On this episode, Brenda speaks about purpose with Allison Byers, founder of Scroobious, a tech company driving innovation to equitable capital access by removing barriers to partnership among diverse founders, investors, and service providers. Scroobious is a platform that is working toward equitable capital access: In Allison’s words “ fair representation of all segments with the exclusion of none” - now into its fourth year – having served over 900 founders. “Finding the funding and the people are critical to early stage success of a company.“ Listen to Allison’s personal story of Scroobius and how her relationships that go back 20 years ago and an introduction to the newly appointed President and COO of Scroobiuos. You can find out more about Allison, Scroobious, and other resources mentioned in this podcast at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-byers/ https://www.scroobious.com/ For founders working on a pitch: Scroobious is dedicated to empowering founders for successful fundraising. Our platform provides invaluable resources including online learning modules featuring investor-vetted content, personalized pitch feedback, tailored pitch practice sessions, access to a vibrant community of hundreds of diverse founders, and connections with investors. Click here to apply for a sponsored (free!) account. You can also join our Lite plan for just $1 to access our community, events, and curated resources immediately. For early-stage investors: Scroobious connects you to a network of brilliant and diverse founders solving important problems. These founders have worked with us to clarify their story, showcasing comprehensive pitch material and coachability. Click here for a quick platform demo. Visit this website, register, and then use promo code EARLYINV for a free 6-month trial at the Stripe checkout page. After the trial, it's $10 per month (cancel anytime). Complete brief onboarding questions to enter the portal and start messaging founders! https://www.newswire.com/news/scroobious-scales-up-to-meet-the-urgent-call-to-support-diverse-22415543 additional content here : https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SB-54-SIGN-MSG.pdf Transcript: 00:04 Hi, I'm pleased to announce something very special to me, a new subscription-based service through Next Act Advisors that allows members exclusive access to personal industry insights and bespoke 00:32 corporate governance knowledge. This comes in the form of blogs, personal book recommendations, and early access to the founder's sandbox podcast episodes before they released to the public. If you want more white glove information on building your startup with information like what was in today's episode, sign up with the link in the show notes to enjoy being a special member of Next Act Advisors. 01:01 As a thank you to Founders Sandbox listeners, you can use code SANDBOX25 at checkout to enjoy 25% off your membership costs. Thank you. 01:19 Welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host. I'm delighted that we're now into the third season of this monthly podcast that reaches entrepreneurs, business owners, and corporate board directors, and VCs. All interested in building resilient, scalable, purpose-driven businesses with an undergirding aspect of great corporate governance. 01:45 I admission, my mission at NextAct Advisors, which is my consulting firm, is really simple. It's just building the scalable, well-governed and resilient businesses. My guests to the podcast are themselves founders, business owners, corporate directors, professional service providers who like me want to use the power of the private enterprise, small, medium or large to make change for a better world. With each of my guests, we go through some storytelling. 02:13 about their origin stories. And we will touch on topics around resiliency, purpose-driven enterprises and sustainable growth. And again, my goal is to provide a fun environment in this sandbox where we can equip one startup founder at a time to build a better world through great corporate governance. Today, my guest is Alison Byers. I'm absolutely delighted that she's joining me all the way from Boston. 02:41 Allison is joining and she wears many hats, but she is going to talk a lot today about her founder journey of Scroobius. And it is a very unique platform that unlike other platforms in the ecosystem used by startups, this is one that has a purpose to improve equitable capital access by providing pitch education for founders while making connections with investors. 03:11 to put unused capital to work. And we're gonna hear more as we get into the podcast. I like to have guests that are also very mission-driven as mission-driven as I. And you are, Alison, unequivocally mission-driven in your purpose after you yourself encountered gender bias firsthand while you were fundraising. So I think it'd be appropriate 03:40 story to start telling now. So ...