StartOut is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating great business leaders by fostering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer entrepreneurs. Its goals are to help entrepreneurs start new companies or expand their businesses, and to use successful LGBT entrepreneurs as role models and mentors for the LGBTQ community. The organization was founded in 2009 and has over 15,000 members attending its events in six chapter cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Austin, Boston, and Chicago. Its board of directors and advisors includes a number of prominent VCs and entrepreneurs, including Patrick Chung, David Blumberg and Chip Conley. StartOut approaches its mission through a variety of methods, including: Creating educational events that build entrepreneurial skills and knowledge. StartOut creates a wide range of programming to help people develop businesses, thereby increasing the prevalence of entrepreneurship in the LGBTQ community. Building a community where LGBT professionals help each other. StartOut brings together members of the LGBTQ community, as well as supporters of the LGBTQ community, with a common interest in entrepreneurship and who are at various stages of building their entrepreneurial careers. Combating discrimination by increasing visibility of LGBTQ entrepreneurs in the media. StartOut promotes LGBTQ entrepreneurs to the general public, thereby working to create positive images of "out" entrepreneurs and eliminate discrimination that still faces LGBTQ entrepreneurs. Connecting mentors with members of the LGBTQ community starting their own companies. For example, StartOut's Lesbian Entrepreneur Mentorship Program connects new entrepreneurs with experienced professionals who provide support to help them build, fund and grow their businesses. Access to Capital by providing connections to investors 24/7, nationwide, across industries and various startup stages with the online StartOut Investor Portal Investors can search for promising businesses like yours using detailed targeting and search criteria.
