children’s healthcare education.

After participating in the Betaspring Spring 2012 session, Sproutel has worked tirelessly to make Jerry the Bear as kid-friendly and educational as possible. 28 some-odd iterations and countless maimed bears later, Jerry is finally ready for production! Sproutel has 250 bears that are already deployed in private homes, hospital waiting rooms and doctors’ offices, with many more on the way.

A group of Founders League members, current Betaspringers and supporters convened at Betaspring to watch Hannah’s pitch live. As soon as voting--done by text message--went live, everyone whipped out their smartphones to support Hannah. And it seems to have worked--well done Hannah and Sproutel! Now, if you could do something about all those bear parts floating around the office...

Click here to watch Hannah's awesome pitch and the judges' reaction!

Last night, we were fortunate enough to welcome URI Alum Eric Ryan, who, by the way, also happens to be the co-founder and chief brand architect for Method, the global manufacturer of environmentally friendly cleaning products. Eric delivered an amazing presentation on Method’s story and branding. Highlighting the importance of a company’s story in its development, Eric walked an audience of nearly 100 through Method’s meteoric rise from its inception its current global success, pausing at each milestone to highlight the importance of design thinking in Method’s rise.

Method began when Eric went shopping for cleaning products and found himself staring at an aisle full of nearly identical cleaning products--all in boring, boxy packaging, and all also quite bad for the environment. He said to himself, “There has got to be a better way to do this.” And he was right. Eric and co-founder Adam Lowry set out designing and building the first iteration of Method products, landing their first sale operating out of the back of a car. They soon realized that they needed a strategic partner to help with distribution, and identified Target as a dream partnership. Somehow, they talked their way into a 90 day trial, during which they would have to hit a set of certain numbers or lose the deal. 

A little ways in, things weren’t looking good. The soap products they had shipped were leaking, leaving Target aisles covered in goop. On top of that, they weren’t hitting their numbers. So, like good brand evangelists, Eric and Adam went around to every Target in their pilot program and bought all the Method soap they could. Somehow, they wound up getting the deal with Target, which led to national distribution and tremendous growth for Method.

Eric wrapped up the talk by discussing some of Method’s branding and culture. He showed a few of the recent Method commercials, which are AWESOME. They’re colorful, clean, and fun--just like the Method brand. He also described Method’s unique hiring process, and their interesting receptionist for a day program--wherein every employee of the company has to work as a receptionist for a day!
Hearing Eric speak, a picture of a company run by two innovators on no one’s terms but their own started to emerge. Today, Founders League feels electrified with the can-do attitude that Eric’s talk imparted. Social Providence Co-founder and Founders League Member Giuseppe Crosti may have put it best: “What an awesome story. I’m definitely going to buy Method Products now. It’s so phenomenal how Eric was able to see an opportunity to disrupt a billion dollar, age-old industry ... in way less than two decades. Very inspiring.”

Thanks for coming Eric! Good luck with everything at Method, and hope to see you soon!

Our friends at the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition will be holding their annual Elevator Pitch on December 4, awarding $1000 in cash prizes! We'll be hosting the event at 95 Chestnut, and encourage all of our friends and supporters to submit an application.

Here’s how it works. You pitch your business idea in 90 seconds to a panel of expert judges before a live audience, who will give you immediate feedback. It's a great opportunity to pitch, which any entrepreneur has to do constantly.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013. To apply, click here.

Participation is free and open to anyone age 18 or older.

If you prefer to just watch and listen, you'll learn a lot. We ask that you pre-register.

Founders League member and Betaspring alum Splitwise is proud to announce the release of Splitwise for Android Version 3. The app helps friends and roommates to track bills and other shared expenses, so that everyone gets paid back.

Splitwise's updated Android app is lightning-fast, built in native code, and even includes PayPal integration so users can settle their debts with the push of a button.

Lead Android developer Marshall has been working on the overhaul since May, and the whole team is excited to get it out the door so they can continue to improve their web and iPhone platforms, and tackle new frontiers.

Congratulations Splitwise!

We all love gathering at Tazza every other Wednesday for coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and a chance to talk startups, but keeping track of"every other Wednesday" is tough...especially for those of us non-morning people. So, to keep things simple, we're moving Open Coffee to the 1st and 3rd of every month--starting this month.

That means that there will be NO open coffee tomorrow,  November 13th, and that our next meeting at Tazza will be the following week, November 20th--we hope to see you then! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email info@foundersleague.co and we'll get right back to you!

