Is your organization registered as 501(c)(3) status with the IRS?
YesWhere our solution team is headquartered or located:
Oklahoma City, OK, USAWhich dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
What is the name of your solution?
Building Together
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
Connecting Women Entrepreneurs with the capital, resources and networks they need to reach scale.
What is your solution?
We partner with nationally recognized brands to activate programs that connect women and minority founders with the capital, resources and networks they need to achieve scale.
Examples include partnering with the NBA Team the Oklahoma City Thunder to activate an Accelerator program. Since the launch of the program, just four years ago, we've helped more than 100 startups, which collectively have raised more than $25 million dollars and created more than 250 jobs.
We've also partnered with the Canadian Embassy to connect Canadian Investors with Native American owned companies across the U.S. and the U.S. Economic Development Agency to support minority entrepreneurs.
Most recently we've partnered with BASF, the largest ingredient supplier in the personal care space to launch the Inclusive Beauty Accelerator, a program providing $10,000 grants, business coaching from industry executives, access to lab, industry data and CPG investors to minority led indie brands pushing boundaries beauty category.
What specific problem are you solving?
Although women are launching businesses at a faster rate than ever before, prevailing systems of established regulations, societal norms, systemic and structural barriers make scaling their business particularly challenging. Barriers are even more acute for Latinas, black and tribal women.
This is particularly true when it comes to accessing right-sized, right-type capital. Several studies show how women entrepreneurs face significant challenges when trying to access sources of capital, such as loans, venture capital, angel investments, and debt financing. As a result, many women-owned businesses are not well capitalized and have cash flow challenges to support growth.
Most organizations working to close the funding gap for women entrepreneurs tend to focus solely on Venture Capital. While VC is helpful for "some" companies, it is not for everyone. In fact, less than one percent of startups ever raise venture capital. Furthermore, out of all the venture capital deployed, less than 3% goes to women and less than 2% go to BIPOC. We need more right-sized capital options so first time entrepreneurs don't feel trapped into believing they either have to be VC backable or go home.
Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.
We focus exclusively on supporting women entrepreneurs, primarily Black, Latinas and Tribal Women. Our goal since inception has been to democratize resources and access to networks for underrepresented founders.
Who does your solution serve, including demographics, and how does the solution impact their lives?
We focus exclusively on Women Entrepreneurs and Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs, with a very intentional focus on Black, Latina and Tribal Women. Age varies but most fit in the 25-45 category.
Most of the women we support don't have access to generational wealth, built-in networks, or an ivy league background/pedigree, etc.
Most women we serve are first time entrepreneurs, don't have collateral, credit scores, or the financial acumen to approach investors, and capital providers.
Is the solution already being implemented in at least one of the Truist Foundation’s target geographies: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Delaware?
No
Are you planning to expand your solution to at least one US state? If so, please provide an overview of your expansion plans. What is the market opportunity for your business or product here?
We serve women across the nation. Our programming is designed to be accessible, regardless of where entrepreneurs are located. This was intentional. Access to networks are often limited to geographic locations. For example, women in the middle of the country face even more challenges accessing investor networks, given that 80% of Venture Capital is spent in the coast. Mothers face even more barriers accessing programming if its restricted to in-person, physical locations – due to lack of funding, generational wealth, lack of savings, a lot of mothers, particularly single mothers, work full or part-time to fund their startups/small business. Understanding the value of in-person connections, we do mix-programming. E.g. Our Inclusive Beauty Accelerator is remote and accessible to women across the nation, at the end of the program we host in-person opportunities in New Jersey. Our program with the Canadian Embassy extended through different states with high Tribal population. We've also done programming for Latinx Founders in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mexico City. Our approach to going into markets is to partner with local organizations to ensure we are not duplicating efforts but rather complimenting existing programming available to entrepreneurs in the region/ecosystem.
Is your organization’s mission to help launch small businesses and/or to sustain small businesses?
Our primary focus is to help existing women business owners reach scale (first $1M in ARR). However, we repurpose components of the programming to serve aspiring women entrepreneurs and/or women who just launched their business and are struggling to find product-market-fit.
What is your theory of change?
By increasing awareness on the different types of capital and facilitating matchmaking services, we will increase the likelihood of women getting adequately funded and therefore reaching scale. This leads to a compounding effect. More women getting funded equals more representation, more role models and ultimately more women investors as women reach a level of wealth to start investing in other companies. This translates into economic mobility for women.
This benefits not just women, but everyone given that S&P Global found that firms with women in the C-Suite realized a 20% increase in stock price momentum, a 6% increase in profitability and 8% larger stock returns. Women are also more likely to embrace employee-friendly policies and programs to champion racial and gender diversity. According to a study by McKinsey & Co., more than 50% of women consistently take a public stand for gender and racial equity at work, compared to about 40% of men.
Our solution's stage of development:
Growth: an established product, service, or business model that is sustainable through proven effectiveness and is poised for further growth into additional communities.Film your elevator pitch.
