Kerry Hughes’ Post

Fantastic event yesterday with a powerhouse panel and a room full of changemakers, organized by Laura Lorek, Silicon Hills News at the beautiful Zilker Lodge. [Did you know you proceeds from renting it benefit Austin Sunshine Camps?] Key takeaways for me from the evening: • I founded my company out of frustration and confidence there HAD to be a better way; despite very different industries and paths - this was a common theme from the panelists and other founders and women in the room. • Set goals and a plan to achieve them. Joyce's Day 1 target when founding GAP was $5MM in revenue; for big achievements - you need big goals. • Reach forward and reach back. Ask for the connections and build relationships to help you get where you need to go. Also reach back and take someone with you on the way up. • We're witnessing a major paradigm shift in the funding ecosystem of the innovators of the future. This is hard, but necessary work - and there is so much opportunity and possibility ahead of us.

🚀 Last week Darshita Gillies & Karina Andrea Mendonca attended the Scaling Up event hosted by the London Business School and Female Founders Rise! 🔎 Insightful session from John Mullins and Selin Kesebir. We learnt strategies on how to grow in challenging times, evaluate new business opportunities and negotiate to create win-win deals. 💫 It was wonderful to meet like minded businesses and inspiring female founders striving to make their businesses grow. #FemaleFounders #FemaleEntrepreneurs

I know a few founders and angel investors in my network who should take a look at this.

Congratulations to CeFEO members  Naveed Akhter, Ph.D. and Francesco Chirico, PhD, and their co-author Philipp Sieger on recently publishing the article “Rural and Urban Family Business Portfolio Growth: The Role of Entrepreneurial Legacy” in Family Business Review (ABS 3)   By applying an inductive case study approach, the authors analyze four Pakistani family business portfolios and reveal that rural-based family business portfolios tend to grow internally (organically) and through related diversification. In contrast, urban-based portfolios rather grow externally through acquisitions and partnerships and pursue unrelated diversification. The family’s entrepreneurial legacy and how it is transferred to members of the next generation through grooming and imprinting in rural versus urban contexts emerge as a key underlying mechanism. You can access the article here:  https://lnkd.in/eqCN-EZK

Want to know more about how my pivot to Yachtly Inc. came about? Check out this blog from Yachting Ventures.

Join us at a fireside chat tomorrow, 6:30 pm (ET) as we discuss challenges and opportunities that exist for Black founders in the Canadian food space. You'll also learn how Black Entrepreneurship Alliance is supporting our entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to succeed. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gD8tsW3U #Smallbusinessweek #Blackfounders #Blackentrepreneurship #FoodandBeverage #CPG

Our Founder, Steven Rothberg, was Featured in this story about Father's Day by Entrepreneur Media. He writes about how not accepting the premise that, to be successful, you need to be successful personally and professionally. Instead, being successful can come from first accepting that you won't be as successful personally because of your professional efforts and vice versa. In other words, he recommends finding balance by accepting that less can be more.

Happy Black History Month! Here's an interesting fact: black women are currently the fastest-growing demographic of entrepreneurs in the United States. With 2.7 million black women owning businesses, it's clear that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. If you're a black woman business owner, you may be interested in a grant opportunity that could help your business grow. Check out the BOSS Impact Fund for more information on how to secure additional capital. Don't miss out on this chance to take your business to the next level! Please share this post to help with visibility. #blackownedbusiness #entrepreneurship #grants #funding https://lnkd.in/e_ducwHd

To help you find and support 💥HYPERLOCAL💥 black-owned businesses here in Charlotte, AND all over the US, we pulled together a context “cheat sheet’ outlining who these companies are and why you should buy from them. National Black Business Month was established in 2004 by entrepreneurs Frederick Jordan and John William Templeton. Its purpose is to drive growth beyond traditional customers, and push the participation of community leaders, local politicians and venture capitalists. Black business owners account for only 10% of U.S. business and around 30% of all minority-owned businesses. Take a moment this month (and beyond) to learn more about what sets them apart. They (and you) will be glad you did. #blackownedbusinesses #shoplocal #hyperlocal

If you are in the Seattle founder & entrepreneur community, get yourself on the. invite list for Silicon Valley Bank's events, like the Meet The VC Seattle lunch. Today I went and heard Julie Sandler share real-world, practical advice on everything from pitching to hiring to partnering. I also got to meet the co-sponsors from Escalon Services, Inc. and Perkins Coie LLP. Basically, a startup-resources goldmine with a free lunch. With her permission, here are some of the gems from Julie's conversation wtih Natalie Steck.