OUR MISSION EGK Starters’ mission is to provide transformative learning and mentorship experiences to early-stage BIPOC startup founders to position them to raise capital and partner with investors in implementing strategic initiatives to fund more BIPOC-led startups. WHAT WE DO EGK Starters is a design-led, accelerator-like program for BIPOC-led startups. Our inaugural cohort will consist of BIPOC-led startups based in Birmingham, AL. Our job is to challenge the BIPOC founders to position their businesses to meet a global need and work with them to outline steps to sustainably grow from a local customer base to a national or international audience. We are an international team of researchers at Cornell University and Northumbria University studying the current VC landscape and the impact of design-led initiatives on the allocation of angel/VC funding. Our aim is to recommend data-driven courses of action that may guide future initiatives in allotting angel and VC funding to early-stage BIPOC-led startups based on our findings.