Charlotte's Black founders are tired.
Tired of the "say" instead of "do." Tired of being overlooked. Tired of having to work harder for less.
The lack of VCs, Angels and lenders seriously committed to investing in Black founders the same way they invest in White founders is part of the reason why BLKTECHCLT founder Sherrell Dorsey said she left the Queen City altogether.
Dorsey worked for years to establish a strong presence in Charlotte but eventually moved her digital news platform The Plug to Atlanta because of the lack of support from the White, male-dominated startup ecosystem here.
"I think the challenge with racism, discrimination and the one percent is that no one is willing to give up their power," she said. "People want to do things that will not hurt them, so they say, 'I’m willing to let you come to the room, but I’m not willing to let you take my seat.' We need people who are accomplices, not allies."
Dorsey said it's not enough to be an ally who only verbalizes support. She wants other Black entrepreneurs to have a different experience than she had.
A handful of tech companies and startup-focused organizations have made longstanding efforts to lay the groundwork for diversity in Charlotte's startup ecosystem.
"we questioned our past commitment and felt an urge to up the ante, yet again. Not in words, but in action."
City Startup Labs, founded in 2014, was created as a way for founder and Executive Director Henry Rock to share valuable education tools and resources with Black millennial founders.
"Our intention has always been to get these folks off the sidelines," he said. "There are a lot of challenges Black founders have when it comes to understanding themselves and how society sees them ... So we teach them how to navigate what it takes to really bring an idea into reality."
Rock said the challenges here in Charlotte are not insular, though.
"The kinds of challenges Charlotte faces are not unlike what we see elsewhere around the country in terms of Black founders being acknowledged, not just in terms of value as it relates to their ideas, but also being acknowledged when it comes to funding," he said.
In early 2019, City Startup Labs shifted gears and began working with formerly incarcerated individuals. The ReEntry Entrepreneurship Program, or REEP, aims to give those people the tools they need to earn a living wage.
The program helps with "developing entrepreneurial capacity and sparking innovation from within this population."
"This is a population that really requires a lot more attention, and principally that has to do with barriers to employment," he said. "So we look at how to get folks within this population to join the entrepreneurial parade like we did when we were just thinking about Black millennial founders."
Tresata is also no stranger to incorporating inclusion initiatives into its foundation. Co-founder Abhishek Mehta sent out an open letter on Juneteenth discussing how the company intends to grow those initiatives. In it, Mehta wrote that in Tresata's early stages, he and co-founder Richard Morris made a commitment to ensuring diversity was entwined in company culture.
Charla Fields, director of Tresata's For the World partnership, said employees are about 50 percent female and 50 percent people of color.
Mehta describes that as Tresata's biggest company achievement. "Not only did we make the commitment, we acted on it," he wrote in the letter. "But then George Floyd happened, and we questioned our past commitment and felt an urge to up the ante, yet again. Not in words, but in action."
Tresata's continued commitment to inclusivity is multifaceted, Fields said, and includes more accessible education for Black founders by making Tresata Academy, its AI, data and analytics educational program, free to people of color. Additionally, Fields said they are pursing partnerships with established organizations like BLCKTECHCLT, Tech Talent South, Digi-Bridge and Project Scientist to find out how to best serve the Black community through investment and employment.
"It would be foolish of us to say we have the answers... We’re starting with intentional conversations," she said. "We want to have a solid strategy in place, so in a year if you come back to me, I can give you tangible examples that show we’ve made these real systemic changes."
"What should be a conversation about a potential investment really turns into an opportunity for them to kick the tires."
Dorsey said they city's tech and innovation ecosystem is still fairly new and historically conservative, which immediately puts Black founders and startups at a disadvantage.
"When you have an underdeveloped market, it’s going to move slower by design. Maybe in 10 years it looks very different, I’m not sure," she said. "I do know Black founders have not had positive experiences."
Too many times, Dorsey said she's heard, "We can't find the talent."
"My story is like every other Black founder's story; when you talk about just even being able to get a job, they’re not able to make those connections," she said. "So Charlotte loses that talent then says it’s not here. No it’s here --- you just don’t know what to do with it."
Dorsey said her position as a prominent Black woman in tech has made some people uncomfortable. This, she said, is something most Black entrepreneurs have to deal with simply because they don't look like the people across the boardroom table.
"They didn’t know what to do with me. I was very unapologetic," she said. "I get to be arrogant because I’ve done the work. If I were a man, no one would call me the names that they call me."
Entrepreneur, author and CEO of Black Pearl Global Investments Dr. Shante Williams, said her experience has been similar to Dorsey's.
Williams recounted instances of not being taken seriously as a founder. Over and over again, she said she's experienced investors who come into a conversation never really intending to invest.
"I have definitely experienced a lot of 'Lookie Loos' who just want to see what you have going on," she said. "What should be a conversation about a potential investment really turns into an opportunity for them to kick the tires.
"While there is some of that, generally, in the VC space, I think Black founders get dragged through that gauntlet (a majority) of the time," she added.
Williams said Black founders and startups are often seen as risky investments
"That barrier has a lot to do with the founder not looking like the investor," she said. "The second our mindset shifts to looking at them as added potential is when things will start to change.
"Put the dollars in their hands and see what happens. That will make Charlotte the top-tier city it's striving to be, and we won’t have to have these conversations about economic mobility and the wealth gap," she added. "Say, 'I’m putting my money, as a banking city, where our hearts and mouths are.'"
Sam Smith is helping to do just that with Collective Hustle and Seed the South. Smith, the founder of Charlotte startup Vishion, said she created Collective Hustle as an investor and startup coalition aimed at improving and diversifying Charlotte's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
"When I got started pitching Vishion in Charlotte, I went to all the events that were predominately attended by white guys," she said. "So I created Collective Hustle, which focused on bringing together investors and founders to discuss elements of early stage startup life."
Smith said she made a conscious effort to ensure panels at Collective Hustle events reflected the inclusive mission.
"All the panels we did always had a goal of at least 50 percent women and at least one person of color," she said. "I began to realize the (crowd) reflected that, as well."
Smith said Seed the South then grew out of a need for pitch events where all founders were recognized, though everyone is welcome.
"One of the things that’s most impressive is the diversity present when you host events like Seed the South," she said. "It was literally the best startups in our immediate area, and it ended up that 80 percent of them were a person of color or a woman."
And while Smith knows she's created a space where White and minority founders operate on a level playing field, she acknowledges that she can't completely understand the struggles of her Black women founder counterparts.
"I don’t want to come across as having the White Savior complex. When I started Collective Hustle I went to Sherrell (Dorsey) and told her it was very important that it was not just white," she said. "I very much recognize that, and I don’t want to take up the oxygen of someone who could better represent the experience."
