Purpose First Advisors works with entrepreneurs and the organizations that serve them to build profitable ventures that create generational wealth for founders and their families. Purpose First Advisors is particularly focused on helping women and entrepreneurs of color—those visionaries who are typically underrepresented and underestimated—build wildly successful businesses. Founder & CEO Christy Maxfield’s portfolio includes privately held companies, startups, entrepreneur support organizations, and regional initiatives.
My dad owned our family florist—started by my grandfather as a side gig in a detached garage. I never imagined after watching him work every weekend and holiday that I’d follow in his footsteps. Dad’s goal was to work for himself. He never self-identified as an entrepreneur. He liked being his own boss. I figured there had to be a better way to make a living, an easier way to get paid to do what you love.
To that end, I sought out mission and purpose in my work, first as a fundraising professional and then as a social entrepreneur. It has always been incredibly important to me that the work I do improves the human condition, seeks to end inequities, and changes the world. Today that means my company, Purpose First Advisors, and podcast, Entrepreneurially Thinking, are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs, particularly women and entrepreneurs of color, build companies that enable them to create wealth for their families and prosperity in their communities.
Purpose First Advisors challenges the myth of meritocracy and the prevailing belief in the infallibility of the market. We work with ecosystems of entrepreneur support organizations, mentors, coaches, investors, and advisors to acknowledge and dismantle the implicit and explicit biases that inhibit deal flow for founders who are female, Black, Brown, or otherwise marginalized.
We work with founders to unlock their thinking about what is possible using business-model validation and financial operations modeling to develop strategic and tactical go-to-market strategies. Our focus is on profitability and the research, planning, execution, and measurement required to create wealth.
From startups and scale-ups to mature ventures, it’s an exciting time to be in the business of growing companies. After raising tens of millions of dollars as a development professional for nearly 20 years, Christy started her entrepreneurial journey in the spring of 2010 when she co-founded The Mission Center, winner of the 2011 business plan competition hosted by the St. Louis Economic Partnership and inaugural St. Louis Regional Chamber Arcus Award for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Today, she is President and CEO of Purpose First Advisors and co-hosts the Entrepreneurially Thinking podcast, winner of the inaugural Moonshot Collaboration Award from LaunchCode. Christy is on the board of Forward Through Ferguson and has taught entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis and University of Missouri – St. Louis.
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