Banking on KC - Melissa Vincent of Pipeline
Listen Now, or read the transcript below:
Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Melissa Vincent, the Executive Director of Pipeline. Welcome, Melissa.
Melissa Vincent:
Kelly, thank you so much for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, it's my pleasure. We have to talk about Pipeline. It's a network of high performing entrepreneurs and they're scattered throughout the Midwest, but it's always fun to know that it did get its start right here in Kansas City, and I believe that was nearly 20 years ago now. Tell us about what makes up this network. Who is in it, how does it work, and importantly, how does it serve as an ecosystem that encourages entrepreneurial growth?
Melissa Vincent:
Pipeline, you are absolutely correct, it has been in existence for 16 years, which when you think about the ecosystem 16 years ago, be it Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, which are the three areas that we're in, it was really non-existent 16 years ago. And there was an amazing group led by Joni Cobb, who shout out to her for creating this amazing organization, really saw that there was a need for resources, support programming for entrepreneurs who were high growth, scaling their companies in the Midwest, because what was happening was those founders, those entrepreneurs were having to make the decision to leave the Midwest to go to the coast to be able to get their series A and their series B and continue growing their companies.
And that obviously hurts the economy here. And so, the idea was, "Well, if we bring the resources from the coast here, could those high growth entrepreneurs continue to scale and grow their companies?" And so, 16 years later, not only has that been proven to be a success story where, yes, absolutely, but we've been able to show that the entrepreneurs that we focus on, which are, again, high growth, scaling entrepreneurs who are also serial entrepreneurs. So we want entrepreneurs who, if they fail, they're going to get right back up, start another company, create jobs, and if they succeed, they're not going to go live on a yacht for their next 10 years. They're going to get up, start another company, create jobs.
And so, that really specific target of serial entrepreneurs who are really growing their companies, when you focus on that specific group, the jobs that are being built, the revenue that's being driven, and just the capital that's being raised, if you compare us to any of the top BCs as far as being able to pick the right entrepreneurs who are going to be successful, our statistics rank right up there with the top BCs. So there definitely was a need.
And because of us being able to uniquely meet that need specifically before there were other organizations, other accelerators and incubators out there doing that, we've been able to create this really amazing community of entrepreneurs who, not only have gone through the program, but then stay involved and become members of the program. After 16 years, we have 200 members and we continue to add to that every year. And we provide just resources, support and access to network and opportunities for funding for that group going forward.
Kelly Scanlon:
That's a unique characteristic of the Pipeline organization. The fellows are chosen each year for a particular class, and as you say, they don't leave. They stay active afterwards and they can fall into the mentor role or the funder role. It comes full circle for many of them and then they give back and continue that cycle of life in the entrepreneurial sense, so to speak.
Melissa Vincent:
Absolutely. And that's something to go back to what Joni Cobb created in building this. She did such an amazing job of creating this culture of giving back. The people who have gone through the program really feel this sense of gratitude. They want to give back. So not only are they receiving the programming, but then they go in, whether it's through mentorship. Whether it's through investment in members and fellows, or just giving back to the community, that is really the culture that Pipeline was built on.
Kelly Scanlon:
Each year, there's a class of fellows that's selected. Give us rundown, a real quick rundown, of that selection process. What are you looking for other than the ability for that hockey stick growth?
Melissa Vincent:
We start with this massive amount of applications. We have to whittle that down and then they go through such a very long process between filling out an application, and it's lengthy. And then from there, they go through several interviews with different groups of mixtures of mentors, members, national advisors who come in to go through these in-person interviews. And after several rounds of interviews, then we make the selection all the way down to 13 people. We don't take equity in their companies, which makes us unique in that as well. And we do that because we really want to focus on growing, not just these scaling companies, but we really want to grow the leadership capacity for the people who are going through our program. And that's such a key component.
We're looking for people who not only are growing scaling companies, but also have the ability to take feedback and to give back. I think part of what makes Pipeline special is it does feel like a family and they look out for each other and take care of each other. They'll support each other, and you just have to make sure that that personality mix is the right mixture versus anything that could be contentious could completely change the dynamic of the group.
Kelly Scanlon:
Give us a high level overview of what the fellowship year looks like for these entrepreneurs once they're selected.
