About

Josef M. Scarantino

Systems thinker, community-builder, and accidental founder.

In a nutshell

As a social innovation strategist, my work helps to design impactful, collaborative experiences where people and communities can fully participate and thrive. I'm also a serial entrepreneur and established founder coach with nearly 25 years of experience building entrepreneurial communities, startup ecosystems, and next generation impact leaders.

My work has reached thousands of students, entrepreneurs, and innovators across more than 50 countries and touched a wide variety of sectors, including workforce development, higher education, nonprofit, government, corporate innovation, and many others.

I'm currently building the transformation economy at Forwardkind, exploring how a shared-ownership cooperative model can contribute to cultivating collective human potential.

Here's what I've been up to for the last 20+ years:

Founder & President at Forwardkind Cooperative
2025 - Present
Forwardkind is building a shared-ownership, regenerative ecosystem that multiplies human potential — expanding access to transformational work and amplifying the collective impact of purpose-driven people.
Founder at WCKD Labs
2025 - Present
Coming soon
Founder at Seed Scale Partners
2024 - Present
Seed Scale Partners delivers program design & management, ecosystem mapping, founder workshops, hackathons & pitch events, among other offerings. Most recent work is the High Country Accelerator in northwest Colorado.
Program Advisor at Startup Colorado
2024
Startup Colorado's mission is to demonstrate that rural entrepreneurship will ignite a culture of potential.
Head of Programs at All Raise
2022 - 2023
All Raise is on a mission to accelerate the success of women and nonbinary investors, reshaping culture, capital flows, and decision-making power within venture capital.
Program Manager at HubSpot Ventures
2022
HubSpot Ventures invests in early- and growth-stage software companies with the potential to deliver unique value to HubSpot's customer base.
Senior Program Manager at Techstars
2019 - 2022
Founded in 2006, Techstars is on a mission to invest in startups to enable more capital to flow to more entrepreneurs around the world in order to deliver exceptional returns to investors. Techstars does this by operating accelerator programs and venture capital funds, as well as by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to help build thriving startup communities.
CEO & Co-Founder at EightTen
2016 - 2019
EightTen was an edtech startup dedicated to increasing labor force participation of people with disabilities through soft skills training.
Director of Social Enterprise at Community Resource Center
2017 - 2018
CRC creates opportunities, tools, and strategies to develop nonprofits and community groups to strengthen Colorado.
Director of Life Labs at United Cerebral Palsy
2012 - 2016
Mission to promote the independence and inclusion of people with cerebral palsy, intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities through a network of affiliates and partnerships.
Founder at African Tech Network
2010
African Tech Network (ATN) served African technologists through creating economic opportunity, community, and continuing education.
Founder at webstartAfrica
2009
Webstart Africa focused on increasing access to turn-key technology stacks for emerging African entrepreneurs.
Creative Director at GovTrends
2006 - 2009
GovTrends was a web development and design studio providing services to government entities and representatives and Fortune 500 companies.