Muriel Foster, Director at gBETA Houston, joins Forging the Future in a conversation about equipping entrepreneurs with skills, networks, and mentors for the challenges of the future. gBETA is a part of a growing community of accelerators under the brand gener8tor, a platform that empowers programs like gBETA to provide incredible opportunities for local entrepreneurs and industry-specific founders. In this insightful interview, Muriel and Chris discuss the implementation of gBETA’s cost-free 7-week cohort in Houston, the importance of mentorship and network-building for startup founders, and the impact of keeping an open mind to new opportunities in the startup ecosystem.
Key Insights & Timestamps:
[00:00]: Podcast begins
[01:23] Tackling the basics of the gBETA program from mission to mentorship
[05:12] Muriel’s background in nonprofits & startups, learning about sweat equity
[11:01] Typical week for a gBETA founder with local industry-specific mentors
[17:12] Stepping outside career comfort zones as a mentor & director of gBETA
[22:33] Applications & selection processes for gBETA applicants & hopefuls
[25:32] Entrepreneur advice for always being open to opportunities
Guest Spotlight:
Muriel Foster, Director at gBETA Houston
Starting her career in the nonprofit space, Muriel has always had a passion for building community and supporting the needs of others. Today, in her role as Director at gBETA Houston, Muriel brings her unique marketing and startup skills to this B Corp accelerator that provides 5-person cohorts of mentorship, learning, and marketing to local founders. In her day to day work, Muriel guides startup founders through lunch and learns, marketing competitions, and mentor swarms, challenging them to tackle three major goals (or, three “big rocks”) and achieve new levels of success in just 7 weeks.
Key Takeaways:
Across 7 weeks, gBETA Houston provides founders with the opportunity to focus on three main components. The components of gBETA include (1) lunch and learns, where financial concepts are broken down, (2) marketing competitions, where founders learn to pitch to investors, and (3) mentor swarms, where 5 mentors per week answer questions from cohort participants.
Cohort applicants for gBETA Houston have a spring and fall cohort to choose from when applying. The typical applicant pool is between 45 and 50 founders, with only 5 being chosen. Muriel explains that founders stand out from other applicants by taking initiative, reaching out to form a relationship with gBETA and Muriel, and showing a high level of coachability.
gBETA Houston focuses primarily on local founders, but is industry agnostic when it comes to applicants and participants. By focusing on only 5 founders per cohort, Muriel believes that gBETA is able to achieve a very individualized approach to each founder’s journey. While some founders arrive at gBETA with a desire for more product development, others are arriving at the earliest stages of their startups.