This conversation between Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton and Michael Berhane is from this #Techish podcast episode. It has been edited for clarity. I’ve always wanted to know when you first had the idea for Backstage Capital. What was the first thing you did? Cried [haha] It didn’t happen overnight. I studied, I started my education to understand venture capital. I had to. The old guard, the people who are already there, perhaps they needed a little bit more of a shakeup when it came to their perspectives. And so
On a daily basis, I get inquiries on and around the world of venture capital (VC) and Backstage Capital. So, when Mario Avila, an aspiring VC, reached out to me and expressed interest in typing up a few questions that could help many others, I took him up on it. I told Mario I’d answer his questions and post them. In this post, we explore my role as a Principal, diversity in venture capital, portfolio management, and how to break into venture capital. Mario: Thank you for taking the time
It is awesome to see the progress in the last 12–24 months women are starting to make to stand up and have their voices heard and acted upon in tech. It is encouraging to see success stories from the US such as Vanity Fair’s showcase of 26 Women of Color Diversifying Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. These are compelling stories of empowerment, encouragement, and identity. Everyone wants to see others they can identify with reach positions of success they too can aspire towards. We hear all the time that hard work
A far from an exhaustive look at Latina investors making strides in tech, but here are a few faces I thought warranted a signal boost. Jomayra Herrera Follow here: @jomayra_herrera Post-graduation from Stanford, and after a stint at a large edtech startup, Jomayra Herrera joined the Emerson Collective, a social enterprise started by Laurene Powell Jobs to dramatically transform the U. S. education landscape. Herrera identifies promising entrepreneurs committed to closing opportunity gaps, and driving the diligence process. Lisa Cuesta Follow here: @lisacuesta Lisa Cuesta is a principal at NextGen Venture Partners, a
I’m ecstatic for the new Marvel movie Black Panther, which opens this Friday. For me, it’s much less about watching another action movie — my favorite genre of film — or getting to see what happens next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s much more personal than that. Black Panther means a lot because I finally, after 31 years on this earth, I get to see a black superhero star in a major franchise film. That’s not to say I haven’t loved every iteration of Superman, Batman, Ironman and the
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure to attend several conferences that focus on progress towards diversity, inclusion & equality from the non-profit, advertising and commercial sectors. Most recently, I attended the 3% Conference in New York City on behalf of Adobe. As I sat there, I tried to wrap my mind around this topic. I realized that being a 28-year-old African-American male, I have subconsciously thought about this topic every day of my life. I have always been in the position to view myself as others
When it comes to fostering diversity and inclusion in your company, either go hard or go home. Seriously. You can’t do light touch diversity and inclusion. It’s not a box to tick, a “nice to have”, or something you can dip in and out of. It requires long-term commitment and a significant investment of your resources. After all, what thing worth having comes easy in this world? I won’t bore you with the overwhelming data on diversity’s positive impact on profitability, McKinsey among a number of other reputable firms have
When Darrell D. Williams (aka “Dr. Tariq”) teaches coding to other prisoners in California’s Lancaster State Prison, he doesn’t deploy traditional equipment like a laptop, or PowerPoint slides.He uses a blackboard —used to teach HTML, CSS, website design languages—and mobile app development. Let Us Code Classroom uses coding textbooks as an entry point into computer literacy, website design, and discussions about Silicon Valley, computer programming careers and becoming a tech entrepreneur after prisoners are released. Each coding lesson is centered upon learning to code to turn one’s life around from
Consider the story of investors such as Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures and one of two women who featured on The Top 20 VCs Worldwide list by The New York Times. She represents diversity as she had never worked at a Venture Capital firm before starting her own in 2012, and she is also a woman in a male-dominated field. She achieved two billion dollar exits with Jet.com (acquired by Walmart) and Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever), demonstrating the value she brings as an inclusive investor. Alternatively, there are
Accountant. African American Woman. A small dot within the tech workforce. This is my bio. Being a person of color in the tech industry tends to feel like you’re a fish out of water. Though tech companies are working to improve diversity in the workplace, Black and LatinX employees still make up only a small margin of the workforce. And for those of color that are in the industry, there is usually a minor representation in the more senior and executive roles. The lack of representation at those levels tends
