TechTalk: Founders Helping Founders: How a Nonprofit Is Empowering Palm Beach County Entrepreneurs Through Community and Collaboration

In this episode, we'll explore 1909, a nonprofit incubator, accelerator and co-working community based in West Palm Beach, Florida. 1909 is dedicated to supporting early-stage entrepreneurs, creatives and freelancers who are committed to building a better future. Shana, thank you so much for joining me today, such a pleasure to have you here. 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Thank you so much for having me, Fritz, I'm really excited to be here. 

Fritz Spencer: 

Great. Well, if you could get us started by giving us a brief summary of your career journey and what led you to 1909. 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Yeah, that's a really great question. So I started off my career in the corporate world, so some of the largest names you can imagine and have probably heard of, the GEs and P&Gs of the world, which were great training grounds for where I am today. I learned from the best of the best in these large corporations. But really had an itch and knack for the startup world, because I've definitely always been a problem solver. So it can be a little bit tough to do in some of the large organizations, and I just really wanted to be in a place where I was heavily involved in strategy and can really be a part of something. 

So I had the opportunity to learn how to start a startup here in South Florida. I was able to raise money, we were able to launch a company and build customers, but it was incredibly challenging in the process, and through that, I really identified the need for community, the need for entrepreneurial resources. And I was lucky enough, it was really serendipitous, to meet the other people who were building 1909, who were other founders in the community who also saw that the support and resources that we knew existed in other markets for founders like ourselves were not here. And so, just like any entrepreneur you've heard of, we decided, why not build it if it doesn't exist, we're going to build what we need, and that's really the genesis of 1909. 

EisnerAmper: 

At EisnerAmper, we are creative problem solvers that take a 360-degree approach, focusing on you. We're an award-winning firm with decades of experience. EisnerAmper, let's get you ready. 

Fritz Spencer: 

Awesome, thanks. That's so interesting, sounds like founders founding founders. 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Exactly, yeah. We say for founders, by founders, and I think that's what makes a really good entrepreneurial community is it being led by others who get it. 

Fritz Spencer: 

And let's jump right into 1909, can you share with us the core thesis or founding pillars? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Absolutely. So first and foremost, which I said a little bit before, is community. So we really do believe that working together, building together, learning together, is critical to success, not only for ourselves and our businesses, but for our community in general. And so, everything we do is really based on founders being together and doing the work together. We know that that's what really helps people move the needle, personally and professionally, and to really have not only successful businesses come out of what we're doing, but a community that's thriving around entrepreneurship and innovation. So I'd say community and collaboration is at the forefront of everything we do and is threaded throughout all of our offerings. 

And then, another really big piece is what we call mindful innovation. And so, we're really looking for the people that are creating the future that we want to be a part of, that we want to live in. And it's super inspiring and it's really exciting for us, we get to work alongside all these amazing people that are solving big problems, and we're constantly looking for that. We're looking for people that are not going to allow things to continue the way they are and are willing to build something and risk it and take that entrepreneurial journey to solve those problems. 

Fritz Spencer: 

I'd love to hop right into some of the problems that your member companies are solving, what's some of the tech that they're actually building that is exciting to you? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Yeah, there's so many I could talk about. I'll highlight a few that have stood out, but there's so many here. One that's interesting... And I would say one of the interesting parts about being in a community like ours is we get to see ideas and tech before the market or world identifies it's needed often. And so, one of our companies that's been really interesting is a company called SustainaBase, they were in our 2019 accelerator program, and they were really building a tool to help large entities, companies, real estate, investors, governments, everything in between, really track and report on their carbon emissions. 

So at the time in 2019, that was a nice-to-have, and the market in terms of businesses and investors were like, "Well, that's nice, that's for nice businesses, that's for people that want to go above and beyond." But since then, regulations changed, demand from customers has changed, industry norms have changed, and so over the years, what they've built in terms of tracking carbon emissions is very complicated and being able to report on it, there's multiple inputs and parts of the process that a lot of businesses are going through, you can think about a trucking business or a retail business and how many inputs and complications in terms of data that's going on to actually be able to report on that in a way that people can understand is effective. So that's essentially what they built. They ended up being hired, and their customers were major national companies, international companies, in all different industries. They ended up being acquired last year by a large global company that provides software out of Germany, so now it's international. 

