Endeavor Atlanta, an affiliate of the global nonprofit supporting high-growth entrepreneurs, has picked Eileen Lee as its next managing director.
Lee, a two-time founder herself, has a track record of building community. She co-founded the non-profit organization Venture for America in 2011 and the local women’s club The Lola in 2017. By stepping into the managing director role at Endeavor, Lee is poised to help the next generation of local entrepreneurs get the resources they need.
“Unlike accelerators and other programs, once you become an Endeavor Entrepreneur, we support you for life. Through our global community, we’re able to connect our entrepreneurs to others who are facing similar challenges, and our team actively finds ways to tackle challenges founders and their companies are facing,” she told Hypepotamus.
Since launching in Atlanta in 2017, the Endeavor Atlanta team has become a fixture in the city’s startup community. The organization has supported over 100 founders, and Endeavor Entrepreneurs include Kabir Barday of OneTrust, Tyler Scriven of Saltbox, Garrett Langley of Flock Safety, and Robin Gregg of Roadsync. Endeavor Entrepreneurs have gone onto to create more than 8,000 jobs and raised over $2.6 billion in capital.
Endeavor’s board reads like a “who’s who” list of the Atlanta tech scene, with David Cummings (Atlanta Tech Village, Pardot, and Salesloft), Lynne Laube (Cardlytics), Jewel Burks Solomon (Collab Capital and Partpic) and Kyle Porter (Salesloft).
The Atlanta office supports founders across Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and Tennessee with curated mentorship, capital raising, global expansion, and personal development.
Lee is taking over from Aaron Hurst, who served as Endeavor Atlanta’s first managing director. Lee told Hypepotamus that she was “serendipitously connected” late last spring as both of them were looking for their next professional opportunity. Lee ultimately tagged Dana Xavier Dojnik as the new CEO of The Lola earlier this year.
“Timing aligned perfectly and I was able to start my new role at Endeavor immediately afterwards. I’m excited to take Endeavor through its next stage here in Atlanta and the Southeast and build on the incredible foundation that Aaron created over its first seven years,” she added.
The Endeavor Model
Over the years, Endeavor has built up US offices in Bentonville, Buffalo, Denver, Detroit, Miami, and San Juan.
Founded in 1997, the global organization of Endeavor was built on the belief that “high-Impact Entrepreneurs transform economies.” It selects founders to join the network based on those with the “greatest growth potential.”
The organization also invests through its rules-based fund, Endeavor Catalyst.
As Lee steps into the managing director position, she told Hypepotamus she is looking forward to expanding the organization’s “reach and impact to more diverse entrepreneurs” across the region.
