Grid110

Over the past 6 years, we have built one of the leading communities for early stage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles.  Grid110 provides free business accelerator programs (no cost/no equity taken) to early stage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles, connecting them to a diverse community of fellow entrepreneurs, expert mentorship, and critical resources. We have supported 200 companies, from idea stage through growth stage at various points in their journeys. 70% of the companies are led by women founders and 70% are led by founders of color, who have raised a combined $42M dollars in outside capital. This is a stark contrast to the less than 2% of funding invested nationally to women and people of color. 

With the Elevate Prize resources, we want to expand upon the foundation we have built in Los Angeles and support entrepreneurs nationally. Due to the pandemic, we've spent the past year producing virtual programs and events when we could no longer meet in person. Our comfort level with virtual programs has given us the confidence to set our sights beyond our immediate geography in order to truly create the most thriving, inviting and inclusive startup community for entrepreneurs. 

Our mission is to foster the most thriving, inviting & inclusive community for entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. We believe that anyone with the goal of becoming an entrepreneur should have the chance to pursue it and receive support along the way. Our work impacts individuals who are often overlooked by traditional entrepreneurial ecosystems. That’s what drives us to make the entrepreneurial path more equitable, inclusive and accessible.

Having spent 15 years in the tech industry and often being the only woman on executive teams and in meetings, I've felt a strong calling to this space for a while. I've invested my time and effort into initiatives that aim to help shape the LA startup ecosystem into one that better reflects the city itself. 

The outcomes that Grid110 has achieved show that there isn’t a pipeline problem with women in tech or people of color in tech, as the majority of our success stories have been by underestimated CEOs. What is clear is that the ratio can be changed when making the path wide open, accessible and engaged upon by those who desire it. We want to take the work that we've done locally and bring it to a national level.

Women and ethnically diverse founding teams are outperforming their all-white, male peers, but they’re still the least likely to raise funding.The appalling funding disparities for women and people of color — who already face historical, systemic inequities — have been well documented and the lack of access to capital further marginalizes underrepresented founders from innovation, creation and wealth-building.

Economic growth suffers when entrepreneurial activity is unevenly spread socio-economically, demographically, and geographically. But in order for entrepreneurs to create new business ventures, they need access to educational resources and a level-playing field on which to compete. The path to success as a startup founder is starkly homogenous and typically attributed to access to networks, capital and critical resources that marginalized communities have been locked out of. Given the mere fraction of funding/loans allocated to women and people of color particularly, it’s imperative that support be prioritized to historically marginalized communities in an effort to level the playing field.

Grid110 provides entrepreneurs with free access to proven curriculum, experienced mentors, critical resources, and a like-minded community so their businesses, neighborhoods, and cities can thrive. We see tech and entrepreneurship as keys to economic mobility.

Grid110 was founded with the desire to build community where we felt one didn’t exist and to foster a more inclusive ecosystem for entrepreneurs to thrive. This mindset is embraced by every aspect of our community, from our team to our entrepreneurs to our partners. We are values led, focusing on community, generosity, empathy and belonging. 

Our programs are free: no cost, no equity taken. Yet we provide a similar, high caliber of curriculum, community and mentor network that founders typically have to pay into for access (fees or equity). 

After 6 years of running in-person programs, we pivoted to virtual programs due to the pandemic in April 2020. After a year of refining our virtual curriculum and format, we feel confident in our abilities to scale beyond Los Angeles.

Finally, our community of entrepreneurs reflects the diverse landscape of our city. Our focus on diversity and inclusivity is not limited to founder identity, but also industry, business model and business potential. Our mission and unique model have enabled us to attract and support a community of founders whether their company is venture scale or sustainable growth, tech or non-tech, for profit or non-profit.

We know that entrepreneurship is a huge driver for economic mobility. We believe that if you pair entrepreneurs (both aspiring and established) with subject matter mentors, community and curriculum, that you will see two types of outcomes. One will be economic (business created, jobs created, revenue generated, funds raised) and one will be social (supported historically underrepresented communities). The economic impact will be community reinvestment, improving the business success rate and improving the ranking of the city, while the social impact will see a redistribution of wealth and more inclusive access to resources.

On a human level, we see truly inspiring outcomes from our program participants. See below testimonial:

“This program is meant to challenge you as you build your venture so understand that every critique of your business comes with the best of intentions. The Grid110 network is expansive, and if you take advantage of connecting with alumni & current advisors, you will be in a better position to set and accomplish goals for your company. You won’t ever feel alone on this journey of entrepreneurship as a part of the Grid110 family because there is a sense of real camaraderie and support that is unmatched."