This month, Founders League is happy to welcome some great new members to our community. Three of the newest additions to the Founders League family are corporate members who have created regional outposts with us at 95 Chestnut: TripAdvisor, Havas, and MakerMedia. These three national companies join email back-end manager Sendgrid, who has an research and development office at Founders League, and PR powerhouse McGrath Power in taking space for local employees at Founders League. Together, these five firms are part of an emerging trend that sees large organizations setting up smaller, remote workstations for employees that might otherwise be forced to relocate or telecommute.

Why Founders League?
As companies like TripAdvisor and Sendgrid scale their operations, new talent gets harder and harder to recruit. Not only that, but the talent that they are able to recruit might not be interested in picking up everything and move halfway across the country (or world). In response to this, remote workership has risen tremendously in the last ten years. But many remote workers complain that working from afar can be disorienting and lonely. They rarely see colleagues, or for that matter, other humans. That’s the beauty of co-working spaces like the Founders League. We provide remote workers (and self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs) an opportunity to work in an office bustling with smart, hard-working people without forcing them to compromise on where that office is.

The result is a bustling community of members that includes employees of large corporations like TripAdvisor or MakerMedia working alongside more traditionally startup-sized businesses like Splitwise, and even single-person companies. The interactions between these people becomes invaluable in helping generate new ideas and overcoming the slew of challenges we all face as entrepreneurs.

In addition to the community, the location of the facility is a major draw to those interested in affordable office space in the greater Providence region. Located in the new “knowledge district”, Founders League operates within the same facility as the Betaspring startup incubator.
It’s easy to join. There are no long term commitments and multiple different membership options to meet your needs and work habits.
To schedule a tour or learn more, email info@foundersleague.co.

Update: The show was a huge success, and we've got the pictures to back it up!

They don’t call local Providence crowdfunded apparel powerhouse Teespring the MOMA of Providence for nothing! They actually don't call it that at all. But tomorrow, they actually might.

Teespring, kindred with us at Founders League not only in zip code but also in entrepreneurial gusto, is hosting an Art Show tomorrow, open and welcome for all to attend.

Teespring recently moved into their brand new office space in Davol square. With new blank walls came new needs for adornment, so Teespring called on the artists of Rhode Island to enter Providence inspired work for inclusion in tomorrow’s show. Teespring received an overflow of entries from a varied crowd, ranging from RISD students to esteemed Providence artists. From a 5ft metal sculpture, to a series of black and white photos, the event will showcase the multifaceted talents of some of Providence’s creatives. It’ll make Pace/MacGill look like a kindergarten class and Sotheby’s like your grandma’s collection of Hoover Dam memorabilia.

The event will be held at Teespring's new office space, 3 Davol Square, Suite B300, tomorrow (Wednesday, November 20th) and will go from 6-8 PM. Food and refreshments will be served, and guests are encouraged to bring their friends.

If you are unable to attend, please check back later to see photos from the art show!

Well, it’s been a great year and a good run, but unfortunately next Wednesday, December 18th, will be our final Open Coffee at Tazza. Last week we heard the sad news that Tazza will be shutting its doors come 2014, so the 18th will be our last hurrah at the cafe.

For the uninitiated, Open Coffee is an informal gathering of entrepreneurs and startup heroes we hold on the first and third Wednesdays of every month from 8-9:30. It’s an easy way for our community to gather for conversation, networking and the almighty caffeine. Oh, and, if you arrive early enough, the sammies and coffee are on us. 

Stay tuned for an announcement on the new location for Open Coffee in 2014.

It’s been fun, Tazza. Your Christopher Walken painting will forever haunt our dreams.

Last Friday, we hosted Alexis Ohanian, who was in town as part of his book tour forWithout Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will be Made, not Managed. In the spirit of the openness he’s become so well known for, we asked Founders League members in the audience to submit the questions that Alexis would answer. Here’s a few highlights:

From Mehdi Moutahir
“You were one of the few Y Combinator participants without a technology / computer science background … What were the most important factors that enabled you to successfully identify and collaborate with your technical co-founders?”

It’s hard to believe that Alexis is not a technologist by training, but he’s not. His response to Mehdi’s question? “The running joke at Y-combinator was what does Alexis do? At first it was a joke, and then it went on for weeks, and I was like, really guys, you don’t think I do anything?” Ohanian went on to emphasize how important hustle and humility are for non-technical CEOs. You have do everything else, he said, from “haggling down the cell phone bill when it goes over (which you can do), ordering the chinese take out, dealing with the bookkeeping--everything else.” Without solid leadership on the business side of the house, great technology is useless.

