Welcome And Introductions

Kelvin Crosby 0:06

Welcome to Investing in Accessibility. A Samaritan Partners Podcast. We're not waiting for change. We're investing in it. Join us as we speak with entrepreneurs and thought leaders that are focused on creating more accessible world.

Kelvin Crosby 0:29

It's so good to see you, even though I can't see you, It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and I'm so excited that you're here at Investing in Accessibility. I'm your host, Kelvin Crosby, and here's my co-host, Chris Maher. How you doing, man?

Chris Maher 0:42

Hey Kelvin, how's it going, my friend? It's good to see you and good to be with you as always.

Kelvin Crosby 0:46

I mean it it is good. I mean, what's amazing is open up the accelerator series. And this is the last one of our posting. And we would love to have you guys give your feedback on what you guys thought. Would you guys like more of this? And what are some topics that you would want us to cover? We can honestly we're we're only as good as you guys listening to us on the podcast. So definitely when you go on LinkedIn, definitely make some comments, or you can email Chris Maher, you know. I mean, you can just blow up his email. That would be fun to watch.

Meet Aarti Sahgal

Chris Maher 1:21

It would be my pleasure. It would be my pleasure. All right. So awesome. So as Kelvin said, this is this is another and final installment in our accelerator series. And we've got the great pleasure of today having as our guest Aarti Sahgal. She is the founder and CEO of Synergies Work and the Synergy Seed Fund. And she's a she's an old and good friend. So Aarti, welcome to the podcast.

Aarti Sahgal 1:45

Thank you. Thank you, Kelvin. Thanks, Chris. And I take objection to the word old Chris. I am your young and new friend.

Chris Maher 1:54

I stand corrected. I will I will I will refer to you as as my as my young and my and my new friend from now on.

Kelvin Crosby 2:01

But but but you need to remind him that he's old. Keep reminding him that keep putting him back in his spot, you know.

Chris Maher 2:11

Yeah, I we I I got in some trouble when when a few episodes ago we we had my my oldest daughter on and she's calling me dad. And boy, did Kelvin just run with that.

Kelvin Crosby 2:21

Um so I mean I I'm I'm young enough to be to be his son, you know.

Aarti Sahgal 2:27

So there you are, there you are, Kelvin.

Chris Maher 2:30

How about uncle? Maybe like your old hip, your hip uncle.

Aarti Sahgal 2:42

That's worse Chris. uncle's and aunties, for me personally.

From IEP Battles To Founding

Chris Maher 2:46

All right, well, Kelvin, you can call me whatever you want, my friend. Well, Aarti, it's so nice to have you on the show today. You and I have now known each other. God, it's probably coming up on a couple of years now, and the work you're doing at Synergies work is just phenomenal. But before we get into what you're doing at Synergies Work and now with the Synergy Seed Fund, which I'm super excited to talk to you about because that's that's something new for your organization. And but let's talk about your background and kind of the journey you took to get to the founding of Synergies Work. And if you're comfortable, would love for you to talk about the men in your life. Because I've had a chance to meet your husband and your son who are and well, I actually also briefly met your other son too at CES two years ago. But I would love for you to also share about your family because I think it, I believe, drives a lot of the work that you do. So if we could maybe talk a little bit about your background first, it would be great.

