Promise
Imagine if government and utilities could easily provide payment assistance and relief to eligible households.
Promise's platform helps government agencies increase revenue collection while making essential government services more accessible to communities through secure, automated solutions.
Founder Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is quite simply a force. She previously ran revenue and operations at Honor — and even served as Prince’s business advisor before starting her own company. Since investing in Promise’s 2018 seed round, we’ve been struck by how Phaedra’s compassion — and her competitiveness — are incredible strengths. More on what founders can learn from her journey:
- Founder
- Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
- Initial Partnership
- Seed
- Categories
- Enterprise / Fintech
- Partner
- Bill Trenchard
- Location
- SF Bay Area
- Founder
- Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
- Initial Partnership
- Seed
- Categories
- Enterprise / Fintech
- Partner
- Bill Trenchard
- Location
- SF Bay Area
How Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins built Promise into a $520 million powerhouse
Phaedra dives into the details that helped Promise make the cut for Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups list, including how she's building a tremendous business around treating with respect people who are struggling financially. “We’re all trying to use capitalism to do things we believe in,” Phaedra says.
Pivot toward purpose
The original idea focused on bail reform, using technology to make the bail process more efficient. Despite early traction, Phaedra felt the incentives rewarded keeping people in the system and couldn’t continue, even offering to give investors their money back. “She never gave up and found an awesome business that fulfills her original mission. It’s so rare when a founder will say no to lots of revenue when they have none because it doesn’t fit their mission and purpose,” says Bill Trenchard, First Round partner and Promise investor.
Selling into government is tricky — here's how to get it right
Phaedra joins us on In Depth to explores the ins and outs of selling a product into government. She pulls back the curtain of how she and the Promise team tackle the extra-long sales cycles, navigate layers of subcontractors, and convince risk-averse decision-makers to take a chance on a startup.