Update: Meet Five Black-Led Startups That Have Achieved Unicorn Status The term unicorn in the tech space is synonymous with hugely successful tech companies (think Uber, Airbnb, Stripe, Pinterest, & DropBox). Its a term given to a private company with a $1 billion valuation. Although still very much a rarity, the number of unicorn startups is higher than ever. According to recent stats, there are 506 tech unicorns globally. So how does a company founded by a POC reach unicorn status? There is no definitive recipe for success. When less than
Damilola Olokesusi is the Co-founder and CEO of Shuttlers, a tech transport startup. In 2015, Olokesusi and her friends — Damilola Quadry and Busola Majekodunmi — were frustrated by the stress of commuting in Lagos, Nigeria. And following some nasty experiences, they decided to start Shuttlers. “One of my sisters got into a one-chance bus (a commercial bus used for robbing passengers), and it was a traumatic experience for me. She was taken to another destination where they were abducted and robbed. Having had our different bus experiences, we realised it was a collective pain point for us.
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss the ProjectDiane report, revealing that 93 Black women have secured more than $1 million in venture capital [triple the number from 2018] (9:20). They also break down: Dr. Timnit Gebru ‘firing’ from Google (0:15) Can newly acquired Slack compete with Microsoft? (13:10) Are we cancelling Black celebs too quickly? (17:38) Headspace vs Calm – the battle between the meditation apps (22:19) The power of Netflix (29:37) Sponsors: Gruntwork is hiring a Senior Sales Engineer! Apply here Olark is hiring a Product Manager!
With Black founders receiving less than 1% of venture capital funding, many are forced to make-do without outside investment. However, for an ever-growing few, the intentional path without venture capital is looking increasingly attractive. Letting go of Silicon Valley-style advice and finding your own path Courtland is the founder and driving force behind Indie hackers a community of bootstrapped entrepreneurs and makers. Courtland learned hard lessons from entrepreneurship Silicon Valley-style. The primary being: ‘go big and raise a lot of money’. During a stint at Y Combinator, he went to work on
Last week, Stripe announced it had purchased the Nigerian startup, Paystack for an estimated 200 million dollars. Founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, Paystack is a platform designed to deliver a safe, convenient, and modern payment experience for customers and merchants in Africa. Background The idea for Paystack was born when Akinlade built a simple way of integrating a card transaction into a website. It was the simplicity of how it worked that propelled him and Olubi to think about developing it into a platform for others.
Subscribe to the Techish Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And Other Platforms. Techish · That Coinbase Blog Post, Black Fishing, Black Owned Calendly Secures the Bag! The first episode of season 4. Abadesi and Michael discuss Calendly founder Tope Awotona scaling his company to $60million! They also break down: That Coinbase blog post (00:40) Social Network 10 year anniversary (13:16) Black Fishing with Jessica Krug (20.26) Saying no to free speaking gigs (17:00) Extras: Want more Techish? Get our paid podcast Extra-ish on Patreon: Advertise with Techish: Please rate and review the Techish podcast
The other day, I posted a poll on what post I should write next, and 57.1% voted for a “founders resource guide.” And because I’m working on a first-time founders course, I thought I’d focus the guide on first-time founders. Here we go… In this post, you’ll find: Founder Basics A Note for Underestimated Founders Resources And although the concepts that I share in the Founder Basics are simple, in the +1,000 startups I’ve reviewed for investment, I’ve seen first-time founders skip these foundational blocks, spend a lot of time and money, and
This article was written by Tage Kene-Okafor and was originally published on African based publication Techpoint.africa In 2012, Jesse Ghansah, Prince Boakye Boampong, and Dominic Mensah began trying their hands on a new project, OMG Ghana. Three years later, the project would become a media startup, OMG Digital. At the time, the Ghanaian startup was dubbed the “BuzzFeed of Africa” and as a founder, Ghansah co-led his team into Y Combinator (YC), participating in the accelerator with the likes of Envyl, Flutterwave, Instabug, and Paystack in 2016. Up until 2019, Ghansah remained at OMG Digital but he has now
In the times of COVID-19, I have discovered a certain level of appreciation for human contact. I’m having a lot of trouble accepting the fact that I will not see most of my friends and community in real life, for what is likely to be the rest of 2020. Maybe a sense of community isn’t as important to some people, but as someone who engages in spiritual-religious community, music-related community, and other forms of gathering aimed to celebrate and embrace life’s many ups and downs, this is a difficult time.
As I sit here today writing this piece, the country burns as thousands of Black Americans (and our allies) are expressing their pain and mourning the loss of countless citizens — most recently George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. While citizens of all backgrounds are marching in almost every major city, I can’t help but be reminded that 99 years ago today, the Tulsa race massacre (also known as the Black Wall Street massacre) began. By its end, nearly 300 Americans were killed as white residents attacked black residents and