Aarti Sahgal 3:43

Yeah, I never wanted uh thought myself to be a founder, Chris. It's just what life unfolded for me. I have spent the first few years of my working life as an advertising and marketing ad world. I was heading an advertising agency. And then 21 years back, my husband, who worked for Coca-Cola till recently, got transferred to Coca-Cola Company here in Atlanta. So we moved back baggage to Atlanta. And at that time, my youngest son, Angad, was four years old, and the older one was 10 years or plus, actually. And my younger son has Down Syndrome, as you know. And so when we were got this transfer, we were very excited and privileged. We were, I was given a whole bunch of books on IDA and how to navigate the school system in the country. So I was really excited talking about inclusion and things like that, only to realize that as uh a brown woman in whatever year 2004, 2005, talking about full inclusion, and you are already hearing my nice southern accent. Talking about that in IEP meetings was not very welcoming to me. And I you can just imagine. So I kind of left my work in the marketing world to wrap my head around what is inclusion? What is this disability world that exists? And I need to get my head around it because I have I firmly believe that there are two worlds that exist here, even today. One world for people with disabilities, and one world for people without disabilities. And I wanted to understand why. And that's how I got into the disability world, started consulting with the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, on workplace strategies, on full inclusion, and really got to understand and work with a lot of immigrant communities because I felt that I, with all my privileges, found it tough to navigate the school system. And imagine somebody who does not understand this language and is just fighting and working to get food on the table. How many times are they able to go and advocate for their children in on IEP meetings or understand that? And that led us to my work for close to, I would say 15 years or so in the DD Council networks until 2016. Uh, I realized that employment is a large part of the conversations that we have in the disability world, but in that employment, we do not offer the full menu of employment, we only offer wage employment. And nobody was really talking about entrepreneurship around that time. And to talk about entrepreneurship and to come across and build a system, that became a challenge. I thought, in my naivety, that just going to startups and saying, hey, I represent the government, I represent the DD Council, let's partner, let's see how we can funnel people through your accelerator would open doors for me. That didn't happen. So because nobody else was doing it, out of sheer obstinacy. So yeah, actually, sheer obstinacy, because the only way I can move is to say, tell me you can't do it. You have to ask my sisters, they'll vouch for this. And so that's how Synergies Work came into existence.

Chris Maher 7:39

And that was 2016-17?

Aarti Sahgal 7:42

Yeah, actually, it's formally incorporated in 2016, but it was not till 2018 that we finally launched as a small art incubator. And during the COVID, that's the time when we were told, like literally close the doors and forget about it. Um we expanded into a full-fledged business accelerator.

Chris Maher 8:06

Amazing. So, Aarti, what's so what I love about it so much, and and this is a very common theme on our most of our episodes, is lived experience, right? So, you through your own lived experience and IEP meetings at at schools, I'm very familiar with with my youngest daughter, Olivia. We've we we did them for, you know, what, 15, 16 years of her life and continue to do them now that she's in a a transition program post post-secondary education. And but I think that's so important and because it came from not only your lived experience of you and your husband raising a child with Down Syndrome and going through that IEP experience, you know, within academia, but then uh realizing that that there's a real gap as it relates to employment, right? And and you know, you chose to build a business and a platform to help fill that gap and to support to support the disability community as it relates to employment. So before we get into Synergies Work, and let's start first with the for lack of a better term, the disability accelerator, and then we'll talk about the seed fund in a second. But Kelvin, any questions for for Aarti before we get into the work she's doing at Synergies Work?

Closing The Disability Wealth Gap

Kelvin Crosby 9:16

I mean, I think one of the interesting things as when you navigate like IEPs and figuring it out, like and honestly for as you talked about with immigrants coming into the United States and working out the school system, that and having a disability with that, that's not easy. And I think and I think that's where as you talked about it, the work was so important. And I think that's where and I I I honestly don't think we talk about that enough. We don't really talk enough, all right. People that are coming here to America, coming down, putting their feet down, how are they navigating? And if they have a loved one with a disability or they're the one with a disability, how do they navigate this world? That's not easy because the system is so complicated. I mean if it was easy, then we would be not having problems, right? Yeah, and and so I think I kudos for you. I mean, as you work through that, and I wish that was the way throughout the country, but I mean I th that was one thing that really stuck out to me. I was like, wow, I never thought about it that way. And I think that's the other thing as our eyes start opening that way, like we start seeing new things, and I think that's one thing that I'm like, hmm. Maybe I need to look into that a little bit more. Like, how do you help immigrants navigate their children and IEPs, all that stuff? And so I just found that really interesting. Yeah.

Chris Maher 10:42

So Artie, let's get into Synergies Work. So give it give us kind of the overview of Synergies Work and and the work you're doing there to support entrepreneurs in the disability community.

Aarti Sahgal 10:54

So, you know, our purpose is really very simple. How do we close the disability wealth gap by leveling the playing field through entrepreneurship? And one of the important things is for equal talent. We believe that everybody has something to offer to the world. And that could be a gift of hand, a gift of heart, or a gift of head. It is, we know it, Chris, people with disabilities are more likely to start a business.

