Amy and I, through our Anchor Point Foundation , are supporting the Grid110 – South LA program . Austin Clements was one of the Black VCs I reached out to after George Floyd was murdered with the question, “What are two things you are involved in that I can support with time, money, and influence?” I knew Austin from his time at TenOneTen Ventures (we are an LP) and I reconnected with him when he joined the Kauffman Fellows Program (Class 25). ...
Amy and I, through our Anchor Point Foundation, underwrote a new video series on PBS 12 called From Moment to Movement*.* From the trailer: Tensions around race relations have been simmering for centuries in the U.S. Now they’re now at a boiling point. Meanwhile, President Trump’s administration is treating Black Lives Matters protestors like domestic terrorists. Millions of Americans, especially Black Americans, continue to rally to make their voices heard. From Moment to Movement” aims to give a platform to African American voices and dismantle systemic racism. ...
Amy and I, through our Anchor Point Foundation , recently provided the seed grant to the ParentPreneur Foundation . Founded by James Oliver, the ParentPreneur Foundation empowers Black people to be the best parents and entrepreneurs possible providing them money, tools, resources, and social capital. I’ve known James for several years. After George Floyd was murdered, James was one of my Black friends who I called up and asked, “What are two things you are involved in that I can support with time, money, and influence?” ...
I recently was in an email thread where a Black founder had a powerful and clear response to the question from one of her corporate partners. The question was: How can our (the corporate partner’s) team better support diversity in our work, particularly in our sourcing, diligence, and onboarding efforts? The entrepreneur responded with a long explanation that was a brilliant and extremely helpful perspective for me. It follows. I think one of my core experiences, and a truth that we all have to grapple with, is that programs like yours should be thought of like higher education in 1960, or getting into a NYC Specialized High School today. ...
In response to my post, Contemporary Mentors , a female reader of this blog who often sends me notes when I fall into a pattern of highlighting cis-het-white men, responded directly to the post with: I hope that you add more women and more diversity to your contemporary mentors. Otherwise you are in the same fucking echo chamber. I responded with: I have many women mentors. Here’s some: Lucy Sanders, Heidi Roizen, Madeleine Albright, Amy Batchelor, Wendy Lea, Nicole Glaros, Arlan Hamilton, Freada Kapor Klein, Lesa Mitchell, Jean Case … And many women who I learn a ton from that I wish I had a mentee relationship (or contemporary mentor relationship with) – (e.g. Melinda Gates, Susan Cain, Brené Brown). ...
If you are a venture capitalist, I strongly encourage you to join the Valence Funding Network to provide Black founders with direct access to VCs. I’ve joined along with a number of my peers. Kobie Fuller at Upfront Ventures started Valence in the fall of 2019. Valence launched our beta platform to provide a digital home for Black talent to connect, access opportunities, and aggregate their power. Valence exists to change the dynamic where Black founders receive a disproportionately low amount of venture funding (today – just 1 percent ). ...
Today, I participated in the Juneteeneth 4.0 Celebration that was hosted by OHUB , ThePlug , and Living Cities and led by Rodney Sampson . In addition to being part of a panel, I made several commitments as part of the #RacialEquityEcosystemPledge . Here’s the fact sheet released by OHUB today. I’ve agreed to: Do a monthly podcast called Equity.District with Rodney on racial equity in entrepreneurial ecosystems and other issues around racial equity in entrepreneurship. Help organize and co-host a Racial Equity conference inclusive of Rodney’s network, my network, and anyone else who wants to participate. Make a meaningful financial contribution to the OHUB Foundation from the Anchor Point Foundation . If you are able, I encourage you to donate as well. Make a meaningful financial contribution to at least two more Black-led ecosystem building organizations recommended by OHUB. Work with Rodney and the OHUB team on an ongoing campaign to raise money for Black ecosystem builders, funds, and founders. The entire event is below. There’s a lot of awesome stuff in it. ...
I’m going to participate in the Juneteeneth 4.0 Celebration tomorrow from 1pm – 4pm ET. It’s being hosted by OHUB , ThePlug , and Living Cities . I’ll be part of a fireside chat with Rodney Sampson (CEO, OHUB) and Ben Hecht (CEO, Living Cities) where, among other things, we’ll discuss the introduction of Racial Equity Pledge. Rodney is one of the dozen or so Black colleagues that I reached out to and talked to over the last two weeks to learn more about what I could get involved in and immediately support with time and money. Ohub is one of those organizations and I’ve already learned a lot from Rodney, such as several different ways to think about changing the equation around racial inequity in tech. A framework I got from him that I immediately related to is his Economic Development Pyramid. ...
Shortly after George Floyd was murdered, I started calling Black VC and entrepreneur friends asking them “what are two things you are involved in that I can immediately support with time and money.” Arlan Hamilton was my first call. In addition to asking me to spend more time with Backstage Capital portfolio companies and founders, she told me about a non-profit called Cover that she created in 2016 with Bryan Landers and Dianne Cherrez. ...
On Monday, June 1st, I told Amy that I wanted to engage deeply in helping eliminate racism in the United States. I’ve been involved in gender inequity issues since I joined the National Center for Women & Information Technology board in 2005 shortly after it was formed. 15 years later, I’ve learned an enormous amount about gender, especially in tech, and while I am nowhere near finished on that particular journey, I feel that I understand and can be helpful in my role as a male advocate (or “male ally”) in eliminating gender inequity in tech and entrepreneurship. ...