LegacyShift

LegacyShift is a business-to-business software-as-a-service platform that automates and streamlines workplace mentorship and coaching programs. The product applies AI/ML and gamification so that organizations can use their existing internal talent to help employees develop new skills, with stated goals of workforce development and retention at scale.

The company positions its offering against two gaps it identifies in the market: internal corporate mentorship that tends to depend on existing personal networks or seniority, and external professional coaching, which it characterizes as expensive and inaccessible to many professionals. It also cites remote work as a factor reducing hands-on support, networking and visibility opportunities for employees.

Founding story

Co-founder and CEO Sandra Appiah Babu-Boateng has said she started the company out of her own experience as an immigrant and Black woman for whom mentorship and coaching were central to career progress, and out of the observation that many professionals, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, never obtain a mentor inside their organization. She and co-founder Isaac previously built what they describe as the largest U.S.-based digital media platform for the Black diaspora community, which scaled to more than 3 million monthly users and worked with enterprises including Prudential, Toyota and State Farm. Together the founders cite over 20 years of combined experience advising companies on DEI and workplace culture and building programs supporting the advancement of multicultural professionals.

Business model

The company sells a SaaS platform to organizations, which deploy it to run internal mentorship and coaching programs for their workforces.

Traction

By December 2022 the company reported having completed Techstars, received coverage in Forbes, and accumulated more than 40 organizations on its waitlist.