Diversity & Inclusion
Business development / Startups

Given.to: wish list crowdfunding site is in ‘middle of a pivot,’ cofounder McKeever Conwell in Bay Area [VIDEO]

McKeever Conwell is back in San Francisco. One-third of the team behind Given.to, the crowdfunding site where people can contribute any dollar amount toward items on users’ “wish lists,” Conwell returned to the NewME Accelerator on Monday as its second entrepreneur-in-residence. He’ll mentor the spring 2013 cohort of startups. “I’m living off of personal savings,” […]

McKeever Conwell is back in San Francisco.
One-third of the team behind Given.to, the crowdfunding site where people can contribute any dollar amount toward items on users’ “wish lists,” Conwell returned to the NewME Accelerator on Monday as its second entrepreneur-in-residence. He’ll mentor the spring 2013 cohort of startups.
“I’m living off of personal savings,” he said. “But I’m really excited about it.”

Founded in the Bay Area in 2011, the NewME Accelerator is a startup incubator for underrepresented demographic groups in tech: women, Latinos and black entrepreneurs, namely. After graduating from AccelerateBaltimore, Conwell and cofounders Sam Henry and Michael Washington took a slightly unorthodox path in joining NewME, its second accelerator, in August 2012 — a decision for which they’ve been criticized. After three months in San Francisco, they demoed Given.to (originally named NoBadGift) at November’s Baltimore TechBreakfast.
Watch McKeever Conwell demo Given.to at TechBreakfast:

The job as entrepreneur-in-residence is a part-time one. To Conwell’s knowledge, it’s not paid (no one at NewME has talked about any sort of stipend), but he does get to stay in the NewME house and he has access to a car for transportation.
“Whether they paid me or not, I would still be there,” Conwell said.
More time out in Silicon Valley gives him the chance to take meetings for Given.to, which he said is in the “middle of a pivot” right now.
Conwell won’t share specifics just yet, but he did say that Given.to is “transitioning to something new,” is more focused on “distribution and marketing” at present, and is scheduling meetings with mobile marketing agencies.
As for Baltimore? Like the first time, Conwell has every intention of coming back once he’s finished his tenure as entrepreneur-in-residence in May.
“I miss Baltimore already,” he said.

Companies: NewME Accelerator / Given.to
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