From Ata Ghofrani
“I read recently that Reddit's total marketing budget was only $500 (paid mostly for stickers). How were you guys able to turn users into brand ambassadors and what tactics were used to gain early traction?”

Getting big bang for your marketing buck is top of mind for Ata, whose company Quitbit recently exited the Betaspring accelerator. In his response, Alexis revealed a reverence for early adopters: “those first hundred or thousand users are amazing.” And they deserve a CEO’s support. Alexis recommended doing what Paul Graham calls the “things that don’t scale.” Things like hand-stuffing thank you notes, responding to tech support emails at 5am, and using your personal twitter handle to reply to company feedback. People who support startups are customers are often eager to support them...if you give them a reason to. Though it’s time consuming, hard and sometimes the last thing you want to do, getting into the trenches is one of the best ways to create an army of advocates.

From Zoe Chaves and Jon Bittner
"As President of the Internet, who are you appointing to the Internet's Supreme Court?"

This was one of our favorites. When he really had to pause and consider his answer, it was clear that the crowd took a little friendly delight in “stumping” Alexis. But after some soul searching, Alexis offered this starter list:

The Supreme Court of the Internet

1. Business Cat (“he’s just a professional”)
2. Tim Berners-Lee (“the OG of the world wide web”)
3. Al Gore (“he did invent it”)
4. Neil deGrasse Tyson
5. Sheryl Sandberg
6. Tiffany Cheng from Fight for the Future
7. Paul Graham
8. Jessica Livingston
9. Bill Gates 2.0

We shot some video of Alexis answering some other questions and we’ll have that posted soon!

Earlier this month, the Founders League restarted the Rhode Island Entrepreneurship Faculty Meet-up. If you are new to the meet-up, it is a quarterly gathering of the many people across our colleges and universities who teach entrepreneurship and/or run student-entrepreneurship programs.

With representatives from virtually all of the colleges and universities--and even some of the high school programs as well--the meet-up is a casual environment for everyone to share best practices and create new connections. The group has been on hiatus and we were excited to bring it back on December 6.

Launched in January 2013 with partnership support from Betaspring, Brown University, the Providence Chamber of Commerce, and the University of Rhode Island, the Founders League offers coworking, community, and programming for a diversity of entrepreneurs across Rhode Island. Supporting student entrepreneurship is an important part of our mission.

One of the most effective ways to introduce students to entrepreneurship is through real world interactions with startups, experienced entrepreneurs, and the people and organizations that drive new venture creation. These experiences are an invaluable complement to classroom and research activities that students access through their academic institutions. In this spirit, Founders League has developed a student-focused track of activities and programs to:

1. Support the development and growth of on-campus, student-led entrepreneurship clubs and activities.
2. Provide “plug and play” practicum activities, including lectures, visits, pitch training, mentorship experiences, networking, etc.
3. Offer entrepreneurship instructors easier access to external resources and insights into the best practices of the country’s most effective student entrepreneurship training programs.
4. Connect students to local and regional opportunities for internships and post-graduate job placement.

In our first year, Founders League worked with URI and Brown administration, students, and faculty to develop a deep understanding of how the Founders League can advance student entrepreneurship in Rhode Island. We are now building on that experience and expanding our services to more colleges and universities.

Bringing together the many talented people across our state who are training the next generation of entrepreneurs is a big win for our small state and the synergies across programs are powerful.
There’s plenty of room at the table, so if you did not receive an invitation to the December 6 meetup but would like to participate, please send a note to Ben at ben at foundersleague.co.

The next event will be held on February 14th at 3pm in the Founders League.

We've Come a Long Way, Baby.

We are thrilled to share with you the first incarnation of the Providence Startup Map, produced by the Founders League earlier this fall*. The map shows the great progress Providence has made building density in our startup community. 

(Click Thumbnail to View Large Format Version)

Just a few years ago, the landscape looked much different, with far fewer companies and entrepreneurs calling Rhode Island home. Several entrepreneurship support programs have also emerged, showing a growing optimism that our progress is sustainable and that we are just at the beginning of our startup revolution.

No one person or organization is responsible for the growth reflected on this map. The startup community is building momentum because many among us are rowing in the same direction and contributing in important ways.

Why Startups Matter

Since 1977, virtually all net job gain in the U.S. has come from startups. The role startups play in job creation was detailed by a 2010 Kauffman Foundation report analyzing three decades of jobs data to show that without startups, there would be no net job growth in the U.S. economy.

