Founders’ Care Package

During these unprecedented time, we know that you have a great deal of things to navigate. Our events were designed with Black founders in mind and will be available to you at no cost. We hope you take advantage and leverage what you learn to propel your business forward. Your future self will thank you! 

Click here to see all Collab Studio events!

Reading 

These books are essential to a founder’s arsenal! Use the down time to catch up on some of the following books:

By the way, if you’re a Amazon Prime member, you get a FREE Audible trail on audiobooks. Click here for more information!

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• Start with Why by Simon Sinek
• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
• Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
• Leading at the Speed of Growth by Katherine Catlin and Jana Matthews
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Rapid Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares
• The Startup Owner’s Manual: A Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank, Bob Village
• From Idea to Reality: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Meaningful Business Growth by Jean Paul Paulynice 
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
• Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

We also encourage you to find publications that focus on the startup community, your industry and any specifics that pertain to your business!  

Adjusting to life indoors can be tough. Even though your favorite cycling or hot yoga classes may have come to a temporary halt, it doesn’t mean you should stop moving your body! Your health and wellness is still a priority and will ultimately help you to destress, keep your immune system in tip-top shape and will prove to be one of the best ways to maintain your sanity during social distancing. Here are some free resources to guide you during this time. Leverage them as often as needed! 

Yoga

• 5 minute Soulful Flow Yoga 
• Harmony Wellness Angels Soul Flow Yoga
• Seviin Yoga Channel
• Core Power Yoga studio is offering free access to a selection of their online classes
• Down Dog maintains a yoga app that offers yoga practices

Walking / Taking A Break 

Just because you’re social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t leave your home. Head outdoors for a walk to get some fresh air and clear your head. Here are some recommended activities while doing so:   

• Catch up over the phone with a friend
• Meditate using resources listed above
• Listen to a podcast. Here are some recommendations:
  • Side Hustle Pro
  • Melanin + Mental Health
  • Super Soul Sessions
  • Your First Million 

Physical Fitness for Children

• Cosmic Kids offers yoga lessons working on balance and strength on YouTube
• Stretch and Grow of the Rockies is a kids health and wellness enrichment company that teaches children age-appropriate fitness and yoga routines

We understand there are lots of things pulling you from the entrepreneurial role to deal with life, staying afloat and ensuring you & your family are covered during this time. Here are resources that you may qualify for to help you during this difficult time. Please note, some of these resources are specific to GA-based companies.

 

• A guide to helping small businesses navigate and recover from the COVID-19 crisis (Kauffman Foundation)

• The Booz Allen Foundation has established a $1 million Innovation Fund to improve COVID-19 relief efforts and make a difference. Grants are as large as $100,000 and applications are open until June 5.

• Lightship Capital’s Twitch Pitch is a fun and innovative way to win credits and cash prizes.

• Win up to $30,000 in The Big Pitch, a virtual pitch competition for entrepreneurs of color that are based in Arkansas. Applications close soon!

• Invest Atlanta’s Business Continuity Loan Fund (BCLF) offers zero-interest loanswith deferred payments to help Atlanta small businesses affected by economic shock. Funds can cover: The BCLF was made possible through emergency funding from the City of Atlanta. Learn more here.

• Giving Compass and National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) are working together to bring you the most comprehensive list of vetted COVID-19 relief funds. Their list is broken down by counties & cities. Learn about the 196 & counting funds at the 100 Giving Compass and National Center for Family Philanthropy 

• GoFundMe is offering a matching $500 relief grant to small businesses who fundraise $500 themselves to help during this economic downturn. These funds will provide aid covering expenses to help keep the business operational and afloat and allow us to continue running charity events for others in need. Learn more here. 

• CASE at Duke has compiled a comprehensive, searchable database that includes grants, loans and other cash equivalents that can help entrepreneurs, non-profits and businesses globally. Click here to search the database. 

• Facebook has announced a small business grant that is offering $100 million in cash grants and ad credits. More information about eligibility is to be announced, but it will be available to 30,000 businesses in over 30 countries where Facebook currently operates. Read more here.

• Opportunity Fund specializes in money lending to small businesses owned by women, immigrants, and people of color. They are launching a coronavirus relief fund and it will provide grants and low-interest rate loans to business owners. Read about it here and stay tuned for more information.

• James Beard Foundation is providing micro-grants to independent food and beverage small businesses in need through their Food and Beverage Industry Relief Fund. Read more here.

• Yelp has announced a $25 million relief fund primarily focused on supporting independent local restaurants and nightlife businesses in the form of waived advertising fees, and free advertising, products, and services. Learn more here.

• Hello Alice‘s Business for All offers up to $200,000 business grants and mentorships from influential leaders. Learn more here. 

• JPMorgan Chase is committing $8 million to assist small businesses in the U.S., China, and Europe. Learn more here.

• The Soze Agency, Taskforce, and Invisible Hand have created a fund in support of artists & activists who are impacted by COVID-19. They will provide $250 to selected applicants on an on-going basis and, at the moment, they have $30,500 for the first round of grants. Apply here.

• Bumble is offering up to $5,000 in monetary support for small businesses affected by COVID-19. Download the @bumble app and use any mode to match with their Bumble Community Grants profile to learn more and apply.

• Lowe’s is committing $3 million to supporting local small businesses, particularly skilled trade professionals, to continue to operate through the current conditions. Learn more here.

