Ellis-Lamkins connects her childhood experiences with poverty to her work supporting labor and working families. Meeting criminal defense lawyer Diana Frappier helped her see people in the justice system as individuals shaped by their circumstances. Her work with Prince and at Honor showed her how technology could affect workers, artists, and people outside Silicon Valley.
Female Founders Conference - Mountain View
Speakers
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, co-founder and CEO of Promise, shares her path from labor organizing and operations at Honor to building a criminal justice company at Y Combinator’s Female Founders Conference in Mountain View.
After Prince died, Ellis-Lamkins decided to build a company focused on social change. She and Frappier wanted Promise to be a sustainable, adult workplace that made room for family life. Their goal was to build a criminal justice company without assuming founders had to work around the clock or fit a narrow startup mold.
Ellis-Lamkins says 74% of people in jail are awaiting trial, and describes counties holding many people over bail amounts below $500. She argues that even short jail stays can cost people their jobs, housing, and time with their children, while pressure to get out can lead them to accept plea deals. Promise aims to bring evidence-based decision-making to criminal justice, with attention to equity and bias in the data.
Promise joined YC without a technical co-founder, prototype, or funding, and raised a seed round before Demo Day. Ellis-Lamkins advises founders to choose investors whose values fit the company and to remember that a strong deck and useful feedback matter more than investor brands. She says government sales are difficult, but relationship-based outreach, understanding insurance requirements, and learning alternatives to lengthy RFP processes helped Promise move faster.
Ellis-Lamkins says founders do not need to know how to code if they believe they can hire people with the skills they lack. She describes Promise reaching six government clients before leaving YC and says early growth required believing in the product, working out what to charge, and selling it. In the Q&A, she explains that early founders can test pricing with a simple cash-flow spreadsheet and that warm introductions can help with fundraising.
Takeaways
- Start from a problem you understand through lived or professional experience.
- Build a company culture that supports sustainable work and family life.
- Test pricing with a basic cash-flow model before overcomplicating it.
- For government sales, learn the buying process and build relationships with potential customers.
- Choose investors for their fit with your mission, not just their brand.
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What was claimed 31
- participated inPromise participated in
Y CombinatorWinter 2018 batch“Promise went through the Winter 2018 batch of YC.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- foundedChristina Cacioppo founded
VantaCEO and co-founder“my co-founder and I started working in earnest on it around March or April of 2017.”
YouTube Verified2 sources· Talk, Web· archived
- ceo ofPhaedra Ellis-Lamkins CEO of Promise
“I am the co-founder and CEO of a company called Promise.”
YouTube Verified2 sources· Talk
- foundedPhaedra Ellis-Lamkins founded Promise
“I am the co-founder and CEO of a company called Promise.”
YouTube Verified2 sources· Talk
- foundedDiana Frappier founded Promise
“Diana is my co-founder.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- role atPhaedra Ellis-Lamkins is Head of sales and operations at Honor
“I then became the head of sales and operations.”
YouTube Unverified2 sources· Talk
- featurePromise: Brings evidence-based decision-making and data analytics to criminal justice, with equity correction as a goal.
“we're building a company... bring evidence-based decision-making to criminal justice.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- ceo ofChristina Cacioppo CEO ofVantaCEO
“Christina is the CEO and founder of Vanta.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureVanta: Automates security compliance for internet businesses and helps them prove security through certifications.
“Vanta automates security compliance for internet businesses.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureRemix: Helps cities plan transportation, including public transit and street design.
“We work with about 300 cities around the world to help them plan their transportation future.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureGemnote: Helps businesses send gifts to customers and employees.
“We help businesses connect with people through gift giving.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- foundedAshley Wong founded Gemnote
“I'm Ashley Wong, CEO and founder of GemNote.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- role atAlexandra Zatarain is Co-founder and chief marketing officer at Eight Sleep
“I'm one of the co-founders and the chief marketing officer at Eight Sleep.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureEight Sleep: Uses sleep technology and data to help people sleep better; its signature product is a smart mattress.
“Our signature product, a smart mattress, is used by athletes... to improve their recovery.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- metricEight Sleep: More than 20,000 people use its smart mattress; over 15 million hours of sleep tracked.
“used by more than 20,000 people... tracked over 15 million hours of sleep.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- role at
“Jess Lee is a partner at Sequoia Capital.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- role at
“Prior to Sequoia, Jess was CEO and an honorary founder of Polyvore.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featurePolyvore: Crowdsourced fashion magazine where users create outfits and shop.
“It let people all over the world mix and match products and create their own outfits, and then everyone came to shop.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- acquired
“We grew to about 20 million users, then we were acquired by Yahoo.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureAll Raise: Works to create a more diverse ecosystem in tech and increase women's representation in venture and startup funding.
“our mission is to create a more diverse ecosystem in tech.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- founded
“She was the co-founder of Kabam.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- acquiredKabam made an acquisition
“Kabam... was sold to Netmarble and FoxNext in 2017.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- builtKabam built Kingdoms of Camelot
“So we came up with Kingdoms of Camelot.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- metricKabam: Kingdoms of Camelot grossed over $100 million before its mobile launch.
“The game itself has grossed over $100 million at this point.”
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- launchedKingdoms of Camelot: On mobile; became the top-grossing app the following year.
“the very next year, when we launched it, it became the top-grossing app in 2012.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featurePied Piper: Online housing marketplace for interns seeking furnished, affordable monthly rentals.
“Pied Piper is an online housing marketplace that helps interns find furnished, affordable monthly rentals.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featurePadPiper: Matches interns with suitable housing and roommates for employers.
“matching them with suitable housing and roommates.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- builtPied Piper built PadPiper
“we’re focusing on a B2B program actually called PadPiper for employers.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- metricPadPiper: Matched 20 interns in a paid pilot.
“we matched 20 interns.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- builtNifty built
Chrome extension“Nifty is a Chrome extension that helps software engineers and their teams work better.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
- featureChrome extension: Surfaces related team data and updates in a customizable sidebar while users work in Chrome.
“It's going to scrape my team's data and surface it for me... in a sidebar that I can customize.”
YouTube Unverified1 source· Talk