The Kauffman findings confirmed that, in aggregate, firms do not bulk up as they age and that growth comes from new ventures. Does this hold true in Rhode Island? Yes. Think about times when jobs were created in large numbers. From GTech and APC to Alex and Ani, these juggernauts all began as fast-growing startups.

How can you help? Hometown heroes matter. Established organizations are often first customers, providing early traction and credibility for the most promising ventures. Experienced entrepreneurs and executives serve as mentors and advisors. Community leaders make support for startups a clear priority, catalyzing innovative projects, and supporting collaborations and experiments to help our startup community grow.

So whether you are an entrepreneur, a leader in the business community, an investor, a mentor, or one of the many people who have helped over the years, we hope you look at this map and feel the same excitement and enthusiasm for the future that we do.

*This map is a “first version” because we know that the map will change frequently over time. If you notice anything awry or think we’ve missed anyone, let us know at info@foundersleague.co

Guest written by Tyler Benster, Betaspring Maker Fellow and 3D Printing Evangelist. Learn more about Tyler and 3D printing at http://tylerbenster.com or follow on twitter @tbenst.

130 Rhode Island manufacturers gathered at Bryant University on Thursday for an educational forum on 3D printing. Panelists hailed from academia, RI manufacturers using 3D printing and organizations that support adoption of the technology.

The event started with a conversation on how 3D printing is disrupting manufacturing today. Many in the audience were surprised to learn from Tom McDonald that the technology has been around for 25 years. While everyone agreed 3D printing won’t be replacing mass-production anytime soon, the first thematic clash emerged: will 3D printing remain a niche manufacturing technology or should everyone adopt it? In favor of pervasiveness, Andy Coutu of R&D Technologies pointed to how Boeing hopes to one day print aircraft wings with no bending or cutting required, while Kipp Bradford of Brown School of Engineering downplayed the impact by noting that on his recent tour of factories in China, not one of them used 3D printing.

The conference continued with anecdotes from current users of 3D printing. Bruce Parkes of GTECH shared how his firm uses the technology to create better designed parts through rapid physical iteration and testing. Breck Petrillo of Ximedica projected that his firm will start using 3D printing for short-run production within 12 months. Dr. Bongsup Cho of URI School of Pharmacy, who 3D prints models of molecules in full-color for education, told the most entertaining story of the day. After placing an order for a $68k 3D printer, he received a call from the URI purchasing department: “Dr. Cho, this printer is rather expensive. Have you thought about Dell or HP?"

The final panel addressed the importance of promoting a maker culture in Rhode Island. Bert Crenca, the founder of AS220 firmly believes that you can build community around access to tools and that the entire state of Rhode Island sees themselves as artists and makers. Anais Missakian of RISD emphasized the urgency of bringing making back into eduction, starting at a very young age. And Sandra Potter of Bryant shared how 3D printing has enabled her students to be makers.

I also spoke on the final panel and conveyed the urgency of adopting 3D printing. According to Christine Furstoss, General Electric’s Director of Manufacturing and Materials, 3D printing will touch half of its manufacturing in 20 years. Companies that learn to design for additive manufacturing will thrive, while those that are slow to evolve will perish. As a nation, this technology will bring manufacturing back from overseas and create a culture where distributing a physical innovation is as easy as emailing a digital file. As a state and a region, we must invest in 3D printers so our makers and entrepreneurs can lead the 21st century manufacturing economy.

Happy New Year Founders League!

We thought we’d kick 2014 off with the return of Open Coffee, in it’s new location at Succotash! Starting next Wednesday, January 15th, we’ll reconvene our bimonthly coffee gathering.

For those who haven’t been, Open Coffee is an informal gathering of entrepreneurs and startup heroes we hold on the first and third Wednesdays of every month from 8-9:30. It’s an easy way for our community to gather for conversation, networking and the almighty caffeine. Oh, and, if you arrive early enough, the sammies and coffee are on us.

Stay warm out there, and we hope to see you next Wednesday at Succotash!

The next Open Coffee will be held on February 5, same time, same place.

Succotash can be reached at 401-228-7222. They are located at 373 Richmond St., near the corner of Richmond and Point St.

Our Startup Map is updated and looking better then ever. We added a bunch more local companies to the already very-robust map. 

(Click the thumbnail to view the large-format version.)

Some of the new companies featured this go around include:

• Nalari Health
• Metryx
• Loft
• MusicTown
• Cleverhood
• GoLocal Prov

Still not on the map? Send an email to info@foundersleague.co with suggestions.

