Despite political headwinds facing the LGBTQ+ community, startup founders identifying as LGBTQ+ have not been deterred, according to a recent report from employee management company Gusto:

10% of all new companies founded in 2024 were headed by LGBTQ+ owners, outpacing the 9.3% of the U.S. population who identify at LGBTQ+.
Businesses launched last year by LGBTQ+ community members doubled their levels from 2023, and were higher than the 7% recorded in 2021.
40% of LGBTQ+ owners said they created their company “to have a positive effect on my community” — 10% higher than entrepreneurs who do not identify as LGBTQ+.

And NYC is a shining example:

New York City’s annual Pride March is this Sunday, June 29, and is one of the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights demonstrations in the world.
From 2000-2022, LGBTQ+-led startups in NYC raised $1.27 billion and created 16,000 jobs, according to a research index by StartOut, a nonprofit representing LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.

But we know there’s still work to be done when it comes to supporting entrepreneurs who identify as LGBTQ+. That’s why this month, we’re excited to showcase five LGBTQ+ founders who are making waves in NYC and innovating to disrupt industries.

For this edition of Companies to Watch, meet:

Julia Dixon (founder of ESAI)
Mike Piscadlo (cofounder of Haven Health)
Priyanka Misra (cofounder of Stratlab)
Erica Anderson (cofounder of The New Savant)
Brandon Burns (founder of Thurgood)

ESAI

“New York is a city of storytellers. We’re building a platform that helps students from all backgrounds find and share their voice — there’s no better place to do that than NYC.”

What does your company do? What problem is it working to solve?
ESAI helps students tell their stories for college and beyond using AI. College advising is expensive, confusing, and often inaccessible — we democratize it. Our tools guide students through every step, from picking a major to writing essays, with ethical, gamified storytelling that builds confidence and clarity. Half a million students applied to college with us last year, and we’re just getting started. As they grow from applicants to young professionals, we’re growing with them — helping Gen Z make sense of who they are and where they’re headed in a rapidly changing world.

A question we like to ask every founder – why New York?
New York is a city of storytellers. We’re building a platform that helps students from all backgrounds find and share their voice — there’s no better place to do that than NYC.

I have to ask about Shark Tank. You were recently featured on the show, getting an investment from Mark Cuban. How has that experience, investment, and general exposure changed your vision for what’s possible with ESAI?
Shark Tank put us on the national stage and showed just how big this problem is. We’ve seen overwhelming demand from students, families, and institutions. Mark’s investment and mentorship have helped us think bigger and scale faster while staying grounded in our mission to build ethical AI that works for young people.

What do you wish more people understood about what students today actually need when planning their futures?
Far too often, the focus is on getting into the “best” school — but that’s not always what’s best for the student. What today’s students actually need is tools for early self-discovery. They need help thinking about career paths, lifestyle goals, and values first — then working backward to find the right major, school, and campus culture. That’s where AI is incredibly powerful: it can connect the dots across identity, interests, and goals to build a personalized roadmap.

What’s been the most surprising thing students have created or discovered using ESAI so far?
We created the ESAI Personal Stat Calculator to help students quantify their impact for college apps — like turning “I babysit my brother” into “I saved my family $500 a week in childcare costs.” I was surprised when students began using it to reframe their hobbies as more legitimate extracurriculars. One student used it to break down how they researched artists, curated playlists, and built an online following around EDM music. It wasn’t just a hobby, it was a story about creativity, community, and cultural insight. That shift in mindset is what ESAI is all about.

How can the tech ecosystem better support LGBTQ+ founders through their startup journey?
I think anyone who’s had to navigate the world differently is uniquely positioned to thrive in a startup. Grit, adaptability, and perspective can’t be taught. Whether it’s through funding, visibility, or mentorship, give us a chance to show how the resilience we’ve built can translate into success.

What’s your favorite way to celebrate Pride Month?
Being outside with people I love and celebrating in a city that really celebrates us back. Pride Month in NYC is the best.

