New York

Bags

Location: New York, New York
Website: https://www.securebags.com/
Over 4,000 entrepreneurs supported

Daniel Taylor launched the finance platform Bags with Ignacio Semerene and William Hayden in 2020, after the earnout from his first startup coincided with George Floyd’s murder. “It was a point of reflection for me as a Black entrepreneur with the privilege of access to capital,” he says. “The fastest-growing segments of entrepreneurs in the U.S. are minority-and women-owned businesses. By increasing their access to capital, we could help them to generate wealth, create good jobs, and revitalize local communities.” Today, with the help of the resources provided to Ignacio as a 2023 recipient of the Google For Startups Funds, Bags is achieving that mission. They’ve given over 4,000 diverse entrepreneurs a full analysis of their finances and the debt landscape, paired them with coaches, used AI to match them with funding opportunities, and more.

Google Ads helped Bags gain clients early on, accounting for over 20 percent of new business. Then Google Analytics data showed them the power of referrals, helping them reduce ad spend and focus on core customers. Bags also uses nearly every tool in the Google Workspace suite. “It’s those small things we take for granted,” Ignacio says, “but they reduce friction, make things easier, and help us scale our service.” And scale they have: Bags has seen client growth of 90 percent month-over-month, plus major growth in value per customer since adding a subscription service in 2023. The credit available on their platform grew from $300 million to $4.6 billion over the course of the year. Now Bags is exploring ways to bring more value to the entrepreneurs. “We think we have the potential to have the largest data set on small business growth in America,” Daniel says. “If we're able to continue to provide that depth of value, the result will be incredible information so that our businesses can make better decisions.”

Woolx

Location: Endwell, New York
Website: https://woolx.com/
50% revenue growth YoY using Google Ads

Nicole Calleo and her father, Joe Calleo, wanted better merino wool clothing than what was on the market. In 2013, they created Woolx, an online store for high-quality merino products that are comfortable, soft, and durable enough for the outdoors. Woolx is a family business for Joe, Nicole, and her brother Dom–along with their tight-knit team. Over the years, Google has helped them bring their timeless, essential pieces to an online audience. Using Google Ads, they’ve increased their revenue 50 percent year-over-year, focusing on branded and non-branded keywords, and their Performance Max campaigns. “We're able to ensure all products get exposure, but to really focus on our bestsellers,” says Nicole. Last year, over 10 percent of sales came from their Google Ads campaigns, allowing more customers to layer up in freezing temperatures or relax in Woolx’s comfy work-from-home styles.

Nicole sees real value in embracing Google Analytics. Woolx uses it to measure traffic and revenue trends, do A/B testing, and more to better understand how customers engage with Woolx.com–and to focus on delivering results. “You always have to be prepared for change. You don't know what's going to be coming around the corner and to the best of your ability, you just have to be ready for that,” explains Nicole. They work with Joe’s mantra, “Nothing beats elbow grease.” But it isn’t all hard work: Dom serves as Director of Fun, helping the team find joy. “Dom is heavily involved in everything from day-to-day things to pizza parties every week,” says Nicole. Dom, who has Down Syndrome, engages in activities at GiGi’s Playhouse, a Down Syndrome Achievement Center. This past year, Woolx donated $20,000 to Gigi’s Playhouse Southern Tier. “This year I'm hoping we're able to double that,” says Nicole. “That's something that we really strive for every single year.”

Sign-Speak

Location: Rochester, New York
Website: https://www.sign-speak.com/
11 full- and part-time employees

When Yami Payano became friends with Niko Kelly, she discovered the challenges that deaf and hard of hearing individuals like Niko face daily. “At restaurants, people would communicate to me instead of Niko,” Yami says. “It feels really awkward when someone is talking about you in front of you.” That communication gap, Yami learned, keeps over 430 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals from fully participating in the economy. That’s how she, Niko, and their friend Nicholas Wilkins came to found Sign-Speak in 2021. Their software uses machine learning to interpret sign language into spoken word and vice-versa, so that businesses can better serve the deaf and hard of hearing communities. At a coffee shop, for instance, deaf and hard of hearing customers and baristas can use tablets with Sign-Speak software to make and take orders, ask “regular or 2% milk?” and say “Have a nice day.”

