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Meet Kristin Darga of Impact Founder in Downtown

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Darga.

Kristin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always been a curious and creative person, and I love learning about people. I studied Journalism in college because of that curiosity of people and then being trusted to tell their stories.

I think throughout life I wasn’t completely sure where I “fit in” with others. It took me years to figure out that I was an innovator and entrepreneur. I’ve established 4 businesses at different times of my life but never really felt like it was the right thing until I moved to Denver. I finally found the people who “get me” when I moved here. The small business and startup community was incredible when I moved here in 2012. Those folks, they had more of an impact on me than they realize. I like to call them ‘Denver’s OG startup peeps’. If they are reading, thank you. Moving to Denver and meeting them changed my life.

Before moving to Colorado I lived in NYC, I had a couple of careers: one was in publicity and the other as a consultant. I worked with A-list actors, and as a consultant, I had autonomy and was seen as a leader for the first time. I loved it there had a career that I flourished in, but something was missing. When I moved to Denver, I tapped back into that curiosity of people and enrolled in a coach training program. That’s the beginning of my journey of starting Impact Founder. A couple of years later, I matched up my coaching education with my experience in Journalism and launched Impact Founder in 2015.

Launching Impact Founder was one of those “being in the flow” moments you hear people talk about. Up until then, I’d never experienced it in my career. It was something I felt called to address, and it wasn’t so much a choice as it was an expression of the things I loved the most: People’s stories and transforming thoughts and behaviors through story therapy.

I started Impact Founder after there were two suicides of startup founders and the sudden death of a third. I created Impact Founder, a series of humanized photojournalism and written stories of entrepreneurs’ struggles and successes, to humanize the experience of the people behind the businesses. Self-doubt is part of life and I realized that the narrative around entrepreneurship is that it’s sexy and success is easy. Which is often not the truth. A way to reduce the feelings of failure or depression is by sharing real accounts of ‘regular’ entrepreneurs, and so that’s what I decided to do.

Founders are often isolated, they work from home or don’t have a supportive community. That can make it tough to keep your perspective while growing a business and many times can lead to depression and anxiety. Over the past four years, Impact Founder has gathered hundreds of stories of failures and triumphs of founders. We level up the stories of all types of founders, through in-depth inquiries delving into the failures and triumphs of entrepreneurs and humanize the experience. It’s completely normal to experience failure and success daily and our stories use multimedia art to humanize and normalize what all entrepreneurs experience at one time or another in their journey.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think it’s a misconception that entrepreneurship is easy, every time I start a new business I think it will be simple; easy. I know better than that but I fall for it every time! I mean, my entire business is built around the honest, raw stories of successes and challenges experienced by entrepreneurs. It’s so funny that knowing all that, I am still seduced by the rush.

It hasn’t been easy or simple. In fact, when I started Impact Founder, I didn’t plan on it being a business. It started as a photography exhibit and there was so much immediate traction that I had to figure out what to do with it. I built the business around an idea I executed into reality in just 6-7 weeks. What I knew then was that it was an important dialog to start. What I didn’t know is that it would become more than photography and grow into a media company.

Then there’s the idea that media companies are struggling, that’s definitely not true. Traditional media companies have needed to change how they bring in revenue, and that’s caused many companies to fail or close. Modern media companies are more innovative and more necessary than ever. Located in Denver, CO, where the media companies are local magazines and newspapers, created a challenge for us to make our value known. I think we’ve successfully done that at this point.

Every year of business, there’s an evolution and growth. That brings challenges. At times that challenge was bringing in enough revenue, other times it was hiring the right people, or making sure I take care of myself.

As the business evolves, the founder of the company evolves with it. I think that’s a challenge that business owners don’t know they are getting into until they are staring at themselves in the mirror with the tough thoughts like “Why am I doing this” or “Will this work” or “How am I going to pay the bills”. The idea is the simple part. It’s waking up every day and choosing your business that can become the most challenging thing you do.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Well, I have a couple of businesses at this point and for some reason, I don’t think it will end there. As I evolve and grow, my companies also do. Currently, I am a keynote speaker and I have Impact Founder. Those are structured as two separate businesses even though they cover similar topics. Impact Founder is an independent social impact media company with a solution. We tell the untold stories, through in-depth inquiries delving into the failures and triumphs of entrepreneurs. We inspire readers and the founders themselves and create a community of shared stories and experiences by debunking the myth that entrepreneurship is easy or sexy. The solution we offer is leadership coaching for founders. We like the idea of offering a solution to those entrepreneurial challenges. We believe that suffering is optional and that with our support, you won’t have to suffer through it.

Our media is based on photojournalism and our Founder Confessional Podcast. We are the ONLY media company focusing solely on the REAL, raw stories of both success and challenges of startup founders and business owners in this way. We focus on the health of founders first and foremost.

I’m most proud of building a company that people told me was a ‘sweet’ or ‘very noble’ project. I did it and all the while it is changing lives and making a ripple.

What were you like growing up?
I think my mother has a statement that summarizes it well. She’s always said this to me and still says it today, “There’s never a dull moment.” That pretty much sums it up. I was that little girl who put on her dress and played in the mud with my barbies and worms. I was always and am still a curious ‘kid’ and loved learning about people. I have a very active brain and love adventure. As an adult I have learned stillness – that was never a part of me as a kid. In fact, my nickname was ‘Tigger’ because I never stopped moving. My poor parents had a handful with me.

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