Black startup founders have to navigate a difficult landscape when seeking funding for their ideas compared to their non-Black peers. Challenges such as a lack of diverse representation at venture capital firms and entrenched “old boys clubs,” create real obstacles that litter the stories of Black founders seeking success. Recently, two Black founders took to social media to share their stories and how these challenges have affected them personally.
Matt Joseph, co-founder of Locent, posted an illuminating and personal string of tweets on Saturday about challenges of being a startup founder of color. Joseph, a Princeton graduate with a JD/MBA from UCLA, co-founded Locent, an innovative text messaging platform featured in the Summer 2015 Y Combinator.
Joseph begins by describing the “elephant in the room” at Y Combinator’s Demo day
1/ Lemme see if I can break this down. I’m spending a lot of time with VCs heading into YC demo day and there’s an elephant in the room.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
2/ The fundraising process is definitely different for founders of color than it is for others. Both for the founders and VCs evaluating us.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
He describes the strained relationship between founders of color and venture capitalists
3/ Why? On the VC side there’s inevitable pressure to not be racist. ‘He’s no different than anyone else.’ So you don’t touch race/ethnicity
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
4/ On the founder side, esp in tech, race comes into everything we do. We succeed in spite of the biases that exist everywhere around us.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
And reminds people that the “Work twice as hard, for half as much” sentiment still rings true
7/ To get anywhere as a minority in tech you have to be more resilient than those around you. That’s a fact. We’re held to a diff standard.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
9/ What better evidence do you have of grit than traction in a product in the face of all of that? Think about it
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
He calls out implicit biases and the retaining of stereotypes
11/ Here’s the thing dude-you invest in founders. You pattern match against other success you’ve seen. I don’t look like Zuck or Butterfield
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
12/ Whether you realize or not, you pattern match me as well. But that’s where stereotypes play in. Can you name 5 black CEOs w exits? 1?
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
Not to mention the emotional toll it takes on founders knowing what they have what it takes to succeed
14/ Because I’ve experienced enough clear bias to plant the seed in my mind everywhere I go. Not just me, most people of color in tech have.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
16/ Ha. Dude I went to Princeton. I got a JD/MBA from UCLA. I’m in YC. My pedigree speaks for itself. How can you question my business cred?
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
18/ Wanna know the real difference between them and me? I don’t fit your pattern. You have no archetype for me. So the bar for me is higher.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
Finally, Joseph brings it all home
24/ We had to overcome things that others in the exact same position didn’t have to. That means with equal conditions, we’d be much further.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
26/ And for tech to move forward, these issues need to come out into the open. Not just for founders, but for everyone in the ecosystem
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
28/ Locent didn’t start when I filed incorporation docs. It started 22 yrs ago when I was the only black kid in a class full of white kids.
— Matt Joseph (@_mattjoseph) March 19, 2016
kweliTV founder, DeShuna Spencer took to Medium to share her story in a post called, Diary of a (Mad) Black Woman Without VC Funding. kweliTV is a Black video streaming service that steams indie films, web shows, documentaries, and news programming. In her post, Spencer shares her story which includes winning (and losing) fundraising competitions, dealing with life’s challenges, and finally launching a product. Towards the end of her post, Spencer observes,
[W]hen I say I’m a “mad” black woman without VC funding. It doesn’t mean I’m angry. Am I frustrated, overworked and depressed at times — of course! But I’m far from angry. By “mad”, I mean I’m crazy, cuckoo, loco! Despite all of the evidence that suggests that I will fail, I’m still insane enough to take on this adventure.
The struggle of Black men and women in seeking funding from venture capitalists is well documented. Digital Undivided reports that white men get $1.3 million for their products on average compared to just $36,000 for Black women. Venture capitalist Richard Kerby argues that other capitalists give within their established networks creating an “old-boys” club of colleagues, friends, and college alumni that Blacks often struggle to infiltrate. While diversity issues in funding continue to challenge Black founders, it hasn’t halted the initiatives staking claims in Silicon Valley.
