In her early 20s, Maya Kuppermann spent countless hours writing pitches seeking funding for various nonprofits. The process was repetitive, frustrating and—too often—fruitless. So in 2022, she and her cofounder, Ruthwick Pathireddy, 29, launched Temelio to streamline the grantmaking process from beginning to end. Temelio uses AI to automate mundane tasks—like verifying that a nonprofit is in good standing with the IRS—and helps foundations track funds efficiently. “The world of for-profit tech is 20 years ahead of nonprofit tech because people just don’t see money in it,” says Kuppermann, who started her first organization at age 12 to provide secondhand dance clothing to children. “That started to gnaw on me.” Temelio’s core customers are the foundations doling out money, but nonprofits can use her software to apply for certain grants. Today, Temelio, which has raised $4 million, facilitates more than $130 million in grants annually, working with organizations such as Kapor Foundation, Peloton and the McNulty Foundation.
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Category
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00The government does things so slowly.
00:04This space is going to be like solving some of the most challenging problems we have
00:08over the next generations because it can move so much faster.
00:16Maya, thank you so much for joining me to chat all about Tamellia today.
00:20We're going to get into what you're building with the business,
00:22but first give me a little 30-second rundown about who you are.
00:25Gosh, great question. I'm very happy to be here.
00:28Who am I? Well, I grew up in Davis, California.
00:31I'm the oldest of three girls in my family,
00:34which I think is very core to my identity.
00:38Kind of started my career in the nonprofit space
00:41and then wandered into the world of tech
00:43because that's kind of how Tamellia ended up being born.
00:45Well, you're the co-founder and the CEO of your company.
00:48Walk me through kind of like the founding stages of this brand.
00:51What did you set out to build?
00:53What were the first couple steps that you took?
00:55Yeah, totally.
00:56I think starting in the nonprofit space
00:58and then ending up in the for-profit tech space,
01:01I just realized...
01:03I mean, I will never call this an epiphany
01:05because I think it was actually a pretty obvious observation,
01:07but the world of for-profit tech is like 20 years ahead of nonprofit tech
01:13because I think people just don't see profit in it.
01:17And so that started to kind of just like gnaw on me
01:20and thinking about the tools I was using in the for-profit space
01:24and how they could be applied in the nonprofit space.
01:26And so that's really where the idea for Tamellia started.
01:30And that's actually also when I met my co-founder
01:32who is just the most brilliant engineer I've ever met.
01:36He has a background in quant engineering and hedge funds
01:39but always volunteered with nonprofits on the side,
01:42both on the ground work but also advising them on their tech stack.
01:46And so he had also seen that same problem.
01:48And when we met, we were like,
01:50okay, well, the nonprofit community is enormous
01:53and we're big believers that the best solutions are really purpose-built.
01:56And so where we started is we interviewed hundreds of people
02:01across the nonprofit space and ended up building out an advisory board
02:05of over 50 folks in the nonprofit community
02:08and realized that there was a huge technology gap
02:11with grantmakers or charitable foundations,
02:13which is the client that we currently serve.
02:17And so we actually, in order to build a product,
02:20co-developed it with that group of 50 advisors
02:23and started out with, if you know the design tool Figma,
02:27fourth grade level scribbles on Figma.
02:30And then we would spend 50 hours a week with these advisors
02:34showing them each feature, getting their feedback,
02:37understanding where we were wrong, where we were right.
02:40My favorite question to ask them was, if you had a magic wand,
02:43what would this feature do that it's not currently doing?
02:47Essentially co-developed the product that way
02:49until we launched it about five months after we started.
02:52And today your product allows organizations and foundations
02:55to basically manage the grant process from beginning to end, correct?
02:59How can you kind of walk me through what that process looks like,
03:02the different steps that you were hoping to help them manage
03:05and facilitate throughout that process?
03:07Yeah. So the client we serve is the foundations that give out the money.
03:12And what's really interesting is I think a lot of people
03:15that know of foundations think about it like a large scholarship application
03:19or a big grant application.
03:22But in reality, a lot of these foundations actually operate
03:25much more similarly to an early stage venture capitalist.
03:28So they'll have a couple of focus areas they care about changing,
03:31like climate change or homelessness.
03:34And then their team's job is to go out and find the best organizations
03:38that are actually moving the needle in those areas.