Chris Maher 11:23

Yeah.

Aarti Sahgal 11:24

Because they are tackling, they have an innovative, they're seeing problems and they're innovating and tackling those problems every day. And that's what an entrepreneurial mindset is. But we also know that they're likely to fall through the cracks, 10 times more likely to fall through the cracks. And the and therefore, the we know we have identified three areas which require attention to ensure that we are building commercially viable businesses. One, of course, is access to knowledge or the business knowledge, and that's where the business accelerator comes in. Really, the grassroots entrepreneurship. That's our focus, and we do the business accelerators twice a year, like any other accelerator, cohort-based, put in an application, go through the screening, and then you're part of the cohort. We do provide personalized one-on-one coaching, peer-to-peer networking, etc., through that accelerator program. The second part is relationships. How important is it for anybody to be successful, whether it is in a job or it is in a business? But specifically, I think as an entrepreneur, is the networks that we have. But under the garb of special education, special soccer, special, or rather, very special arts, we segregate people with disabilities very early. So the networks of the individuals become very limited. And the networks of even their families become limited because they have been segregated very early in life. So, how do we open up those networks? How do we build those synergies? Really, is the core of the work we do. And that guides perpetually everything that we do at Synergies Work, including the name as you're listening to it. So we have a virtual community hub where we it's free, it's open to everybody, whether they've gone through our accelerator. A resource library, you can ask questions, somebody will make an effort to answer that question for you. So, irrespective of where you are in your journey, you have a community to network with. And the third and the most important thing, pillar of change that we are trying to move is money. Something that we don't talk often enough in the disability community because money has such a strong emotional weight, and along with the disability world, we just don't want to talk about it. But without money, no businesses can succeed.

Chris Maher 13:54

Yeah.

Aarti Sahgal 13:55

So that's where the Synergy Seed Fund that we launched last year came into effect. It's actually it has taken us close to a year and a half, and now we have started giving out loans. So it's the first

Chris Maher 14:08

that's amazing.

Aarti Sahgal 14:09

Yeah, it's the first, I can say, rising loan fund with the complete intentionality of providing small business loans to founders with disabilities. And so that's what we are doing is to how do we ensure that there are there is, you know, people have these, especially with folks with disabilities who with their health concerns and a lot of other challenges. What happens when there is a downward spiral in the business? Is there a landing pad from which can hold them before they launch back again?

How The Accelerator Actually Works

Chris Maher 14:46

I love it. It's um so a couple things, focusing more on kind of the the business accelerator part first. The one of the one of the I guess the requirements of the profile of the companies that you accept you accept is the founder or CEO, the business operator is an entrepreneur that has a disability themselves, correct?

Aarti Sahgal 15:10

Absolutely.

Chris Maher 15:10

And the business may or may not also serve the community. It doesn't it doesn't have to serve the community. It's more about supporting entrepreneurs with disabilities, right? So that that's that's part of your differentiation. And you do two courts cohorts a year, how approximately, or on average, how many companies are in each cohort?

Aarti Sahgal 15:28

Around we start with saying 15, but with attrition and everything, it comes down to 10 to 12 people, of course.

Chris Maher 15:35

Okay, in in each cohort. So it's about 20 to 25 companies annually. Fantastic. And so can you are these companies my guess is, and I and and I know this a little bit because I've I've been to your gala and have interacted with some of the companies, these companies tend to be more for lack of a better term, kind of like lifestyle businesses or family-run businesses. They're small, they're small businesses. They're they're probably on average. Now, there are probably also some that have the potential that could really scale, maybe take you know, in institutional or venture money. So is it maybe it's a mix of that? It's more kind of some lifestyle businesses and some businesses that could scale to an exit.

Aarti Sahgal 16:22

Just an idea and how do they grow the idea into a business? That's where we we and then there were there till last year, fall of last year, we had Blaze Accelerator, which was for businesses that have had a revenue for two years and were looking to scale their businesses.

