July 13, 2020
By Romie Tufaro
As we gear up for our fifth cohort this fall, we’re taking a moment to peel back the curtain and share more about the team behind it all. Get to know Halo Incubator Co-founders Nora Peterson and Julia McInnis in this Q&A, including more about their background, passions and expertise.
What Inspired You To Start Halo?
Nora: I had spent most of my corporate career climbing the corporate ladder and often it felt like an uphill battle in a largely male dominated industry. I, like many women, had to work harder for the same opportunities and fight tooth and nail to be given the same respect and attention as my male peers. This same scenario plays out with startups and I had been mentoring startup founders at various accelerators, including while I lived in Singapore, and in NYC. I quickly came to the conclusion, early stage women founders had a resource gap compared to the men including quick access to critical information to build their companies. I then decided to build my own incubator for early stage women entrepreneurs in NYC (we have since expanded nationally).
Julia: I really wanted to make startup training accessible to women who would not otherwise have access to it. Women who may not have studied business or had the chance to participate in university accelerator programs. I also felt that a lot of the current incubators and accelerators are too focused on VC-backed companies. You can have a crazy successful company that would never in a million years attract venture funding. And I want to support those types of companies, especially as we’ve seen so many VC darlings go belly up over the last few years.
How Does Someone Start An Incubator?
Nora: You first need to figure out your own unique value you can bring to an incubator. What will you do or what can you offer that will be different, make the experience unique and one that people will spread the word around. That can sound like a lot, but my answer was not ‘you need to have a fund, or know every VC in your city’s startup ecosystem’ -- simply, figure out the value you can and will bring to entrepreneurs and work from there to figure out how to build a program and the economics of running it.
Julia: You find someone like Nora! Not really kidding, it really helps to have a capable and passionate partner in this process. But like any startup, you begin with the easiest, simplest version of the product. For us that was a curriculum that we could both teach ourselves and find guest speakers for. It meant starting in person with a small group of founders. As we started that way, we learned more and tweaked the programming based on those experiences.
What Advice Do You Commonly Share With Founders?
Nora: Before you do much of anything, find paying customers, or customers that actually will use your product or service (and enjoy it). Too much time is spent upfront on the ‘easy stuff’ like checking tasks off a typical ‘how to start a business’ list like ‘design a logo, file trademark for a name, post on instagram everyday.’ Many have thousands in fees for this before even understanding what their product really is and if anyone will care.
Julia: Be strategic about what you actually need to pay for. This goes for everything from legal help and office space to technology. There’s so much useful tech already out there that you can access for a tiny amount of money versus paying an engineer or a dev shop to build something for you. So really think about what you're trying to accomplish with your product or service, and then try to accomplish those goals by hacking together different free or cheap resources. You don’t want to blow your savings building a tech product that might already exist or that will need to be significantly changed once it hits the market and customers start giving you feedback.
What Is Something Not Listed On Your Website That Makes Halo Truly Unique?
Nora: The community. This is our founders, our network of mentors, volunteers, speakers and partners. Our people are incredibly supportive of each other and willing to help. We love to get to know all of these individuals while building long lasting relationships.
Julia: The bonds that our founders form with each other and the community that exists outside of the cohort and workshops. For me that’s one of the best things that Halo has created.
Halo Itself Is A Startup, What Has It Taught You About Entrepreneurship?
Nora: Like with any founder, you have limited time to build your company. You have to be able to make quick decisions around how to spend your time, where to direct resources and which projects are currently not worth pursuing. Not all decisions are correct but being able to recover quickly, change your approach and get to the next milestone or day is ultimately what counts.
Julia: There’s a balance between planning extensively for how to grow and embracing serendipity and following new opportunities as they come up. I think it’s important to have an end goal and vision but there should be some flexibility in how you get there.
What Do You Love The Most About Halo?
Nora: I love working with the people we meet each day. This has been the most rewarding business and mission I have worked on. Each day I am able to have a different conversation and learn about a completely new product, industry specific challenge, or new tech I am not familiar with. I get to support, even at a small scale, early stage women founders, and at the same time I get support from the incredible startup ecosystem that exists in the US.
Julia: Getting to meet so many amazing people -- our founders, mentors, and guest speakers. I always leave our sessions feeling inspired by what I’ve learned from them. I also love having the chance to dip into industries that are new to me.
If I Wasn’t Accepted To Halo The First Time I Applied, How Can I Successfully ReApply?
Nora: I love a good deck that is simple and easy to understand. Focus on what value your startup brings, what problem it’s solving, and how you are executing. If you can show any traction, or milestones that highlight this, please brag away!
Julia: I would focus on refining the opportunity you’re looking at. Halo is for early stage founders, and so we’re not looking for fully fleshed out products and business plans. But what has to make sense is that a founder is going after an opportunity that is in fact an opportunity for something new or better. And then I’m also keen to work with founders who have real experience in the industry or space that they’re innovating.