Boosting Black Tech Entrepreneurs.
Education, Mentors, Money: How to Boost Black Tech Entrepreneurs
By Karen E. Klein
Don Charlton learned early on to steel himself against double takes about his race in technology circles
while he built his recruiting-software business, the Resumator. "Unless they researched me, they had
no idea I was a black guy," says Charlton, who founded the Pittsburgh business in 2009. "So I was
always prepared to surprise people when I walked through the door. That's a shock to the system
that I had to fight through in order to get trust."
Investors were skeptical about mainstream appeal for the content on Delmond Newton's entertainment site,
UrbanClout, despite his assurance it would attract viewers across racial and ethnic lines. The Philadelphia
entrepreneur launched it last year, using an investment from his father. "African Americans have to go
an extra mile in every industry," he says. "Once we build it and turn it into a $100 million company, with
10 million followers, that's when Hollywood will say, 'We want in.'"
There are very few African American tech entrepreneurs in the U.S. Challenges such as those described by
Charlton and Newton, a lack of mentors and role models, and the scarcity of black engineering and computer
students at the nation's elite universities are common explanations for the dearth. A 2010 CB Insights study
showed that blacks make up 1 percent of venture capital-backed founders, despite comprising 11 percent
of the U.S. population. They're even losing ground as employees, according to an analysis of
U.S. Census Bureau data by the San Jose Mercury News in December 2012. It showed the percentage of
black tech employees in Silicon Valley decreased, to 2.3 percent from 2.8 percent, between 2000 and 2010.
Charlton feels that scarcity: "I go out [to Silicon Valley for events and meetings] and feel like I'm integrating it,
to a certain extent. A lot of people underestimate the importance of personal relationships, but people invest
in other people they know and like and believe in. The organic segregation that occurs in Silicon Valley means
that less black people are networking with the who's who-the kingmakers-and that puts them
at a natural disadvantage."
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