Chris Maher 16:41

Ah, I love that you I love that you segmented that way, where it's people who are super early stage may just have an idea to really help them, you know, nurture that idea and formulate it versus companies that are in market generating revenue and now have the potential to possibly scale. That that's really smart. That's I think that's unique. I think that's unique compared to other accelerators.

Aarti Sahgal 17:04

We do not decide on what kind of a business needs to come through an accelerator. There are some of the businesses that were already making revenue and they were in actually igniting ideas program, they can go to the VC, they cannot go to the might not want to go to the VC. That's not for us to decide, and that's not a criteria of selection. What is a criteria for selection is not even actually if they will show up consistently, how how much of time and effort they are willing to invest in that business? And will they show up consistently for the accelerator? That's important to us. How much of their time and sweat and effort they are willing to put into this work? That's what they're looking for. And everything else falls into place then. Right.

Chris Maher 17:58

And Aarti, what what is that typical commitment? Is yours an eight-week program, 12-week program? Is it virtual? Is it partly in person? What is that commitment they have to make?

Aarti Sahgal 18:07

It's a 12-week now. We have gone back and forth, Chris. We have done nine weeks, we have done 10, and then now we have come to settle to 12 weeks. And we ran it's a virtual once a week on Wednesdays from or is it Tuesdays? I'm forgetting. Please excuse me. I don't remember, but it's once a week for two hours that they meet, and then there are open office hours that they do it, and uh there is also optional, I think, for uh peer-to-peer networking sessions.

Kelvin Crosby 18:40

Nice. Yeah, I mean I think one of the things that I really am appreciative of this, like if if you're someone with a disability and you have an idea, you have somewhere to go. Cause I think that's been that's been the hardest thing. Like when I first was become an entrepreneur and I had so many ideas. I'm like, who do I go to? And I and I kind of did it all by myself. You know, I I had to figure it out and I made a lot of mistakes. You know, it would have been really helpful. If I knew about you when I when I started all this stuff. And uh and I'm like, ooh, I have an idea that could fit really well, and I'm like, hmm this this might be an interesting thing to go down the path with. And I and I think I w i if if you're listening, and like th this is this is really unique because what you're talking about is you you have an opportunity to take your disability and to move forward. Like if you're willing to do it. It's not gonna be easy, but are you willing to do it? And I'm and I mean I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs or people with disabilities that are like, hmm, I have these ideas, but I don't know how to get started. I would say this is the place to be. Like throw it out. Put it on it, put it on put it out there and be like, I'm gonna walk it out. I'm gonna walk it out and and see where it goes. Because you don't know where your idea is gonna take you. And I think that's so important. So, so important.

Why Networks Make Or Break Founders

Chris Maher 20:10

Yeah, I think I think something else that that is so important in terms of what you folks do with Synergies Work with the with the the cohorts is is helping them to build out and create their network, right? It's a peer-to-peer network, it's experts, whether it's in accessibility, marketing and go-to-market expertise or product expertise, and you know, especially if you're uh an early stage end or first-time entrepreneur, it's a really hard journey and and it can be really lonely. And you and there are just so many decisions that you're having to make every day. And to have people around you at that network effect of people who have the experience, have the wisdom that they can share with you, it can make all the difference. So I think that it sounds like that's a really big part of what you're doing for these cohorts as they come through your program.

Aarti Sahgal 21:02

Absolutely. I think every founder, it just entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. And many of the entrepreneurs that we see in the disability world are don't have co-founders. And generally it is important to have a co-founder when you are on this entrepreneurial journey. So who do you talk to? And many a times I've heard people walk into an accelerator program and in the first session look around and say, Oh, I thought I was the only one who was doing this. Like, I think that's there is a lot of merit in building those peers networking.

Chris Maher 21:39

Yeah, 100%.

Aarti Sahgal 21:40

And they're the ones who are going to sustain you.

Chris Maher 21:43

Yeah, and I think I think the point you just I think made a fabulous point. It's a different experience being a solo founder versus a co founder.

Aarti Sahgal 21:54

Right.

Chris Maher 21:54

It is very different and and can and can be harder when you're solo, you don't have that person to lean on and and to vent with and to work through things. And so if you are that, I think it's almost even more important for the solo founder to build out that network and that group of of you know advisors and and confidants. Yeah. So I think it's I think it's great that you've emphasized that.

