Black people deserve more seats at the table in tech, and Sean Mendy is on a mission to make it possible! Sean Mendy is the co-founding partner of Concrete Rose, a company that invests financial and social capital into groundbreaking ventures led by underrepresented founders of color. They are also committed to founders who have demonstrated a solid commitment to creating inclusive cultures and building out diverse teams. Mendy’s journey is often unheard of as he grew up in Silicon Valley and is now taking his knowledge to help equip Black people with more access to positions in the tech space.

As the founder and CEO at Upsie, Clarence Bethea has the magic sauce when it comes to securing funding. During the latest episode of AfroTech’s Black Tech Green Money (BTGM), he shares how he managed to raise an $18.2 million funding round thanks to his perseverance. He also breaks down what Silicon Valley looks like for Black companies and founders — an experience that surely came with lessons. “I remember we had like 80 Silicon Valley investors there and it was a hard lesson for me to learn,” he shared about one particular experience with the Village Capital program. “They didn’t give a damn about me and it was clear that I meant nothing to them. I was just a Black guy in the room.” Clarence Bethea also recalls a sobering experience with an investor during his time in the program. “I actually had an investor say to me, ‘Clarence, I’ve never seen a Black founder go to exit or IPO at like a billion-plus exit. So, I just have a hard time believing that a Black founder can build a big...

You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to build a tech empire thanks to innovators like this! Hajj Flemings is the founder of Rebrand Cities, a global design partnership created with WordPress.com with a goal to get 10,000 small businesses online. “I think historically if you look at the DNA of Black and Latinx people, we have always had a creative DNA in us,” said Flemings on the latest episode of Black Tech Green Money with host Will Lucas. “We’re typically in a situation where there are high barriers of entry, there are access issues, but still we always figure out a way to do more with less,” he continued. For Flemings, it’s super important that Black founders and creatives understand that they don’t have to flee to Silicon Valley just to make their entrepreneurship dreams come true. He shares insight on what founders can do if they do decide to stay in a place where it seems things like building an app can’t be done. “In all of these cities, there are anchors,” Flemings...

At some point in our lives, we’ll all need to understand the importance of access to care. For Anita Darden Gardyne, that moment has come through Onēva — a technology platform that connects FBI-background checked caregivers to people who need them. “Learning that we were going to have baby boomers who would retire at some point in their lives was something that I became aware of at an early age,” said Gardyne in an interview with AfroTech. “The need for job creation for people who look like us is what Onēva is all about.” As a tech czar, she has spent years working with companies like Microsoft and held leadership positions including roles as CFO at Quantum (Seagate). It’s these same roles that Gardyne says prepared her to own and operate her own technology company.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Onēva (@onevainc) “Those roles absolutely prepared me for many years,” she continued. It also equipped me with the knowledge of the audience for this corporate structure....

“As a Black queer man in tech I never really was invited to have a seat at the table,” shares Rhett Lindsey, former Facebook and Tinder recruiter making waves in Silicon Valley through his new app. Siimee (see-me) is a new recruiting platform designed to help job seekers and employers by focusing on who people are, not what they are in order to change a system that needs work when it comes to hiring people from all walks of life. Lindsey joined us via Zoom and shared his passion for getting HR & Recruiting right through his new platform, where companies get it wrong in the hiring process, and what about building something from the ground up brings him joy. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Siimee™️ (@siimee_app) AfroTech: What inspired you to create Siimee? Rhett Lindsey: I wanted to build an inclusive platform, specifically in a tech startup environment that truly focuses on recruitment, outreach, and job...

If you’re someone looking to launch a career in tech or make the transition into the industry, Ruben Harris and his team at Career Karma are your guys! AfroTech’s Will Lucas had the chance to sit down with the Bay Area transplant from Atlanta, Georgia to discuss how the app helps job training programs find qualified applicants. As the CEO and co-founder of Career Karma and someone who was once like the job seekers looking for an opportunity within their respective fields, Harris first broke into his career within technology after writing a viral blog post called Breaking Into Startups. It was this blog post that showed how he was able to move to San Francisco without a job before landing a position just three weeks later. During the Black Tech, Green Money podcast, Harris shares how he used his same motivation and hunger for breaking into tech to develop his platform in response to the thousands of emails that followed the viral post with other users hoping to have the same success....

Launching a company is difficult, and limited funding is the most common barrier to entry to the startup world. Do you have a great idea, but you’re trying to figure out how to fund it? Are you already running a startup, but cash is running out fast? Here are some ways to raise capital for your startup: Save Money Saving money isn’t easy, but it’s the most straightforward way to raise funds for your business. If you’re still working a regular full-time job, commit to saving a part of your current salary to help fund your dreams. Review your monthly expenses and eliminate unnecessary expenses like subscriptions and expensive lunches. If you live with roommates or a significant other, consider sharing expenses to reduce cost per person. This might include shopping in bulk, sharing an Amazon Prime account (or any subscription for that matter), and taking advantage of family memberships at the gym. If you’re already committed to your startup on a full-time basis, you should be auditing...

While Los Angeles has long been known as a prime locale for seed funding, the latest financial trends reveal that times are changing. Tinseltown is now becoming a place for startups to pursue more expansive venture capital funding , a distinction previously unique to the San Francisco Bay Area. A look at performance statistics of LA venture capitalists offers some insight. California early-stage ­funder Amplify notes that within the last decade, LA startups have raised more than $35 billion , ranking second only to their Silicon Valley counterparts in a 10-year U.S. venture capital funding overview. According to Pitchbook, Los Angeles funders have now raised approximately $12 billion in venture capital from 627 funding efforts in 2019 , landing fifth place in national ranking. Pitchbook noted one of the reasons for the emerging trend. “Until recently, the city’s venture capitalists have been best known for seed rounds in a region that is home to only a few large firms. However, the...