Announcing the First-Ever PS27 Black Founders Forum
Via JaxChamber News
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 15, 2023 – PS27 Foundation is pleased to announce the first-ever Black Founders Forum at the Adam Herbert University Center on the University of North Florida campus on June 15, 2023, in celebration of Juneteenth. The highly anticipated conference will bring together Black entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators from across the region.
A signature highlight of the event will be a pitch competition where five companies will be selected to pitch their idea to a live audience. The winning company will receive a venture capital investment of $250,000. Attendees will experience a day filled with networking opportunities and gain insight into how to raise venture capital and connect with investors. The program will also feature keynote speaker Carla Harris, senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley and a Jacksonville native.
The Black Founders Forum is sponsored by JPMorgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways (ABP). Created in 2019 to support the economic development of Black communities, including entrepreneurs, ABP is committed to supporting access to business education, coaching, banking products, and financing solutions.
"JPMorgan Chase believes in supporting Black entrepreneurs at all stages of their businesses,” said Byna Elliott, global head of Advancing Black Pathways at JPMorgan Chase. “Our firm is proud to recognize and celebrate the efforts and achievements of Black business owners and is dedicated to providing them with the tools and resources to thrive."
Another highlight of the conference is the Black Founders Showcase, which will bring together industry-leading venture capitalists, who understand the power of diverse portfolios, to share insights on accelerating value and accumulating market share. In addition, over 30 Black-owned companies will be onsite to showcase their products and services throughout the conference.
"The goal of this forum is to attract and inspire more people to become entrepreneurs and innovators. Founders will learn how to build sustainable businesses that create jobs, positive returns for shareholders, and personal wealth," said Jim Stallings, CEO of PS27 Ventures.
This unique forum will inspire new entrepreneurs to start and continue their life's journey through the challenges presented by the markets and society. Founders can apply to be in the Black Founders Showcase and pitch competition by visiting ps27foundation.org.
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About PS27 Foundation
PS27 Foundation provides educational resources to early-stage companies and startups to help them achieve sustainable growth. We deliver training and education through classroom lessons, company site visits, comprehensive mentoring, and distance learning. We are interested in working with all founders, including those who may be disabled, veterans, women, and people of color.
Advanced techniques and equipment are used to enable an environment that promotes learning and collaboration. PS27 Foundation is constantly working to form strategic partnerships with local and national organizations and the government to create jobs and improve the community. You can learn more at PS27Foundation.org.
Female Founders Forum Shark Tank Winner Manuela Zoninsein, Founder Kadeya, on News4Jax
Embracing Equity: Female Founders Forum held at UNF
Mallory Pace, News Editor
March 6, 2023
To kick off Women’s History Month, the University of North Florida hosted the eighth annual PS27 Female Founders Forum on Friday in a sold-out event that welcomed inspiring guest speakers and the chance to build meaningful connections between fellow women founders in the community.
The event was centered around “embracing equity” and the value of supporting women founders through a sense of community and other resources needed to succeed in the workforce.
Addressing a room filled with waves of women wearing red, Jaclynn “Jax” Brennan was the first speaker to motivate the crowd with her story and experiences. Brennan is the founder of Fylí, which stands for ‘tribe’ in Greek and ‘family’ in Latin. Fylí is a Network as a Service (NaaS) business for early-stage female founders, offering education, accountability, mentorships and funding opportunities.
When Brennan left the corporate fashion world a few years ago to begin a brand-new technology company for the fashion industry, she was met with failure. But the failure of the tech company showed Brennan the needs of women founders like herself and inspired her to start her own company dedicated to helping women in business to find resources, guidance and accountability throughout their journey.
Her story exemplified the process of turning failure into inspiration and the importance of building a tribe and community that will constantly support you along the way.
“I was going to women’s networking events, but they weren’t talking about raising capital. I just felt like there was a need, there was a lack and that’s why I created Fylí,” Brennan said.
