Advisory Committee
To deepen the value and utility of this project, PPL assembled a diverse advisory committee to bring their expertise and perspective to this work. We interviewed a pool of subject-matter experts and ambassadors who provided insight into their organizations and innovation ecosystem. From this pool, we identified a set of organizations that touch on vital aspects of the innovator journey.

What We Heard
During research, participants shared their experiences across the journey stages of seed-funding: from getting started with an idea, to learning about funding, to applying for funding. The following takeaways are samplings of what we heard from our pool of participants. We collect these takeaways to generate fuel for the design process. They are not intended to represent objective truths nor are they statistically representative.

• When getting started, the cultural norms and external circumstances of innovators’ environments play a large role in the way they perceive and pursue innovation. Unsurprisingly, limited access to education and wealth can quell would-be innovators before they start.
• When learning about funding, many innovators struggle with finding opportunities. In communities with many existing innovators, it can be easier for information to travel and for people to be referred to opportunities but these pathways are less paved in communities that are underrepresented in innovation. Innovators also struggle with assessing the opportunity–many innovators self-disqualify because they believe they don’t meet the requirements.
• When applying for funding, it can be difficult for innovators to navigate the applications. Upon first glance, it may appear that applications require more time and resources than innovators can spare.