What are your self-care routines to recharge while still being heads down building a company?
Still working on nailing down a consistent routine, but I walk a lot. I box, do yoga, and carve out intentional time to be with my partner. And I bother my friends to let me hang out with their dogs.

Time for some New York-themed rapid fire questions – where’s your favorite place to grab a slice of pizza in New York?
Essex Pizza

Where’s your favorite coffee shop in New York?
Sullivan Street Bakery

Do you have a favorite spot to escape the noise of the city?
Long walks on the West Side Highway

What’s one piece of advice – that you’ve shared or was shared with you – on building a startup in New York City?
To build a startup you have to build a strong network. NYC is one of the best places in the world to build a network even if you’re starting from zero. You could go to an event every day of the week if you wanted to — and in the early days that’s pretty much what I did. There are so many brilliant people here who will believe in you and are willing to help, you just have to show up and meet them.

Haven Health

“As the birthplace of the modern queer rights movement, [NYC] makes perfect sense for us to anchor Haven here and launch something new for our community.”

What does your company do? What problem is it working to solve?
Haven Health is a primary care company designed for LGBTQ+ people. We combine inclusive in-person Health Studios with a national digital platform to deliver identity-affirming, high-quality care. LGBTQ+ patients often face discrimination, fragmented services, and a lack of culturally competent providers. Our model solves this by offering Electronic Health Records (EHR)-integrated, co-created care experiences, virtual and in-person visits, and no membership barrier, creating a system centered on trust, dignity, and safety.

A question we like to ask every founder – why New York?
New York is home. All three co-founders of Haven Health are New York Metro kids who built our lives, careers, and chosen families here, and it’s where Haven Health will be headquartered. This city is not just personally meaningful, it’s historically significant. As the birthplace of the modern queer rights movement, it makes perfect sense for us to anchor Haven here and launch something new for our community.

How does the Haven model reimagine the traditional primary care or urgent care experience?
Haven Health reimagines primary care by centering the needs and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ patients, people who are too often forced to navigate fragmented, impersonal, or even unsafe care. We combine inclusive in-person Health Studios with a fully integrated digital platform offering virtual visits, EHR-connected care navigation, at-home testing, and identity-affirming protocols.

There are no membership fees or paywalls, and we accept major insurance. Our proprietary inclusive care model, built through co-creation with patients and providers, sets us apart from the competition.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced while trying to modernize healthcare delivery, and how have you worked through it?
Our biggest challenge has been balancing startup speed with the complexity of healthcare. You can’t “move fast and break things” when patient trust is on the line. For LGBTQ+ communities, any failure can deepen distrust. So we’ve embedded co-creation into everything — designing with patients and providers, prioritizing compliance, and building scalable, human-centered systems from day one without compromising care or safety.

Looking ahead 5-10 years, what role do you hope Haven will play in shaping the future of healthcare in the U.S.?
We want Haven Health to be a national model for inclusive, high-impact primary care. Starting with LGBTQ+ patients, we’re addressing universal problems like fragmented care and broken trust. By building systems that center identity, dignity, and relationships, we aim to help reshape U.S. healthcare into something more equitable, effective, and human for everyone, not just for our community.

If you had unlimited resources tomorrow, what’s the first thing you’d invest in to accelerate Haven’s mission?
We’d build a fully vertically integrated, hybrid LGBTQ+ health system, from primary care to specialty, labs, pharmacy, and behavioral health. A seamless system like this would improve access, reduce costs, and close outcomes gaps, especially in underserved communities. It would let us own the full patient journey, offer better care coordination, and finally replace a system that was never designed for LGBTQ+ lives.

How can the tech ecosystem better support LGBTQ+ founders through their startup journey?
Support must go beyond visibility; it has to be structural. LGBTQ+ founders need early access to capital, intentional mentorship networks, and inclusive environments where they can lead authentically. We often face the dual challenge of building and battling bias. True support means more LGBTQ+ voices in funding decisions, more partnership offers (not just PR invites), and long-term belief in our vision and ability.