03:41And then they go through a proper due diligence process
03:44and reviews and contracts and payments.
03:47And then the only core difference really is that their goal is return on impact
03:51instead of return on investment.
03:54So there's a couple of things that we really try to help them with.
03:57One is just, I think, your classic software play,
04:00so it's pure efficiency and taking some of those mundane tasks
04:04like verifying a nonprofit is in good standing with the IRS
04:07or collecting that data where we can save them a lot of time.
04:12But on the flip side and less on the efficiency side,
04:15a lot of these foundations just really care about understanding their impact.
04:19And so a lot of what we do is cataloging the relationships they've had
04:23with their grantees or the nonprofits that they give to
04:26as well as the dollar impact with those organizations.
04:30So that's on one side of it.
04:32And I think on the other side, and this maybe goes a bit further
04:36to where we hope to go, is in order for a nonprofit to get a grant,
04:41it is so much work.
04:43And these nonprofits are filling out the exact same information
04:46in a slightly different language thousands of times a year
04:51in order to get the money that ultimately allows them
04:53to do this world-changing work.
04:55And so what we've done on the nonprofit side or the folks that apply
04:58through our system is we've built in a ton of efficiencies
05:02just in centralizing their data and allowing them to do almost
05:06like a one-click apply as well as leveraging some kind of AI
05:11in order to say like, hey, you've actually answered
05:13a very similar question before.
05:15Do you want to just pull it in?
05:17And it seems small, but being able to hopefully save those folks
05:20a few hours a week also at least gives them more time
05:23to actually do the work that's making the world a better place.
05:26Definitely.
05:27So while your customers are the ones that are granting the money,
05:30you're also pulling in applications from companies
05:32that might be looking for that money in the first place?
05:34Yeah, exactly.
05:35So it's like a two-sided system where the foundations are the ones
05:38that we work with directly, but each of them is working
05:41with thousands of nonprofits that are also submitting information
05:44through our system, using our system to report back on grant outcomes,
05:48sign contracts, do a lot of the collaboration that they do
05:51with those foundations.
05:52Yeah.
05:53What about your experience in the nonprofit space showed you
05:55that this was a tool that was needed for both sides of the coin really?
05:59Yeah.
06:00No, it's a great question.
06:01I think my first time I dipped my toe into nonprofit space
06:05was very much on the nonprofit side.
06:07So I was applying for a lot of these grants
06:10and spending hours and hours and hours a week
06:13not only trying to find the grants, but then applying
06:16through these black boxes where most of the time
06:19you don't even hear back.
06:21And I think now knowing what I do know about the space,
06:23I probably would have gone about that process very differently.
06:26But just thinking about how amazing it would be to have something
06:29that not only would make that process easier,
06:32but could even do something like recommend foundations
06:34I should reach out to and kind of increase my chance of success there.
06:39So that was kind of one thing.
06:40And then interestingly, the job I had before this,
06:43I was working as chief of staff at a company called Main Street,
06:46which helps small businesses claim tax credits from the government.
06:49And they were doing something really amazing
06:50where they were essentially pulling all this HR and finance data
06:54into the system and spitting out like,
06:56hey, here's all the tax credits you qualify for
06:59for organizations that never knew they existed.
07:02And so I saw that and I was like, wow,
07:04how incredible would that be on the grants level?
07:07You have like almost half a trillion dollars moving
07:09into these nonprofits every year and 120 billion is in grants.
07:12And so many of them just don't even know they exist.
07:14So I think that was on one side.
07:16And the other side was just really in starting to work
07:19with some of our early advisors who were literally collecting
07:22applications in the mail.
07:24And then they were taking those paper applications
07:27and inputting fields into a spreadsheet
07:29to be able to do analysis on their giving.
07:32And so I think this is a pretty slow-moving industry.
07:36And so there was just so much opportunity
07:38to even take software basics
07:40and really change the way that people work.
07:42Yeah, and you're trying to innovate on an industry
07:45that's maybe hesitant to maybe change
07:47or doesn't maybe have the resources.
07:49Like you said, some of them just don't have as much
07:53financial resources and people don't see
07:55that there might be profit in those spaces.
07:57So there might be some hesitancy, I bet,
07:59to kind of push the needle in terms of making
08:01these processes easier.
08:02Yeah, exactly.
