Our Origin Story
Brad Bickerton and Hannah Drain Taylor founded Delta Awesome to offer a better way for startups to get access to the help and advice they need to get ahead of preventable problems.
After getting his JD/MBA from CU Boulder, Brad started a few companies, engaged in angel investing, and spent a lot of time mentoring entrepreneurs. Through countless conversations with founders, Brad noticed two major things: 1) many startups were failing for entirely preventable reasons, 2) the traditional venture capital model was not supporting startups, but in many ways harming their chances of success.
Fast forward six years to 2016 when he met Hannah, who was working at a corporate travel accelerator and struck up a conversation about what they saw were common problems facing young companies. She found that once startups left the accelerator, they lacked access to resources and mentorship that could help them through the valley of death, or what Delta Awesome calls the Good Luck Wasteland. In fact, one of the top 5 problems that accelerators face is the alumni problem - the resources to track and support startups post-program just doesn't exist for most accelerator programs. Plus, bootstrapped companies often end up left to figure things out on their own, including networking to find the right mentors, access to traditionally free resources, and testing opportunities for their product.
Brad and Hannah knew there had to be a better way for startups to get access to the things that they need over a more extended period of time.
They designed the Delta Awesome Primary Advisor model to get ahead of preventable problems by working directly with the Founder | CEO. By combining strategy, business, and executive coaching directly for the Founder|CEO, Delta Awesome's Primary Advisor's are able to shepherd startups, both bootstrapped and venture-backed, through the Good Luck Wasteland.
A Primary Advisor is someone with the heart of an entrepreneur and the brain of an MBA. This person has either exited the company as the CEO or has spent many years in/around startups.
In 2020, the Delta Awesome team began bringing on more Primary Advisors (all former Founder/CEOs) beyond Brad and Hannah to expand the company's reach. Since the beginning, Delta Awesome's definition of success as a team has been flipping the entrepreneurial success ratio - and that remains true today. With work grounded in the belief that entrepreneurship has the potential to change the world, each Primary Advisor believes helping entrepreneurs succeed can create a better future.