What’s your favorite way to celebrate Pride Month?
I celebrate Pride Month by being visible, in whatever way I can. That might mean protesting, dancing, supporting queer-owned businesses, or just showing up in community with joy. Pride is more than a party; it’s resistance, resilience, and remembrance. I try to stay connected, amplify voices that need to be heard, and create space for the deeper work our community still has to do.

What are your self-care routines to recharge while still being heads down building a company?
Building a company is wild, so I try — emphasis on try — to protect the basics: sleep, movement, and time with people who fill my cup. I do a weekly calendar blueprint where I block time for workouts, deep focus, and actual rest. Fitness is my best tool for staying sharp. I also make it a point to unplug for specific blocks of time on weekends. It’s a constant “assess, adapt, and try again” mentality.

Time for some New York-themed rapid fire questions – where’s your favorite place to grab a slice of pizza in New York?
Joe’s Pizza; the "Greenwich Village institution".

Where’s your favorite coffee shop in New York?
Cafe Grumpy

Do you have a favorite spot to escape the noise of the city?
The Bethesda Fountain area in Central Park, or a run/bike ride along the Hudson River Park.

What’s one piece of advice – that you’ve shared or was shared with you – on building a startup in New York City?
In NYC, the energy can be overwhelming. Best advice I got? Stay focused. Don’t chase the noise. Build for your customer, solve the real problem, and the right people will show up: partners, talent, and momentum. This city rewards clarity of mission and hustle with purpose.

Stratlab

[NYC is] the most fast-paced, intellectually stimulating and motivationally inspiring place to be for founders.

What does your company do? What problem is it working to solve?
Stratlab is an AI-powered strategy development platform that helps emerging funds go from idea to live trading in days. We replace traditional quant workflows that are slow and prone to human error with modular AI agents, so teams can test, iterate, and deploy with speed and conviction.

We built Stratlab because we've lived through the pain firsthand. Teams burn weeks or months on cleaning data, debugging backtests, and stitching together tools — only to fall behind when the market shifts. Our solution transforms this process: describe a thesis in plain English, and Stratlab curates the data, builds structured datasets, runs strategy iterations, and delivers interpretable results automatically. You still own the edge — we just help you move faster and test more. Think of it as having a 24/7 quant team without the headcount.

A question we like to ask every founder – why New York?
Born and raised in New York City, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s the most fast-paced, intellectually stimulating and motivationally inspiring place to be for founders.

Can you walk through a typical customer journey and how Stratlab fits into existing workflows?
Onboarding is hands-on and takes a few weeks to understand your use case. We kick off with a session to align on goals, connect your data, and walk through the platform. Your team will go live in a secure, single-tenant workspace with your first strategy running within the first few days.

This modular architecture integrates with existing data sources, execution engines, and OMS platforms while maintaining complete control over strategy parameters.

Looking ahead, what's your vision for Stratlab in the next 2–3 years, especially as AI continues to evolve rapidly?
Long-term, we're focused on market democratization — creating personalized, outperforming strategies accessible to 1M+ sophisticated self-directed investors currently priced out of quantitative tools. We're developing a curated strategy marketplace for verified strategies, with early access granted to paying clients.

Near-term feature expansion includes options and futures support, with crypto integrations potentially arriving earlier based on demand. Speed, customization, and domain-specific, enterprise-grade AI agents remain central to what sets us apart from incumbents.

If you had unlimited resources tomorrow, what’s the first thing you’d invest in to accelerate Stratlab’s mission?
Expand our incredible team with additional top-tier AI researchers and quantitative developers. We've already assembled exceptional talent who understand both the complexities of agentic systems and financial markets deeply. With unlimited resources, I'd immediately bring on more brilliant builders to accelerate our R&D and help us democratize access to AI-powered outperforming strategies. We'd also invest heavily in infrastructure to support our growing team's ambitious work — enabling us to make institutional-grade quantitative tools accessible to the million-plus sophisticated investors currently priced out of these markets.

