The Skinny: As founder and Managing Director of Modern Tender, Laurie "LFJ" Felker Jones most often works as a fractional Operating Partner with global funds and their portfolios to drive investment and impact alpha at sca le. She has worked with 800+ founders and numerous global funders to advise $40mm+ of funding across asset classes. As a Fellow at Newton Venture Programme , she is currently incubating an alternative fund model focused on financial inclusion. She's alway

The Top Line → What:  I support ambitious, mission-driven people and ventures on their way . Usually this means helping them straighten out the path from where they are to where they want to go. → Why: Ideally  "impact alpha" aka creating a lock-step flywheel of purpose and profits; most often  refining pragmatic models along a range of returns and trade-offs that help them make (more) money while doing (some to a whole lotta) good. → How :  Through 1:1 advising sessions, 1:

At an event last night, I was reminded to share (again) 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.” Most people are genuinely happy to help you 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺. Just make it easy! 🔗 This is a great guide : ✍️ 𝗔𝗻𝗱, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 👇 --- Subject: Intro to [Connection Name] Hi Laurie, Thanks so much for offering to introduce me to [connection]. I’m interested to connect because [they are interested in

Grounded in my work with early-stage global funds, 800+ founders, and the mobilisation of $40m+ across asset classes, I am using the opportunity I have as a Newton Venture Fellow to incubate a fintech-for-good twin fund model. The model backs Seed–Series A startups serving under-financed markets. A bit about the model is that it's based on my experience with many global funds like Antler, Crisis, Techstars, Village Capital and others and is designed to enable liquidity and

If you're a founder or funder curious about what kinds of funding might be right for you, check out Capital Explorer , a free tool that will help you discover which of up to 16 different financing options might be right for you ! Capital Explorer is one of several free tools from Village Capital  that help entrepreneurs on their way to building scalable, mission-driven businesses worldwide -- including with aligned financing sources. Here's a nifty preview. Want more support?

*I wrote the following background in the fall of 2021, from the HQ of UpSurge Baltimore where I was just starting as a Entrepreneur In Residence with Techstars in their Equitech portfolio. Since then, I've worked formally with Techstars and many other funds in the US, UK, and UAE as a Senior Advisor and Operating Partner to founders in their programs and portfolios. Whether you're looking for a quick orientation ( The Skinny ) or to go more in-depth ( The Whole Enchilada ),

🇬🇧 🇺🇸 𝗧𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴  #𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆  𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞 & 𝗨𝗦  A conversation this morning with a close colleague reminded me that visibility matters. She had no idea about this part of my life & I remembered how impactful it was to learn similar info about several others in our field. Turns out we had more in common than nerding out on tech-for-good or impact finance! 🤓 ✨  To further visibility & inclusion, her

I've had a few conversations of late that reminded me to share why 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 “𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲”: 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶�

👋 Oh hey, it's me again with a friendly reminder to  #flipthescript  about investing in female founders and mixed teams. Among the very good and actionable recommendations made by Startup Coalition in their latest report , I also suggest a narrative reframe ➡️  🛑 stop putting the onus on female founders 💡 start putting the onus on investors Sincere s/o to  Isabella Rhodes ,  Vinous Ali , &  Jordan Sullivan  for authoring this report so we can keeping moving this work forw

As a follow up to this #flipthescript  post last week, I've been thinking about: “𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 ‘𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁” 🤔 ➡️ It just doesn’t work for me. Instead of empowering, I feel like an imposter – after all, “fake” is literally in the prompt! Instead, what I’ve found helpful is this little tweak: “𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲 it ‘til you make it”. The swap of this one little letter helps me remember that I can 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰�

In short, the following case study showcases a "philanthropy in, investment out" alternative, impact-linked sustainable fund model with a flexible instrument for early stage impact investments. Since it was first created in 2022 from a US-centric legal context, a legal review in the UK provided context on how to adapt it in that jurisdiction. Additionally, in 2022, Elemental Excelerator brought the D-SAFE to market, which is a very similar mechanism for funding developme

The great Ada Ryland , an outstanding startup and innovation mentor who I’m incredibly fortunate to also call a friend, shared the following framework with me. It is not mine. She isn’t even sure it’s hers. She thinks it came from her business mentor. Maybe one day we’ll sort that out… In the meantime, with Ada’s permission, I’m sharing this framework here. It’s made a huge difference for me; I reference and share it often in one-on-one conversations. So much in fact, that I

Are you an early-stage founder trying to figure out the right amount of equity to bring aboard an advisor to your startup? Don't try to cut your own hair! Instead, I've included a handy-dandy template* below so you don't have to figure this out from a blank sheet of paper! *This is not legal advice & should only be considered a guide to help you prep the conversation with the advisor and formalize any agreements your lawyer. You're welcome! ⬇️ Click on the image below or ➡️ c

Note: I first shared the following post in 2019 as "I am not a Superwoman" “To all the Mamas out there - whether your babies are in your arms, your homes, your memories, or in your dreams, Happy Mother's Day to you!” Mother’s Day is upon us. Relationship status: #itscomplicated  Some mamas are THRILLED to honor their moms, and thrilled to be honored themselves. For others this season can stir up lots of big emotions.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that May is also the host