🔒Entrepreneurial Mindset: New Collab leader Leaks aims to make New Haven accelerator ‘a household’ name locally, statewide

Dawn Leaks understands exactly what the owners of new businesses are going through as they try to make their ventures successful.

Leaks, a Hamden resident, has been through it herself.

She launched and served as CEO of Lioness For The Female Entrepreneur, an online digital media company aimed at female entrepreneurs.

She took it from a small startup to a profitable company by increasing revenue 200%. She expanded the company’s reach from a regional to a global audience of over 100,000, and led the company’s exit in 2020.

Now, Leaks is focused on helping other entrepreneurs achieve similar levels of success. In early February, Collab — a New Haven-based early-stage accelerator — announced that Leaks would be its new executive director.

Collab works to help underserved entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level. It focuses on people of color and women entrepreneurs.

Since 2017, Collab has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs. Of its accelerator graduates, 83% are led by people of color and 74% are led by women.

Caroline Tanbee Smith, who co-founded Collab with Margaret Lee, said Leaks has the “energy, compassion and deep expertise” to lead the organization.

Collab provides workshops and other resources for entrepreneurs, and offers office hours where people can meet to discuss their ventures. It has accelerator programs aimed at both the general business community, and a Food Business Accelerator, by Collab and CitySeed, aimed specifically at early-stage food entrepreneurs.

Collab participants can get individual coaching, mentoring, connections to potential funders, and pro bono legal and marketing services.

According to Collab’s 2021 Impact Report, its accelerator graduates have generated more than $5 million in revenue, and 87% are still operational. Collab has had several success stories — its entrepreneurs are running a range of businesses, from food delivery to home care to fashion retail.

New Haven Biz recently chatted with Leaks about entrepreneurship, and how she aims to help others achieve success through her new role.

What made you want to be Collab’s executive director?

One, my own journey as an entrepreneur from an underrepresented community. I have firsthand understanding of the barriers and struggles of being an entrepreneur.

I have been through a few different accelerator programs myself. I know what having the right information, resources, education, and compassion at the right time can do in the life of an entrepreneur.

What are some things fledgling business owners need?

Coaching can be transformative. There is a difference between just reading information and having somebody actually look at your specific business.

That is invaluable in the life of an entrepreneur. It helps you to have mentorship, one-on-one coaching, educational support and someone helping you navigate the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in New Haven.

It helps if you are put in touch with the right people at the right stage of your business.

Collab particularly focuses on people of color and women entrepreneurs. What are some of their unique challenges?

Oftentimes this population of entrepreneurs doesn’t have access to the family and friends round, which traditional startups may have. They don’t have access to the funders and other people that it would be beneficial to be in contact with as an entrepreneur.

Also let’s be honest — bias. When you are out pitching your business, you are getting different questions, people are focusing on different things. Sometimes women are getting hit on. With women sometimes there is imposter syndrome.

We are really trying to help entrepreneurs navigate that landscape, and also provide education for potential investors and funders that this population is creating really good, strong viable businesses that should not be overlooked.

Do women in general get different feedback?

Absolutely. There is almost a tightrope we are walking. If you step on one side of it, you aren’t assertive enough. If you go to the other side, where you are being assertive, you get called other words — you are too aggressive, you are bossy.

There is really this kind of dance you have to do as a woman to find the position that is going to make you feel heard and make you be taken seriously by others.

What we are doing at Collab is taking some of the onus off of women. We shouldn’t have to do this dancing act in order to be heard or to be considered legitimate, in order to be considered viable.

So just some education to the public and the startup community that the change really needs to happen in people’s perceptions of women and how we move through the world.

What do you hope to accomplish in your new position?

I hope to ensure Collab’s longevity, that we sustain as a viable organization in the community that is making a deep impact. Growth — we want to be able to serve more entrepreneurs.

I want Collab to have a greater impact on generating wealth and economic power in the communities we serve. Just really being collaborative with other organizations in the ecosystem.

When you started, you said you planned to do a lot of listening to better understand where Collab is as an organization and where it should be heading. What have you learned?

It is great to hear that we are well-received and are doing great work. That has been amazing. The co-founders of Collab have done an excellent job building strong relationships in the community.

One of the pieces of feedback we get from entrepreneurs is that there is always a need for more access to financial resources and more access to information around marketing.

The one-on-one coaching piece has been really huge for folks. To be able to offer that outside of the accelerator programs, to offer some additional coaching and mentoring would definitely be a need, and it’s a priority for us.

Has the pandemic impacted how Collab delivers its services?

Our programs are running virtually right now. In some ways it makes things easier.

You don’t have to worry about travel time. You aren’t having the same challenges of child care. It makes the program more accessible.

We look forward to offering hybrid solutions in the future to accommodate people who need virtual programming.

What impact has Collab had on entrepreneurs?

We have been in operation since 2017. Our entrepreneurs coming through our programs have generated over $5 million in revenue. That is a great number and 87% of them are still operational today, so that is huge, because we know that nine out of 10 businesses go out of business.

To have 87% of our graduates still operational and still generating revenue, and even being able to achieve follow-on funding, is huge.

You have a general business accelerator for all businesses, and a food business accelerator. Has there been discussion about launching accelerators focused on other industries?

That is definitely on our radar. There are a lot of spinoffs we could do, retail, tech, health tech, fintech, makers — people who are creating things.

The general accelerator does accept any kind of business, but it would be nice to offer a deep dive into more industry-specific areas.

Where do you see Collab in five years? 10 years?

In five years, we see Collab as a household name here in the Greater New Haven area. If you are thinking about starting a business or thinking about entrepreneurship at all, Collab is also popping into your mind. In 10 years we would hope to achieve that statewide.