Cristal Harris

I n 2016, 253 venture capital funds raised $41.6 billion , a 10-year high, and invested it into promising startups. There is so much money floating around to help founders realize their dreams, yet less than 1% of venture funding goes to black founders . So how can black founders learn to appeal to venture capitalists and secure the bag for their tech businesses? This is where Founder Gym comes in. Only seven months old, Founder Gym was created to help solve the funding gap and ensure more venture capital gets deployed to underrepresented founders, including black founders. Via an intense five-week virtual bootcamp, selected founders are given the structure, accountability and connections needed to advance their entrepreneurial endeavors. In its first two cohorts, Founder Gym graduated 70 founders, 50% of whom are black. We recently asked our black founders what advice they could give to other black founders who aspire to raise capital for their business. Here is what they said: “Be...