Kelvin Crosby 22:15

I mean if I I can speak to that, because I am a solo founder and and I've been doing it for a while. And it is it can be a very dark spot.

Aarti Sahgal 22:25

Yeah, I hear you Kelvin, so am I.

Kelvin Crosby 22:29

So and is and you're wondering like how you gonna make your make your payment, how you gonna do this, how you gonna do that. And you gotta remember you gotta have that network. I mean, my network, Chris, you're part of that network, you know. And we I have to show up once a week, you know. Hey Chris, how you doing, man? And like, man, it's been rough, man. Or whatever, you know. And and I think that's so important. Like you have that network as a solo entrepreneur, and and I honestly I feel like this episode is gonna be one of those if you're a solo entrepreneur, reach out. Like, at least do something. Don't do it alone. Because being alone will eat you alive. And and you gotta work you gotta work that out. Like and it's okay, it's okay to be a solo entrepreneur, but you gotta have somebody behind you, multiple people behind you. So when that day where you just need to vent, hey, you're not gonna ruin your company, but you just let it all out, and you were just raw, and you have somebody to lean on, it's so important.

Chris Maher 23:40

Yeah, yeah. So another aspect of accelerators, and so whether that is one of the wonderful accelerators that we've interviewed on this podcast, including yourself, that focus on disability sector or entrepreneurs with disability, or it's a Y Combinator, more traditional VCs like a Y Combinator or Tech Stars, some of them, not all of them, will provide capital for cohort companies that come through, which is typically for equity. Some give out grants and some may not give any money. It's just more about providing the mentorship and the advice through the accelerator experience. But what you folks have done is not only you're gonna give money, but you formalize it in a type of fund, which is is very unique. So, can you talk about the new , or the relatively, new Synergy Seed Fund that you have created to go alongside the accelerator?

Aarti Sahgal 24:37

Yeah, so that is actually a loan fund, and it is not a grant, it is a loan. We know that people with disabilities are credit invisible. Majority of them are credit invisible, not only low credits, but there we also know that there are multiple streams of income that an individual has with or without disabilities, but more so with folks with disabilities, there is SSI payment, there might be some sidekick they're doing, and then they are trying to get their businesses. But I think that to look at only a credit score as a traditional banks that they do, our folks lose out. In fact, they will not even, many of them would not even have a business account.

Chris Maher 25:24

Right.

Aarti Sahgal 25:25

And when they walk into a traditional bank asking for a loan, I doubt if the banker looks at them as a potential and probably looks at them as a more as a risk. And so the chances of getting a good interest rate are very, very low.

Chris Maher 25:44

Right.

Aarti Sahgal 25:45

So what we are trying to do through Synergy Seed Fund is offer loans at very accessible, affordable rates, looking at the whole individual completely, not just the credit score of that person. And looking at the business, maybe looking at their personal finances, and then underwriting it in such a way that they just uh they are able to repay their loans, hoping so that they're they are back into sucked into backed into the financial uh system and they're not outside the they've become financially healthy, let's put it this way.

Chris Maher 26:26

Yeah, and I I think this is wonderful and and very much needed in in the market. Quick question on the loans, on these low-interest loans, give us a sense of the range of they can be as little as five or 10k and as much as how much?

Aarti Sahgal 26:41

They can be as little as thousand and can be as high as 30k.

The Synergy Seed Fund Loans

Chris Maher 26:46

Okay, so it's 1,000 to $30,000. And and you know, for our listeners who are not familiar with kind of the the benefit system and for adults with disabilities, and my youngest daughter who is now an adult, she's she's 19 going on 20. So we are in this world now. There and and Aarti, you referenced a couple of things before. So SSI and SSDI. So those are forms of essentially disability social security. People with disabilities get access to once they become legal adults, which is you know, when you turn 18. But there are also then limits on how much income you can make and or how much money you can have in your primary, say, checking account at any given time, which is a ridiculously low cap of $2,000 right now, which was set, what, 40 or 50 years ago, which that's a whole nother podcast episode. And so a really big challenge for adults with disabilities is navigating maintaining benefits like SSI and SSDI while navigating, bringing income in to help them live. And you need a kind of like a PhD to do that. And it's really complicated and really hard. And and at times, if you don't manage that well, you can lose your benefits that you deserve. And that and that can be that can be devastating for an individual or a family to to lose out on a couple months of an SSI payment or an SSDI payment. So I think that you coming in with essentially this credit or loan facility that can loan as little as a thousand dollars, as much as thirty thousand dollars, and for a small business that could provide them with you know the a four or five thousand dollars of working capital, exactly, of working capital.

