Three days ago 157 people lost their lives in my worst nightmare. Just six minutes after takeoff, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 heading for Nairobi, crashed near Bishoftu, Ethiopia after a struggle by the pilots to gain control of the aircraft. Initial reports predictably focused on the safety record of the airline (we see you Financial Times) and the number of Western lives affected or lost (a fail). However, just 48 hours later outlets like The Points Guy, The Atlantic, and NewsOne quickly called BS on the hierarchical value of lives evident in early reports
This article is tech founder’s Thompson Aderinkomi follow up to the popular article “How Getting Fired From My Own Company By VC’s Taught Me To Start Again Without Them…” Originally posted on Medium Building a company is like me building my wife an enclosure to expand and protect her garden from squirrels. I made it up and had no idea what I was doing, I’ve never built anything in my life. The same is true for most founders including me. But that did not stop me from building the enclosure and nor should it
This post was originally posted here. I sometimes struggle to figure out the best way to convey something that is important to me to others. That may come as a shock to many of you because of all the articles and blogs I write, and the speaking gigs I have, and the fact that I’m in the business of recommending things to millions of people — but it’s true. For much of 2014 and 2015, I banged my head against a plane window flying back and forth between Austin and Silicon Valley
Frederik is a Senior Associate at Storm Ventures, previous CEO of Stanford Student Enterprises, and founder of BLCK VC. BLCK VC was formed to connect, engage, empower, and advance Black venture investors by providing a focused community built for and by Black venture investors. What got you interested in VC? I gained exposure to VC due to my prior role as CEO of Stanford Student Enterprises–a nonprofit at Stanford that had the mission of teaching Stanford students how to build and manage businesses. As part of SSE, we had a
This is the tale of a technology enabled phoenix. This is the tale of the death of a startup. It is the tale of betrayal and survival. It is long. It is a tale of redemption. It is worth the read. In the year 2011, I was inspired to start a technology-enabled primary care practice that would cut the cost of healthcare in half while 10x-ing the patient experience. I knew a lot about healthcare but nothing about running a clinic. Yet, I knew that I had done harder things
Based of a super hilarious and heart warming tweet thread this article follows Urenna Okonkwo as she takes us through her journey in raising a seed round for her fashion/fintech startup Cashmere! In the words of Elon Musk. Funding secured 💰 Yesterday, I received the first installment of investment (total $180,000) into my company @CashmereTheApp as a young 26-year-old black female first-time founder. I can’t believe I’m writing this. Taking the Plunge When I made the plunge, I said to my close friend @deborahokenla, by the 31st of October, I will
There are people whom you hear about from afar and when you meet them, your disappointed by the hype that precedes them. During our last fireside chat with Kai Bond, this was far from the case. Kai showed up and not only lived up to his reputation but exceeded it. A little background for new readers, at Untapped Founders, we are a support & networking community for Black and Brown Entrepreneurs focused on giving advice and making warm-introductions. The mindset of the organization is that when we bring our knowledge and
You are not your thoughts… One of my most important realizations is that banal statement above. So often we let a small voice in the back of our head guide our actions like it’s edicts are gospel. But it’s not. By choosing to ignore it’s neurotic, insecure ramblings, you will significantly improve your well being as a founder. What if I told you this website and the Techish podcast shouldn’t exist. Follow me for a second. August 2015, POCIT was nothing but a twitter account. We hadn’t officially launched the
Today marks my one year anniversary working at Product Hunt. These are five things I’ve learned that I hope will help you grow in your career. Going from full-time founder to side hustler doesn’t mean you’ve failed —in fact, it could help your business When Emily and Ryan first started talking to me about joining the community team they both agreed that Hustle Crew could remain a priority in my life. Ryan explicitly said he wanted to increase the number of women makers in the Product Hunt community and that Hustle Crew
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” Marie Wilson aptly put it. I started Hustle Crew to advance the careers of women and other underrepresented groups in tech. I wanted to build a community of talented, ambitious individuals where we could share vital information with one another to accelerate our progress in tech. The first Hustle Crew workshop consisted of six women in a room while my friend Natalie and I shared tactics from the draft of my book — a manual for any woman in tech who wants to
