After years of working for startups like Xactly, Strap and Tilr, Cincinnati native Eliot Bennie is branching out on his own.
Bennie, who returned home in 2015 following stints in Florida and Colorado, officially launched Founders Collab locally last month. The platform aims to connect founders with mentors, advisers and more.
The idea was inspired by a similar company called Revenue Collective, now known as Pavilion, a private membership support network for professional leaders. “I thought I could do the same thing, but for startups,” Bennie said. “For the most part, founders are cool and most are just looking to help.”
In terms of what the platform could be, “it's almost limitless.” Users can post, add video, live stream, upload podcasts — or source guests for a podcast — issue feelers for funding, or search for co-founders or new business opportunities.
So far, Founders Collab has onboarded more than 30 members with a goal of reaching 50-100 quickly.
Breaking down barriers
Bennie’s leap into entrepreneurship follows sales stints at Denver-based Xactly, which went public in 2015 before its $564 million sale to Vista Equity Partners in 2017; and Cincinnati-based startups Strap, a wearable tech company and Brandery grad, and Tilr, which coined itself as the Match.com of employee recruiting.
Bennie said Founders Collab is open to founders and small business owners across all industries. Those who join should be in business between 0-3 years. “That’s when it either works or doesn’t," he said. For now, he personally vets everyone who joins — the first 50-100 people on the platform will be key, he said.
The plan is to start initially in Cincinnati before pushing to markets like Indianapolis, Nashville, Boston, New York City, Austin, Dallas, Denver and Silicon Valley.
“I want this to be about the community members, and I want them to help me build it,” Bennie said. “I want to see what they want, to get their feedback and run with it.”
Blake Smith, a startup consultant and co-founder of locally based Jumpdocs, a software startup that provides boilerplate legal documents for early-stage firms, was one of the first to join the platform. He said Bennie cares about helping founders thrive and is excited to see what the community becomes.
"In more developed startup communities there’s an ethos of experienced founders meeting with and helping newer founders,” Smith said. “I hope Founders Collab can provide elements of that for communities with less density."
The company recently rolled out a mobile app, which Bennie hopes will better target those age 25-35. For now, the first three months of membership are free. After, Founders Collab will cost $15 a month.
Currently, Founders Collab is a team of two. Bennie’s co-founder, Andrew Farmer, is based in Florida. He and Farmer are currently bootstrapping the company.
Starting something of their own has been a grind, while equally addicting, Bennie said. The goal is to help others find a like-minded community.
“People want to start new businesses, but there's barriers,” he said. “If we can come together and figure some of those issues out, and we move the needle even from a 95% failure rate to 94%, that impacts legacies and families for generations.”