And so, just seeing that, and again, knowing they came from a background of technology and environmental science, and again, we're really ahead of where things are happening and that's exciting to see is they knew that that was going to be needed in the market and they built it before it was even supported, before people were championing that, and so now it's come to a place where people have really accepted it. So that's a really big example of one that I just think is so exciting to share about. 

Fritz Spencer: 

Yeah. I think people say a lot of the time ground level, but it sounds like you're in the basement. You're the first view of what emerging tech is really coming out and being developed, and that's what I'd love to ask you about next is, aside from your member companies, and this is TechTalk, of course, so what emerging tech trends are you excited about, and do you see anything that might be changing or shaping the future? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

That's a really fun and interesting question, because I do see so much. I know this is probably a topic we hear about a lot, I do want to touch on AI because I see so many different versions of it, and I think right now, again, we're seeing the commercialization of essentially AI which is helping us take data that already exists and put it into a format that maybe makes it easier for us to write an email. But what I'm seeing is AI that can really help identify needs, understanding of humans, essentially through AI agents, and what does that mean and how can we understand humanity differently. 

So for example, a company here was really able to understand how social media and different geographies and essentially inputs for people in different geographies impacted how they voted in the election. They essentially were able to predict the election results closer than any other outlet for really reporting what people would do, and again, that was based on the inputs they were getting from various sources, media outlets, news outlets and things like that. So I think that's really interesting. Obviously, I think AI can be used in multiple different ways, probably good and bad, but I think the more we can use it to really understand what's happening maybe at a quicker scale, and then we can look at what can we do better, it's super helpful. 

Fritz Spencer: 

Awesome. I love to hear about the new tech, so that's exciting. And I'd like to circle back now to you and 1909, more about the community that you're building and the value proposition that you guys have for your members. Could you highlight what that is and maybe how you guys sell it? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Absolutely. So I would say, and this is a very simplified version, but we help startups become grownups. I actually heard somebody say that the other day and I loved it. 

Fritz Spencer: 

I do love that. 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Yeah. Our value prop is helping people with big ideas, again, that want to solve problems, that want to do that through entrepreneurship, be able to do that sustainably. So that's really our goal, I would say, what makes us unique. So some other groups are really looking for the next unicorn, and I do believe we have that in our community. As I just mentioned, we had a really big exit, we will continue to have that. But we're really looking to help people build sustainable businesses and what that means, and so helping them lay the foundation for understanding how to set up a business properly, the financial components, how to generate revenue, how to hire people, how to lead and manage people in businesses, and really all the skillsets it takes to have a company that's not necessarily boom or bust, but is going to continue to grow and be sustainable throughout time. 

And so, we do that by offering business education, mentorship, obviously the space which we have here, which is really critical as businesses grow, overhead and operations can be a challenge for companies as they grow, where is the space? Where's the printing? How are they doing that? Where are they meeting clients and customers and things like that. So having space in downtown West Palm Beach, that is way below market rate, that has everything they need, for as long as they need, as they grow their teams, is really important. So we try to really provide those things, and honestly, our value proposition changes as the entrepreneurial world changes and as the markets change, and we try to make sure we're really providing the support needed for the founders here. 

Fritz Spencer: 

And I'm so glad you mentioned your space, because you're on the precipice of opening it to the public and to your members. Can you tell me a little bit more about where, why and the advantages that you're getting out of this new location? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Yeah, absolutely. So we actually just opened a brand new space to our members on April 1st. It's double the square footage of what we had before, and that's just really a testament to this market and the growth and demand we're seeing of new businesses in this community and their growth. So as the companies we worked with grew and they were starting to need more space for their teams and larger operations, we just were bursting at the seams. It was too tough to offer all the space to everybody, do all the programs, really have the environment for people to grow, and so it took us, honestly, about two years to really find the location, build it out and open our doors, but we were just able to do that. We're so excited, we welcomed all our members in, we have double the amount of offices, conference rooms, meeting space, programming space, and we're just thrilled to have it. And our offices are already filled, so as you can see, there's a lot of value there and a lot of demand in this community. 

Fritz Spencer: 

So exciting. I can't wait to join and see what you guys are building over there. Everyone loves a new space, new tech, new friends, new everything. 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Absolutely. 