08:03And what's interesting is foundations
08:04are incredibly lean organizations.
08:06So an organization that gives out a million dollars a year
08:09probably has one person running it.
08:11And they're doing not only ensuring that those dollars
08:14are actually having an impact,
08:15they're also doing all the boring stuff
08:17like IRS compliance and basic reporting.
08:21So the impact you can have,
08:22especially because those teams are so small,
08:24just really is pretty amazing.
08:26In trying to innovate in this space,
08:28how much is AI coming into play?
08:30I mean, I feel like across the business world,
08:32there's a number of use cases for it.
08:35Some may be overhyped.
08:36Some really could be life-changing
08:38or business-changing.
08:39How do you see the AI space?
08:40How much are you guys using it in your own technology?
08:42Yeah, probably unsurprisingly,
08:44people in the nonprofit space are really,
08:46I think, nervous about AI.
08:48I think especially as it relates to
08:50any sort of misinformation
08:52or negative impact on the business.
08:54I think something that we've been trying to do
08:56is really nudge people to be a bit more comfortable,
08:59especially with AI tools that just aren't scary.
09:01So for example, on the applicant side of our system,
09:04I was mentioning that we could use AI
09:06to auto-suggest recommended answers.
09:10And with that, all we're pulling from
09:13is data that that nonprofit has already provided to us.
09:16So we're not pulling from an outside language model.
09:18We're not doing anything scary.
09:20It's just using efficiency that that organization
09:22essentially already generated on its own.
09:25And then similarly, on the foundation side,
09:28we're using AI to generate summaries
09:31of grant applications
09:33or generate summaries for a board recommendation.
09:36Again, only leveraging data that we already have
09:38inside the system and that that foundation already owns.
09:41And so it's been really interesting to see,
09:44actually I've been really surprised
09:45by the receptiveness of it,
09:47just because we've been able to explain like,
09:48hey, this thing isn't scary.
09:50The data already exists within your system.
09:53You're just using it to make faster decisions
09:57and maybe even more informed decisions.
09:58And so that's really where we started.
10:00And I think our end goal,
10:02we'd love to use the data in our system
10:05to be able to recommend nonprofits to our foundations
10:09or recommend foundations to the nonprofits in our system.
10:12We're not there yet,
10:13but I think we really want to make sure
10:14we're bringing our clients along with us.
10:17And so we've started with the low-hanging fruit.
10:20Definitely.
10:21What about Tamelio's software or technology
10:24is different from what exists today?
10:26Great question.
10:28So many things.
10:29I think, while this might seem silly,
10:31it is a lot prettier.
10:33Yeah.
10:34I mean, that can make a big difference.
10:35It's so much prettier.
10:36Yeah, in user experience,
10:37in ease of access, those sorts of things.
10:39Exactly.
10:40So people can log in and actually know
10:42where to find information.
10:44A lot of the existing systems are one.
10:46Our primary competitor was founded in 1980
10:50and went from being the first player in the space,
10:53on-prem software, migrated to the cloud,
10:56acquired all these companies.
10:57So everything's very piecemeal.
10:59And so not to get too much into the data nerd of it all,
11:03but a lot of the actual data models
11:06that build these other systems
11:08aren't actually allowing foundations
11:10to understand their business.
11:13So things as simple as,
11:15for example, we have a client
11:17that really cares about funding organizations
11:20where the demographics of the leadership
11:22are really diverse.
11:23And so in another system,
11:24it's impossible to see, well,
11:26how many dollars have we given to organizations
11:28with a leader of color
11:29because of the way that the system architecture is.
11:32And for us, we usually prioritize
11:34that ease of insights
11:36and ease of use.
11:38And we're definitely the ones
11:40pushing the envelope the most on the AI side too.
11:43So I think that's been a big difference.
11:45How do Gen Z values
11:47and being a Gen Z founder yourself
11:49and just having,
11:50or at least on the cusp,
11:51on the cusp of its generations,
11:53but how do, I mean,
11:54there's so much push for things like diversity,
11:56for things like sustainability practices
11:58that you were mentioning too.
11:59How are those values
12:00and the emerging generation of shoppers
12:03impacting what your company does
12:05and the interest in it?
12:06Yeah.
12:07I would say I'm very properly cusped.
12:08Yeah, yeah.
