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 Newton Venture Programme Fellow , she's incubated an alternative fund model that provides early liquidity, competitive impact-aligned

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:m

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

Update:   Through stress tests and incubation, the core of this model has strengthened as the complexity has simplified. Given current market conditions, fund models support continued high conviction in structured equity and redemption strategies which offer competitive early liquidity to allocators, return ownership to founders, and are more likely to be aligned with impact fidelity. What has evolved is the sector aperture: while “financing tech for good” may not have the s

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 ),