Aarti Sahgal 28:29

Or it's or you know, you know, a startup.

Chris Maher 28:33

Exactly. Exactly. And I and then is what's typically the term of the loan? Is it like is it is it like one year, three years, five year? Does that kind of depend on the situation?

Aarti Sahgal 28:44

It generally depends on the situation, but it can go from three to five years, and that's the thing, and their interest rates are very, very low and affordable because they are on based on prime, maybe one, so there is no origination fee and a whole bunch of other costs associated.

Chris Maher 29:04

That's amazing.

Kelvin Crosby 29:05

I mean, I think that's a it's just awesome. I mean, I think about some of the entrepreneurs that I know that have that that are just that have disabilities, and like I can't wait to tell them about this. I'm like, all right, you gotta take a look at this, but you need to be clear on what you're gonna do with this money. Because that's one thing you gotta understand. This isn't you're you're gonna be on the on the hook for this, you know?

Aarti Sahgal 29:28

Yes,

Kelvin Crosby 29:28

and yeah, and making sure you got a clear plan how you're gonna be able to duplicate, triple triple that money, four times that money, so that way you you can one that's the other thing, you're paying it forward when you do this, like you you're not just taking the loan and to run your business, but you're helping another person with a disability run their business, and it kind of pays it forward as well.

Aarti Sahgal 29:54

Also, what I have read, I am not the expert here, Kelvin. So excuse me, but what I've read is that many a times people who are taking a loan, they're not taking it lightly. They know that this is the last resort for them, and so if they pay it back, it is going to reflect back well on their credit scores. So I I I support this wholeheartedly. I want people to it's applying for a loan is not easy, and we want to make it as easy as we can so that we take away the difficulties of sometimes the language that traditional loans ask. If Chris, I don't know if you have applied for a loan or not, but it can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience.

Chris Maher 30:40

Oh, 100%.

SSI Rules And Financial Survival

Aarti Sahgal 30:42

Right? So, how do we make it simpler? How do we make it accessible? Not only in terms of the colors or the font sizes or things like that, but beyond that, the language that we use, the communication that we make, and how do we demystify the entire money and savings process? Yeah, as you rightly said, which other marginalized community in the United States has an asset limit of $2,000, and then we are expected to get out of poverty. How do we get out of poverty with that kind of limit? It's not that people with disabilities are not financially savvy, they are financially savvy, especially if you are a low-income person, you know the rhythm of the money, you know which is your highs and what gets you through the month. So you're very sensitive, so you are very savvy, but it is the systemic that's systemically.

Chris Maher 31:42

Amen, my friend. I totally agree. Come on. No, no, listen, this is important stuff. Yeah, this is important.

Kelvin Crosby 31:50

And and I I do think we'll probably start, we'll probably do a couple of podcasts on the specific topic.

Chris Maher 31:56

And so we we we've actually at Samaritan recently invested in a company, and and Aarti, it may be a really good connection for you as you support as a as a partner/slash service that you could make your entrepreneurs aware of. But there's a company called Purple, and I don't know if you're right, and I know your husband is also and your son are building a business like this, and which is it, there's a gap in the market in terms of you know, how do I set up a checking account, a debit card? Can I attach an ABLE account to that so I can move dollars around so I don't blow through my $2,000 limit? And so, you know, and and I know you know that world very well, and your husband and your son are building a financial a fintech platform, you know, like that. And that's like that's critically important that that is alongside actually access to the money, right? That helps you better manage it and um and ensure that not only are you managing your finances comfortably and confidently, but also doing it in a way where you're not losing benefits that you deserve, right? It's hard, it's hard.