Fritz Spencer: 

So as we move on to talk more about 1909 and its members, at EisnerAmper, we consider ourselves problem solvers, we're solving our clients' problems every day, what is the key problem that 1909 solves for your members? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Yeah. I'd say in its simplest and probably most cliche form is that starting a business is really tough, and starting a business without resources, network and money is even harder. And that's the honest truth is that we believe that entrepreneurship solves most of the world's largest problems and will continue to do that, but for a lot of founders, it's not accessible to even try and get to a place to build a sustainable company. You hear this concept of people starting their companies in their parents' garage. Well, that's actually a luxury to a lot of people to be able to have a home with a garage and probably a full fridge to start a business, not everybody has that. So really providing the opportunity for more people to solve problems and bring great companies to life is really what we're committed to, and I think that's what's exciting about what we do is there's so many problems here being solved. 

Literally, at any day, we have people here that are helping with inner city gun violence, we have people working on new technologies, again, around carbon emissions, we have people developing a new e-commerce software and work to really make it easier for people to get what they need, when they need it, and companies to do well. We have people with cool electric vehicles providing transportation to people who have a hard time getting to doctors' offices and grocery stores and things like that. It's pretty incredible, and we get to be a small part of that. We provide the resources and support for those people to do that, and I think that's what's so exciting and honestly, what gets me up every day is saying, "Man, there's all these people doing amazing things, and I get to help them do that, I get to hopefully open a door instead of being a barrier," which most of them get, so it feels super rewarding, 

Fritz Spencer: 

Such an exciting journey to hear about, and it leads me into this final question so perfectly, because in the entrepreneurial journey, there are so many times when you have to adapt, you have to change, you have to pivot. Can you tell me about maybe one of the pivotal moments in 1909's strategy or course of business that significantly influenced the path you guys went on? 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Yeah, absolutely. So I would say since the beginning when 1909 started, we had this belief that, again, this collaboration and community and working together would really not only provide the most value, but what people were thirsty for and needed, entrepreneurship can be very lonely. And so, we've had our space since the beginning, and there was maybe always this question of, is this just a real estate play and what does that mean? Well, COVID hit, obviously, in 2020, and everything we had hosted and done had been in this physical space that we had to close down, so we had to very quickly pivot and adapt everything we did to support our founders who also were dealing with COVID. Some of them were doing well through e-commerce and technology, some of them were totally struggling, most of their customers had stopped paying if they were in B2B. So they're all dealing with the chaos of a pandemic, we're trying to support them without the space they're used to being in. 

And so, we essentially gathered a team of members here and we said, "What do we do?" And we pivoted and we essentially just provided virtual support for people, which was not business-related, to be honest. We essentially came together and we helped people figure out what to do in a time of crisis for themselves to keep their businesses running. And I think it was really interesting to us because 95% of our members during that time kept paying even though the space was closed, so that just is the testament to the fact that what we provide is really needed, and people not only needed it in that most critical moment, when a lot of times, finances were tough, but also they wanted to see this at the other side. So I think that just made us invest and dive so much more into what it means for people to be together, again, a larger space, more people together, being able to do more once we were able to open it back up. 

But I think for us in a time where, I'm not lying, I was looking at our financials, I was like, it could go to zero, that's the honest truth. I'm sure most people saw that during COVID, it could go to zero, and instead it didn't, it just solidified what we do and the need for what we do. And I think us being able to be adaptable and just say, "How do we need to support our customers right now, and how do we do that best?" Was critical to our success and long-term success, and I'll always just think of that as like, man, that really made us understand the value of what we do and what we need to continue to do. 

Fritz Spencer: 

Wow, such an amazing journey, and I'm so glad to see you guys on the other side as well. Shana, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to have this conversation with me today, it was a great, great conversation. 

Shana Ostrovitz: 

Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. 

Fritz Spencer: 

And a special thanks to our listeners for tuning into TechTalk, the entrepreneurs and innovators who turn to EisnerAmper for audit, tax, advisory, outsourcing solutions to help propel their business forward. Again, subscribe to EisnerAmper podcasts to listen to more TechTalk episodes or visit eisneramper.com for more tech news that you can use. 

 Transcribed by Rev.com