The startup scene has historically been one of the most racially and ethnically homogenous areas in business. While the numbers have improved over the years, recent studies reveal that the number of Black and Latinx founders in particular remain disproportionately small.
Despite comprising 12% and 18% of the U.S. labor force respectively, Black and Latinx professionals account for only 6% and 8% of founders, and an even lower percent — 4% and 5% — of executives, according to a 2022 report by Carta. A 2022 study by McKinsey found that Black and Latinx founders received only 1% and 1.5% respectively of total U.S. venture capital funding.
Initiatives like Google’s Black Founders Fund, established in 2020, and Latino Founders Fund, established in 2022, seek to change these numbers. In addition to providing founders with $150,000 in equity-free cash to grow their businesses, the fund recipients receive something else of value: access to a community of peer entrepreneurs and established networks in influential spaces.
Money is obviously a crucial component to founding a startup, but as reiterated by every founder I spoke with from this year’s cohort of Google fund recipients, the opportunity to connect with and learn from others cannot be overstated.
This year, almost 20% of the funds’ recipients (9 of 46) are based in the Bay Area. We spoke with several of them to discuss their stories, strategies for success and advice for other BIPOC entrepreneurs.
KaiXR
Website: kaixr.com
Founder: Kai Frazier
Location: Oakland
Description: Learning platform where students use in-demand tech (VR, AR, game design, etc.) to improve technical literacy for students stuck in the Opportunity Gap
How did you come up with the idea for your company?
In my classroom, I had two big challenges. One was that we did not have access to technology. Most of my class we did on smartphones to get through courses. Second, I taught about 20 minutes from Washington DC, and I wanted to take the kids on field trips to the free federal museums like the Smithsonian that relate to my history class, but our schools struggle to afford the buses to get to the free museums. That’s when I started asking the question: how can we bring the museums to the schools, and what would a virtual field trip look like?
What advice do you have for other upcoming BIPOC founders?
Show up fully, authentically and in a vulnerable way. I’m also a firm believer that every conversation you have you learn something new. When I first started off in Washington DC, I didn’t have access to a lot of great people, but I did have access to the internet. So I started with: who can I find on LinkedIn? And I did a lot of work trying to research the different companies I admired and going to different webinars and conferences.
OpenSauced
Website: opensauced.pizza
Location: Oakland
Founder: Brian Douglas
Description: Provides code insights to highlight inefficiencies and problems at scale
What is your professional background?
I graduated with a finance degree during the recession with no job lined up, and ended up going into sales. After about four years I decided to get my MBA and learn to write code. I was with GitHub for five years before I started OpenSauced.
How did you stand out and make connections in the tech scene?
The challenge that most underrepresented founders face is that your network is so limited. The best thing is to validate yourself in the industry. I called myself “the Beyoncé of GitHub” the whole time I was there, just building my brand. Then I started live-streaming the process of building OpenSauced on Twitch to build a feedback loop.
Leadsales
Website: leadsales.io
Founder: Roberto Peñacastro
Location: Berkeley
Description: Conversational commerce platform for SMBs in Latin America
How do you navigate the startup world?
For me, reading has been so important. The book Traction gave me super good insights into fundraising, and right now I’m reading “Backable” by Suneel Gupta. So books have been my mentors in a way to understand this road of entrepreneurship, especially in the U.S. I also quickly realized that starting a business is kind of a game of networking, more than having the best business. Over the years I’ve talked with more than 500 investors, and we’ve only gotten a few yes’s. So it’s exhausting and emotionally draining.
What’s next for your company?
We’re poised to disrupt the conversational commerce industry. It’s time for a different type of CRM that takes into account the new way of doing business, which is through messages. Right now we’re building on top of Google Cloud and trying to implement AI in a useful way that can help current businesses scale their sales and help salespeople do their jobs more efficiently.
Wheel the World
Website: wheeltheworld.com
Founder(s): Alvaro Silberstein and Camilo Navarro
Location: San Francisco
Description: One-stop-shop for travelers with disabilities to book hotels and tours with accessibility guaranteed
How did you come up with the idea for your company?
Alvaro: I’ve been a wheelchair user since I was 18 and travel has always been close to my heart. I wanted to immerse myself in solving problems and challenges for my community. I became the first person ever in a wheelchair to complete the W Trek in Patagonia, and after that hundreds of people started reaching out because they wanted to repeat the same trip. That’s when we identified that there was a need to eliminate barriers and make travel more accessible for people with disabilities.
What is it like dealing with venture capitalists?
Alvaro: We’ve been more successful dealing with VCs that have some Latino background. So that has been a barrier, but at the same time, every person has received more no’s than yes’s. I think it is hard for everyone.
Wisy
Company name: Wisy Platforms Inc.
Website: wisy.ai
Founder(s): Min Chen and Ricardo Chen
Location: San Francisco
Description: Image recognition AI for the consumer packaged goods industry
What has it been like learning about the world of venture capital and startups?
Ricardo: We’re from Panama, which is a barrier. We read a lot of books and listened to podcasts, but those usually talk from the perspective of an American white guy from Stanford University, for example, so it’s very different for a person of another background.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from starting your business?
Min: When we started, we wanted to be like other Silicon Valley companies and “play the game”. I think that was one of our biggest mistakes: wanting to be like the others and fit in. Eventually we decided to stay close to our roots and what makes us different. So the lesson was to have the confidence in ourselves but also stay humble and test our assumptions, and through that attract the investors we want.
Other Bay Area recipients
Onramp
Website: onramp.io
Founder: Lateesha Thomas
Location: Oakland
Description: Workforce development platform helping companies build and scale apprenticeships to create alternative pathways into tech careers
Accountstory
Website: accountstory.com
Founder: David Iyamah
Location: San Francisco
Description: AI-powered sales assistants for SMBs, mid-market and enterprise companies
Edlyft
Website: edlyft.com
Founder: Erika Hairston
Location: San Francisco
Description: Builds software that enterprises use to train early engineers on skills they need to be productive on day one
Glass
Website: discover.glass
Founder: Paola Santana
Location: San Francisco
Description: E-commerce platform for governments