• IFundWomen and Visa are granting 3 early stage female founders a $10,000 cash prize for their small businesses. Although not specifically created as a response to COVID-19, they are accepting applications now through April 7, 2020. Learn more here.

• Designer of Pyer Moss, Kerby Jean-Reymond, has set aside $50,000 for “minority and women-owned small creative businesses who are currently in distress.” More information here.

• Beyond its normal fundraising offerings, crowdfunding platform MainVest has launched a $2,000, zero-interest, 120-day loan for restaurants or other brick and mortars affected by COVID-19. Learn more here

• Register your business to Kabbage (here) and Help Main Street! (here) to enable customers to easily buy gift cards that provide critical cash support during the COVID-19 crisis. 

• Loom launched a cash runway scenario planning tool that helps small business owners gauge the impact COVID-19 could have on their companies.

• Fulton County Emergency Loan Program – Financing is available to small businesses located in Fulton County, Georgia (*excluding City of Atlanta) for assistance with recovery from the effects of the wide-spread virus.

• Spanx/Global Giving + MasterClass – The Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation donated $5 million to support female entrepreneurs in the wake of COVID-19 and teamed up with GlobalGiving to establish The Red Backpack Fund. GlobalGiving will be overseeing the fund, making 1,000 grants of $5,000 each to female entrepreneurs in the U.S. to help alleviate the immediate needs and support the long-term recovery of those impacted by this crisis.

• digitalundivided The Doonie Fund – This small fund will give $100 support to now 100 Black women who are building businesses to use in whatever way they need to use it.

• Shea Moisture Community Commerce Fund – $1 Million Fund to support entrepreneurs of color and small businesses. The grant intends to show the power of small/black-owned businesses to help communities, while also hoping to minimize the financial disruptions that many are experiencing from the current global crisis.​

• Tru Fund – TruFund is providing virtual programs to help small businesses with disaster resiliency.

• Business Warrior – Offering 12 months’ free access to its software and support, including personalized recommendations to drive new customers and improve profitability during this uncertain time.

• Hootsuite – Offering free access to its professional plan through July 1.

• Moz – The SEO software company, is offering free access to more than a dozen of its Moz Academy SEO courses through May 31, covering everything from keyword research to backlink basics and more.
  
• WeTransfer – The file transfer service has opened its collaborative presentation tool Paste Pro for three months free to new teams who join the platform.

• Shopify – Offering an extended 90-day trial for new customers. For those of you currently on a 14-day trial, you can extend it at no charge to 90 days.

• Box – The cloud-storage app is offering a free 90-trial (you can cancel anytime, no strings attached) during the crisis to help you store and share your documents online.

• Jamm – Jamm is a voice and video collaboration tool for remote teams. They are offering their service free to any team for four months.

• Intuit Quickbooks – Providing a long list of small businesses plans and resources to tap into during the crisis, including financial preparedness information, safe travel tips and workplace prevention tips.

• Igloo Software – A digital workplace solutions provider, is offering its Business Continuity Bundle for free through July 6, which includes digital workplace tools to keep employees productive and supported through the crisis.

• LinkedIn – 16 LinkedIn Learning courses are available for free, including tips on how to stay productive, build relationships when you’re not face-to-face, use virtual meeting tools, and balance family and work in a healthy way.

Amidst the widespread stay-at-home orders, we’re all trying to operate business as usual. It’s critical that each of us find our groove and a system for what’s going to get the work done in our “new normal.” To help you do that, we’ve shared some resources that you may find helpful.

 

Working From Home

• 20 Tips for Working from Home
• 10 G Suite Tips to Work with Remote Teams
• Tips for Working Remotely from People Who Do It All The Time
• HBR’s 5 Ways to Work from Home More Effectively
• 32 Working from Home Tips You Can Do Right Now
• 5 Remote Working Tips from Asana
• 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs to Actually Get Work Done While Homeschooling Kids

Complimentary Products, Services + Offerings

• 100+ Startups Offering Free Products & Services in Response to Coronavirus
• CafeX’s Challo collaboration app is free to use until July 1
• Google is offering advanced Hangouts Meet videoconferencing capabilities, usually available to enterprise tier subscribers, to all G Suite customers at no extra cost until July 1
• GForge, project management, software development and team chat, is offering its platform for free for up to 12 months for new customers
• StarLeaf announced a new free tier for its videoconferencing service

Master Virtual Meetings + Video Conferencing

• Ultimate Guide to Remote Meetings in 2020
• The Seven Secrets of Successful Virtual Meetings
• The Dos and Don’ts of Online Video Meetings
• 4 Easy Tips for Effective Virtual Meetings

 

Taking Charge & Managing Through Change

• Resources to Help Your Small Business Manage Through Uncertainty (Thanks to our friends at Google!)
• The Virus Survival Strategy for Your Startup 
• 8 Things Your Small Business Needs to Do
• Focus on Stability During the Uncertainty that Coronavirus Brings
• Keep Your Small Business Going During a Crisis
• What the Great Recession Can Tell Us About the COVID-19 Small Business Crisis
• What’s Plan B? The Lifeboat Strategy for Your Startup
• Bill Gates and Elon Musk Just Issued Very Different Responses to the Coronavirus. It’s a Lesson in Emotional Intelligence
• 5 TED Talks That Will Help You Manage Anxiety and Build Resilience
• A Beginner’s Guide to Working From Home Without Driving Yourself and Your Family Crazy
• How to Steer a Startup Through a Major Downturn