Why This Entrepreneur Left Nike to Found a Startup With VF to Fight Climate Change

Innovation is Isaiah Steinfeld’s bread and butter. The serial entrepreneur has been in the startup and development space for over a decade, holding positions across innovation labs such as Neon Giant and most recently Nike’s Valiant Labs. Now, Steinfeld is working on a new venture with VF Venture Foundry, the startup incubating arm of VF Corp., which is the parent company for The North Face, Vans, Supreme and Timberland, among others. The Denver-based program encourages founders and entrepreneurs to develop and launch startups with capital from the company. VF has invested in Steinfeld’s Foundry project, a platform called Wild Scout that helps parents discover unique outdoor experiences for their kids.  In addition to encouraging awareness for climate change, Steinfeld hopes his project will expand access to outdoor activities for people of color and underrepresented communities. As a Filipino, Steinfeld noted that these groups are on average less likely to engage in such activities.  “The mission is to bring more awareness to climate change while helping to create equitable access to the outdoors,” Steinfeld told Footwear News in an interview.  Before being approached by Venture Foundry, Steinfeld was working at Nike as the global senior director of advanced innovation in Valiant Labs, Nike’s in-house incubation

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