Apply to Dragonfly: The NYC Bootcamp for Womxn & Non-Binary Founders
We are excited to announce that Impact America Fund and Silicon Valley Bank have launched applications for of our first, free, six-week annual bootcamp, Dragonfly, for first time womxn & non-binary founders. In 2020, female founders received 27% less funding than they did in 2019, and non-binary founders received an even smaller piece of the pie.
With 30% of working mothers considering leaving the workforce, the last 20 years of advancement in equality for women could feasibly be reversed.
Dragonfly will provide you with tactical insights, best practices that can be immediately implemented within your business strategy and a valuable, strategic network. Upon completion of the Dragonfly, you will have developed a strategy to help your team hit benchmarks needed to raise a pre-seed and seed round.
More Details on Dragonfly by SVB & Impact America Fund:
Dragonfly consists of seven sessions, packed with tactical and interactive trainings focused on leadership strategy. This is also an opportunity to network with 10 top womxn & non-binary founders, Impact America Fund’s investment team, SVB’s Startup Banking team, and leaders from the NYC startup community. Every member of the cohort will have an opportunity to participate in practice pitches with our team and office hours with Vanessa Kuhlor too. We will also be hosting virtual, 1:1 networking coffee chats via Orbiit.ai throughout the program.
Session 1: July 21 Designing for Impact (Welcome everyone!)
Session 2: July 28 Building a Venture Back-able Business & Negotiation Tactics, with Kerry McIlroy from Cooley
Session 3: Aug 4 Emotional Fitness as a Founder, with COA
Session 4: Aug 5 Personal Finances for Founders, with Ready.Steady.Money
Session 5: Aug 11 Talent 101: How to Attract and Retain Best-in-Class Team and Identify the Right Profile Hires as You Scale, with Alexandra Adamson from CloserIQ
Session 6: Aug 18 Financial Modeling & Forecasting: 101 Fundamentals, Common Pitfalls and Mistakes to Avoid, with Britt Gardner from SVB + Investors Panel with pre-seed Investors
Session 7: Aug 25 How to Design Your Pitch Deck, with Andrew Oddo from SVB + free deck design from SlideSmith
Hosts for Dragonfly:
Impact America Fund invests in early stage tech-driven businesses that create new frameworks of ownership and opportunity within marginalized communities. They also help founders get traction with institutional investors, who often don’t have the expertise or lived experience in these communities to appreciate the huge opportunities at hand.
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) provides targeted financial services and unmatched expertise on the innovation economy through its teams in innovation centers around the world. Through its Access to Innovation initiative, SVB aims to build a more diverse, equitable and accessible innovation economy for all. Access to Innovation creates educational, employment and funding pathways by nurturing emerging talent, expanding connections and funding for Black, Latinx, women founders and venture capital investors.
Nomination Process:
Our ideal candidates are first time, womxn & non-binary founders who want to build and share their knowledge in a workshop environment, while developing their leadership strategy. We are looking for New York- based, pre-seed tech founders to join our cohort.
1.) Please submit your application here before July 6th at 11:59pm ET. You can also nominate a founder.
2.) Final decisions for this cohort will be sent out on July 9th.
Dragonflies can change flight patterns midair and they represent flexibility when fresh perspectives are needed. We look forward to working on your leadership strategy and we can’t wait to meet you!
