Founder Brew

Venture capital isn’t only for Silicon Valley. But founders around the country may think that as they navigate a venture capital market that remains difficult to break into, especially for founders who don’t come from a stereotypical background. A 2019 Harvard Kennedy School study showed that women-founded companies received just 2.4% of venture capital funding on average over the past 30 years.

In 2022, friends Danielle Dietzek and Julie Griggs quit their full-time jobs in healthcare, became roommates to save money, and started to work on their vision together: a double-dating app they named Fourplay. Initial success came quickly. The two first-time founders signed up users with viral videos on TikTok and raised almost $800,000 in pre-seed and seed rounds. But, stronger headwinds were to come. Social media content started to lag.

When David Cummings purchased a vacant building in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood in 2012, he wasn’t setting out to build just another coworking space. Instead he was betting on one thing: community. That bet became Atlanta Tech Village (ATV), a startup hub designed to put founders, investors, and other members of Atlanta’s tech community under one roof. Membership starts at $300 per month for basic access, with higher tiers available for reserved desks or private offices.

Free money is hard to come by, but nonequity grants do exist for founders just starting out. One opportunity is an Amber Grant, which awards three $10,000 grants to women entrepreneurs every month and an additional $50,000 to three of that year’s monthly grant recipients. The program, which began in 1998 and is administered by nonprofit WomensNet, honors 19-year-old Amber Wigdahl, who died before she could become an entrepreneur. The application is simple.

Nikki Yam’s days began before sunrise. By 6:30am, she was at a charter school in Queens where she worked as a network assessment coordinator. When the school bell rang, Yam headed across Brooklyn to oversee her hot dog restaurant Glizzy’s NYC. She shifted from curriculum coaching and data instruction to meeting with contractors, choosing fixtures, creating signage, and pitching investors. “When we were first opening, my days were anywhere from 5am to 1am,” Yam said.

Nirav Tolia isn’t just a co-founder of Nextdoor, the neighborhood-based social network. After serving as the company’s inaugural CEO, then stepping away for five and a half years, before returning to the top spot in 2024, Tolia now considers himself a “refounder.” And refounding, as Tolia explains it, means redefining and rediscovering the foundation of the company, which was necessary after its stock plummeted over 80% since its IPO five years ago.

Consumers have plenty of options for bottled water, but Liquid Death founder Mike Cessario saw an opportunity to make plain water exciting. Before founding Liquid Death in 2017, Cessario worked in advertising, where he learned how brands could break through the noise. He spent his early days playing guitar in punk and metal bands, where he noticed that most products marketed to the crowds were energy drinks, sodas, and other junk food, according to publicist Jake Tredo.

“Do you want to build the next billion-dollar brand with us?” Poppi founder Allison Ellsworth first posed that question on her social media accounts late last month in posts about her new CPG brand, of which details are still largely under wraps. Ellsworth’s team currently sits at 10 people, and she told us that since posting, the new brand has received more than 2,000 resumes for five open roles ranging from digital communications to influencer manager.

The typical startup advice is to find a co-founder you know and trust. Jobber co-founders Sam Pillar and Forrest Zeisler found an advantage in doing the opposite: Starting as strangers forced them to build trust intentionally, challenge each other’s ideas, and have difficult conversations early. The two software developers were freelancing and often workeding out of the same coffee shop in Edmonton, Canada.

When it comes to software, the federal government is so 2000 and late. That’s because any software the government uses needs to be certified by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, which is notoriously difficult to get through. Enter Knox Systems, a software company that helps others get FedRAMPed: Since May 2025, Knox has gotten more than 50 companies FedRAMP certified, thereby granting governmental agencies access to cutting-edge technology.