For the last few months, the Founders League and Betaspring have become home to a growing number of small trinkets and quirky projects. Around the holidays, custom-made cookie cutters seemed to appear out of thin air, and the air seemed to be constantly a-buzz with the quiet whirring of 3D printers and CNC machines.

The cause for all of this new bustle? It’s gotta be the influence of the newly moved-in Maker Media, who recently established their East Coast outpost here in Providence. For a few months now, Brian Jepson, Anna Kaziunas France, and Frank Teng have been working out of the Founders League, tweaking, tinkering, and generally just making stuff. 

For those who might not know, Maker Media is  a global platform for connecting makers with each other, and a leader in the emerging Maker movement--which combines the self-empowerment found in DIY projects, the use of cool new technologies like 3D printing, robotics, and physical computing, as well as art and design. They also publish the awesome Make: Magazine.

We’re so glad to have Make in the house--their maker orientation fits great with some of our other members like Sproutel, and we’ve already seen their technical know-how spread to other Founders League members like Scott Harris of ShutterCal (who cranked out some particularly awesome holiday gifts with our 3D printers).

Last week the news broke that Teespring, a local startup experiencing meteoric growth, closed a $20M round from Andreesen Horowitz (a16z), the hottest venture firm on the West Coast. Zoom out from Teespring and take a look at the Providence Startup Map. The Providence metro has seen an uptick in major financing events among our high-potential startups. We sensed that the last year was a major milestone, so we did some back-of-the-envelope math. The results were impressive: in aggregate, the companies on the map raised $140 Million in the last 12 months alone.

Just as impressive as the dollars invested are the blue-chip venture capitalists that have invested in Rhode Island companies. In addition to Andreesen Horowitz, Atlas, Battery, Bay City, Cue Ball, Excel, First Round, Formation 8, Greylock, Shasta, and Stata have all made investments here. All of these investors are from Tier 1 capital markets, showing that it is possible for high-potential, venture-scale companies to attract venture investment while being based in Rhode Island.

Teespring, started by two Brown grads who are Betaspring alums, and one local angel investor, is a perfect example of how the startup scene has begun to click in the Providence metro. Teespring joins Andera, GForm, Greenbytes, Mnemosyne, Nabsys, NuLabel, SendGrid, ShapeUp, Swipely, Utilidata, VoltServer, and of course Alex and Ani as the newest star in our startup constellation.

There are a lot of factors driving our community’s fundraising success--good ideas, good teams, good timing, and an equal measure of good luck. But one factor not to overlook is the overall increase in startup activity happening in the metro area. Critical mass is making a difference in encouraging new starts, enabling breakout successes, and creating a higher profile for startups of all kinds in the Providence metro.

With an election season upon us--and new leadership on the horizon--we have the opportunity to do even more to help our startup ecosystem grow. If we play our cards right, Teespring will be far from the last startup star to rise.

Hey Providence Startups, join us on March 10 at 12pm for an informal lunch to learn more about how Venture for America (VFA) can set you up with a rising star talent who WANTS to work in Providence at a growing startup. Think of VFA like Teach for America for startups: talented grads from top tier schools self select to live and work at the Providence startup...for a salary that many of us can afford.

Founded by Brown University alum Andrew Yang, Venture for America is a national nonprofit fellowship program that sends top recent college grads to startups. They recruit, select, and train young people who we think are high potential/future company founders, place them to work at startups in cities investing in entrepreneurship, and support them during their 2-year fellowship. Their mission is to train our best and brightest to contribute to job growth and new enterprise creation in cities where startups make a huge difference to a community's economic future. Currently, VFA has 106 Fellows working in startups across 8 cities, 18 of whom are in Providence working for startups like Teespring, Splitwise, and Swipely. This year, we have 100 additional Fellows and are looking to connect them with companies in Providence that are searching for talented early hires.

VFA partner startups come from a wide range of industries - any high growth company looking for talent, in sectors such as internet, biotech, manufacturing, retail, cleantech, etc., and ranging in size from 3 to 80 employees. VFA Fellows are from all backgrounds and possess many different skill sets; however, we place an emphasis on attitude and aptitude, not just technical skills accrued to date. VFA provides 5 weeks of structured training and ongoing mentorship and curriculum for our Fellows to help make them more effective contributors to the startups they're working at.

If you're a promising startup looking to grow your team, please join us for a lunchtime summit at Betaspring on Monday, 3/10 at 12pm - RSVP. Feel free to email any questions to Elisabeth Deogracias at elisabeth@ventureforamerica.org.