By Leah Bury

“To be quite frank, it’s just pretty cool that investors are actually giving a shit about female founders now.  It’s one thing to invest in what you know and who you know, but if you’re not willing to invest time in women, then you do not deserve to call yourself an investor. You’re doing a disservice to the industry.”

The above quote is attributed to Sumeet Shah, the number two at Brand Foundry, a venture capital fund specializing in consumer products. He is a professional boxer who fights in charity boxing matches that help raise money for cancer research. In addition to this fight, Shah is very outspoken about another fight – the fight for more gender equality in entrepreneurship.

This focus on equity spills over to other aspects of Brand Foundry’s mentality. According to Shah, Brand Foundry does not operate under a “make or break” mindset that many VCs seem to adopt towards businesses with investment potential. As he says, “yeah we choose who to invest in, but we try to help everyone we can. Just because we don’t choose to invest doesn’t stop us from opening doors.” In the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley, which has always been male-dominated, the concept of being invested in the genuine success, growth, and impact of as many businesses as possible, instead of only in large financial returns, is quite unconventional.

Shah is also the founder of Breakout, a for-profit  “community based media company that fuels the entrepreneurial spirit through dynamic content, inspirational events, and collaborative work places. The goal for Breakout has been to ‘break’ individuals out of their typical routines and comfort zones, and put them in special environments where they can grow, inspire each other, and build a better future together.”

Shah is vocal about the choice to be a for-profit business. He says “we are intentionally for-profit as we wanted to build something that was sustainable and successful on its value alone. But just because we are a for-profit does not mean we can’t act with the mindset of a nonprofit. Our primary mission is and has always been finding new ways to harness the power of our growing community in order to catalyze positive action.”

Breakout’s events usually involve between 75 and 150 participants – founders and leaders in tech, marketing, finance, real estate, non-profit, education, creatives, and beyond. The events involve immersive programming that encourages attendees to learn, share, and build together. In addition, workshops help local entrepreneurs with ideation and problem solving through their business plans.

Just as Shah wants to focus on targeted change within the startup community by making it more inclusive to female founders, he seeks to focus on targeted and meaningful change in various cities. Shah challenges people to think outside the norm and network within communities to brainstorm and problem-solve together in search of improving and strengthening their community. Breakout targets cities that are “growing, changing places where our members can partake in the existing growth, and grow themselves by connecting to city leaders and having their preconceived notions debunked.”

This focus on empowering communities and promoting team critical thinking leads to synergistic problem solving; it is certainly a step in the direction of more socially responsible businesses and more equitable workplaces and communities. The decision to encourage communities to address their unique problems and develop unique solutions is crucial, and an approach many more people need to consider when it comes to community improvement. Many communities have resilient, creative, and innovative residents. Combine that with the fact that people within a specific community best understand its problems, and it becomes evident that Breakout’s approach, if scaled, can lead to huge positive impacts.

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