DREAMORE, GROW MORE: Events, Jobs, Aloha

Welcome to our online community garden! A place for founders, investors, and startup leaders to learn, share, and grow business together.

For all of September, join us for free co-working in our Studio City location AND this Sunday the 15th for our Aloha party.

Being together IRL is productive and creates Aloha energy.

THIS WEEK’S CO-WORKING WINS: we helped a first-time founder secure half her financing, and connected an executive with not one but TWO job offers.

We’re generally building alliances with other fractional/advisory talent, so if you work with startup clients and want to join forces: contact us!

Table of Contents

• 🌍 Connect More

• 📚 Learn More

• 💬 Share More

• 💁🏽‍♀️ Recruit More

• 😂 Giggle More

• 🏡 Build More

• 🤝 Support More'

_{🌍 Connect More}

FREE COWORKING ALL SEPTEMBER, 9am - 6pm in Studio City: Confirm here

Other Local Events;  is your event missing? Shoot us a message!

• Limitless Flow Breathwork - zoom or IRL every Saturday We cannot belabor how impactful this one hour session is, for healing and productivity. Just Do It.

• Lava; Plug In Ventures Demo Day - 9/12

• Community Check In, professional Peer Support: 805 Startups - 912, Reoccurring virtual event

• Ignite Your Early Stage Startup - 9/17, Glendale

  -Complete list of Glendale Tech Week Events

• LA Startup Tech Mixer - 9/26, Santa Monica

• DTLA Tech Happy Hour - 10/4

• Growth Hacking Insider Conference - 10/8, Hosted by Expert Dojo

• Dreamore Tech Week Hike and Picnic - 10/20, Topanga Canyon

• UCLA Innovation Showcase - 10/24 Virtual or IRL Venice

 📚 Learn More

Everyone‘s A Content Creator Now.

No matter what you actually do for a living, if you want to be truly successful, you need to show the world your thought leadership.

It’s daunting and time-consuming, but we think it’s worth the effort (as demonstrated here in this very newsletter).

As a show of support for all you thought leaders or aspirants - contact us if you’d like to contribute content for a future Dreamore, Grow More publication.

We recently learned that most only views are only counted in ONE SECOND. Yikes!

You have to get to the point quickly, or it doesn’t matter.

We recommend this book: Smart Brevity

Check out Neil Patel for brilliant advice on Online Personal Branding.

💬 Share More

Daryn Harpaz of Zenyth Keeps You Out of Trouble With Accessibility For All

Describe your business? Zenyth is highly specialized in helping organizations ensure that their digital assets, web, mobile and custom software applications are ADA compliant and accessible for people with disabilities. 

Why’d you launch your startup? I started this business eight years ago after working with an autism services company and realizing the huge disparity that exists at the intersection of disabilities and technology. It really opened my eyes! From that day forward, Zenyth relaunched as a fully accessible web development company. We are a mission driven organization, focusing entirely on digital compliance and dedicated to making the internet accessible to everyone.  

Why do companies need to focus on accessibility compliance? Companies need to focus on accessibility for three key reasons. First, over a billion people globally have a disability, making up a significant portion of the population. It’s not just a human rights issue, but a human-centric conversation. Not to mention that people with disabilities are legally protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Second, we’re at the intersection of two important trends: diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and the growing aging population. Lastly, there’s a strong business case for serving the disability community as this can enhance brand loyalty, opening up new markets, and boosting revenues. The disability community is often the most loyal to brands that cater to them, making it a smart move for companies. 

Why is it important for early stage startups? Building accessibility from the beginning is crucial. If you wait to implement it later, the cost can be three to four times higher—not to mention the wasted time and resources trying to reverse engineer bad code and become compliant. Designing with accessibility from the start not only helps you avoid legal risks but also opens the door to a large, often underserved demographic. Additionally, indemnification from third-party vendors is crucial to protecting your business against lawsuits.

Where should a company start? The best steps for founders start with making accessibility a non-negotiable part of their technology roadmap from the very beginning. This is the most cost-effective approach, as it costs 3 to 4 times more to go back and redo technology later. If accessibility is built in from the start, it might only increase development cost by 30%. 

What are some of the critical steps founders should take to ensure that their platforms remain accessible as they scale? To ensure platforms remain accessible as they scale, founders need to shift accessibility "left," meaning they should integrate it into the process from the start. Many organizations either ignore accessibility until they face a lawsuit or get caught in a costly break-fix cycle, where their team unknowingly breaks accessibility with bad code and must continually redo the work. 

What do you do for fun? For fun, I’m all about spending time with my Alaskan Klee Kai puppy. She’s a rich and rewarding experience and we’re always outside—running, rollerblading, hiking, walks on the beach and exploring the world together. Raising her and sharing all these adventures is a privilege and pure joy.

Offer to the community: We're happy to offer any member of the community a free website accessibility scan and manual home page assessment. Reach out to chat and let us know how we can support you in your accessibility journey.

💁🏽‍♀️ Recruit More

Everyone’s been asking my opinion about hiring these days, as a recruiter for the last (gulp) few decades. Our government jobs report just released last week and it’s pretty much what we expected. Not great. Not the worst.

Influencing factors:

• presidential election: regardless of the outcome, it will reduce uncertainty

• interest rates are nudging down but still need improvement

• venture and private equity money hasn’t fully deployed, but needs to

• mindset effect: when employment feels negative and unsure, it self-reinforces

• AI is both creating jobs AND eliminating them

• fake job postings/resumes, internet scams and bots are creating extra complexity

• uptick in imposter syndrome, especially because of social media & isolation

We’ve seen a big increase in fractional services, not only because of fewer jobs at the leadership/C-suite level but also as a strategy and clear employment trend for the future.

Fractional makes a TON of sense for companies that need deep expertise/strategic thinking to solve very specific pain points. Hiring a full time C-suite executive for your startup is not always the best decision, nor is it the cheapest.

FYI we recently joined Fractionals United, so check them out if you’re fractional.

Speaking of fractional: Dreamore now offers advisory services for startups who might not be hiring just yet… but will be next year.

Based on our expertise building 1000s of startups JUST LIKE YOURS, we’ll refine your org chart, job descriptions (based on experience and not just AI), real-world salary bands, sourcing strategies, talent acquisition and MORE.

For the rest of 2024, advisory fees can apply up to 100% for perm hiring fees in Q1 2025.

It’s a great deal and lets us help you in a way that’s truly impactful. Spread the word!

😂 Giggle More

🏡 Build More

🤝 Support More

Your Dream Team,

Annemarie, Lydia and Davina

dreamore.io