Forge North Program

Background

In the past few months, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area has experienced many terrible events. The murder of George Floyd, the burning down of multiple businesses, and the Minneapolis-based financier caught on camera telling a group of black entrepreneurs to leave a WeWork gym because they did not “look” like  entrepreneurs. These have been ugly moments. Furthermore, these moments show the deep and structural inequities that exist for people of color in a variety of settings. One of these settings in which these inequities present themselves is derived from an area that venture capitalists, and other investors, have absolute control over; access to funding. 

There has been widespread conversation and debate about how bias plays a part in deciding which entrepreneurs get access to funding within Minnesota. In order to build a more equitable system, we are convening a group of investors alongside founders to co-create solutions for a more equitable system for accessing funding. We want to bring both investors and diverse founders within the same space to identify the challenges faced by both groups. We plan on using these insights to create a toolkit that investors will be able to use in the future to have better equitable structures.

What is the opportunity? 

This is a big opportunity for both diverse entrepreneurs and investors. We plan on using the insights and information obtained from cohort sessions to co-create solutions that help investors and diverse entrepreneurs better align with each other. For an investor, this means learning to recognize when bias may be blocking or altering your decision-making capabilities. This allows you to invest in businesses and ventures that you normally would not have had you not realized your bias. Entrepreneurs also benefit from our cohort sessions; they are able to share their experiences with fundraising. 

What is the Structure? 

The cohort will consist of 10 active investors or investment organizations in startups in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. Additionally, we will ask entrepreneurs who have engaged in the ecosystem about their experiences. All organizations must have central operations within the MSP region.

This program will consist of three workshops that will end in the release and launch of a toolkit. The workshops will be conducted in the month of September, and the toolkit created from those sessions will go live in November. We will structure the toolkit to be as actionable as possible such that investors can implement equitable lenses when viewing potential investments. 

What is the commitment? 

In order to participate as an investor you are expected to meet the following requirements:

• Provide a representative on behalf of your organization - ideally a decision maker within the organization

• Participate in all three workshops

• Have open and honest conversations with participants about the challenges and opportunities you experience

• Pay for the chance to participate in the program. We charge a program fee of $__ per individual. These program fees will go towards paying facilitators, entrepreneurs and the research and long form paper that will be produced at the end of the cohort. 

In order to participate as an entrepreneur you are expected to meet the following requirements:

• Provide a representative on behalf of your organization - ideally a decision maker within the organization

• Participate in at least of the workshops

• Have open and honest conversations with participants about the challenges and opportunities you experience

What is the timeline? (Do them on Wednesdays 9-10:30am)

Workshop #1: November 18th - Kickoff

• Knowledge sharing and understanding some best practices

• Share insights on how other funds and ecosystems are addressing diversity, equity and inclusion

• Share new data + research 

Workshop #2: December 2nd - Unconscious Bias

• Understanding the impact of unconscious bias

• Discuss what ‘diversity’ means depending on sector

Workshop #3: December 9th - Entrepreneurs

• Hear from entrepreneurs about their experiences

Workshop #4: December 16th - Reimagining

• What would a more inclusive ecosystem look like?

• How do we bring more transparency to the sector

Workshop #5: January 13th - Goal Setting and Ecosystem

• Set goals for how activate the ecosystem we want to see

• Recap, Progress + Next Steps

We aim to lead a dialogue which would lead to insights to design solutions that lead to equitable outcomes. One deliverable at the end of this initial phase, would be to create and implement a toolkit that can be leveraged to create more scalable and accessible solutions for other stakeholders, e.g founders or investors, in the startup ecosystem. 

If you or someone you know is interested in participating in the cohort, please complete the form below. We will follow up via email with you very soon.