Sign-Speak uses Google Cloud’s Speech-to-Text technology to transcribe the spoken word into text before Sign-Speak translates it to American Sign Language. Sign-Speak is piloting their technology with two companies and plans to add a third. They run their web app on Firebase, where they track performance and key success metrics with Google Analytics. In one year, the trio has added two full-time employees, and the overall team has grown to 11 full and part-time workers. Aiding that growth is a $100,000 award from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, which includes Google Ads and Google Cloud credits. “We work closely to take advantage of what has been offered to us through the Black Founders Fund,” Yami says, noting that this award will help her hire more employees from the deaf and hard of hearing communities. But her vision of success is mission-based: “I tell my team that we win every time a deaf or hard of hearing individual says that Sign-Speak helped them move through the world more easily.”

Celsious

Location: Brooklyn, New York
Website: https://celsious.com/
10 employees

During her fashion magazine career, Corinna Williams learned that all fashion ultimately becomes laundry. But that didn’t make her laundry days—long, uncomfortable hours doing load after load in dimly lit, dirty laundromats—any better. So she decided to reinvent the experience to make it comfortable, clean, and enjoyable. She brought her sister Theresa into the fold, and they created Celsious, a spacious and fun place in Brooklyn to do eco-friendly laundry, get coffee, and hang out. After launching in 2017, the sisters grew a local following through word of mouth and Google Ads. Positive reviews on their Business Profile on Google drew in more customers. They doubled their revenue in the first year and their customer base grew to span 50 ZIP codes: “We weren’t just attracting people from our neighborhood—folks were coming from all over to visit us,” Corinna says.

Celsious made changes ahead of citywide shutdowns due to COVID-19 by increasing sanitization, wearing masks, and closing the café. They also pivoted to a drop-off-only service and doubled down on their e-commerce business, which sells a selection of laundry products. “Though we’ve struggled to reach our pre-COVID revenues again, our community has been extremely supportive,” says Corinna. With a new booking system on their Business Profile on Google, customers can arrange for drop-off and pick-up, and frontline workers and at-risk customers get priority access during low-volume times. “We’re proud that we’ve stayed open, providing a stress-free way to do laundry for our community,” Corinna says. And through their Laundry Love program, people can now pay washes forward for those in need. “It’s been an opportunity for us to innovate and use tech solutions to make our service as seamless as possible,” Theresa says. Their e-commerce business continues to grow, supplementing the lower volume of laundry during COVID-19. “We’re seeing it all as a silver lining because we’re learning and serving our community through these trying times.”

Trade Street Jam Co.

Location: Brooklyn, New York
Website: https://tradestjamco.com/
400% YoY revenue growth

Ashley Rouse has a thing for food preservation. As a chef and food blogger she hosted food swaps, often contributing artfully canned fruits or vegetables. “I love the concept of enjoying something at a later season when you can’t get it at its peak, like great cherry jam, but in winter,” she says. Ashley planned to someday found a jam company; and after working for years in the restaurant industry, she launched Trade Street Jam Co. in Brooklyn in 2016. As one of the few Black jam makers in the business, Ashley—well aware of health issues disproportionately impacting Black communities—makes her jams natural and lower in sugar without compromising taste. Trade Street jams aren’t just for toast. With unique blends of sweet and savory flavors they work well in sauces, BBQ, or—Ashley’s favorite—craft cocktails. Ashley first sold her jams on Etsy, then moved to local markets, bars, and stores, as well as her own website. She gained customers across the country with Google Ads campaigns and cooking videos on YouTube and has seen sales triple each year.

By 2020, Ashley wanted to trim her exhausting events schedule to focus on e-commerce. COVID-19 shutdowns forced her decision. Initially worried about the abrupt transition, Ashley soon saw her online orders grow. She went from making 1,000 jars of each flavor every two months to exceeding that number every two weeks, with a 400-percent increase in sales year-over-year. To manage her skyrocketing growth, Ashley uses Google Workspace products like Google Sheets, Drive, and Gmail exponentially more now to track orders and coordinate with people remotely. Still, Trade Street has seen challenges—among them supply chain disruptions and a national jar shortage. And raising capital to keep growing is a constant balancing act, especially for a Black- and woman-owned business, for which funding hurdles are higher. But Ashley’s barely stopping to catch her breath. ”I’m planning to hire more people, build up my operations,” she says, “and just keep this momentum going.”

