Founders Forum

You asked for it and now you have it! 😉 If you missed the 2021 Founder of the Year event you can now view the program and honorees from the video below! Check it out and learn what made these founders successful! 👏

Founder of the Year Live Event Welcome to the Founder's Forum Founder of the Year Live Stream.

Join us today at 5:30pm live for our annual Founder of the Year event! Register to tune in to the livestream at www.foundersforum.com .

Check out a quote a from one of our 2020 Founder of the Year Finalist, Dana Kilbourne of Cypress Trust Company. 👏 If you haven't already, register to watch the event live!

FEATURED FOUNDER: Amy Lyon, Transformed Shop at New Life Mission (Part 3)

When asked about COVID-19's effects on the business, Amy replied, "Our business launched at the beginning of COVID, so the vision we had for our moms to be working in groups in the shop with volunteers had to be altered. We brought bins of fabric to their apartments with patterns for cutting. For those who knew how to sew, we brought sewing machines to their apartments and they tracked their hours. We intended for our initial product offerings to be earrings and tote bags, but quickly took advantage of the need for face masks and taught our moms how to make two styles."

"Slowly, we have reintroduced students and volunteers into the shop in limited numbers and with social distancing. One thing we learned is that we can quickly pivot to make a product we've never made before based on community need. This gave us the courage to branch out into the creation of some other products, such as our keychains and lanyards."

Background: Prior to nonprofit work, Amy was a journalist and newspaper editor for 20 years. Her career began with hard news and crime reports, but she gravitated toward human interest stories, particularly those of transformation. She was inspired by "regular people" who took chances on outlandish ideas and stepped outside their comfort zones. With that background, Amy had no formal business training but a definite entrepreneurial spirit. She was a finalist in the Minnesota CUP Break-Through Ideas Competition for a baby monitor she had invented, and she's also authored several books.