How can the tech ecosystem better support LGBTQ+ founders through their startup journey?
Create more visibility and intentional connection opportunities. Many LGBTQ+ founders don't see themselves represented in pitch decks or unicorn stories, which makes the path feel less accessible. VCs should actively showcase diverse portfolio companies and create mentorship programs that pair underrepresented founders with successful entrepreneurs who share similar experiences. Access to capital is crucial, but so is having role models who prove it's possible.

What’s your favorite way to celebrate Pride Month?
I love attending the NYC Pride March — there's something powerful about being surrounded by thousands of people celebrating authenticity and progress.

What are your self-care routines to recharge while still being heads down building a company?
Mindfulness — yoga, meditation.

Time for some New York-themed rapid fire questions – where’s your favorite place to grab a slice of pizza in New York?
Joe’s or L’Industrie.

Where’s your favorite coffee shop in New York?
Madmen on University Place.

Do you have a favorite spot to escape the noise of the city?
Upstate New York to reconnect with nature or to my mother’s house to get some home cooked Indian food!

What’s one piece of advice – that you’ve shared or was shared with you – on building a startup in New York City?
Remember that progress accelerates dramatically when you stop trying to fit in. New York taught me that the most transformative solutions emerge when innovators embrace what makes them different, not what makes them palatable. The city rewards authentic vision over consensus — your unique perspective isn't a liability to overcome, it's your greatest competitive advantage.

The New Savant

“The energy in NYC is electric. Go hard, but don’t forget to tap into the things that inspire you. We are so lucky to have so much at our fingertips.”

What does your company do? What problem is it working to solve?
The New Savant is a modern scent studio born in Brooklyn, challenging the Euro-centric, legacy-driven fragrance world. This $44B industry often defines “good” scent through a narrow, whitewashed lens. We believe the future of fragrance centers diverse identities and perspectives. That’s why all our scents are designed by my co-founder, Ingrid Nilsen — a mixed-race, queer woman — who brings a fresh and inclusive olfactive vision to life.

A question we like to ask every founder – why New York?
I moved back to NYC in 2015, after five years in the Bay Area working for Twitter. It was an incredible time to be there –– but I always missed the arts and professional range that’s inherent in New York. As soon as my tenure at Twitter was done, I returned!

How do you approach sustainability, both in terms of product design and ethical practices, and where do you see room for innovation in this space?
We’ve thought about the circular economy since day one. Candle glass often ends up in landfills — it’s a myth that it gets recycled. We confirmed this during a visit to SIMS, the nation’s largest recycling center, which is in Brooklyn. They were relieved to see our candles use metal containers. We’ve also kept our supply chain local, U.S.-made. While we poured the first 70,000 candles here in Brooklyn, scaling required partners. We chose eco-conscious manufacturers in Maine, and it’s been the right move — for both sustainability and quality.

What advice would you give to other LGBTQ+ or underrepresented founders looking to build a purpose-driven brand in today’s market?
Fragrance wasn’t always the plan. In 2020, Ingrid had the idea, and I got curious. The more I learned, the more I saw the opportunity to build on tradition while bringing in new perspectives. Scent is powerful — a tool for identity, connection, and culture-shifting. After a decade in media and tech, this work feels deeply aligned. Being outsiders is our greatest asset. We see what’s missing. We take bold risks. If you’re standing at the edge of something new, don’t wait for permission. The path might be unconventional — but it might also be the one that leads you home.

How can the tech ecosystem better support LGBTQ+ founders through their startup journey?
Capital is power — and less than 1% of venture funding goes to female founders, with even less to intersectional founders like us. I’m determined to change that. One day, I hope to be writing checks and investing in our community — especially women, non-binary, and trans creatives and entrepreneurs — because that’s where the future is being built.

What’s your favorite way to celebrate Pride Month?
I love watching LGBTQ cinema in a theatre with a bunch of other queers. NewFest is my favorite.

Both you and your cofounder, Ingrid, come from strong tech backgrounds. How has your experience in tech helped you in your startup journey and helped you get The New Savant off the ground?
Working in tech taught me how to move fast, think big, and build with intention. I learned to operate in high-stakes environments where clarity, creativity, and execution had to coexist — and that mindset shaped how I built The New Savant. From innovating on product to creating systems that scale, my tech experience gave me the tools to not just imagine a new kind of fragrance brand, but to bring it to life.