12:09I have a few millennial tendencies I have to admit,
12:11but yeah, I think it was like,
12:13it is really just like core
12:15to who we are as an organization.
12:16I think not only is it important
12:19just because I believe it's important,
12:22but also like the demographics
12:23of the philanthropic space
12:25are very diverse
12:26and it's really important
12:27that our team reflect our customers too.
12:31Like the philanthropic space
12:32is predominantly women
12:34and I want people to like see themselves in us.
12:37And so I think that's one thing
12:38that's really important.
12:40And I think like,
12:42this sounds so cheesy,
12:43but when my co-founder and I
12:45developed our company values,
12:47like that was just like a thread
12:50through all of it.
12:51Like we have,
12:52one of our company values
12:54is around like embedding empathy
12:56in everything you do.
12:57And so like we really try
12:58to not only listen to our team,
13:00but also listen to our clients in the space
13:02and make sure that's reflected.
13:04We have one value,
13:06that's one team, one dream,
13:07which is so cheesy,
13:09but also trying to like make sure
13:11our team feels supported
13:12and that we're all like kind of going
13:13towards the same goals.
13:15And so, yeah,
13:16I think we like really make an effort
13:18to embed that,
13:19like not only diversity of background,
13:22but also diversity of thought
13:23in everything we do.
13:24Yeah, definitely.
13:25What would you say is the future
13:26of the social impact space,
13:28the impact investing space
13:29and the grant space in general?
13:31Like where do you see this industry
13:32going in the future
13:33in the next couple of years?
13:35Such a good question.
13:38I mean, I think there's a couple
13:39of themes we're seeing.
13:42I think something someone said
13:43to me a while ago
13:44that really resonated
13:45with one of our clients
13:46is they were like,
13:48the government does things so slowly
13:52and foundations like have the power
13:55to do what the government can't do
13:57because they can move so much faster
13:58and like deploy capital so much faster.
14:00So I think like broadly speaking,
14:03this space is going to be like solving
14:06some of the most challenging problems
14:07we have over the next generation.
14:10So I feel like they're going to have
14:11an enormous impact
14:12on how we think about
14:14and tackle climate change.
14:15They're going to be the ones
14:16that are like understanding
14:18like truly preventative measures
14:20for homelessness in the country.
14:22Like they're the ones
14:23that can kind of innovate fastest
14:25because they're not regulated
14:26in the same way
14:27that like government programs are.
14:29And so I think like we're going
14:31to be leading on them a lot more
14:33in the coming years
14:34than we have in the past,
14:35which is nerve wracking,
14:37but it's also really exciting.
14:39So I think that's like on the broad level
14:42where like a big theme I see.
14:44And I think in terms of the more
14:46like minutiae of what we do,
14:48I would love to get to a place
14:50where like technology
14:52does enable nonprofits
14:54to like access grant funding
14:56faster and more easily
14:58and like allow something
15:00like the way we have
15:01a common application in college,
15:02like a common app for nonprofits,
15:05these foundations,
15:06and really be able
15:07to like deploy funds
15:08not only faster,
15:09but in a way that's like
15:10actually based in data
15:12and informed decision making.
15:13So I think if you think about
15:15the $120 billion
15:16that's moving through
15:17these foundations every year,
15:19like if we can optimize that
15:21for what's actually having
15:22the most impact,
15:23like the impact on the world
15:24is like really,
15:25can be really incredible.
15:26And you guys have also
15:27raised money yourself
15:28around $4 million in funding,
15:30correct?
15:31Why did you guys want
15:32to bring on that funding?
15:33What's that gone towards?
15:35Yeah, that's a great question.
15:36I think like the biggest thing
15:38for us was creating
15:39really high quality tech.
15:41And we really wanted
15:42to be able to hire
15:43the best people
15:44in the software space.
15:45And so most of our funding
15:48goes towards like hiring
15:49really, really good people.
15:51And that's like really
15:53the why behind it.
15:55Most of our cash
15:56is just personnel costs.
15:58And then we'll go
15:59to conferences every now
16:00and again and stuff.
16:01But really goes towards
16:03like hiring the best people
16:04in the software space
16:05and being able to bring on
16:06like the best advisors
16:07in the philanthropic space
16:09and compensate them accordingly.
16:11And that's really most
16:12of where it's gone.
