As part of its 10-year anniversary celebration, Richmond’s Lighthouse Labs has started a $5 million fundraising campaign. Called the Fund a Founder campaign, the effort aims to improve services to the organization’s alumni network and increase access to underserved founders.
“For us, this 10-year mark is a great way to talk about the history of Lighthouse and where we have come, but because there is so much more that we can do, it allows us to talk about the future,” said Paul Nolde, managing director of Lighthouse Labs.
Lighthouse Labs is an accelerator program. It takes established businesses and helps them develop a working model and prepare for capital investment. Nolde said Larkin Garbee and Todd Nuckols, who founded the organization, built Lighthouse Labs through will and determination. It now has three full-time staff members and a dedicated contract person for grant writing. As well, it has an established base of funding.
Around 90 companies have graduated from Lighthouse Labs, and Nolde said more than 80% are still in business. He wants to find ways to support these founders after they graduate from the program, but right now the organization does not have the resources.
That is where the fundraising initiative comes in. He sees the support coming from three places: The first is public grants. Lighthouse Labs already receives some state funding, but Nolde wants to go after other public money. The second is corporation foundation grants like the one Lighthouse Labs got from Dominion Energy to improve access for underrepresented founders. Lastly, Nolde wants to talk with high-net worth individuals and discuss philanthropic donations. He said many wealthy individuals historically do not think of the startup ecosystem as a way to invest in the community. Philanthropic donations often go to art, health care and education.
Nolde is confident the organization can achieve the $5 million goal within the three years.
“We have the benefit of having brand goodwill,” Nolde said. “We have built that up over the last 10 years. And because the ecosystem has grown in the way that it has grown and more entrepreneurial support organizations have come online, it has allowed Lighthouse to look at the next five to 10 years.”
Lighthouse Labs has changed a lot over the last 10 years. When it started, it focused on early-stage startups in Richmond. Over time, the organization has tried to accelerate companies that are farther along in the process. Nolde said this is partially because the ecosystem in Richmond is more sophisticated and more resources are available than a decade ago.
“Generally, in the past, we served and played almost a pre-accelerator role,” Nolde said. “Companies might come in and say we need help building up a business model. We were really good at helping them do that, because no one else was doing that. Then Startup Virginia and others came online and started offering those earlier services. That helps take that off our plate. That liberates us a little to move a little bit farther up.”
The other big change for Lighthouse Labs in recent years is the addition of non-Richmond companies into the program. Nolde said it was partially about numbers and the need to go virtual during the pandemic. Lighthouse Labs saw the ability to cast a wider net when everyone was virtual in 2020 and began including companies from beyond the immediate area.
“We are absolutely Virginia first as far as wanting to serve startups,” Nolde said. “However, it’s the simple dynamic that you grow or you die. We are trying to be mindful of the state funding.”
Overall, Nolde said he is pleased where Lighthouse Labs fits into the local startup ecosystem and is proud of the work that organization is doing.
“The fact that we are celebrating 10 years is something that speaks to the broader success of the ecosystem that has allowed us to flourish and grow for 10 years,” Nolde said. “We don’t exist without the broader ecosystem and the founders that we have accelerated. I think it is a celebration that is bigger than Lighthouse. It shows Richmond has a staying power and has a growth story that we can all celebrate.”
