DivInc

Through a system of wraparound support, DivInc works with BIPOC and women founders to secure access to capital, networks, and education to transform their businesses and optimize their chances for success. Participants attend a 12-week program that presents both a general and customized curriculum based on specific needs, best practices workshops, mentorship, and coaching. The components of the program are designed to explicitly address the needs of underrepresented entrepreneurs, taking into account the voices of those who have weathered the startup process and those who have attended and given feedback on past accelerators.

We recognize that we work with founders who are both at a delicate point in the entrepreneurial journey and who historically face tremendous amounts of discrimination. We support them in some of the most essential areas of the startup process, including access to capital (human and social as well as financial), marketing, and other professional skills. We focus on the elements that are most likely to quickly and sustainably move the needle for their growing businesses.

The world of entrepreneurship is challenging for all involved, but that is especially true for women and people of color. Latinx and Black entrepreneurship drive economic prosperity, but only 1% of venture capital goes to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, and less than 1% goes to Black and Latina women. The pandemic disproportionately affected entrepreneurs of color; African American businesses experienced a 41% drop and Latinx business owners fell by 32%. These findings of early-stage losses to small businesses have policy implications and indicate longer-term ramifications for job losses and economic inequality. 

This is a problem driven by institutional racial and sexual orientation bias at every level. We know we cannot solve a challenge of this magnitude alone, but we are striving to do everything possible to level the playing field. Our program bolsters the ambitions of all women and people of color in our communities; to date, we have served 89 startups in Houston and Austin, and hope to serve 80 more over the next two years.

Our alignment with the Challenge begins with our vision statement: “Our vision is a world that is authentically diverse, equitable and inclusive, where social and economic disparities no longer exist.“ The challenge’s focus on leveling the playing field for women and BIPOC populations and businesses is also the guiding principle of our organization. 

We bring this principle to life with a wraparound system of support that revolves around an intense 12-week accelerator. The Venture Capital Lab for Women and BIPOC Founders provides a unique culture of support and equips diverse entrepreneurs with strategies critical to creating successful companies. Providing equitable access to resources and opportunities is essential to leveling the playing field. DivInc enables the next generation to see what is possible, because oftentimes people cannot aspire to be something they cannot see. DivInc’s portfolio of entrepreneurs form a bond with each other and with DivInc, thus creating DivInc communities of support for current and future BIPOC entrepreneurs.

Our greatest source of pride - and the greatest endorsement of our approach - is the success of those who have completed our program. You can read more about past participants and the successful businesses they run on our website.

We directly serve women and people of color who are starting businesses and in need of startup support. Less than 1% of entrepreneurial funding goes to Black and Latinx women, putting them at a stark disadvantage relative to white male founders. 

A Business Accelerator Intensive Program is our solution to these barriers. Founders who may have been unable to access mentorship, talent pools, education and networking are given the coaching and ongoing support they need to access capital and develop robust, successful business plans. While we cannot level the playing field in venture capital alone, we are creating a model that can be repeated in communities across the country. 

Ultimately, the makeup of those we recruit is composed heavily of underrepresented founders:

• 57% Female

• 43% Male

• 44% Black

• 17% Latinx

• 14% Asian

• 22% White (women)

• 3%  Middle Eastern

We are confident that these participants’ lives are fundamentally changed by participating in the program. Businesses at this stage of growth face a high risk of failure; by giving them resources, connections to investors, and mentorship, we set them on a path to success that will empower them to build wealth and create opportunities for other historically marginalized people.

This solution is currently being implemented in Texas in the cities of Austin and Houston

Our goal is to both launch and sustain small businesses. This is reflected directly in our mission statement: “to generate social and economic equity through entrepreneurship.” We operate on the belief that entrepreneurship is crucial to leveling the playing field and opening the doors to opportunity to women and BIPOC communities. The launching, growth, and ultimate success of small businesses will be crucial to reaching that goal, and we are committed to working with funders throughout their journey.

Problem: Although entrepreneurship is key to building generational wealth, as a specific example, Black, Latinx and women founders are not experiencing the same opportunities and outcomes as their white, male counterparts. According to the US Census Bureau, on average, white-led firms generate 10 times the revenue of black-led firms and eight times the revenue of Latino-led firms (source).

