CoFounder OS for Capital Access

Our solution, CofounderOS, provides anywhere, anytime support tailored to a startup small business’s unique needs. It is an AI software platform leveraging the capabilities of OpenAI's APIs, while standing apart through its unique, proprietary interface and data model. The platform offers high-quality, real-time support to small business founders and integrates with an array of business software, including accounting, CRM, and POS systems. This integration enhances the automation and optimization of business planning, investor matching, sales strategy, and financial projections, thus facilitating personalized mentorship and feedback for founders, and improves their chances of securing capital and customers.  The platform also enables individual and cohort based data tracking for entrepreneur support organizations allowing them to capture the economic impact of their work across a 3 year horizon.

Our AI-driven solution offers dynamic, on-demand, and remote support throughout the growth and scale stages of a business, regardless of its type or location. This revolutionary approach ensures that every founder gets personalized guidance when they need it, no matter where they are. By assisting founders in developing their business plan, go-to-market strategy, and funding approach, we are uniquely positioned to build a comprehensive, AI-powered database of investor readiness across all funding categories. This dataset, spanning seed/angel, VC, venture debt, PE, working capital loans, SBA loans, and government grants, promises to unlock new insights and opportunities for founders and investors alike. Our solution embodies a vision where every founder has the resources they need to succeed, and every great idea gets the opportunity to commercialize.

CofounderOS, is an AI software platform that leverages the capabilities of OpenAI's APIs, while standing apart through its unique, proprietary interface and data model. The platform offers high-quality, real-time support to startup founders and integrates with an array of business software, including accounting, CRM, and POS systems. This integration enhances the automation and optimization of business planning, investor matching, sales strategy, and financial projections, thus facilitating personalized mentorship and feedback for founders, and ultimately, improving their chances of securing capital and customers

Make Startups and CoFounderOS exist to serve founders, investors, and entrepreneurial support organizations (ESO) affiliates representing all communities across the U.S. - particularly areas that are economically distressed/disadvantaged and groups that have historically been denied opportunities to start and grow new businesses (BIPOC, women, disabled, immigrant, etc). Our platform is engineered to foster a collaborative community environment and maintain founder engagement.  These groups are currently underserved by entrepreneurial ecosystems because of the inaccessible nature of current support programs/offerings (incubators, accelerators, bootcamps, mentorship, etc).  CoFounder provides them an "all-access pass" - free of bias - to dynamic on demand supports and regardless of zip code connects each founder to the national entrepreneurial ecosystem - including capital providers that can catalyze their business growth.  

ESO affiliates are also a key beneficiary of CoFounder OS as their current work is under-resourced and current models not scalable nor sustainable to meet the full range of entrepreneurs in their community “where they are” year over year.  This solution allows them to serve more entrepreneurs more effectively year over year and collects the data needed to adjust programming and support, as well as solicit more funding for their core operations and more robust, expanded services and support. 

The problem we are addressing is a national economic (and democratic) imperative - more founders, with more diversity in identity and lived experience - need and deserve access to a variety of forms of startup capital to launch new businesses in their communities - particularly new businesses in disadvantaged communities (US Cotton Belt, South Texas, Appalachia) and economically distressed zip codes.  Our solution is innovative, tech-enabled, and equity centered approach to enable entrepreneurship in an inclusive way and accelerate a more inclusive and distributed flow of capital from concentrated regions across the US through data-driven, intelligent matching.  The communities and entrepreneurs of focus for our solution experience the greatest economic disparity and disadvantage to getting new businesses off the ground and scaling them over time. 

Each year, 5 million founders start a business in the US but 83% receive no funding. Despite $44 billion of debt/equity being deployed into early stage ventures, 50% occurs in 4 cities alone, and less than 3% are women and minority-owned founders. We must build a better system that works for all. Entrepreneurship has the potential to solve the big challenges of our world and a disruptive solution is needed to transform the odds of new business and small business success. CoFounderOS is backed by industry veterans with over 50 years combined experience in entrepreneurship, education, strategic partnerships, and investment at the intersection of public, private, and philanthropic capital. 