Taking the stage next was Sarah Kauss, the original sole founder of S’well water bottles—a brand that started with just one 17-ounce bottle and a pure desire to reduce single-use plastics, turned into a multi-million-dollar company with now a wide variety of products dedicated to displacing plastic bottles and pledging millions of dollars to organizations that help communities across the world.
While attending the University of Colorado Boulder, Kauss learned about the global water crisis that prevents millions of people from access to clean, drinking water. Trying to find a reusable water bottle that was also stylish proved difficult for Kauss, so she developed the idea of a bottle that could also be an accessory, thus ‘Can’t Live Without It’ was born—the original name of S’well.
After being advised to shorten the name to something catchier, Kauss said that when she heard “swell,” it reminded her of old, innocent values and was an “oh shucks, kind of a word.” The original bottle design was inspired by a traditional glass milk carton, which captured the desired essence of her company—simple, practical and eco-friendly.
Embracing Equity: Female Founders Forum held at UNF
Mallory Pace, News Editor, Spinnaker News
Via Spinnaker News
March 6, 2023
To kick off Women’s History Month, the University of North Florida hosted the eighth annual PS27 Female Founders Forum on Friday in a sold-out event that welcomed inspiring guest speakers and the chance to build meaningful connections between fellow women founders in the community.
The event was centered around “embracing equity” and the value of supporting women founders through a sense of community and other resources needed to succeed in the workforce.
Addressing a room filled with waves of women wearing red, Jaclynn “Jax” Brennan was the first speaker to motivate the crowd with her story and experiences. Brennan is the founder of Fylí, which stands for ‘tribe’ in Greek and ‘family’ in Latin. Fylí is a Network as a Service (NaaS) business for early-stage female founders, offering education, accountability, mentorships and funding opportunities.
2023 Female Founders Forum Photo Gallery
Photos & videos of the 2023 Female Founders Forum will be added to this gallery as we receive them from our photographers. Use #SheThinksBig and tag @PS27Ventures!
PS27 Female Founders Forum Featured on First Coast Living
How Sarah Kauss bootstrapped S'well into a $100 million success story
By Penny Dickerson - Reporter - Innovation & Entrepreneurship
For eight years, Jacksonville-based venture capital fund PS27 Ventures has been celebrating female entrepreneurs, bringing together woman who have founded and run a range of companies.
This year's sold-out Female Founders Forum — held March 3 at the UNF Adam Herber Conference Center — will feature Sarah Kauss, the founder of S’well, an reusable water bottle and insulated products company. Staring with $30,000 in savings, Kauss has taken the business to more than $100 million in revenue.
Leading up to the event, Kauss sat down with the Business Journal to talk about the challenges she has faced and how she's overcome them.
What challenges have you faced as a female entrepreneur?
It’s hard for me to answer that as a female entrepreneur because my challenges weren’t really different from any other entrepreneur. Most venture-backed companies are men, and for many years at the beginning of S’well, I didn’t always have the confidence that I have now. I felt like I had to have all the answers and pretend like everything was going well. Now, I am openminded to saying, ‘I need help.’ A specific decision I made as a woman is that I never raised capital. I didn’t have a background in raising funds or venture capital. I bootstrapped and was scrappy for a long time.
What advice do you offer new founders at the onset of their launch?
I would say go all in. I was fortunate that I was able to leave my job and devote all of my time and attention to what I wanted to do. I have a lot of respect for those who can do two things at once and dabble on the side, but if at all possible, go all in and really commit. Tell others, ‘This is what I’m doing’ so you’ve got community champions who are pushing you along the way.
How has networking with women enhanced your rise to success?
I’ve been successful because I had a positive community around me. You know, being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely, so networking started early in my career. I didn’t like being an auditor, but I learned a lot from the teams that I was on and from clients assigned to me. One of my first bosses became a mentor who encouraged me to take something from every opportunity and experience that I was a part of. That stayed with me years when I started S’well. Having new founders around you encourages others. You champion their success and commiserate when things are going poorly.