Melissa Vincent:
They go through a year-long program, and it is four modules, is what we refer to them as. And they're three days long and they are a full three days. We want them to really check out of everything else and just focus on their business. And so, they do that four times a year for three days. And each module has a different theme. And so, when I tell you the module themes, it's going to sound like, "Well, that's pretty basic," but it's really much deeper than the sound of the module.
The first module is about really understanding your target customer. It's really digging into that customer in a deeper way than they have before. And so, that's the first module. And then the second is about really, "Now that you understand who your target customer is, do you have the right business model to reach them?" And then the third is your financials, and "Can you tell your story of your company through your financials?" And then the last one is, "How do we tie out that all together? Do you understand why you're doing what you're doing, and can you express that in a pitch to investors or potential clients? And how do you tie the story of your why into all of those things?"
And so, that's how they wrap up the year. And then the very next year, they do a pitch competition. And then we have a gala called our Innovators' Gala that will be this year, June 15th. It's where they celebrate, they really graduate. And we celebrate whoever wins the very coveted Innovator of the Year Award. So it's a year and a half if you take in all the awards pieces because they're still working even then. But the modules last for a full year.
Kelly Scanlon:
Talk to us about your reach. It started in Kansas City. It was meant to serve the Midwest, but it continues to grow.
Melissa Vincent:
We consider ourselves Midwest, but it's Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. And it started in Kansas City and through the support of the Kauffman Foundation, who have just been an amazing resource, not just for Pipeline but for entrepreneurship and really ecosystem builders for entrepreneurs in the region and across the country. And so, they saw a need for expansion, as did we, and wanted to look at Nebraska as our next spot in Nebraska. Omaha and Lincoln were really starting to build out their entrepreneurial bandwidth. And so, with that means they need support and resources. And so, that was our next expansion. And then also into St. Louis. And now, we're just the entire three-state region.
Kelly Scanlon:
You have mentors from all over the world, don't you?
Melissa Vincent:
Yes, we do. We have some of the most amazing mentors. I was having a conversation with someone earlier today, and I was sharing how it really tells you the strength of the organization, what's been built, when you have people who are running, for example, one of our module leads is a woman by the name of Laura Gilcrease, and she runs the entire province of Alberta's innovation arm. And she still comes every year. She was part of the original group that really put together on the back of a napkin, her and Joni, what Pipeline could be. And she still leads our third module on financials.
So it tells you so much about the organization that, when you look at the people and the positions of power that they have and how incredibly busy they are, the fact that they would take three days out of their incredibly busy scheduled to come out, commit, teach these courses, it says so much about the organization and what's been built. And then we have other leaders really, again, initially we were really trying to pull from the coast. So we have a lot of people from Silicon Valley, Harvard, MIT, pulling from those resources that here in the Midwest you might not have access to.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about some of the wins that the program has experienced.
Melissa Vincent:
We have had an incredible success rate of picking entrepreneurs who are going to have exits, and it builds on itself then. You have a number of entrepreneurs start to have exits, and then it's like, "Ooh, what's this organization that's helping these companies get to exit?" We've had a number, even in the pandemic, which we had five companies or five founders exit in that first year of the pandemic, which was really incredible considering the odds were really stacked against them. And one of those success stories I love to tell is one of our amazing members, Maria Flynn, and she sold her company, Orbis, to another company during the pandemic.
She's an amazing entrepreneur. She is exactly what Pipeline is all about. It is the give back mentality, it is the mentorship. She's a mentor to so many people. And just really the grit that it took. There are a lot of difficulties as you're trying to exit during a pandemic in a bioscience company. And just the way that she was able to continue to lead, persevere through that and get to exit was just phenomenal. And then her ability to just give back and continue in the ecosystems.
And then another one that a lot of people I think, when they think of Pipeline, they think of this person is Toby Rush. Toby sold his company and, again, was a large exit and he has been such a critical person in the give back mentality as well. One of the things that is a goal for me this year is to start to survey and take track because I know it's happening way more than I even know, and I know it happens a lot where our members are investing not just in other members, but in fellows as well.
Kelly Scanlon:
You're not any stranger to entrepreneurship yourself, Melissa. You have been a serial entrepreneur too, as a matter of fact. Has that experience given you specific insights into the challenges that the entrepreneurs that you're now serving face?
