The Daily Guide Winter 2023 - 15

Pulse
FOUNDED OUTDOORS
Founded Outdoors Gives
Entrepreneurs a Lift
The for-profi t platform elevates outdoor startups across the
industry. By Bart Schaneman
S
tarting a business in
the outdoor industry
can be intimidating.
There are many wellestablished
companies with decades
or more of doing business
in the market. For those wouldbe,
fi rst-time entrepreneurs it
can be hard to make the necessary
connections to succeed.
That's where Founded Outdoors
comes in.
Launched in 2021, Founded
Outdoors is a national platform
for outdoor entrepreneurs that
supports emerging businesses
through its programming. The
goal of the for-profi t organization
is to increase access to the outdoor
industry as well as outdoor
places. The business is leading
the charge in guiding outdoor
startups.
" We see the potential of building
a larger ecosystem around
outdoor entrepreneurs in the
outdoor industry, " said Enhao
Li, director of curriculum for
Founded Outdoors. " Whether it's
connecting founders with fi nancing
options, connecting them
with mentors, or even just connecting
them with each other. "
Li and Katie Doherty, director
of partnerships for Founded
Outdoors, discussed common
obstacles for entrepreneurs,
avoidable mistakes, and how
Founded Outdoors helps solve
those problems.
HOW IT STARTED
About seven years ago,
Doherty was running a startup
incubator in San Francisco and
became aware of the size of the
gender equity gap in venture
capital. About 98% of the companies
in the incubator she was
running were led by males.
At the time, Li was building an
app designed to match entrepreneurial
women and people of
color with mentors.
" We got together and started
thinking about how we can
provide more support for women
entrepreneurs, " Doherty said.
Doherty and Li brainstormed
how to host events and workshops,
which eventually turned
into programming where they
helped women establish the
foundation for their businesses
over a three-month period.
That led them to start
Founded Outdoors nearly three
years ago, which combined their
passion for working with entrepreneurs
with their love of the
outdoors.
Initially the community lived
only online, starting with a Facebook
group, and Doherty and Li
spoke with the fi rst 100 entrepreneurs
about what they needed.
The women entrepreneurs
wanted more support, more
resources, more connections to
industry experts, and overall,
more mentorship, Doherty said.
So Li and Doherty got to work.
FOUNDED OUTDOORS TODAY
While Founded Outdoors
still maintains a Slack channel
for members to share industry
knowledge, the business has
evolved beyond the online community
to include educational
programming with a structured
curriculum. For instance, at Outdoor
Retailer Summer in June
in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company
hosted a panel discussion
entitled " Navigating Financing as
an Emerging Brand. "
The business now works with
over 300 emerging outdoor
brands.
" Founded Outdoors has been
a gamechanger for the outdoor
industry, " said Yvonne Leow,
CEO and founder of Bewilder,
a monthly newsletter with the
mission of helping families spend
more time outdoors. " Prior to
starting Bewilder, I spent over a
decade working in digital journalism.
I had zero connections in
the outdoor industry. "
Leow said she had no idea how
to meet other aspiring outdoor
entrepreneurs, but that all
changed once she joined Founder
Outdoors.
" In 2022, Bewilder got into
REI's accelerator for outdoor
founders of color. I'm now on the
board of Together Outdoors, and
I have an incredible community
of outdoor founders and industry
mentors at my fi ngertips, " Leow
added.
Niki Singlaub, founder of collapsible
bottle company Hydaway,
said Founded Outdoors has
enabled him to connect with likeminded
small business founders
so they can easily work together
OUTDOOR RETAILER WINTER 2023 /
GUIDE 15
COURTESY FOUNDED OUTDOORS
The Daily Guide Winter 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Daily Guide Winter 2023
