Why I’m Creating Peadbo

My graduation from Kettering University in 2011

In the Spring of 2011, I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and was headed straight to business school. In the picture above are a few of my closest family members who came to celebrate my accomplishment. Clearly, I had no shortage of love and support — as each person in that picture would drop everything in an instant to help me in any way they could. My grandmother (the one with the cane) once told me that she would “drown a drop of water” for me. Grandmas just love harder.

It should have been one of the happiest days of my life, but I was petrified.

No one in that picture had received an MBA.

No one in that picture had worked for Google, McKinsey, or any other places I’d end up in

No one in that picture could tell me from experience how to effectively navigate within a constantly evolving corporate world.

All of the unknowns about life on the other side of graduation gave me extreme anxiety (before I knew what that was) and during the next few years, I bumped my head more times than I can count trying to “figure it out myself.” I can recall countless missed opportunities to be assertive in the workplace, defend my cases for promotions that I’d been passed over for, or ensure that I received proper credit for my contributions — all because I didn’t understand my value or how to effectively manage my career.

Bigger Than Me

Unfortunately, the struggles I speak of are more common than I’d realized. Students and young professionals are overwhelmed.

• 59% of college students feel unprepared to enter the workforce

• Like me, nearly 50% are first-generation college graduates

• Anxiety levels among this population have doubled since 2008

…all in a world where 85% of jobs are filled via your personal network

To make matters worse, they’re being fed the falsehood that everyone is getting every job offer and promotion via the highlight reels on social media.

These conditions can be frustrating for all, but when you’re the first in your family to enter corporate America and are facing pressure to perform in environments where nobody looks like you or understands your journey, they can be crippling.

Patterns, Pitches, and Pilots

One thing I’ve noticed throughout my career is that, for the most part, the people I know who had the highest career trajectory always seemed to have a group of people they could go to for mentorship and advice. Whether they refer to it as their “dream team”, “sister circle”, or “personal board of directors,” the consistent thread was that they had identified multiple people with varying skill sets and experiences to help guide them on their professional or personal journeys.

One day in the summer of 2020, I attended a virtual advisory board meeting for a company I used to do consulting for. As we all shared ideas for how the business could achieve its growth goals and scale successfully, I remember thinking, “Damn, I need one of these for myself.”

That thought stuck with me.

I began to imagine what it could look like and how it could be a manageable addition to my existing responsibilities. The thought turned into some notes, and those notes turned into features. Before I knew it, I had created a rough concept for Peadbo, a software platform for personal advisory board management. I shared it with my now co-founders and they agreed to help me bring it to life. Like me, all but one were first-generation college graduates of color. The value and potential impact were clear to them because, in one way or another, each of them had faced similar obstacles as me and had informally benefited from a group of people invested in their individual success. We built a curriculum and started to conduct non-technical pilots where we guided people through the process of identifying potential board members and beginning to conduct meetings.

One of my favorite pilot participants was Tiffany. Tiffany was a Nurse and was looking to take her career to the next level by transitioning into a management role. One of her biggest challenges early in the pilot was that she didn’t really know anyone in Nursing management and couldn’t figure out who would be a good fit to serve on her board. After a few consultations, I learned that her brother was in engineering management, there was a woman at her church who was a former executive in the automotive industry, and she had several other friends who embodied many of the transferable skills needed to help her reach her goals. With the help of her board, Tiffany updated her LinkedIn, tweaked her resume to focus more on quantitative outcomes, and learned some basics of data management. Within six months, she’d secured a new position with a significant pay increase.

According to Tiffany, what was even more valuable than the tactical advice she received was her new-found self-confidence. Her board made her feel that not only could achieve what she wanted but that she DESERVED it. Her support system helped her to rid herself of the imposter syndrome that is so common among professionals of color.

After seeing how people like Tiffany and so many others were starting businesses, getting promotions, forming new business partnerships, and changing industries with the help of their boards, I knew we had something real. With a jumpstart from Techstars, we’re now on track to launch our MVP in December 2022.

A Recent Mockup of the Peadbo platform

A New Narrative

With the pressures facing students and professionals today, hustle culture and the narrative of being “self-made” need to go. In their place, we need to embrace the truth — that EVERYONE has some assistance on their way to the top. It’s no coincidence that Wall Street Journal has a recurring segment on how successful business leaders tend to have a personal board of directors. It’s because careers are hard, personal growth is hard, and LIFE IS HARD and the sooner we acknowledge that we could use some help, the better our chances of achieving our goals.

While we’re still quite early on this Peadbo journey and the path ahead will be a challenging one, I’m fueled by visions of a future where having or serving on a Personal Advisory Board is not only celebrated but expected — if you’re early in your journey, get some help; and if you’ve made some progress, help those coming behind you by sharing your wisdom.

More importantly, I’m excited about the impact Peadbo will make toward our mission to close the opportunity and wealth gaps through collaborative mentorship.

Keith Chaney is a co-founder of Peadbo (Techstars ‘22). Based in Washington, DC, Peadbo is a cloud-based advisory board management tool that allows users to build and manage relationships with experienced professionals in their network to help navigate their career or personal journeys during and after college. Originally from Flint, Michigan, Keith received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2013 and his BSE in Industrial Engineering from Kettering University in 2011.

If you’re interested in serving on the Personal Advisory Board of a student or young professional (a commitment of only six hours per year), you can register here. If you’d like to explore partnership opportunities, fill out this short form.