Spectrum Designs

Location: Port Washington, New York
Website: www.spectrumdesigns.org
40 employees

When Patrick Bardsley met Stella Spanakos and Nicole Sugrue, both parents of children with autism, he was surprised to learn that individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities face a 70-90% unemployment rate in the U.S. He was motivated to make a difference. In 2011, the trio founded Spectrum Designs, a custom apparel business with a social mission: to help individuals with autism lead productive and meaningful lives through work. “It was founded out of necessity — the mother of all invention,” said Patrick. To be successful in a competitive market, the team knew that Spectrum Designs had to produce high-quality products and maintain good customer service. “Because we’re a nonprofit, people unfortunately have preconceived notions of what our abilities are,” said Patrick. “They don’t often see us as a real solution to their needs, but that’s just not the case.”

Looking to spread the word about its services and compete with others in the online space, Spectrum Designs applied for a Google Ads grant for nonprofit organizations. After being awarded free Google Ads spending, the team began crafting search ads with carefully selected keywords to stand out in the crowded market. “Everything was pointing toward millennials making more socially conscious purchase choices. We wanted to get on the crest of that wave and just put our company out there,” said Tim Howe, chief operating officer at Spectrum Designs. “The response that we got was overwhelming.” The ads led to more customers discovering the company and its mission, contributing to its impressive 80% year-over-year revenue growth. Today, Tim estimates that 50-60% of sales are driven by digital advertising. “Google Ads was really game-changing for us, and so was the tracking that we can do with Google Analytics,” said Tim. “We can go in and see how many people are coming in through the website, and we can use that information to evaluate previous marketing efforts.”

Today, Spectrum Designs is proud to report that all of its operating costs are covered by revenue, allowing it to continue creating worthwhile employment for individuals with disabilities. In fact, from 2017 to 2018, Spectrum Designs was able to double the hours its employees worked and expand its mission to make a difference for people with autism. It’s an accomplishment that puts into perspective just how far the company has come from its early days as a social enterprise. “You’re not looking at what people can’t do but what they can do,” said Patrick. “It’s worth it because you get a chance to make your own little change in the world.”

Propel Electric Bikes

Location: Brooklyn, New York
Website: propelbikes.com
8 employees

Chris Nolte was transporting fuel in Iraq for the U.S. Army Reserves when he suffered a back injury and was forced to return home. As a disabled combat veteran, he found himself unable to do many of the activities that he used to enjoy. Determined to return to his active lifestyle, Chris did some research and ended up purchasing an electric bike. That got him thinking about all the ways electric bikes could transform transportation and promote sustainability. In 2011, he took out a small business loan, bought some inventory, and launched Long Island Electric Bikes. Given his experience in web design and marketing, Chris understood how important it was to establish his new business online. He started with some basic content marketing in the form of blog posts and began seeing success. From 2011 to 2014, Long Island Electric Bikes tripled in size, prompting Chris to move to a large industrial space in Brooklyn, where it became Propel Electric Bikes, a pedal- assisted electric bike retailer.

Chris also used Google tools to help market his business, and he increasingly relied on them as it grew. Early on, he managed everything through G Suite, using apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Drive to store and share information with his team. Today, the company uses Google My Business to boost visibility on Google Search and Maps, and it relies on Google Ads to get in front of potential customers.

Chris’ website typically attracts about 11,000 users from organic search and 2,500 users from paid search per month. He spends about 90% of his marketing budget on digital ads. He is also a proponent of Google Analytics. “Through Google Analytics, we’re able to track our ads, and I can feel more confident in spending more money because I know that we’re going to get it back,” Chris said.

Propel Electric Bikes recently opened a second location in Long Beach, California. For months, Chris was tasked with getting the new shop ready for launch while managing his growing Brooklyn store from afar. “I attribute my ability to successfully do that to a lot of Google products,” he said. Chris pays his success forward by donating bikes to kids in need and contributing to a charitable organization that helps veterans and active-duty service members. Moving ahead, Chris hopes to continue advocating for electric bikes as a transportation solution. “What gets me excited is being part of something that feels like I’m helping the world,” said Chris. “I see electric bikes as the future of our cities — it’s just a matter of getting the word out and building up infrastructure to support them.”