Melissa Vincent:
Absolutely. When I was recruited for the position with Pipeline, I hadn't heard of Pipeline. And so, when I looked up the website, right from the beginning, I was like, "Oh, my gosh. These are my people." I just identified immediately with I knew as a serial entrepreneur, I knew that our fellows feel coming in. You do think in a different fashion. And so, I felt the same way that our fellows feel when I came into Pipeline, I was like, "Oh, my gosh. These are people who think like I do."
But I think when that really lent itself was when the pandemic hit. I started in January of 2020. Being a serial entrepreneur I think was such a benefit for me because I immediately knew what I would need if I were still running a company. And so, we went from this very, very in-person organization and we immediately, without missing a beat, transitioned to being completely virtual. And we went from having four modules a year, we kept those going virtually, but we started doing weekly sessions that were professional development sessions around everything from PPE or ... it's crazy, to think about, but how do I even get my team not in the office?
Just jumped in immediately in full force and we just started getting the best experts we could find to lead on topics that we knew everyone was asking. The reason why we knew that is because I think that's where having that background, that experience ... It was like, "Okay, what would I need to do? What would I need to know?" And then the other piece that we added, I'm incredibly thankful that we did this ... The pandemic, especially in the beginning, especially when companies weren't sure if they were going to be able to stay open, and some of them didn't, we knew that when you're an entrepreneur and you're the founder, it's really hard to admit that things are not going well.
And so, we tend to have this, "Everything's fine, everything's fine," even if everything's on fire, especially with the people around us. And we knew that everyone probably wasn't doing okay. And so, we brought on a therapist who works specifically with entrepreneurs, and we started having her do monthly resilience sessions and just working through things like neuroplasticity, like, "How can I become more resilient?" And just being able to talk through the emotions in a safe space that was completely confidential, it was basically providing therapy for our members.
And so originally, it was just try it out and see, and it was so well received that three years later we're still doing those sessions. And what we realized was rather than having it be an afterthought where it's like you're struggling and you're in crisis and you start, well, what if we started teaching same skills but earlier in the process? And so now, we have her start with our fellows and with our new program, Pathfinder, with those cohorts because the sooner that you can learn about mental resilience and the things that you can actually learn and teach yourself to better deal with difficult situations and to handle them well, that's only going to serve you so well as you go forward because it's inevitable that some crisis will come up.
Kelly Scanlon:
Do you get calls from other places throughout the US asking about Pipeline's model and using Pipeline as a model for a similar type of ecosystem building?
Melissa Vincent:
Because Pipeline is very unique in its model for an accelerator type organization. Not to take equity is a completely different business model than what most organizations are doing. And so, we spend a lot of time working and talking to other organizations who are either trying to figure out how to transition to a membership model or are looking at the major foundations and support like that. But where we've really been able to do a lot of work is ... Internationally, we've had, during Joni's tenure, they did a lot of work with a group in Australia that was trying to build out the ecosystem in a similar way.
And in my tenure, we've worked with Canada and helping them really look at how has Pipeline been so successful over all of these 16 years and what are the things that we think are unique to that? How have we worked with other corporate partners? How have we worked with foundations and what are the unique pieces of Pipeline that have made it such a economic driver, I would say for the region? And so, we are continuing currently with some work that we're doing with a group out of Canada on that very topic.
Kelly Scanlon:
There are a lot of resources available for entrepreneurs. You've mentioned accelerators, and especially here in Kansas City, we have so many. Why is it so important to support our startups, to help them get it right? And if, as you say, they don't get it right the first time and they fail to get right back up and start something else, why is that so vital?
Melissa Vincent:
We're really about the development of the economy in the Midwest. The people who are creating the jobs that are keeping the economy up and running are your small and mid-size business owners, and that's Pipeline. And so, when we look at, over the last five years, the number of jobs that have been created just by Pipeline members in five years, it's something like 4,000 jobs. Considering that's just a five-year window, it's in a massive amount of jobs that these serial entrepreneurs who are building and scaling and growing their companies are creating, and the amount of revenue that that's driving.
The reason why it's so important, outside of the fact that it really is the backbone of the economy, is that from a community perspective, those are the people who are going to be your next leaders. And again, it's where Pipeline has a unique perspective of, not just looking for someone who's an entrepreneur, but specifically someone who has that leadership quality that we really want to help them grow.