What are your self-care routines to recharge while still being heads down building a company?
Going to my gym, and doing strength training, is non-negotiable. I also have a consistent spiritual practice that involves meditation. Both are essential to keeping me happy and balanced.

Time for some New York-themed rapid fire questions – where’s your favorite place to grab a slice of pizza in New York?
If I had to choose, it’d be Joe’s in the West Village!

Where’s your favorite coffee shop in New York?
Nerd be Cool!

Do you have a favorite spot to escape the noise of the city?
Prospect Park. I love taking my dogs for a walk in the long meadow and the wooded district. I can’t hear a single horn, and I love it.

What’s one piece of advice – that you’ve shared or was shared with you – on building a startup in New York City?
The energy in NYC is electric. Go hard, but don’t forget to tap into the things that inspire you. We are so lucky to have so much at our fingertips.

Thurgood

GO TO WEBSITE

Brandon Burns

“I’ve done stints in cities from Detroit to Beijing, but kept coming back to NYC. At this point, I’ve given up on trying to leave.”

What does your company do? What problem is it working to solve?
Thurgood helps employees with discrimination, whistleblower, and wage and hour claims get justice. Our AI Intake provides an immediate assessment of your case and, if pre-approved, we connect you to employment attorneys and non-attorney advocates authorized to represent your claim with the EEOC, OSHA, or Department of Labor.

A question we like to ask every founder – why New York?
I’ve been here since 2007. I’ve done stints in cities from Detroit to Beijing, but kept coming back to NYC. At this point, I’ve given up on trying to leave.

What was the catalyst moment that made you realize workers needed a platform like Thurgood?
When I was on the executive management team at a previous employer, a colleague had cultural differences with someone on their team and wanted them gone. The CEO simply said, “Get HR started on the PIP and find a replacement,” and the machine went to work. A quality performer was pushed out due to bias, and a “yes man” soon took their place. That experience showed me there really is a “system” designed to keep those in power in power — and if you know how that system works, you can use it against them.

How do you help workers understand their rights if they’re unsure whether they have a “qualified” claim?
Everyone has the right to sue. This is America! The question is: how likely are you to succeed? Not even a lawyer is allowed to say, “Yes, you will win,” or “No, you don’t have a case,” but an algorithm can go statute by statute, ask for related data, and tell you how it stacks up to successful cases. After users receive their algorithmic evaluation, we offer free consultations with live human beings to help understand the details and offer representation to those who meet the bar.

How can the tech ecosystem better support LGBTQ+ founders through their startup journey?
The community puts investors on the highest pedestal, so if the change doesn’t start there, it won’t happen. LGBT+ VC is doing great work to diversify VC. Ping Jackson Block and ask him how you can help or donate.

What’s your favorite way to celebrate Pride Month?
Take advantage of pre-pride events to catch up with friends… and then escape during actual Pride weekend because, personally, I can’t think of a worse combination than crowds, heat, and a giant parade, lol.

What are your self-care routines to recharge while still being heads down building a company?
I play as much tennis as possible. It’s a great way to stay fit and requires you to be locked in. Thinking about anything else while playing tennis is the surest way to lose!

What are some success stories or metrics that highlight Thurgood’s impact?
The average employment law settlement is $40,000. Thurgood’s is higher.

Time for some New York-themed rapid fire questions – where’s your favorite place to grab a slice of pizza in New York?
Impasto in Clinton Hill. Great Roman-style slices.

Where’s your favorite coffee shop in New York?
Choice Market, also in Clinton Hill. My dog is addicted to their treats and tries to drag me there almost daily.

Do you have a favorite spot to escape the noise of the city?
Live in Clinton Hill and you won’t have to worry as much about escaping the noise of the city! Actually, please don’t. Too many people are moving here as it is!

What’s one piece of advice – that you’ve shared or was shared with you – on building a startup in New York City?
Do it your way.

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