Navigate program guides business founders to success - Brock University

Colleen Robertson, founder and creative director of Floraloom, speaks during a Bank on Her panel at nbkc Bank; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News In a world that’s so focused on AI, now’s the time for entrepreneurs to lean into the authentic quirks that make their businesses different, said Colleen Robertson, encouraging women to “be OK doing something crazy and turning people’s heads.”

Venture capitalists Claire Zau, Jake Jolis, and Sarah Catanzaro gave their advice for Gen Alpha. There's a new generation of founders on the rise — and they're not old enough to vote. Generation Alpha was born between 2010 and 2024, making the oldest members 16 years old. That's the age Stripe's John Collison cofounded his first company, and when Mike Kittredge set the stage for Yankee Candle. Let's face it: Gen Alpha founders are coming in hot. Many VCs have already been pitched by them; others will be soon. "What I've noticed about Gen Alpha is they seem to have a ton of hustle," said Sarah Catanzaro, a general partner at Amplify. "They tend to have an advantage in markets where execution may be more important than experience. "Business Insider asked five venture capitalists to share their advice for Gen Alpha entrepreneurs. They spoke about AI, social media — and that pesky college question. The ChatGPT generationWhen ChatGPT premiered in 2022, the oldest of Gen Alpha were 12. Gen Alpha has had AI tools since middle school, if not earlier. They've used AI to write their essays and cheat on tests. They've also used it to build new products.

Alena Beliauskaya turned her community outings into a fun side hustle. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alena Beliauskaya, a 37-year-old product director based in San Francisco. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Here in San Francisco, it seems like everyone is a startup founder. I'm the director of product management at Wolf Games, an AI narrative games company, where I work part-time. On the side, I run 12 Scrappy Founders, a founders community in the Bay Area with paid memberships and sponsored events. When I first moved here for my job in March 2025, I wanted to make friends, so I started going to founder events, but the interactions were so transactional. The first question everyone asks you is, 'What's your goal at this event?' So, I started hosting my own events. I'm an outdoorsy person and love extreme sports, so I'd plan a weekend hike, a backpacking trip, or dirt biking in Tahoe and invite other founders to join me. Now, I make over $10,000 in revenue each month and take home $2,000 to $3,000 in profit. I've worked in startups for about 15 years and am a founderIt was natural to build my network around other founders.

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