Starting a business often begins with seeing something others may have overlooked.
For three founders connected through William Blair's Capital Collective, that meant taking a closer look at products people already use—from skincare and braiding hair to baby carriers—and asking how they could work better.
Turning those ideas into businesses required more than identifying the opportunity. Each founder had to navigate product development, sourcing, growth, and the relationships that can help move a business forward.
William Blair's Capital Collective program works with emerging wealth earners and entrepreneurs to help expand access to capital and provide connections, coaching, career paths, and opportunities to convene. For the founders featured here, that support has included connections with William Blair investment bankers, showcases and forums, and hands-on guidance as they build their businesses.
Hanahana Beauty: Putting Values Into Practice
When Abena Boamah-Acheampong founded Hanahana Beauty Co, she wanted to create skincare differently—not only in the products themselves, but also in how the business approached the people who produced its ingredients.
Hanahana sources its shea butter directly from women producers in Tamale, Ghana, and pays twice the fair-trade rate to provide the producers with a secure, above-market living wage. The company has also invested in healthcare, education, clean water, and other initiatives within the communities where its shea is produced.
For Boamah-Acheampong, that impact isn't separate from the business. It's part of how she built it.
"You don't start building your values once you have to start making decisions," Boamah-Acheampong said. "You make your decisions based on the values you built the foundation around."
Those values are also influencing how Boamah-Acheampong thinks about growth. She's exploring opportunities for Hanahana to move beyond finished skincare products and into supplying raw materials to other manufacturers—potentially creating another channel for the shea producers the company works with.
Lillian Augusta Beauty: Making Hair From Plants
For Lillian Augusta Beauty (LAB) Founder Jannice Newson, the idea for her business started with a problem she knew firsthand.
While conducting fieldwork as a graduate student in conservation ecology, Newson wore hair extensions but experienced allergic reactions, itching, and hair thinning. She questioned why she and other women she knew had come to accept those experiences as part of wearing braided hair extensions.
Her background in environmental science led her to look more closely at the material itself. Conventional braiding hair was largely made of plastic. Could she make it from plants instead?
"I walked across the campus to the business school and told them I wanted to make hair from plants," Newson said.
Five years of product development followed. Newson experimented with materials, including phragmites, hemp, and flax, before ultimately developing Hair Without Harm, LAB's plant-based braiding hair made with corn-derived fiber.
LAB has also found a use for fibers left over from the hair manufacturing process, recycling them into reed diffusers rather than letting the material go to waste.
But figuring out how to make the product was only part of building the business. After meeting William Blair's Nancy Bonges, director of community engagement, at a pitch competition, Newson became involved with Capital Collective. Through that relationship, she's received referrals, learned about grant opportunities, attended networking events, and been introduced to people she otherwise may not have encountered.
"It opens a door," Newson said. "It gives you access to people you may be looking for but might not otherwise know how to reach."
GoGoVie: Designing With the Caregiver in Mind
Angelique Warner knew firsthand how useful a baby carrier could be. A mother of four, she and her husband also spent years as houseparents, at one point caring for as many as 14 additional children in their home.
But as a breastfeeding mother constantly on the move, Warner also knew where traditional carriers fell short. Feeding often meant stopping, sitting down, and taking the baby out of the carrier—all while other children still needed her attention.
She began thinking about a carrier that could better support the caregiver, from breastfeeding and movement to comfort and fit. That idea became GoGoVie.
Warner spent eight years researching and developing a carrier, taking into account everything from where adjustments should sit to how pressure was distributed across the shoulders. The resulting design included front adjustments, a back without buckles, wide, padded shoulder straps, and stretch denim—all while accommodating a range of body sizes without requiring a separate strap extender.
Her work led to two U.S. patents and to Warner becoming the first Black woman in the U.S. to create, patent, and manufacture a baby carrier.
Finishing the product, however, brought another realization.
"You have a product," Warner recalled a business coach telling her, "but you don't have a business."
Learning how to build that business has made relationships especially important. Warner describes the human and social capital she's gained from other entrepreneurs and mentors as invaluable. She was first connected with William Blair earlier this year and has since tapped into that network, including guidance and introductions from Chris Brathwaite, William Blair partner and director of the pre-liquidity planning team.
Today, Warner is working to expand GoGoVie's presence in hospitals and birth centers, building on existing relationships as she looks for new ways to get the carrier into families' hands.
Our Resources for Business Owners
While every business starts differently, the challenges that follow—from accessing capital and building the right relationships to planning for growth and, eventually, transition—are familiar to many entrepreneurs. Through Capital Collective and its broader work with business owners, William Blair brings together resources and expertise across the firm to support entrepreneurs at different stages of that journey.
The views expressed are those of the individuals featured and reflect their personal experience. Experiences may vary. No compensation was provided for these statements.