Aarti Sahgal 33:03

It is hard. And while we are talking only about the business loans here, we are starting this week a series of blogs on financial health.

Chris Maher 33:12

That's fantastic. We will include a link to that in our show notes.

Aarti Sahgal 33:16

And the one other thing, Chris, that we are offering, and again, it will go live uh end of next week, is we have come up with on business side a team member, uh Paula Blanco, who's a person with a disability, and it's the first time for folks with disabilities. It's what's very unique about is it's these are micro-learning sessions, yeah, and you can their modular, and so you can go in, see what you want, and get out of it. And they're just two and a half minutes long because that's the attention span today. Attention span, as I call it. That's what we have. So we are building the built that entire learning modules, and they're available for business owners.

Chris Maher 34:02

Fantastic. We'll we'll definitely put a link to that in in the show notes as well. Before we wrap up, Aarti, I think we've we've covered a lot of ground, and I think have have you spoken to I think a lot of the unique differentiation about Synergies Work versus some of the other accelerators out there. Um, but is there anything we didn't cover that you want to mention about Synergies Work and what may differentiate you even more?

New Tools Plus How To Connect

Aarti Sahgal 34:28

No, I think um for us, it's what really differentiates us from many other accelerators is that we are looking at entrepreneurs uh entrepreneurs who are generally invisible to the startup world. Most of the accelerators are built for founders who are chasing VC money and the ability and the networks to pass their pitch decks from one VC to another VC. But there is a huge, huge untapped small business market, people with uh ideas who don't know where to go and what to do. And so they're they are the small business owners, or the what we call the kitchen table entrepreneurs, or the micro entrepreneurs, the people who are creative, who are doing their um consulting businesses and things like that in the service industry. That's the large chunk that we want to funnel through our accelerators. And for us, what is the disability is not important. We are not defined by the disability. It could be a physical disability to a person with intellectual disability. As long as you are a business owner, you have a good idea, you're willing to do the hard work, you can be part of the accelerator.

Chris Maher 35:52

Love it. Thank you so much, Aarti. So before we say goodbye, how can people connect with you, find find you, and learn more about the wonderful work you're doing at Synergies Work and the Synergies Seed Fund?

Aarti Sahgal 36:03

They can visit my website at synergieswork.org or synergiesfund.org. We they can reach out through that. We have open business hours on the websites, they're open calendars, they can reach out through that anytime.

Chris Maher 36:17

Fantastic. And is the best way to connect with you just through LinkedIn?

Aarti Sahgal 36:21

Yes, LinkedIn is there. Absolutely. That's the best.

Chris Maher 36:24

Okay, terrific. Well, already, as always, such a pleasure, my friend. And and I hope to uh hope to get down to Atlanta and see you sometime soon.

Aarti Sahgal 36:33

I hope to see you there too soon. And so, and Kelvin, yeah, bring your dad along.

Kelvin Crosby 36:38

Well do. Well, I'm happy to bring my dad along. That was good, that was good.

Chris Maher 36:54

By the way, listeners, that was an inside joke. They're referring to me, not Kelvin's

Kelvin Crosby 36:58

no, not my dad. Which you if you can see me, he is with me, but I'm talking about Mr. Maher.

Chris Maher 37:04

Which Kelvin's dad Jerry Jerry, right? He's the best. I had I had the the good fortune of spending some time with Jerry, and he's awesome.

Aarti Sahgal 37:13

Yeah, that was so good.

Wrap Up And Support The Show

Kelvin Crosby 37:16

That was so good, that was so good. Anyway, well that wraps up Investing in Accessibility, as I always say, beyond the challenges, and we'll see you in two weeks. Thank you for listening to Investing in Accessibility, a Samaritan Partners podcast, where we invest in change for accessibility, not wait for change. If you want to follow us, you can find us on YouTube or LinkedIn at Samaritan Partners. If you would like to invest in Samaritan Partners, email Chris at chris@SamaritanPartners.com. If you'd like to learn more about us, go to www.samaritanpartners.com. You can take the first step in investing and change by giving us five stars and sharing this podcast with everybody that you know so we can spread the word so that we can give access to all by Investing in Accessibility.