Angel investor and entrepreneur Joe Beverly hopes The Cranium Incubator will help even the score for underrepresented founders.
The founder, president and chairman of Atlanta-based Corporate Payroll Services, Beverly is leading a 12-week virtual incubator open to startups of any kind, not just tech. The incubator will feature 14 90-minute sessions that Beverly and others will teach about strategy, market and customer discovery, accounting, financing, business operations and other topics.
“I think it’s probably going to be most beneficial to people who are at concept stage,” Beverly said.
Beverly got into the payroll business with one customer in 1991. His company now has 6,000 customers and is coming up on its 30th year of increased revenues.
Along the way, Beverly has been involved in angel investing.
“I’ve probably seen over 300 pitches,” he said.
He served as president of Atlanta Technology Angels from 2017 and 2019 and still serves on its board of directors.
The Cranium Incubator will focus on female- and minority-owned startups.
Beverly said he is eager to help new business owners avoid pitfalls.
“I have done some really stupid stuff in running my business. But I wouldn’t be able to do angel investing if I hadn’t had successes too,” he said.
He hopes that participants in the incubator “can multiply on my successes.”
Beverly started working on the incubator conceptually about a year ago.
“About three months ago, we really got started more in earnest. We started developing the course content,” he said.
The incubator will begin with education sessions, followed by separate question-and-answer sessions.
“My experience is that people are very hesitant to ask questions during Zoom meetings,” Beverly said.
Participants also will have a chance to pitch to investors.
Beverly plans to help participants with due diligence as well. Investors who spend more time on due diligence get better returns, he said. Twenty hours spent on due diligence increases returns from 1.1 to 5.7, and 40 hours increases returns by seven times, Beverly said.
“It’s not just a one-way benefit,” he said. “The entrepreneurs also benefit from that increased level of questioning.”
The cost of the incubator is $500. Beverly and operations director Orkide Agayar plan to award 10 partial or full scholarships. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Sept. 28.
Agayar said she joined the incubator because of the focus on underrepresented founders.
“I hope we can build a strong community that can empower each other while getting this education and mentorship from Joe,” she said.
