The Power of FLEDGE in the Startup Community
Starting a company from scratch is extremely difficult. All-consuming. Bordering on, if not full-on crazy.
Nonetheless, new companies get started all the time, a few dozen of which by BGI graduates. In the ten-year history of the school, the 500+ graduates have started over 40 companies. With many of these companies founded by teams of graduates, around 20% of BGI alumni are entrepreneurs.
Many of these people have been highlighted in this blog before. Heidi Pomeroy of Maven Meals, creating nutritious, flavorful meals for the busy people of Seattle. Kevin Maas of Farm Power, turning cow manure into electricity. More recently, Carrie Ferrence and Jacqueline Gjurgevich of Stockbox Neighborhood Grocery, bringing real food to neighborhoods unserved by grocery stores.
What these and the other 40 startups have in common is, being BGI-graduates, a triple bottom line (TBL) approach to business: A goal to improve the world. An impact. A mission. While at the same time growing a fiscally sustainable businesses, a.k.a. profitable.
Another thing in common for these pioneering TBL companies has been the challenges involved in creating new businesses with an impact, in a business environment that too often does not appreciate the importance of anything beyond the fiscal bottom line.
In 2012 I created Fledge, the “conscious company” incubator, in order to help make starting startups easier, to bring like-minded TBL entrepreneurs together, and to provide ongoing support for these entrepreneurs. This year I have added Kick, the “inclusive” incubator.
Across the past nine months, Fledge has helped quite a few BGI startups including: Community Sourced Capital (Rachel Maxwell & Casey Dilloway), TayaSola (Alma Lorraine Bone Constable), BURN Manufacturing (Laura Raymond), UbrLocal (Kamal Patel and Elizabeth Smith), and Kodeza (Rowan Oloman and Chantel Bunkers).
The last two of these teams are just finishing their 10 weeks of incubation, and will be sharing their visions next week, Thursday, April 25th, 6pm, on the main stage at HUB Seattle. If you are in town, please come by to meet and support these entrepreneurs, these fellow BGIers who aim, like those that came before them, to do good in the world by creating good businesses. Visit http://fledge.co/demo-day for tickets.
about the author
Michael “Luni” Libes is a 20+ year serial entrepreneur, founder/co-founder of five companies, now spending his time helping entrepreneurs start startups. He is founder and Managing Director of Fledge, the “conscious company” incubator, and Kick, the “inclusive” incubator. Luni is Entrepreneur in Residence and Entrepreneurship Instructor at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, and an Entrepreneur in Residence Emeritus at the University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization. Luni is author of The Next Step: Guiding you from idea to startup and The Next Step: A guide to pitching your idea. To learn more about Luni visit: http://about.me/luni