 Activities: DivInc has developed a system of 4 intertwined programs that provide a progressive path for women and BIPOC entrepreneurs from the ideation stage to the seed stage of development. To accomplish this, we remove the 3 critical barriers that entrepreneurs face: access to knowledge, access to networks and access to capital. DivInc does not tackle this alone; we mobilize our local communities to attract a variety of mentors, subject matter experts, partners and talent that enhances and broadens the ecosystem. Collaboration is a core value at DivInc. As part of our programming and events, we engage people who otherwise may never have met one another or have never explored the opportunities within the ecosystem. 

 Short-Term Outcomes: Companies participating in our Tech Accelerator Program receive crucial support as they advance into the marketplace. Currently, each participant receives a $10,000 non-dilutive grant at the completion of the program. In addition, it culminates with a Showcase Day with 250+ people in attendance and over 3,500 online views, as well as an Investor Day which consists of curated meetings with potential investors.

 Long-Term Outcomes: Giving early-stage support to underrepresented entrepreneurs is one of the most concrete, effective actions that can be taken to reduce the generational wealth gap. Addressing the inherent inequality that exists among startups would not only close the racial wealth gap, but also create 9 million new jobs in the economy and boost the national income by $3 billion. (source).  Additionally, the average revenue of Black and Latinx-owned businesses in the US is less than $100K. DivInc’s goal is to have an average revenue amongst our portfolio companies of $1M+ over the next 3-5 years.

Since 2016, DivInc has sevred 89 small businesses, by the end of 2023, DivInc will serve an additional 90 small businesses and by 2027 DivInc will serve an additional 480 small businesses. In addition to businesses we have served directly, we have helped more than 15,000 entrepreneurs through workshops, events, and community engagement.  

First and foremost, our stakeholders are the communities we serve - women and BIPOC founders and the people they support. Everything we do is guided by their input, life experience, and needs.  

In addition to the leadership provided by those we serve, DivInc is fortunate to have a leadership team and Board of Directors composed of some of the brightest leaders in the business world. This includes senior leadership from Fortune 500 companies and other impactful investors and business leaders. Additionally, our board is both majority-female and majority-BIPOC, ensuring our solutions are responsive to the groups they serve. These leaders recognize the historical barriers faced by women and BIPOC founders and are prepared to work alongside us to disrupt the startup community and build an economy defined by equity and inclusion. Finally, our core sponsors and financial supporters are visionaries behind our mission and key to guiding our long-term success.

DivInc began its work exclusively focused on assisting women and BIPOC founders in Austin, Texas. As one of the country’s fastest-growing markets for entrepreneurship, this was an ideal community for us. To bring the vision to life, we turned to Preston James II to serve as CEO, who has both an extensive background in the startup community and deep roots in Austin. Prior to launching DivInc, Preston became active in the community as a startup mentor, angel investor and Entrepreneur in Residence at the prestigious McCombs Business School at the University Texas-Austin. As CEO, Preston considers DivInc his legacy work and is passionate about creating a mindset shift within underrepresented communities with the message of closing the racial wealth gap through entrepreneurship. Preston and our organizatin’s leaders recognized that DivInc should not be a top-down solution; rather, we have built an organization that is responsive to the communities we are committed to serving. They launched DivInc in response to the challenges caused by the lack of diversity, equity and inclusion within the Austin entrepreneurial ecosystem, and continue that focus in Austin, Houston, and other markets we explore for expansion.

As DivInc proved itself in Austin, we began to receive requests from other markets looking to fill the gaps in their entrepreneurial ecosystems and decided to expand our services to Houston. We hold regular events in both communities that bring together underrepresented founders, mentors, investors and advisors. These are crucial touchpoints that both create visibility for those we serve and become a vital forum where we receive feedback on the effectiveness of our programs.

Finally, we are proud to engage our community through our annual Champions of Change Awards. The event is Austin’s premier event that recognizes local individuals who hold diversity, equity and inclusion as core values, working hard every day to make Austin a truly inclusive community. A selection committee, made up of diverse and distinguished leaders from around Austin will select honorees for the following categories: Executive of the Year, D&I Leader of the Year, Student of the Year, Champion of the Year, Investor of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Startup Leader of the Year and Non-Profit Leader of the Year.