16:13I think that there's
16:14a trend recently too
16:15in the startup space
16:16that venture capital
16:17and other forms of investment
16:19like that have been
16:20obviously for the past
16:21couple of decades
16:22a major source
16:23of financial support.
16:25And recently I feel like
16:26there's been a little bit
16:27of shift away,
16:28maybe towards grants,
16:29maybe towards something else.
16:30What would you say
16:31to founders or startups
16:32right now that are building
16:33in terms of deciding
16:34like what is the right route
16:35to go down if we need
16:36some financial support?
16:37I think this is
16:38such a great question.
16:39Especially because
16:40in my last role,
16:41it was the beginning stages
16:42of that role.
16:43It was very much
16:44in like the VC bubble
16:45where it was really easy
16:46to raise funds.
16:47And I think while that is nice,
16:49it also has a lot
16:50of negative downstream impacts
16:52in the way that it like
16:53causes startups to try
16:55and grow at all costs.
16:57That's not always
16:58the best choice
16:59for the customer
17:00or the team.
17:01And so in a weird way,
17:02I actually think
17:03this environment
17:04is one of the best ones
17:05to be building in
17:06because it really forces you
17:08to genuinely have
17:09product market fit.
17:11I do strongly believe
17:13that if you have
17:14a good product
17:15and there is a market need,
17:18like you will be able
17:19to raise money.
17:20It might not be to the tune
17:21of tens of millions of dollars,
17:23but you'll be able
17:24to bring in the capital
17:25you need to actually
17:26grow the business sustainably,
17:27which I do think
17:28at the end of the day
17:30is the best impact
17:31for the customer,
17:32which is ultimately
17:33what you're trying to serve.
17:34And so I don't know,
17:35I feel like I would definitely
17:36encourage people to do it
17:37and it just kind of forces people
17:38to be a bit more thoughtful
17:39with the way
17:40that they're building.
17:41Yeah.
17:42My last question for you is
17:43as a young founder
17:44under the age of 30,
17:45obviously helping a lot
17:46of both legacy companies
17:47work on these projects,
17:48but also some, you know,
17:49up and coming brands.
17:50What do you think
17:51being a young founder means to you?
17:52I'm sure there are, you know,
17:53pros and cons
17:54to being a young one
17:55in this space,
17:56but kind of what is that,
17:57what does that identity
17:58mean in your eyes?
17:59Yeah.
18:00I mean, I think initially
18:01it was definitely something
18:02that's a challenge
18:03in our space
18:04as an industry
18:05that really focuses
18:06on tradition
18:07and the status quo.
18:09And so I really just feel
18:11so grateful
18:12to the people
18:13that kind of helped
18:14bring us into those spaces,
18:15which is mostly our advisors.
18:18But I think at the same time,
18:19like being a younger founder,
18:20just like kind of widens
18:23what feels possible.
18:25And I think like my co-founders
18:28around my age as well,
18:29and I think we just both
18:30have such a broad sense
18:31of like what we can do
18:33versus some of our competitors
18:35in the space
18:36having done this for, you know,
18:3840 years are very much stuck
18:40on like, okay,
18:41well, let's just march down
18:43this like very linear path.
18:44It's done.
18:45Yeah.
18:46I think it really just gives you
18:47like a creativity.
18:48And I think it's also something
18:49I really admire about Gen Z
18:51is I think some people
18:52can be very frustrated
18:53by how like unstructured they are
18:57or like the, you know,
18:59they kind of like march
19:00to be their own drum.
19:01But I actually think
19:02it's that type of creativity
19:03that like allows you
19:04to find better solutions.
19:05And so I think like
19:07I definitely have
19:08a little bit of that in me
19:10that very much makes me excited
19:11to be like a younger founder
19:13in this space.
19:15Yeah.
19:16And I do think
19:17at the end of the day,
19:18like I love being a founder.
19:19I love like working in software,
19:24but also like it's the people
19:26that we actually are building for
19:28that are the ones
19:29moving the needle
19:30and changing the world.
19:31I feel like we're just
19:32this like tiny little connector
19:34in the impact space.
19:36And so it's just like
19:37really an honor
19:38to be able to play
19:39that tiny, tiny role.
19:40Yeah, that's awesome.
19:41Well, thank you so much
19:42for joining me today.
19:43I'm super excited
19:44to see what we can do more.
19:45Yeah, it was great being here.