The Phoenix Brand Consultancy© introduces a new pricing structure to help marginalized founders navigate the downturn and funding gaps.
For founders, cash means possibilities. After record years, traditional sources of capital like VC and angel investments are drying up. Founders are starting to feel the downturn now — venture funding declined by 23% in Q2 of this year in the US.
Once again, this challenge is hitting historically excluded founders harder than others. Women, non-binary and gay founders, founders of color, and founders with disabilities.
Navigating the downturn as a marginalized founder
One can say that downturn is nothing new to them. They have a long history of weathering storms. They are resourceful and do more with less, and are already adjusted to not being privileged. But it still sucks.
I’ve been thinking about this situation for a while and about how I can make an impact. I’m the founder of the Phoenix Brand Consultancy©. We have specialized in helping underrepresented founders with brand strategy, naming, and design.
Now more than ever, I have money conversations with them. There’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem: They need my help to prove product-market fit and raise funds. But paying for experts is tough when you don’t have these in place yet.
Turning a disadvantage into an advantage
This gender-funding gap, aggravated by the downturn, is why I’d like to introduce a new pricing structure to my business. I’m calling it The Great Reframing. Let’s take your biggest disadvantages and turn them into an advantage.
I’m proud to say that I’m offering special prices for founders fighting against bias as of today.
It works like this: Each -ism you’re fighting as a founder qualifies you for a 10% reduction in pricing*.
Here are some examples:
- Racism
- Misogynism
- Heterosexism (against the LGBTQ* community)
- Classism
- Ableism
- Ageism
This new pricing structure works on a trust system. I’m not going to ask you to talk about painful experiences. Just tell me the number of your -isms, and I’ll get you on the fast track. The maximum price advantage is 50% because this female founder has to eat, too. ;)
Example: A Black female founder may qualify for a 20% price advantage. She wants to book the Phoenix Visual Brand Audit to get a checkup report on her branding quality. Instead of $2,300, she'll receive the same value for $1,840.
Collective change-makers
I urge other business owners to think about how they can help marginalized founders in their way. How can allies step up and reach out a hand? How can we redistribute money in a form that makes sense? How can we, as a collective, band together more strategically to make a change?
Summary
If you’re a underrepresented founder fighting against bias, message me to learn more about our new pricing structure and brand services. And if you’re a historically privileged founder, please reach out as well. By paying the full price, you’ll enable others to win, too.
Together, let’s see the upside of this downturn!
*Terms and conditions apply. We're running this new pricing structure as a beta test until December 31st 2023. After that we'll evaluate the pricing and might make adjustments.