Our outreach and engagement strategy is built around sharing useful information and proving our genuine desire to serve underrepresented founders. Our initial outreach to Accelerator participants includes question and answer sessions, networking events, mentor office hours, community collaboration events, and a range of other face-to-face engagements. Additional community events DivInc hosts and collaborates with include: DivInc Labs recruiting events, participation as panelists and speakers in multiple events like Black in Tech, Latinx in Tech. Startup Sistas events to engage with Women of color founders, Just Us events, where we engage Black and Latinx investors, as well as virtual and online collaborations like LinkedIn Lunch Time Link Ups with industry leaders and grassroots leaders.

We are currently executing a strategic plan that will achieve the following goals over the next 5 years:

1. Clear Impact. DivInc uses key metrics aligned with its mission to track and report its impact.

2. Ready for Growth. DivInc has the infrastructure, development program, and people capacity to achieve its strategic goals and growth. 

3. World-Class Board. DivInc’s Board exemplifies the best practices of nonprofit governing boards.

4. Bring Funding Online. DivInc provides financial q1 support for program participants and funding opportunities for alumni, and underrepresented founders.

5. Lead on Issues. DivInc is a thought leader and issue advocate. We set a tone, shape the conversation, and give a consistent, increasingly national voice to the challenges facing the communities we serve. This grows our brand and lifts goals 1-4 in the process.    

These goals work toward an ambitious overall target: radically transforming the startup space in a way that will create jobs in underrepresented communities and close the generational wealth gap. To track our overall progress toward achieving these goals, we will track the following metrics:

• %/$Increased Revenue for founders

• $/% Increased Funding Raised by founders

• % Increased Valuation of founder companies
• % Increased # Jobs created by startup companies
• % Increased Investor Network for founders
• % Increased revenue for DivInc
• % Increased DivInc donor and sponsor retention
• % Increased revenue diversification for DivInc

(Key Results #2 and #8 apply here also)

• % Increased marketing reach and leadership presence
• % Increased engagement on website, social media

DivInc’s leadership team is one of the best demonstrations of our ability to deliver this solution. CEO and Co-Founder Preston L. James II is a visionary who is perfectly positioned to implement this intervention. A 20-year veteran of Dell Technologies, Preston has served in executive leadership roles in enterprise IT technology sales where he led a team responsible for $250M in annual sales. He also served as the Managing Director for the  Dell Global Center for Entrepreneurship before he retired in 2014.  Prior to launching DivInc, Preston became active in the community as a startup mentor, angel investor, and Entrepreneur in Residence at the prestigious McCombs Business School at the University of Texas-Austin. To support Preston, our Executive Leadership Team is composed of Monica Morales, Brooke Turner, and Michelle Torres, who have remarkable backgrounds in civil rights, education, startups, and business growth.

In addition to Preston and the Leadership Team’s considerable professional and lived experience, we are led by a Board of Directors that is majority-women and majority-BIPOC, and includes some of the brightest minds in the business community. Their success and lived experience perfectly align behind a solution that is proven to change lives.

We are moved by the Inspire Award’s commitment to diversity in the startup space, and the alignment between our missions sets us up for a natural partnership. In a short time, we have developed a model that is proven to supercharge the growth of women and BIPOC-led startups. We have already expanded beyond our first city in Austin and begun work in Houston, and are now assessing the feasibility of expansion to other markets. We have no doubt there is a need for this program across the country, and with your support, we will continue to scale our Accelerator Program to a point where its impact will be felt by even more underrepresented entrepreneurs. 

The most significant barrier we see is the lack of access to capital and resources for women and BIPOC founders - our shared commitment to these populations and commitment to do this work will help both DivInc and those we serve overcome barriers. A partnership between DivInc and the Truist Foundation Inpsire Awards would do a tremendous amount to ensure greater equity in the startup space.

DivInc relies on strong partnerships to serve our entrepreneurs. Our goal is to establish partnerships in the future that can help us design and implement data collection strategies to more fully demonstrate the impact of small businesses on their communities. We know our solution has a transformational impact, but measuring, studying, and scaling that impact will be key for us.

We currently partner with a wide range of organizations, including: Techstars (Mentorship & workshop leadership), Dell Technologies (sales expertise), The Mercury Fund and Wild Basin (mentorship), Venture Studio (support), Social Venture Partners & Southwest Angel Network (angel investment), the University of Texas (ATI, TVL, MSTC and McCombs) providing mentorship, and the ION and Capital Factory (joint events, co-working space & programming support).

Ideal partnerships will mirror those mentioned above, who all have tremendous expertise, a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with founders, and a passion for our vision to create equity through entrepreneurship.