Development and Integration

Activity: Develop CofounderOS platform utilizing OpenAI's APIs

Output: Fully functional AI-powered platform with a unique proprietary interface and data model.

Outcome: A versatile, user-friendly platform providing real-time, tailored support to startup & small business founders.

Personalized Mentorship and Feedback

Activity: Offer personalized support and feedback to founders

Output: AI-driven insights and recommendations for individual founders.

Outcome: Improved decision-making, refined business strategies, and increased investor readiness among startup/small business founders.

Securing Capital and Customers

Activity: Assist founders in refining business plans and funding approaches.

Output: Enhanced business plans, investor pitches, and funding strategies.

Outcome: Increased likelihood of securing capital fand attracting customers 

Data Tracking for Support Organizations

Activity: Enable data tracking for ESOs.

Output: Tools for capturing and analyzing economic impact data over a 3-year horizon.

Outcome: Enhanced ability to measure and showcase effectiveness of assistance

Dynamic Support and Remote Assistance

Activity: Provide dynamic, on-demand, and remote support to startups

Output: Real-time support and guidance accessible anywhere at any time.

Outcome: Founders receive assistance to overcome challenges and make decisions.

Building an Investor Readiness Database

Activity: Collect and analyze data on various funding categories and investor readiness.

Output: Comprehensive dataset on startup readiness across funding types.

Outcome: Founders and investors gain valuable insights, better matching between startups and investors.

Empowering Founders and Ideas

Activity: Empower founders with resources to succeed

Output: Refined business strategies and improved pitches.

Outcome: Increased success rate of startup businesses fostering innovation and economic growth.

Currently, Make Startups serves 120-150 entrepreneurs annually through programming in Augusta, GA.  With the launch and national adoption of CoFounder OS, we expect the platform will serve over 4000 aspiring entrepreneurs by the end of 2024 and over 30,000 aspiring entrepreneurs by the end of 2028.  Designed with scalability at its core, CofounderOS can accommodate a growing number of founders without compromising service quality. This scalability, combined with diverse revenue streams, fosters our path towards robust market growth and sustainability.

CoFounder OS serves and connects entrepreneurial ecosystems.  Key stakeholders and decision makers within ecosystems include public entities, economic development agencies and departments, entrepreneur support organizations, entrepreneurs, commercial capital providers, and philanthropic organizations with grantmaking strategies focused on economic empowerment, mobility, and justice.  Geographically we focus on serving organizations based in communities facing disadvantage and significantly wealth disparity (US Cotton Belt, South Texas, Appalachia)

For 11 years, our outreach and engagement efforts have focused on entrepreneurial support organizations nationally.  We have cultivated trust-based relationships and partnerships with over 100 organizations through attending conferences, 1-on-1 meetings, email newsletters, social media, and in person community visits - all with the goal of soliciting feedback to improve the platform and to optimize the value delivered to their operations as well as aspiring entrepreneurs through widespread implementation. 

By December 2024, CoFounder will be implemented and actively used by 500 startup businesses and 25 independent ESOs across 10 states.  By December 2028, CoFounder will utilized by 5000 startup businesses and >100 ESOs across all 50 states. We will achieve these impact goals through developing trust and impact focused partnerships with like-minded organizations and high touch customer support for effective implementation and data collection. 

The Finalist Support Program will provide support needed through workshops and pitch consultation to close initial capital raise as well as reach more ESO partners for implementation, testing, and product improvements. The Learning & Development modules focused on theory of change and refining plants for scaling will be incredibly impactful at this stage of our solution.  Finally, we welcome the opportunity to convene and build community with like-minded innovators solving for economic equity and justice through supporting small business owners and new business creation by marginalized entrepreneurs. 

Partnership goals include automating the process for founders to get access to capital consideration based on their achievement score within the platform.  Those founders who need access to mentors, real-time personalized feedback can benefit from national partners in the financial industry amplifying access to this platform and cross promoting it to their community.