Pulling up the ways to get involved…
Pulling up the ways to get involved…
The Agora Initiative is where female founders in the DMV access capital, community, and connections. It runs on people who give their time and talent. Here’s where you come in.
Volunteer · Intern · Fellow
Leadership and fellowship roles are volunteer positions; internships and co-ops are paid. Every role comes with a real mandate and a small, serious team. To raise your hand for any of them, email Bailey, our founding director.
Own one of Agora's programs end to end — the vision, the calendar, the people. Volunteer roles with real ownership. Every leadership role carries the same two standing expectations: an annual plan each November, and a monthly check-in with Bailey.
A good fit: Excellent judgment; great follow-through; natural relationship-building and networker
A good fit: Understands LP dynamics and fund investing; comfortable engaging high-net-worth individuals
Keep the engine running — data, development, partnerships, onboarding. Volunteer roles for builders behind the scenes. Every leadership role carries the same two standing expectations: an annual plan each November, and a monthly check-in with Bailey.
A flexible mandate, shaped with you. Ask Bailey for the current outline.
A good fit: Detail-oriented; comfortable with databases and CRM tools; process-minded
Deep, defined projects for graduate students and researchers. Volunteer, with real output and real credit.
A good fit: Graduate student in public policy, business, data science, urban planning, or a related field; strong researcher and writer; interest in startups, gender equity, or economic development
Paid internships for students and early-career talent.
Paid co-op placements embedded with the team.
Tell Bailey which role caught your eye and a little about yourself. No formal application, no cover letter theater.
More ways in
For senior investors
Our investor committee brings active, senior investors around the table with Agora founders: office hours, dinners, and a front-row seat to the region’s best early-stage companies.
This is a table for people who decide: partners, and in some cases principals with a track record of leading checks. If you’re earlier in your investing career, the expert network below is a great way to plug in meanwhile.
For experienced founders
Our EIRs are later-stage founders who have raised significant venture capital or built a large product business, and who want to put that experience to work for the next wave.
EIRs mentor at Breakfast Club, join office hours, and lend hard-won judgment where it counts. If that’s you, we’d love to talk.
For talented people across disciplines
We’d love to have you in our volunteer expert directory. It’s a newer resource we’re building out, and we’re excited to give founders access to talented people across disciplines who want to support female founders.
The main thing in the application: be clear about the sorts of questions and challenges you can best support on.
For service providers
Our experts in residence are sponsors: subject-matter experts in fields like legal, accounting, and development who host office hours at our Breakfast Club series, alongside later-stage and exited founders and active investors.
We build dedicated programming in partnership with sponsors, and we’ve had the most success with targeted mentorship over large-scale workshops. The sponsorship for service providers is deliberately lightweight. If hosting office hours sounds interesting, we’re happy to chat.