And so, when you think about civic engagement, engagement in other nonprofits, community give back, those are the type of leaders that we hope that we're building and creating and supporting. Yes, at the heart of it, there's certainly an economic play there for the region, but really from a community perspective and from a social perspective, there's so much that we've brought, that our entrepreneurs have brought into, not just Kansas City, but Nebraska and Missouri and Kansas, and that's what we want to continue to grow and build because supporting those founders, that's only going to help our region flourish.
Kelly Scanlon:
One of your goals is to also take Pipeline into the community. Can you talk about how you're taking Pipeline to the community in that way?
Melissa Vincent:
One of the things with Pipeline is that if we don't open up a little bit of who we are and what we're doing, then you have this brain trust that is amazing, but is held within these walls of just our own community. And when we looked outside of Pipeline, we realized that there was really a gap that we saw. And we worked with other ecosystem builders who were in the region. And huge shout out to Dan Smith with Porter House KC and his work in helping us really look at were their gaps and where were they. And what we weren't sure of was, is there a need? Was there a gap in the community for underserved entrepreneurs who maybe weren't yet starting, weren't yet working full-time on their startup?
So they were beyond the place of early stage where they had a company, they probably had either some revenue or were getting close to it, but they hadn't been able to make that leap yet to work on their startups full-time, which in order to get into the fellowship, you have to be full-time on your startup. And when I started at Pipeline, the thing that was really difficult was how many people we were turning away who really had phenomenal ideas. They just weren't yet working on their startups. So we couldn't even take them through the interview process. It was like we were knocking them out out of the gate because, with good reason, we were only focused on these later stage scaling startups.
And so, what we did was we met that need. In working with Dan Smith, and we also worked with Kira Hopkins with Entrepreneurial Business Basics as well, to say, "Is there a gap that we think that there is? And if so, why is it not being met?" And then you get to this place where you have founders who weren't working on their startups full-time, but were serial entrepreneurs. Basically all the qualities and criteria for Pipeline just couldn't get into the process because they weren't yet working on their startups.
And the one thing we know of Pipeline is the reason why the members stay so engaged and give back is because there are so many mistakes that you could avoid making. Once you know, you're like, "Oh, my gosh. I would do that totally different next time." And so, the power of Pipeline is these members sharing, "Oh, yeah, do this, not that. Oh, I've seen that before. Oh, you need to talk to this person." And so, we were like, "Well, if we could take that and we could open up that opportunity for untapped, underserved entrepreneurs who've not had that same access, could we not then create what I always refer to as a continuum of care, which you can tell I was in healthcare."
And so, really now we have our Pathfinder cohort, which we started last year. And Pathfinder is specifically for entrepreneurs who are female, minority or rural from Kansas, Nebraska or Missouri, who serial entrepreneurs have an idea for a scaling company, it is already started. It's not idea stage. They're beyond that phase and they just aren't able to yet work on their startup full-time. And our goal is, through an 18-month program called Pathfinder, to get them to a place where then once they complete that, they'll go into the fellowship. From the fellowship, they become members.
So we really just went a step earlier because we did see a need in the community to address this gap that no one else was filling, and we felt like they met all the criteria. They just weren't yet working on their startup full-time. You may talk about the wins of Pipeline, it has been the joy of my heart to see that program start, to see it flourish. We just received a $3 million grant from the Kauffman Foundation to continue our work on that, and it's the largest grant the organization has received to date. It is very hard not to sit in on a module and not feel emotional when you think about just this amazing continuum that has gone even further now with Pathfinder and just the impact that's going to have, not just now, but long term.
Kelly Scanlon:
Melissa, thank you so much for all that you and your team are doing to create success for entrepreneurs, to give them the best opportunities to have success, and as you say, to change communities throughout the country. We appreciate your time today.
Melissa Vincent:
Kelly, thank you so much for having me.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Melissa Vincent for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. High growth companies significantly impact the economy by creating jobs, and importantly, driving innovation. Often hidden behind the founders impressive success stories are the unique challenges that a company transformative industry change.
Midwest entrepreneurs are fortunate to have access to an organization like Pipeline that provides guidance and support through a global network of experts and mentors. Country Club Bank also understands the importance of providing innovators with the support they need to thrive, and we are proud to call some of the Pipeline entrepreneurs our clients. If you are an entrepreneur, please contact us about the financing and other resources that we can offer you to help you reach your full potential. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you Kansas City. Country Club Bank, member FDIC.