CoBuild founder razes his social venture; now he’s banking its mission’s success on a new blueprint 

Closing his startup CoBuild was bittersweet for Tate Williams, but the mission that drove the company isn’t going away. Instead, he’s carrying it forward in a new role at the Central Bank of Kansas City.

Williams officially shut down CoBuild this January. The construction startup, launched in 2018, had built a reputation for opening doors for women and minorities in the trades. 

Three months after it shuttered, he stepped into his new role as CBKC’s first Community Housing Banker, a position designed to combine his construction expertise with the bank’s commitment to community development.

“It’s the same mission, but on a new platform and on a different scale,” said Williams.

Rodney Woodard and Tate Williams, CoBuild, pitching their company during a 2024 LaunchKC Social Venture Studio event; Startland News photo

Adjusting ownership plans

The CoBuild team in 2024; courtesy photo

CoBuild gained traction within LaunchKC’s 2024 Social Venture Studio, as well as KC Bizcare’s “Do The Right Thing” social impact pitch competition. Williams envisioned transitioning the business to employee ownership, but as he discussed the idea with his team, it became clear they wanted a different path.

“In talking with the employees, the path forward they wanted was to be entrepreneurs themselves and to run their own businesses, not to take over an existing one,” he said. “What we were aligned around was the mission, but that didn’t all have to come through one specific vehicle.”

Rather than closing a door, Williams helped open new ones, referring clients to former employees who launched their own ventures.

“My pathway to the horizon for CoBuild was employee ownership. That ended up not being the correct pathway, but the destination ended up being the right decision,” he said.

Rodney Woodard and Tate Williams, CoBuild, accept the Startland News Reader’s Choice award at the Do The Right Thing competition; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Balancing entrepreneurship, family

Halting CoBuild’s progress was also personal for Williams. He and his wife are raising six children, including four adopted through foster care. The demands of running a startup, he said, often clashed with the time he wanted to devote at home.

“It’s frustrating that in this country, entrepreneurship often is put on a collision course with family,” Williams said. “For me, 60 percent of my decision was based around, ‘I can’t live this tension.’ The trade off of taking time away from them to focus on building something for other people really is a well intentioned effort, but it was maybe misordered.”

Emerging Builders in transition

While CoBuild has ended, its nonprofit counterpart, Emerging Builders, continues as an independent 501(c)(3). Programming is currently on hiatus while its board — which includes Williams and several former employees — reassesses how best to serve students and young workers in today’s shifting economic climate.

Christiana McCully, Tate Williams, Rodney Woodard, and Heidi Brake, CoBuild; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

“The organization has paused operations and recruitment of any participants to sort of revisit what is needed in this new dynamic,” Williams said. “The philanthropic and grant funding landscape has completely changed. A lot of federal grants have been either paused or eliminated.”

Those changes mirror broader industry shifts, he noted.

“As the topic of immigration rises to this fever pitch, those dynamics are going to have some ripple impacts into the trade industries,” Williams said. “We are anticipating the industry to begin changing its approach to youth who are in high school in this country.”

Emerging Builders is now exploring how tools like AI, robotics, and advanced training equipment could accelerate skill development and better prepare young people for trades careers.

A natural next step

Williams’ new role at CBKC was years in the making, he said, with the social entrepreneur first crossing paths with the institution while working on the Paseo Gateway redevelopment project, where the bank served as a financier. Over time, that connection grew into mutual respect and, ultimately, a clear career transition.

CBKC is the only Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) bank headquartered in Kansas City. A CDFI designation, granted by the U.S. Treasury, requires financial institutions to direct most of their lending into low-income or distressed communities. 

Today, the bank has become a key player in affordable housing projects across 14 states, Williams said, noting that joining the team felt like a natural progression. 

“Truly, it was like this very clear alignment of the mission that I was working on, but just at a completely different scale,” he said. “Instead of being the person talking to young people, I’m now able to support 10 people who are talking to young people and trying to create jobs for them.”

What excites Williams most, he added, is the chance to connect others with financial resources that expand their capacity to serve.

“Whatever the outcome is, I’m now able to do way more at scale in serving the mission than I was able to do previously,” Williams said.

Although CoBuild has officially ended, its work continues, he added — through his position at Central Bank of Kansas City, as well as through the entrepreneurs who left previously and now are forging ahead on their own.

“Let’s put a horizon on this business, but not a horizon on the mission,” he said. “Now I have a platform that expands that mission while supporting others that I’ve worked with over the years.”