What is your organization’s stage of development?
Growth: A registered 501(c)(3) with an established product, service, or business model in one or several communities, which is poised for further growth. Organizations should have a proven track record with an annual operating budget.How many small businesses does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?
Through the multiple programs we are currently hosting in 2022 we are expected to serve: 18 existing Women Business Owners scale to $1M and 125 Emerging Female Entrepreneurs.
In 2023, we are working with a few new partners in the East Coast to implement a couple of more programs that will enabling us to scale our reach to approx. 45 existing Women Business Owners and 150 emerging entrepreneurs.
In five years, we are looking to support an average of 300 women a year entrepreneurs through multiple programming, content and funding mechanisms. We are also raising a fund to invest in the most promising companies.
How do you define the community you serve, and who are its stakeholders?
The main source of influence as to how we design our programs and how we grow the organization is the entrepreneurs we serve. First and foremost.
Followed by our Board of Directors and Funders which include private brands like Google, NBA, BASF, Bank of the West, and others who care about equity; Philanthropists and Foundations like the Tides Organization, Inasmuch Foundation, as well as U.S. institutions like the US Economic Development Agency.
We also constantly engage with investors, financial partners (banks, CDFIs, revenue based financing platforms, etc), local economic development organizations and of course we are also very much in contact with local and national policy makers involved in efforts that benefit minority owned businesses and entrepreneurs.
How do you work with the community and your stakeholders to create community-based and place-based solutions?
As mentioned above, before we commit to working with any particular brand, institution, city or region, we make sure to talk to the local stakeholders to get a better sense of what resources already exists to support the local startup/small business ecosystem.
As entrepreneurs ourselves and as an organization that has been affected by copy and paste programming / franchise based programming, we are very intentional about working with local grassroots programs to compliment what is already there and working to ensure we are being additive not duplicative.
Our approach is always to talk to entrepreneurs first, multipliers/providers second. Entrepreneurs know best about what resources exists, what is currently working, what is missing and what could be enhanced. We then fill gaps accordingly.
How do you build trust within the community your organization serves and among small business owners?
We pride ourselves in the community we've built with entrepreneurs from across the nation. All of our programs are focused on building community (as opposed to competitive programs like pitch competitions, etc.). We then create relevant programming to stay in touch with Alumni. We also ask them to pay it forward by becoming mentors in our program. We also have communications tools and channels like our podcast, newsletter and social media content where we provide lots of free tools, tips and resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners. This has enabled us to nurture a strong community of pay-it-fwd minded entrepreneurs.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and -- importantly -- how will you achieve them?
We are working to partner with even more private brands that are intentional about not just supporting diverse founders but doing so in a way that compounds. We are looking to extend partnership with financial partners that can provide equity but also non-equity funding options for entrepreneurs. We'll be working with policy makers to address the invisible barriers (outside of just capital access) women and BIPOC entrepreneurs face when it comes to scaling their business.
Why are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
We are entrepreneurs ourselves. We are also investors and operators. We weren't just hired to do the job, we've built an organization from the ground up to democratize access for traditionally overlooked entrepreneurs.
Erika Lucas, after reaching partner level at a prominent private equity firm, Erika left her career in finance to launch StitchCrew, an organization democratizing access to capital, resources and networks for overlooked entrepreneurs. Shortly after, she Founded VEST, an organization connecting influential women and expediting the pipeline of more women in positions of power. She is also the host of the VEST Her Podcast, a show about the barriers women face in the workplace and stories of women building power collectively. As an Angel Investor, Erika has invested in more than 30 companies led by women and minority entrepreneurs. An international sought out speaker, Erika speaks about entrepreneurship, capital access for women and BIPOC, and women in leadership.
Chris Lucas, is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. After owning and operating Koko FitClub, a digital gym, Chris launched StitchCrew and has helped other startups reach scale, like WeGoLook, an on-demand workforce solution for enterprise clients, sold to Crawford & Co and Ocupath a VR Workforce Development company now doing business with the Airforce and Navy. Chris manages the finance and tech tracks for StitchCrew.
Gaby Eichenlaub, manages programming, communications and day to day operations for StitchCrew. A former bilingual educator and franchise operator Gaby has experience managing multiple locations across different regions.
Why are you applying to Truist Foundation Inspire Awards?
Visibility at the national level. Exposure to LPs, funders and partners that would like to support our work as we continue to expand our footprint and capacity.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
What organizations (or types of organizations) would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?
Pivotal Ventures - Melinda Gates Foundation.
Minority Business Development Agency.
National Chambers of Commerce.
LPs investing in emerging fund managers.
Organizations providing educational and community support to emerging fund managers.
Solution Team
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Gabriela Eichenlaub Program Manager, StitchCrew
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Chris Lucas Co-Founder, StitchCrew
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Erika Lucas Co-Founder, StitchCrew Inc.
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What is the name of your organization?
StitchCrew Inc