You know that I must have a lot on the brain if I’m coming out of hiatus from writing \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I just wanted to address a few things, mainly because I feel like the potential for overwhelming negativity associated with being black in technology (and in silicon valley) is looming. \u00a0When we were organizing the NewME Accelerator we got an enormous amount of positive support about the mission and people stepping up to the plate. \u00a0There were a few bad apples but I make it a habit not to pay attention to those. \u00a0Those that supported were people who likely hadn’t heard about me or the work that I have been doing for the past 4 years here. \u00a0Just about everyone we contacted wanted to be involved which was great. \u00a0The success rate for gaining both sponsorship and mentorship was off the charts. \u00a0Not only that, living in the house with the Founders and being able to experience their ups and downs, my own, and their growth has been one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my life. \u00a0That said I’ve kinda been on Cloud 9 since we began this thing. \u00a0That is until now.<\/p>\n
I feel grateful that we can share the experiences of the Founders and the program on such a huge platform like CNN. \u00a0It seemed that they got what we were trying to do and the people involved with its production were beyond cool. \u00a0But, they are here to do a job… and that job is to make good TV. \u00a0Before I go on let me note that I haven’t seen the documentary yet so some of you have a leg up on me. \u00a0However, what I do know is a lot of the back story which nearly all of you don’t. \u00a0Having someone film you every day and debrief you… on-camera… even about the minutia of your day is enlightening to the process of how traditional media works. \u00a0There is no way any of that could be captured in a 40 min documentary. \u00a0That said HUNDREDS of hours of footage were captured. \u00a0They interviewed Mike Arrington, if I remember correctly, for 3 hours or so. \u00a0What you are seeing or will see is a sliver of his interview, mine, others interviews, and the stories of the Founders. \u00a0I have to go on record to say that I don’t think Mike Arrington is a racist. \u00a0And when I first read his comments I took them as him being excited to put someone on stage NOT that it was some sort of act of affirmative action. \u00a0<Disclosure: The person he was referring to on stage\u00a0was Clarence Wooten and his new start-up\u00a0Arrived. \u00a0Clarence has been a long-time friend and advisor at Black Web<\/a> 2.0. \u00a0I also am a supporter of Arrived and have an equity stake it in.> While I do think it was a bad choice of words (clown show comment) that doesn’t make him a racist. \u00a0It makes him unprepared to answer questions that often have a bad way of going south. \u00a0I made the same mistake this summer, the only difference is I got several opportunities to clarify on camera. \u00a0While I’ve only met him once I am a fan of his work and don’t know him to be a liar. \u00a0I\u00a0wholeheartedly\u00a0agree with what Hank Williams, a participant in NewME this summer\u00a0recently wrote\u00a0(Note: Hank has seen the doc):<\/p>\n Mike said a few very clear things about his view of the state of diversity in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n there are indeed very few African-Americans in Silicon Valley First, let me say, I think Mike truly believes everything that he has said about the tech world is a meritocracy. Lots of people believe that. Consumers and businesses, for the most part, don’t care what the ethnicity of their software or Internet service vendors are. Users want solutions. And so if an entrepreneur can get a great product completed cheaply, in many cases they can compete on totally even footing. Even if they ultimately need\u00c2 capital, explosive initial success knocks down all known barriers.<\/p>\n But the market *makers* operate in a world that is not particularly even-handed. The market makers are the folks that help new young companies and entrepreneurs by providing insight, mentoring, capital, and relationships. And this part of the tech world is driven by all the same types of biases that exist in the non-tech world. And it is *much* harder for even the most talented African Americans in the tech world to gain access to influential, insightful, connected mentors, let alone investors. There is a problem with race in the technology industry if there weren’t we’d see more diverse Founders and success stories. \u00a0And to say that it is based on merit alone you may as well go ahead and say that those not represented today are incapable of producing great companies… we all know that isn’t true. \u00a0But to make 1 person out to be a racist and that represents the whole industry is disturbing and I don’t agree with. \u00a0Not only that, to see so many people that I respect online gravitate to such a small portion of the documentary and overshadow all the positivity of the program and what the Founders are doing is disgusting. \u00a0It also hurts the program. \u00a0My vision for the program was always to give minorities a way to learn from EVERYONE who had the means to teach and had been successful in their own right. \u00a0But what people don’t realize is race IS such a charged conversation that those that aren’t minorities don’t want to labeled<\/a> as racist, sexist, agist, etc. and often tiptoe around giving great feedback that can help someone to avoid being labeled this way. \u00a0I saw that first hand this summer and THIS HELPS NO ONE.<\/p>\n Let’s go back to basics… what the documentary is showing is a story. \u00c2Every story needs to have a beginning, an end, a plot, and antagonist, and a protagonist among other things.\u00a0 And in this day in age with reality TV dominating airwaves it’s inevitable that any programming will always include some drama as well.<\/p>\n
\ndespite this, Silicon Valley is a pure meritocracy
\nyou become successful<\/a> because you have a \u201cbig brain\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBut I do not believe Silicon Valley is a meritocracy. I would more properly say that tech *markets* are a meritocracy. \u00a0There are very few businesses where a single individual in her bedroom can create a piece of software that can potentially touch millions of people<\/a> without any additional capital. No matter how talented you are, if you want to open a hot new restaurant or a shoe factory, you need lots of money before you start. Not necessarily so with software.<\/p>\n
\nPlease read Hank’s full commentary, it’s a great read.<\/p>\n