There are quite a few women-owned startups quietly working away in the Capital Region with the help of resources from Palette Cafe.
The coworking space and cafe founded by Catherine Hover, with locations Saratoga Springs and Schenectady, also offers classes, particularly for small businesses founded by women.
Here are examples of three founders and their early startups that have been involved with Palette at some point during their development:
Jane Chen, Eyre Writing Center
Jane Chen founded Eyre Writing Center in January 2020 after nearly 10 years working for hedge funds and as an investment banker.
Eyre Writing Center offers virtual classes meant mostly for middle school students as a supplement to regular schooling. There are several classes each semester that teach writing fundamentals as well as more advanced topics. The school also publishes student work in an online magazine during the summer.
The service has been so popular that Chen has been struggling to keep up with demand. So far, the startup has served 600 students from 300 families in 25 states. About 25% of enrollees are in upstate New York. Chen recently hired a second person to work full time on the startup.
The startup has been marketing the product directly to consumers, but Chen plans to move to a model that includes business partnerships and subscriptions.
Chen spent a lot her startup's early days at Palette to work and make connections. That's also where she got her professional headshots taken, part of the perks of being a member.
"Palette is absolutely amazing. It's an amazing community of women who either want to jumpstart their business [or] network," Chen said. "For me, I [had just moved] here and needed friends, so that's why I joined. It's also a coworking space, so I went there to work a lot."
Iris Rogers, Homestead Hemp 1787
Iris Rogers is the eighth-generation owner of a farm in Salem, New York, now called Homestead Hemp 1787. She began growing hemp on the farm a few years ago and last year launched a skin-care-focused CBD brand made from the hemp she grows.
Near the launch of the CBD product, Rogers started creating content on the social media platform TikTok, which included a few videos marketing the product and hemp farm. She doesn't market the product much anymore because it's against TikTok's rules, but she said influxes in views have led to temporary jumps in sales.
She gained 1 million followers on TikTok during the two weeks after she released the second part of a series that follows her search for the missing deed of her family's farm. That search has led to additional questions and the discovery of Civil War-era diaries hidden in the foundation of one of her barns. She now has 1.5 million followers and plans to release the third part of the series soon.
Rogers made connections at Palette during the beginning of her startup, including with Palette co-owner Steve Gonick, who she's now in regular contact with.
Dr. Jennifer Lefner, Seedlings Baby Food
Dr. Jennifer Lefner, the head pediatrician at Saratoga Hospital, founded Seedlings Baby Food after she heard about the hardship of local farmers during the pandemic. She had made her own baby food for her children with produce from farmers markets. Considering the effort it can take parents to make fresh baby food, she saw a business opportunity in doing it for them and selling the product.
Lefner partnered with 9 Miles East near Saratoga Springs, which provides most of the ingredients as well as manufacturing and packaging. Apples for the product are provided by Saratoga Apple.
The startup has sold 80-100 jars per month primarily through word-of-mouth, and Lefner has plans to triple that in the next several months.
Lefner has worked with business advisers in the area, including through the services at The Palette Cafe in Saratoga. Lefner also connected with another local Palette startup, Digitally Grounded, which is designing an e-commerce website for Seedlings.
