Supporting Startup Leaders to Focus on Building Inclusive, High-Performing Teams

This founder-first partnership delivers strategic training and advisory support to help Michigan entrepreneurs scale their teams with purpose.

August 2025 — The path to building an innovative and high-performing company starts with your people. That’s why Michigan Founders Fund (MFF), a nonprofit supporting Michigan-based high-growth founders, and Perfeqta, a leadership consulting firm rooted in inclusive talent strategy have teamed up to launch the MFF x Perfeqta Inclusive Leadership Community of Practice Series: a new initiative designed to help early-stage founders build intentional, high-performing teams from the ground up.

As startup founders grow fast and navigate high-stakes decisions, many are scaling without a playbook for hiring, managing, or retaining top talent. This partnership is designed to help them avoid common talent pitfalls for founders and create pathways for talent from a diversity of backgrounds. 

“Our founders value building wide skillsets and representation on their teams, but at their stage of company, it’s hard to start properly,” says Rishi Moudgil, Executive Director of Michigan Founders Fund. “This partnership allows us to both seed leading practices and deep-dive with founders so they invest properly in their most important asset – people.”

For Latesha Byrd, Founder & CEO of Perfeqta, “This partnership is a dream come true. Supporting founders as they build people-first companies is exactly why I started Perfeqta. I’m thrilled to bring our expertise to MFF’s visionary founder community and help them create workplaces that attract brilliant minds, nurture diverse talent, and spark innovation at every level.” 

Launched in July 2025, the series equips the MFF founder network with hands-on learning and strategic support to build people-first businesses. Through virtual workshops, personalized advisory services, and actionable tools, founders will receive strategic frameworks they can apply to their businesses right away.

A closer look at the Inclusive Leadership Series 

This partnership is intentionally designed into two phases for broad coverage and also deep, transformational work within startup companies. 

Phase 1 includes a live, virtual training series focused on the biggest people-specific challenges that early-stage companies face:

• Talent Attraction: How to expand your pipeline, sharpen your employer brand, and attract top candidates beyond your network.
• Structured Hiring: How to build a bias-free hiring process using data, and partner more effectively with recruiters.
• Culture & Retention: How to strengthen your leadership practices, retain underrepresented talent, and create a culture people want to stay in.
  

Workshops are paired with office hours support from experienced advisors, giving founders space to bring real challenges and get expert, individualized guidance.

Phase 2 will include selected founders to receive one-on-one advisory and hands-on implementation support tailored for their fast-moving teams. Not only will these nascent startup teams receive expert, high-level guidance, but MFF will cover all their costs through startup grants.

These custom engagements will help leaders:

• Design inclusive hiring and onboarding strategies
• Develop retention plans that actually work
• Codify values and culture to guide team growth
• Create long-term strategic roadmaps tied to talent growth goals

Why this partnership is more valuable now than ever

Founders are constantly dealing with high-risk situations as they launch their products and services. Today, they are building companies with increasingly more difficult economic and political pressure, shifting capital markets, talent competition, and calls for equity. Many of these leaders do not have the luxury of a full People Team, nor the budgets or access to top-shelf support that can lay a foundation for future success.

“The rules of building great companies have fundamentally changed, and they’re writing the playbook in real-time,” shares Latesha. “Founders today have the unique opportunity to build workplaces that give everyone a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation. The future of work is being written by these founders, and we’re empowering these visionary leaders with the tools to create cultures rooted in belonging, innovation, and inclusion.”

About the Partners

Michigan Founders Fund

Michigan Founders Fund (MFF) is a nonprofit that supports Michigan-based high-growth founders through community, capital access, and equity-centered programming. With a growing network of 150+ founders and investors, MFF fuels both founder success and broader economic impact across the state. With a founder-first approach, MFF has cultivated a network of members who have collectively raised more than $350 million in investment capital across 15 industries. Members also pledge a percentage of equity or carry to a philanthropic fund supporting Michigan’s social sector. 

Perfeqta

Perfeqta is a people performance + leadership consulting firm that helps organizations build high-performance cultures. Through strategy, executive coaching, and talent development programs, Perfeqta equips leaders with tools to drive equity, clarity, and results across their teams. Learn more at goperfeqta.com