Leaders in Change | Social Justice Innovation Mid-Program Update

“Our goal as founders isn’t to come with all the answers, it’s to find the answers.”
— Lawrence Humphrey, founder of Tech Can Do Better

We’re at the midpoint of our Spring 2022 Social Justice Innovation powered by Ascension Seton!

The first six weeks of every DivInc cohort is a jolt of energy to everyone’s heart, mind, and soul. The challenges faced, the growth experienced, and bonds built stay with us for years to come.

For the Spring 2022 Social Justice Innovation cohort, being in the social justice space with all the heartache going on in the world right now has strengthened their resolve and their dedication to the work. They are meeting old problems with new solutions and killing it!

DivInc Spring 2022 Social Justice Tech Cohort at Capital Factory Austin

Curriculum Jump Start

We went full speed ahead through the LEVERS framework. We take the founders through the entire framework in month one so they can use it, return to it, iterate with it throughout the whole program. Amos Schwartsfarb, one of the creators and authors of Levers, facilitated a revenue formula working session for that portion of the framework. We recommend our mentors become familiar with the framework to best support founders in the program and beyond.

“I felt blown away by all the support and getting to commune with the other founders was so powerful.”
— Mariah Barber, founder of Invisible Strengths

Thank You to Our Subject Matter Experts

Amazing curriculum partners and workshop facilitators include Ada Ryland (crafting your offer), Ezinne Udezue (mental models for approaching your financials), Blanca Lesmes (fundraising as a social impact founder), Juan Thurman (impact investing), Forecastr team (financial modeling), Lennis Perez (founder mindset coach), Sarah Romer (business and revenue models), Preston James (mentor prep and follow through), Tracy Thirion (unique value proposition), Scroobious team (pitching to fundraise), and Andi Narvaez (storytelling).

Alyssa Padron, DivInc Program Director - Austin, delivering a presentation
DivInc Social Justice Tech Spring 2022 attending virtual meeting

Mentor Virtual Happy Hour

The virtual happy hour with the cohort, alumni, mentors, board members and partners was a fun whirlwind of intros and connections. We miss seeing everyone in person, but the ability to connect across locations and time zones is pretty nice!

“Connecting with all the mentors was really helpful, there are alot of opportunities to make great connections”
— Sumedha, founder of Quimby

Social Venture Partners & University of Texas, Austin

Impact Modeling project kicked off with the Austin chapter of Social Venture Partners (SVP) and students from the University of Texas, Austin, Sustainable Investment Group (SIG). Each cohort company gets a team of two professionals from SVP and one student from SIG to build an impact model that will help the companies measure and evaluate whether they're seeing the desired outcomes and impact.

DivInc Social Justice Tech Spring 2022 Cohort participate in a workshop at Capital Factory

Partner Collaboration Day

We had an incredible Partner Collaboration Day, powered by Ascension Seton Texas! A special thank you to the individual Ascension and JPMorgan Chase team members who met with the founders to see where values aligned and what doors could be opened.

Check out our interview with Ascension Seton Texas Regional Hospital President, Kate Henderson!

We kicked off our Pitch Practices!

As you know, pitches change as founders learn and grow, and we’re excited to have partners like Scroobious, Ecliptic Capital, DivInc alum, and more helping founders get comfortable talking with investors, pitching at competitions and demo day, and overall knowing their business and market better than anyone else.

We’re excited to collaborate with supporting sponsor Visible on Go To Market strategies and lessons learned.

Nyesha Brown, DivInc Austin, working on laptop

Coming up next:

With founders having a stronger sense of their ideal customer profile, messaging, UVP, and high-risk unvalidated assumptions, we next kick off a focus on hypothesis testing to find repeatable business processes and strategies in sales and marketing. Repeatable and scalable traction is the goal.

Month Two workshops include “You’re already selling”, “B2B + B2C Marketing Tactics”, “Marketing Metrics Framework”, “From Analytics to Action Plans”, “UX + Design Thinking”, “Communication for Sales,” and more.

Month Three continues everything from month one and two, but dives into fundraising 101, alternative funding avenues, buttoning up your financials, contracts, IP and Ops, etc. and building a usable data room. We’re excited to work with partners like Gunderson Dettmer and mentors from banks, angel groups, and VC firms.

Connect with Cohort 9 companies

​kinkofa (Dallas, TX and New Orleans, LA) - kinkofa is an all-in-one genealogy and genetics platform making it easier than ever for Afro-descended people to uncover their family history.

​The Whisper Company (Austin, TX) - ​​The Whisper Company believes that private & secure communication is a human right. Leveraging proprietary technology we are bringing a new level of ownership and sense of privacy & security for everyone’s digital self.

​Invisible Strengths (Washington, D.C.) - Invisible Strengths is a social networking app connecting intersectional (BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ disabled) candidates in the public health field with inclusive work environments. This stands to assist the most marginalized within the disabilities community to find supportive work spaces.

​Quimby (Dallas and Austin, TX) - The Quimby platform gives leaders access to real-time insights on their team’s morale. Encourage employees to build their emotional resilience for improved mental wellness and productivity.

​Uinclude (Los Angeles, CA) - Uinclude enables hiring managers to create effective and inclusive job ads to attract top talent. Fill job vacancies with qualified and diverse candidates, while saving your company both time and money using UInclude's Inclusive Writing Tool

​Tech Can Do Better (Austin, TX) - Tech Can Do Better leverages technology to offer a measurable way for companies to achieve equitable outcomes in 3 key areas:

​01 Workforce. Companies prioritize hiring, promoting, and paying in proportion to the population they serve.
02 Investment. Companies ensure their products, services, and spending minimize racial inequities.
03 Advocacy. Companies advocate for policies that promote racial justice and the greatest social good.

​Follow their journey with DivInc through their Medium blog posts here!

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