Since my original post "Startup America Should Look Like America," there has been a firestorm of discussions about the topic of minority-led startups and the lack of diversity amongst startup founders and Silicon Valley companies all across the web.
When THE Guy Kawasaki responded on Twitter with:
I am yellow, male, non-Ivy League in wide Lucky jeans.
I knew that I was onto something BIG. And why not? Those of us in the tech startup and social enterprise world are quick to throw around concepts like "impact investing" and "disruption," but when it's asked of us in our own backyards, "change" and "inclusiveness" don't easily seem to follow through on. Guy wasn't the only big name in tech to respond (mostly because I targeted them - and they were really good about it):
Dave McClure gave his thoughts on how 500Startups do have a few minority-led startups sprinkled around:
Out of 90 @500startups co's: 3 black, 10-12 women, 10-15 non-white founder/CEOs. but no quotas or ratios.
Fellow Brooklynite, Jason Calacanis of Mahalo and the LAUNCH Conference replied with:
Who are we missing? Feels diverse to me.... Feel free to make suggestions!
while writing this blog entry, Kevin Doyle Jones from the social enterprise sector gave his recommendations:
Penelope Douglas, our new board pres. has 12 yrs successful exp w minority led biz funding.
and lastly, even the Startup America Partnership had something to add:
Thanks for sharing, suggestions are very much welcomed.
So there is a lot of interest in this area. Anything having to do with race, gender, culture mixed in with topics around inclusiveness, affirmative-action, diversity, and under-representation would rile up even those observing from a distance.
One of the responses I received was through my About.Me personal landing page read,
I was really touched by the article you tweeted and had to let u know i appreciated it. My friend and i fresh out of business school are trying to start a tech business here in nyc and finding contacts or a mentor is like winning lotto. Thanks for the encouragement and god bless. Press on, no retreat.
I then went on to recommend the Entrepreneur Roundtable in New York led by Murat Aktihanoglu, Jeff Pulver's 140 Conference community, and the wonderful folks at Digital DUMBO as affordable events that attract a diverse pool of talent and technology leadership.
I recently came across this Quora list of notable Black, Latino, South Asian, and East Asian founders, entrepreneurs, and executives in Silicon Valley.
Because I started a fire that a lot of people are bringing their own set of matches to, I've had the wonderful opportunity to hear from Allen Herbert, founder of the first African-American owned commercial space company (who I'd love to invite to sit on the Careersters' advisory board), and the dynamic mother and son duo team of Hustle & Code. The links and referrals keep coming in from those who also feel as I, and many others do, that something has to be done about the lack of resources and support for minority-led startups if we are ever to fulfill the vision that President Obama describes as "Startup America." I agree with initiatives like "No Chicks, No Excuses" (Thank you Shelley Krause for bringing this to my attention), that have a no-holds barred approach to matching qualified talent with opportunities, so why can't we?
That is when I had an idea.
What if Super Angels & Tech Mavens like McClure, Arrington, Conway, Calcanis and many others made history, not just BLACK History, but AMERICAN history by introducing a startup incubator that targets minority-led startups with the power and attention of a TechCrunch Disrupt or a LAUNCH conference? I imagine that if one of these legends decided to make something like this happen, it would garner support and attention from major news outlets, groups, and well, they'd also be cooler than Kelsey Grammer producing Girlfriends & The Game!
But why them? Why should wealthy, influential, mostly white men and women get involved in diversifying the leadership pool of America's 21st century digital age?
Where would Tuskegee University be if Andrew Carnegie hadn't decided to support the pioneering work of Booker T. Washington, or the success of Mary McLeod Bethune's education startup without the aide of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt? Even Albert Einstein lent his voice to the fledgling journal, The Crisis, W.E.B. Dubois' publication.
Those with great influence in politics, finance, and who led monolithic industries like steel manufacturing, were subject to ridicule and social criticism for "aiding the Negro cause." When Carnegie donated $600,000 to Tuskegee, he wrote to his Jr. Trustee William H. Baldwin: "I wish that great and good man to be entirely free from pecuniary cares that he may be free to devote himself to his great mission."
I personally wouldn't be the startup founder I am today if it weren't for John Esposito, then CEO of Schieffelin & Somerset Co. who asked me to consider working for his company after hearing me speak at my college gala. I made an appointment with him and walked right up to his office. I interviewed him for my school news journal and he in turn walked me over to the company's human resources office with the "make sure he's hired" gesture to the woman with whom I was interviewed by. That foray into corporate America changed my life and allowed me to look at solving social issues with a business sense so that any solution I come up with is both fiscally sustainable, scalable, and in concert with a great high performing team. He simply "opened the door" and I handled the rest.
My purpose for writing the blog that "Startup America Should Look Like America" was birthed not just from my own experience of building an edtech startup, but it was also meant to reflect on the trials and tribulations that come with entrepreneurship. Whether someone chooses to fund or support my venture is their choice; I'm from Brooklyn so I'm used to dealing with a hard knock life. The issue of there being a minority-led startup gap was brought to light after reading the Feb. 9th 2011 press release from the Black Economic Council that said "no industry may have a worse record in California in the hiring of Blacks, Latinos, Southeast Asian Americans and women than Google, Apple and Oracle."
This means that the pipeline isn't there to go from working with a major tech company to launching one's own venture for most minorities in Silicon Valley and the overarching tech world. There aren't enough Blacks, Latinos, and other minorities who can be described as "Super Angels" or "Tech Mavens" who have a voice in the startup world that can massively move an audience.
We can have incubator programs with a few people of color here and there, but if we were to compare the tech industry to the music industry, it'd be the difference between Atlantic Records and Motown. Atlantic may have been more successful, but Berry Gordy Jr.'s Motown created a "distinct sound" that became identified with American music and what truly makes America great. No other country has lifted their minorities to such a degree and have created channels for the under-represented to "represent" themselves in fresh, bold, and entrepreneurial ways like America. No other nation has a Motown.
We need more Motowns in Silicon Valley, and it starts with the tech industries' top figures.
We need more news coverage, blogging, and academic research about diversity in the startup tech sector.
We need more conversations like these to happen all across the web and the nation.
We need more examples of leadership that young urban kids can look up to.
During the first day of Black History Month, I was asked to join a judging panel for high school students in Oakland who were presenting their mock business plans. BUILD, the organization that matched urban school students with business professionals did a wonderful job grooming and preparing them in ways that would provide them with lifelong skills to deter them from being "at-risk" of academic and social failure. What I learned from that experience, while also having fun with the students during the Q&A portion, was how invaluable it was for them to interact with someone like me, an actual tech startup founder who looks likes them and understands the troubles and challenges they face every day in their neighborhoods. Just "showing up" made a lasting difference, and that is what all our kids need, more role models who will actually show up in their lives to remind them that their wildest dreams are not only attainable but indispensable.
So all I'm asking is that we all do our part to make history. I believe Silicon Valley's super angels and tech mavens can close the minority-led startup gap by starting with an incubator that unifies a Mexican technologist from Los Angeles with the poor White prodigy from the South Side of Chicago, or the young Black female engineer from Atlanta. An incubator that gathers the best from the rest.
If we can fight so hard for Startup Visas that attract and keep talent from all around the world, isn't it time we put the same amount of effort and resources towards lifting the aspirations of the talent we have in our very own backyard? Palo Alto, look towards East Palo Alto; San Francisco, look towards Oakland; Manhattan, look towards the Bronx and Brooklyn. From Newark, New Jersey to Detroit, Michigan, let's proudly claim that the startups of the 21st century were proudly made in America.
This is our chance to make history!
