VISIBLE NEWS
December 9, 2022
Visible Hands is the most trusted platformfor early-stage, overlooked founders building high-growth startups.
Happy Friday, VH Community,We hope you had a wonderful first full week of the new month!This week was all about celebrating newness at Visible Hands. ICYMI: we currently have TWO new programs with applications open - VHNYC and BK-XL. Both of these programs were created from new partnerships with organizations that align with our mission to provide more access to resources and visibility to underrepresented founders. Additionally, we've been excited to celebrate the new members of our team who have allowed us to bring founder support to more people, from our new portfolio interns to our newest product manager, Chris Martinez (learn more about Chris with our Q&A below).This week, we also held our first-ever VHLX Final Showcase to celebrate the 20 founders from our VHLX cohort. This two-day showcase was full of energy, love, and celebration, which even included a live DJ! We are so proud of the community that was fostered by VH Product Manager Yulkendy Valdez within our cohort. If you weren't able to make it to the showcase or want to re-live the event again, you can view the recordings below.Read on for more founder resources and some exciting updates from our portfolio...
Be well,
The VH Team
VH ANNOUNCEMENTS 🗞
We're hosting an IG Live stream next week on Dec. 15th from 1-1:15 pm ET to talk all things BK-XL. If you're interested in learning more about our new BK-XL Accelerator and why you should apply, be sure to tune in on our IG! Also, check out our feature in the New York Times!
Check out this article written by VH Associate, Darrel Frater, in collaboration with Dropbox DocSend titled "How Underrepresented Founders Can Increase VC Funding Opportunities." In this article, they discuss how underrepresented founders can increase their ability to land VC funding and the efforts we are taking at Visible Hands to close the funding divide.
ICYMI: we launched the VHNYC Founder Fellowship this past month for underrepresented founders building high-growth, tech, and tech-enabled businesses based in NYC, in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)! Learn more and apply by Dec 16th here.
VISIONARIES
💡
Visionary Updates, Asks, and Wins:
Congratulations to '21 Visionary Su Sanni on Dollaride's Clean Transit Access Program launching in NYC this past week. Learn more here.
Congratulations to '21 Visionary Brooke Hill on Swella's recent win in the Whitney M Young New Venture Competition!
Congratulations to '22 Visionary Tania Kottoor being selected for the Generation Next class of 2022 as a mentee! Learn more here.
'21 Visionary Tanisha Bassan is creating an organization to educate women and help them start their careers in cybersecurity. Read more about the early stages of her startup here and follow along on her journey!
Congratulations to '22 Visionary Shannan Morales for speaking at DealmakeHers on the "Emerging disruptors in tech" panel. This forum celebrates Latina founders across the tech space.
Congratulations to '22 Visionary, Jada Mclean (Founder of Ethically) and '21 Visionary, Jessica Chao (Founder of Lingo Health), and '21 Visionary Bea Alessio who made it onto Forbes' 30 under 30 lists!
At the AI Summit New York, '21 Visionary Emiola Banwo shared how his startup, Monuments, helps climate projects save time and money by accelerating stakeholder collaboration. See more here!
Chris Martinez is a Growth Product Manager, Investor, and the lead for our newest accelerator, BK-XL, created in partnership with The Social Justice Fund. Chris will be leading the charge to support early-stage, BIPOC founders looking to build in Brooklyn. We're excited to have him as the newest member of our VH family. Read on to learn more about Chris!
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself!
"I grew up in Madison, WI, and studied business at the local university, UW-Madison (Go Badgers!). I moved to NYC for my first job out of college to work as an investment banking analyst. My favorite part of that job was being able to learn from and help entrepreneurs, many of whom were taking their companies public at the time. A couple of years later, I left finance and moved to Silicon Valley to work in product and growth roles at Wealthfront, a VC-backed startup. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to back and support talented entrepreneurs across the U.S., in Europe, and in Asia.
2. Why did you join Visible Hands VC?
I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to work with Visible Hands and the Social Justice Fund to bring BK-XL to life. It’s an ambitious project that I believe will play an important role in leveling the playing field, by helping early-stage BIPOC founders attain more equal access to social and financial capital.
3. Name one book that changed the way you think and why.
I read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness in college and it changed the way I think about many things. In particular, it helped me appreciate how non-linear and path-dependent our lives, our successes, and failures can be. A few small decisions can change your entire life trajectory and luck plays an enormous role.Want to learn more about Chris? Read his full "Meet the Team" highlight post here.
WHAT WE HAVE OUR EYES ON 👀
➕ Founder Community Resources and Events:
Looking for a grant to support your WOC-led small business? Fill out this application from Fearless Fund's $10K grants for Black Women founders to be considered; apply by Dec 27th.
Applications just opened for Hyper Accelerator (Product Hunt's sister company). The investments are $300K; the length is four weeks and it's for Seed & Series A companies. Learn more and apply here by Jan 6th.
Apply today for 1863 Venture's nationwide education & grant program empowering New Majority businesses to navigate the effects of COVID-19 and racial bias.
🌎 Ecosystem Spotlights:
Today is the last day to apply to the All Raise Black and Latinx Media Mastery Program! #BLMM is where founders learn the media skills they need to gain the exposure and funding they deserve. The best part…the program is FREE! Learn more and apply!
💼 Featured Jobs:
Boddle Learning is currently hiring an experienced VP of engineering who is passionate about building cutting-edge technologies in a fast-growing company and wants to make a positive impact on education and kids. Learn more about the role and apply here.
Our partners at Liberty Mutual are hiring for some interesting roles. Check them out and apply directly before the roles are filled:
'21 Visionary Son Ca Vu's startup, Alta is hiring a Community Manager and a Senior Front End Developer. Alta is the alternative to coding to quickly launch a mobile app.
Amazon is hiring a program manager for the Black Business Accelerator to oversee the execution of cohort-based programs within BBA. Learn more and apply here!
CT Next is currently hiring for multiple positions! Learn more about each and apply below:
🧑🏽💻 What we are watching, reading, or listening to:
Reading: Check out this thread from the '22 Visionary team, Akoma Health on small acts of self-respect for the rest of December that will help you start 2023 with a completely different mentality.
Also Reading: This first-to-market smart undergarment tracks menstrual cycles and hormonal fluctuations to optimize fitness health for female athletes. Read more here!
Watching: '21 Visionary Sandy Lin on The Future is Female
Also watching: '22 Visionary Megan Duong's feature in Capital.
If you'd like your founder resource or event/conference to be featured in our weekly newsletter, shoot us a message at kerry@visiblehands.vc
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