Jay Newton-Small has a background in journalism. By utilizing her passion for storytelling, Jay created MemoryWell, a startup that seeks to improve the long-term care of those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She leaned on D.C.'s ecosystem with strong partners in the aging space to grow her company. However, Jay hopes the government will play a bigger role in convening innovators and traditional partners to better support the aging industry.

West Virginia’s mountainous terrain may be a challenge, but certainly doesn’t divide the state’s entrepreneurs, according to Anne Barth, Executive Director of TechConnect West Virginia. TechConnectWV is a non-profit organization focused on driving innovation, cultivating entrepreneurship, and creating greater economic diversity throughout West Virginia.

The immigration process in the United States continues to be confusing, challenging and complicated. Xiao Wang, the co-founder and CEO of Boundless, is working to solve this problem through the use of technology. As Boundless helps with the family immigration process, policy is still need to facilitate entrepreneurs to build companies in America. 

Kiera Smalls, Executive Director of Philly Startup Leaders (PSL), is leading the charge as she builds a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem for innovators to thrive. The Philadelphia startup community is partnering with lawmakers to ensure it is reflective of Philadelphia’s diverse population.

Building a business plan can be challenging, but David Krauss, Co-Founder of NoiseAware, believes most startups are missing one key feature - advocacy. David has advocacy ingrained into NoiseAware’s culture. By embracing advocacy as a main focus, NoiseAware has built strong relationships with policymakers and in turn, has brought additional notoriety to his growing startup and developed new partnerships.

June is dedicated as Pride Month, but it’s important to celebrate the ideals of Pride every month. Andrew Lowenthal, Executive Director of Out in Tech, seeks to do this everyday within the tech community. Out in Tech, a global non-profit startup based in New York, works to unite the LGBTQ+ tech community through regular events in 10 cities.

We met with Shelly Bell, founder of Black Girl Ventures (BGV), to discuss how she is working to change ecosystems across the US. Shelly and her team are working to find creative place-based solutions to dissolve the race and gender gap in access to capital. Policy makers have looked at crowdfunding a solution to this issue, but more work has to be done.

The “First in the Nation” state is not always first when thinking of startups and innovation.  However, Joshua Cyr at Alpha Loft is working to change that narrative and improve entrepreneurs prospects for successfully launching and scaling innovation-based startups in New Hampshire.