Being Black in tech can be an unfriendly place, a reality I’ve encountered. However, the road becomes even more formidable when you’re a Black founder in tech.
The stark statistics reinforce this reality. TechCrunch’s report revealing that a mere 1% of last year’s venture capital funds found their way to Black founders speaks volumes. So, what exactly does it require to secure funding in a landscape that predominantly lacks diversity?
Being Black in tech requires founders to have near-perfect preparation and unshakeable grit.
Amid discouraging numbers in the world of funding, three Black founders reveal their strategies for defying the odds and achieving the feat of securing top-tier venture capital funding for their startups:
1. Prepare To Be ‘The Only’ In The Room
Fresh off of a $4.5 million fundraising round, Darrian Mikell is a Black founder who has beaten the odds. He is the CEO of Qualifi, a virtual interview platform devoted to minimizing visual bias for recruiters and candidates. “If you want to raise a great round, it is so important to prepare to be the “only one in the room” in most cases during a fundraise,” Mikell said via email. “I remember being in a virtual room of 40+ white VC leaders. I could’ve been scared and let that win, but I chose to be extremely prepared, have a business I believe in, and we won their investment.”
Being “the only” in a room can create the feeling of being an outsider in an industry that does not offer many seats at the table. Exactly how do we get into the room where the table is?
2. Shift To An Insider Mindset
When asked about “breaking into” tech, Yaw Aning, Co-founder and CEO of the order tracking platform Malomo, thinks it’s time for a reframing. “That phrase creates the perception that you don’t belong in the first place, as if you need to find a ‘secret door’ to get in,” said Aning via email. “I think that creates a problematic mental barrier for Black founders that needs to change. If you don’t believe you deserve to be in the room, no one else will. “
For Aning, tech was where he belonged from a young age. “My father was a programmer, and my mother was a systems analyst. They always pushed my siblings and me to learn how to program or use creative design tools on our home computer, encouraging us to express ourselves.” He fell in love with web design and found writing code was freeing.
Yet without early exposure, Aning said, “I wouldn’t have pursued a career in tech if not for them showing me what was possible and framing it as a way to express myself creatively.” Getting into the room takes self-belief and guidance, but staying there takes grit.
3. Never Give Up
Representation, the be it if we can see it mantra, is only possible when Black founders stay in tech. Nick Turner saw a safety gap in transaction markets like Offerup and Craigslist when his friend was robbed at gunpoint selling his iPhone on Facebook Marketplace.
He created DeliverEnd, an on-demand delivery service for consumers buying and selling through online marketplaces and private sales to solve this problem. “Startups only fail when founders give up,” Turner said via Instagram Message. “Only a handful of Black entrepreneurs hit unicorn status from building their business from the ground up with no money from athletics or music.” It is a challenge building a tech company without funding from scratch.
“We must not give up on what we are building,” Turner said. “Baby steps still move you forward. No matter how long it takes to accomplish a specific goal, continue moving things forward and don’t give up.”
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