Khiry Kemp (Google For Startups Black Founders Fund) recently celebrated the acquisition of his company, Oppti. Thanks to the relationships he has developed within Goodie Nation and the candid conversations that have resulted from these connections, the process went smoothly. However, the Brooklyn native never thought he would be in a position to celebrate a successful acquisition, let alone be the founder of a company.

Khiry grew up in a low-income neighborhood, and he didn’t know which direction he wanted to take in life. He decided to move to California where he worked retail jobs, without any intentions beyond that. With the support of his family, he pursued a community college course where he excelled. This exploration eventually transformed into a full-fledged college career at UCLA.

This pivotal moment opened up a new world for Khiry. He says, “From there, everything kind of changed for me. I got my first internship, which taught me a lot about how the world worked. It was my first time working in a professional setting, and I realized that I enjoyed business.”

After graduating, Khiry landed his first post-college job as a consultant for one of the Big Four consulting firms. He recalls, “I was the first in my family to go to college and have post-college money. But it just didn’t feel right to me to keep going without helping others and guiding them to find a more direct path than the one I had to find.”

With that mindset, Khiry founded Oppti.

Through Oppti, Khiry was able to assist high school students in bypassing a few steps and securing career development opportunities before attending college.
“It wasn’t enough to simply help them find these opportunities,” Khiry explains, “We also had to train them for the opportunities.” He and his team went the extra mile by providing students with a crash course in handling crucial moments in their careers, such as resume writing and interview preparation.

While Khiry’s primary goal was to achieve success for these students, he also worked on growing his company. “We didn’t operate Oppti like a traditional startup. We avoided excessive spending and the need to raise money.”
While Khiry maintained a conservative approach and kept his team lean, he realized that he couldn’t grow alone. As a result, he joined multiple founder networks and cohorts to expand his professional network, including Google for Startups and Goodie Nation.

In addition to joining these communities, Khiry secured a spot in the Jobs for the Future (JFF) Entrepreneur in Residence Program. It was there that he naturally formed a “Power Rangers”-type bond with the founders of an AI-powered Edtech company called Stemuli, as well as a tech training company called Infinity.careers. This connection allowed all three companies to come together and create a powerful Edtech company. Khiry explained, “[Stemuli] has a game-based approach to helping kids with career navigation, discovery, and training, so it just made a lot of sense to merge our operations and make career development more interactive for the students.”

Before agreeing to merge with Stemuli, Khiry relied on his Goodie Nation huddle and portfolio manager, Samantha Batista. Like most founders in the Goodie Nation community, having this sounding board provided Khiry with everything he needed to move forward smoothly. However, he needed an extra push to efficiently connect the dots.

Samantha played an integral role in Khiry’s acquisition journey, not only because of her wisdom and insights but also because she went above and beyond by connecting Khiry with internal Goodie Nation resources and founders who had undergone similar acquisition processes. Additionally, Khiry relied on the support of Goodie Nation founder, Joey Womack, to establish connections with other founders who had successfully exited their companies.

Khiry expressed his appreciation for both Sam and Joey in facilitating these initial connections, stating, “At least 80% of the people I spoke with, who had sold their companies, were within one to two degrees of the Goodie Nation network. These conversations provided me with invaluable data because otherwise, how would I find people who have sold their companies and are willing to speak with me? My conversations were completely candid, and I could ask anything.”

Continuing his praise, Khiry shared, “Goodie Nation is, by far, the best founder community in terms of reliability and closeness. It feels like we’re all in this together, helping one another out. Everyone genuinely cares about helping everybody win.”

Khiry’s Advice to Goodie Nation Founders

Khiry shared some valuable advice for founders considering joining the Goodie Nation community and those who haven’t fully tapped into the community’s potential.

Being Active In the Community is The Cheat Code

Khiry believes that if you are a part of the Goodie Nation community but not utilizing the available resources, you’re missing out. Once you’re in the community, you have everything you need to succeed. He explains, “There is so much shared wisdom because everyone brings different experiences to Goodie Nation, and there are so many different industries represented.”

Use Goodie Nation to Be a More Efficient Founder

The Goodie Nation community boasts extensive industry expertise and specialization, ensuring that if you need assistance with anything, there is likely someone who can help. Khiry emphasizes, “By simply asking one person a question, you can efficiently achieve a great outcome. Someone outside the Goodie Nation network might charge you $100 or even $500 for the same answer.”

——
Connect with Khiry Kemp via LinkedIn. Support his new mission, along with the Stemuli team, to leverage AI and the metaverse to propel education and workforce development forward at www.stemuli.net