When I made the decision to leave my role as Director of Marketing at Pack Health to lead Endeavor Atlanta’s Birmingham operations, I knew there would be a learning curve. Those first few months were marked by existential questions for which I had hypotheses and data points but no definitive answer. Did we have enough companies at the scale and growth rate required for Endeavor’s global network? Once entrepreneurs lock in on product market fit and achieve meaningful year over year growth, shouldn’t they be focused on executing the model? Beyond a few impressive connections and the buzz of international affiliation, what value could another network or program really add?
It is absolutely possible to build a business without a curated network or program, but here’s what I’ve learned. With the growth of a team and customer base, entrepreneurs’ needs become more specific and complex, the risk of failure becomes higher, and (on a more positive note) the impact of success can grow exponentially. Looking back on our first year in Birmingham, I’m excited to report that the time is truly ripe for Endeavor to select and support high impact entrepreneurs.
Birmingham is having a moment.
I was quite thrilled when, at a virtual Endeavor Event a few months ago, a global mentor observed: “I keep hearing about all these amazing companies in Birmingham, where did they come from?” Help Lightning’s $8M round and impact with enterprise customers, Fleetio’s $21M Series B, and more recently Landing’s $100M raise have put a national spotlight on Birmingham Tech.
Birmingham’s ecosystem of support for early stage founders is now light years ahead of where it was when I moved here for VFA in 2015, with much of the momentum building this past year. The passing of the Alabama Incentive Modernization Act catalyzed the launch of Techstars Alabama EnergyTech and Bronze Valley’s Accelerators. Innovation Depot and the EDPA are leveling up their programming under new leadership. Birmingham Bound and RedHawk Ventures have spearheaded a new initiative to redefine relationships between larger businesses and startups.
These resources can all be pivotal in helping entrepreneurs access capital, search for product market fit, and establish year over year growth. It would be unrealistic, however, to expect entrepreneurs to graduate these programs ready to start Endeavor’s global selection process, where the typical company selected in 2020 made over $5M in 2019 and is doubling their revenue year over year. And what about companies that did not leverage these programs to establish their model, but do need mentors and investors to realize their full potential?
Our solution to nurture a robust pipeline of Endeavor Entrepreneurs in Birmingham was launching ScaleUp: a non-dilutive program that exists in different forms around the Endeavor world to select and support the most promising pre-Endeavor founders and accelerate their growth.
Zooming with the ScaleUp 2020 Cohort: Josh, Mandi, and Jared of O3 Solutions, Hassan and Wayne of Smart Alto, Andy and Lauren of Case Status, and Ethan and Weida of Fledging.
High growth drives high impact.
Endeavor selects and supports the fastest growing, highest potential entrepreneurs because they predictably create the most jobs, reinvest the most capital, and become the best mentors for other entrepreneurs in their communities. What really excites me about Endeavor in Birmingham is that the same way international business leaders unlock doors for Endeavor Entrepreneurs, we have seen our national and local networks of Endeavor Entrepreneurs provide lightbulb feedback for ScaleUp participants. ScaleUp founders are similarly primed to pay their success forward in mentoring earlier stage entrepreneurs.
Endeavor’s merit-based approach to selecting and supporting entrepreneurs protects an intimate “Network of Trust” that ensures connections of real value. Making 10 connections without focused goals or relevant skill sets at best is a pleasant diversion and at worst wastes 10 people’s time. Making just one connection with clear context and applicable experience to address a strategic priority can completely change the game. Time being the most precious of resources in the world of high impact entrepreneurship, careful curation builds trust with entrepreneurs and mentors alike.
This test proves particularly critical in the event of touchy topics like changes in executive leadership or industry news that threatens a company’s market position. In the words of one of our 2020 ScaleUp participants, there are times where mentors who “don’t pull any punches” are essential. The empathy and rapport of shared experiences, combined with the commitment across the network that individuals’ specific challenges will not be repeated in other contexts, is in many ways Endeavor’s “secret sauce”.
Birmingham can also go bigger!
When Endeavor selected Tony Summerville of Fleetio, many asked: who else has made it to this stage and is growing at this pace? A year later, we actually have two Birmingham entrepreneurs who have passed Regional Selection Panels and are on track to interview at an International Selection Panel (ISP) for Endeavor’s global network in 2021.
Endeavor Entrepreneur Tony Summerville after passing his International Selection Panel, October 2019
Looking back, it’s likely not a coincidence that both ISP candidates have past experience founding and leading companies through substantial exits and IPOs. Another thing they have in common is that they see an opportunity for outsized growth and Endeavor is a network that can provide them the resources to go bigger than any of their earlier ventures.
The “Big Hairy Ambitious Goal”
As you may have gathered, Endeavor is an organization of, by, and for entrepreneurs. This means that everything we do is designed in partnership with the entrepreneurs we serve and relies on entrepreneurs who give back.
The underlying premise is that high growth entrepreneurs become high impact leaders when they think bigger, scale up, and pay forward their success to support the next generation of founders. Without this transformation, moments pass and opportunities for an ecosystem multiplier effect are lost. Endeavor’s “Big Hairy Ambitious Goal” for Birmingham is that the entrepreneurs we select and support will have an enduring impact on local, regional, and potentially global scales.