Sweeten

Location: New York, New York
Website: www.sweeten.com
30 employees

Jean Brownhill had years of experience in residential and commercial architecture. So when she decided to renovate her own townhouse in Brooklyn, she felt well prepared for the job. What she didn’t anticipate was how difficult it would be to find a great general contractor. "I thought to myself, 'This is really crazy,'" she recalls. "There had to be a better way." Experiencing what she calls "a classic entrepreneurial moment," Jean asked herself, "How can we bring high-quality construction resources to everyday people?" What began as a blog to educate homeowners eventually evolved into Sweeten (as in “home, sweet home”). “We’re essentially free renovation matchmakers,” explains Jean. Launched in 2011 with Co-founders Preeti Sriratana and Sherataun Nuss, Sweeten’s platform helps homeowners in New York City, Philadelphia, and surrounding counties find excellent contractors for their renovation projects.

As a business in a highly visual industry, Sweeten relies on their blog, social media, and video to catch customers’ eyes. In addition to sharing tips, before-and-after photos, and personal renovation stories, “we use YouTube to show clients that we’re real experts who care deeply about making our homeowners and general contractors happy,” explains Jean. “It helps capture the human element of our business and is a vehicle for building trust.” Sweeten also uses AdWords, Google’s advertising program, to attract clients looking for general contractors—about 40 percent of their commercial projects come through AdWords. And Google Analytics “is fundamental to understanding how customers find and interact with our website,” she adds. “It gives us the data to optimize our content marketing, resulting in a 60 percent increase in organic sessions in the past year alone.”

With an annual growth rate of over 300 percent, Sweeten is seeing growth on every front, from the size of the projects coming through their platform to the sheer volume of postings. The average project value today tops $100,000—up from $1,500 when they started. They currently have about 1,000 general contractors in their network and nearly $900 million in construction work in the pipeline. In 2017, Sweeten expanded to commercial projects, doing build-outs for restaurants, retail spaces, offices, and more. And in the coming years, they plan to branch out into other cities and states. “We want to make the renovation process less daunting for homeowners and businesses everywhere,” Jean says. “We’re definitely on our way.”

Inclusion

Location: Queens, New York
Website: www.incl.us
Inclusion’s courses are 100 percent free

Saeed Jabbar emigrated from Guyana to the U.S. when he was 10 years old. A love for video games soon led him to discover coding, a skill that he describes would change his life. “I remember feeling empowered,” Saeed shares. “Coding helped me realize the importance of digital skills, but it also opened my eyes to the digital divide in New York City. I saw the disparity within my own community in Queens, and I knew I needed to do something about it.” In 2016, Saeed founded Inclusion to equip unemployed and underemployed young adults with skills like coding, design thinking, and project management. Since their first year, the nonprofit has grown from a single 20-student class to an in-person and online program that reaches over 3,000 participants nationwide.

Inclusion not only teaches the power of the web, they live it. The nonprofit is built on web-based tools, including an arsenal of Google resources. As an Ad Grants recipient, they receive a monthly budget of in-kind advertising from AdWords, Google’s advertising program. “We use Ad Grants for everything—getting the brand out there, reaching students, bringing in donations, and recruiting volunteers. We even have volunteers from outside the U.S. who find us through ads on Google,” Saeed explains. Ad Grants comprises Inclusion’s entire marketing budget. “This really allows us to put money back into the program,” he adds. The nonprofit also uses Google Analytics to optimize their online presence and to see what marketing campaigns are working. And G Suite tools, such as Gmail, Docs, and Sheets, provide easy access to shared tools for every team member and student. “It’s the bread and butter for all things operations,” describes Saeed.

Today, Inclusion shares their curriculum with thousands of students across the country. “Our goal is to reach as many people as possible, and to create a more inclusive world in the process,” Saeed says. “We’re going to adapt to the future as it comes. Whatever skill set is necessary, we’ll train the people who get left behind so that they can be active participants in the economy of tomorrow.” With over 80 percent of their graduates heading back to work, and on average tripling their salaries, Inclusion’s impact is evident. “We’re transforming lives,” Saeed muses. “We’ve grown from a mission statement into a movement.”