In line with StartupAZ’s vision to cultivate a dynamic, founder-centric ecosystem, our private donor and corporate/venture partner engagement is designed to align with our core theme of increasing access and reducing the complexity and fragmentation that exists in today’s startup landscape. By focusing on accessibility and execution, powered by generosity, we aim to redefine the ecosystem's navigability, engagement, and progress.

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StartupAZ exists to help Arizona’s most innovative startups improve their leadership, performance, and connections, while inspiring generosity and philanthropy within their communities.

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Table of Contents

Origins

StartupAZ was formed in 2015 by Mario Martinez II and Brandon Clarke as a component fund of the Arizona Community Foundation.  Seeded with $100,000 the organization set out to identify and support the next generation of Arizona tech entrepreneurs, helping them grow and give back. StartupAZ’s Founder’s Collective and the Generosity Pledge became the bedrock of the organization’s work building a community of early stage company-builders through its performance and generosity flywheel framework.

StartupAZ is proud to have supported over 130 early-stage founders since 2015 - some of whom have gone on to be among the most successful, and generous, tech founders in the region.

Core Initiatives

1. Founders Collective: Our signature program is designed to increase the performance and growth of the region’s highest potential startups. It’s where founders build their tribe and combine their talent, network, and resources to help each other achieve milestones and create a lasting impact in the community. Each year, we select a cohort of 8-10 founders to join the Collective. Those founders make a 12-month commitment to the program, kicked off with the annual StartupAZ Retreat and followed by monthly accountability check-ins. The experience is enhanced by a deep bench of resources, including our network of Founder’s in Residence (FIR’s) who have built and scaled businesses and make themselves available as trusted guides to the cohorts.

*The generous support of our partners make it possible for us to provide scholarships to all founders in their first year with StartupAZ Collective.

*As of year ending 2023

<aside> <img src="https://startupaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/logo-favicon.png" alt="https://startupaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/logo-favicon.png" width="40px" /> *“We want to provide an unfair advantage to the founders selected to join Founders Collective - with access to the tools, resources, and talent they need to build great companies. With this unique access comes the responsibility to execute.”

~* Brandon Clarke, Co-Founder & Chair of StartupAZ

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1. Key Leaders: A quarterly meetup designed to empower the next generation through professional development and connections for Growth, People and Engineering Leaders within Founders Collective companies.
2. StartupAZ’s Annual Retreat: A three day gathering that brings new, current, and alumni members of the Collective, along with our leadership and parters, to Flagstaff to connect, lean in, and learn from each other while celebrating the region’s high-growth founders.
3. Ecosystem Advancement: Through key partnerships, advocacy and affiliations, StartupAZ works to bolster the quality and standards of venture performance by participating and leading key stakeholder groups in an aligned effort to drive performance and generosity across the ecosystem.
4. Generosity Pledge: Generosity is embedded in StartupAZ’s DNA and we aim to inspire generosity as a core value of our founders, partners and supporters. The Generosity Pledge was born out of Salesforce Foundation Pledge 1% which has inspired hundreds of tech companies to pledge 1% of equity, profits, time and/or product back to their communities.

Founders that take the Generosity Pledge make a commitment to the entrepreneurial community and pledge to pay-it-forward after a liquidity event in their company. Since 2018 StartupAZ has raised nearly $300,000 from pledges - deploying these resources to enhance the founder experience and bolster the performance and generosity flywheel.

Founders that have taken the Generosity Pledge