Blog

April 8By Comments OffRead more...

3 Lessons from a PeopleFund Borrower

PeopleFund is a CDFI = Community Development Financial Institution and is a non-profit lender. A CDFIs’ goal is to broaden economic opportunity by providing access to financial services. CDFIs provide a range of financial products, like mortgages for low-income and first-time home buyers and commercial loans for small businesses (PeopleFund). About 1,000 CDFIs are in operation across the country. One of the amazing things about CDFIs is that they offer technical assistance and training programs to small businesses to help them get started and grow sustainably. Some offer mentoring and advisory services (That’s ME!).  We know that learning and growth requires support. To apply for financing, small-business owners...

March 18By Comments OffRead more...

Innovator Spotlight: Kevin Henry of Accountable

Meet Kevin Henry, the CEO and founder of Accountable, the “TurboTax” of  HIPAA compliance training, and possibly the only TechStars accelerator alum in Fort Worth. Innovate Fort Worth podcast interviewed Kevin Henry and here is what you need to know! But what is HIPAA, why is it important and how can you build a company around it? “Basically it's the law that governs protected health information. Anyone dealing in the healthcare space that might be touching protected health information has to comply with what is known as HIPAA. HIPAA stands for health insurance portability and accountability act and it's really made up...

March 9By Comments OffRead more...

Fort Worth is Coming for you, Albuquerque!

As we have discussed previously on this blog, Fort Worth is now the 13th largest city in the country, but it ranks 40th in early stage funding when compared to other US cities. In this post we will explore how Fort Worth compares to these cities in a variety of other metrics, plus we will discuss some reasonable targets we could set to move up in the rankings. Our team analyzed early stage funding using Pitchbook, the proprietary research tool that focuses on early stage investment data, to see where Fort Worth ranked compared to the top 50 largest cities (by...

March 4By Comments OffRead more...

5 Things You Need to Know About Accessing Start-up Capital

Looking for funding to start or grow your start-up business? As a Start-up, a business with less than two years of operation, you face unique funding challenges. The good news is that there is a community of resources available to help [Thank you Sparkyard]!  Knowledge is power. By increasing your understanding about how to prepare for accessing capital that power is yours.  I like to think of preparation in terms of those little, stackable children’s toys: Legos.  When new entrepreneurs talk about the ideas they have for a business, those ideas are often scattered, like a box of spilled Legos. The little colorful...

February 18By Comments OffRead more...

Growth of 40,000+%? (Yeah, you read that right)

Each year, Inc. Magazine puts out its list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in America. Think of it like the Forbes 500 (largest US companies) for startups. To be on this list is prestigious and it means your company is doing something right and growing at warp speed. In 2020, the #1 company on the list -- the fastest growing company in America (OneTrust) -- grew at an astonishing 48,377 percent over the last three years. Yeah, that’s hyper growth. But how did local companies do? Where did Fort Worth-based companies come out on this list? How did we do...

January 14By Comments OffRead more...
Fatima

Innovator Spotlight: EJ Carrion of 817 Podcast and Student Success Agency

Student Success Agency EJ  was a first-generation college student and got the opportunity to attend college through the Bill Gates Scholarship. He now uses his experiences to support low-income students from over two-hundred schools across the country by providing free tutoring through his organization, the Student Success Agency. “I was the oldest of two and experiencing it myself as a first gen kid really got me passionate. When kids are doing their homework, dealing with some challenges or trying to apply to a scholarship, that's oftentimes after school. This means your college advisors are no longer available, counselors no longer available,...