Sean Mendy explains how growing up in Silicon Valley shaped his worldview and why he's on a mission to help more Black founders through VC.

After Silicon Valley investors doubted him, Clarence Bethea went on to build a successful company that's raised over $18M in capital.

Hajj Flemings wants Black founders to know that they don't have to move to Silicon Valley to build a tech ecosystem that works!

At some point in our lives, we’ll all need to understand the importance of access to care. For Anita Darden Gardyne, that moment has come through Onēva — a technology platform that connects FBI-background checked caregivers to people who need them. “Learning that we were going to have baby boomers who would retire at some point in their lives was something that I became aware of at an early age,” said Gardyne in an interview with AfroTech. “The need for job creation for people who look like us is what Onēva is all about.” As a tech czar, she has spent years working with companies like Microsoft and held leadership positions including roles as CFO at Quantum (Seagate). It’s these same roles that Gardyne says prepared her to own and operate her own technology company.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Onēva (@onevainc) “Those roles absolutely prepared me for many years,” she continued. It also equipped me with the knowledge of the audience for this corporate structure....

“As a Black queer man in tech I never really was invited to have a seat at the table,” shares Rhett Lindsey, former Facebook and Tinder recruiter making waves in Silicon Valley through his new app. Siimee (see-me) is a new recruiting platform designed to help job seekers and employers by focusing on who people are, not what they are in order to change a system that needs work when it comes to hiring people from all walks of life. Lindsey joined us via Zoom and shared his passion for getting HR & Recruiting right through his new platform, where companies get it wrong in the hiring process, and what about building something from the ground up brings him joy. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Siimee™️ (@siimee_app) AfroTech: What inspired you to create Siimee? Rhett Lindsey: I wanted to build an inclusive platform, specifically in a tech startup environment that truly focuses on recruitment, outreach, and job...

If you’re someone looking to launch a career in tech or make the transition into the industry, Ruben Harris and his team at Career Karma are your guys! AfroTech’s Will Lucas had the chance to sit down with the Bay Area transplant from Atlanta, Georgia to discuss how the app helps job training programs find qualified applicants. As the CEO and co-founder of Career Karma and someone who was once like the job seekers looking for an opportunity within their respective fields, Harris first broke into his career within technology after writing a viral blog post called Breaking Into Startups. It was this blog post that showed how he was able to move to San Francisco without a job before landing a position just three weeks later. During the Black Tech, Green Money podcast, Harris shares how he used his same motivation and hunger for breaking into tech to develop his platform in response to the thousands of emails that followed the viral post with other users hoping to have the same success....

Launching a company is difficult, and limited funding is the most common barrier to entry to the startup world. Do you have a great idea, but you’re trying to figure out how to fund it? Are you already running a startup, but cash is running out fast? Here are some ways to raise capital for your startup: Save Money Saving money isn’t easy, but it’s the most straightforward way to raise funds for your business. If you’re still working a regular full-time job, commit to saving a part of your current salary to help fund your dreams. Review your monthly expenses and eliminate unnecessary expenses like subscriptions and expensive lunches. If you live with roommates or a significant other, consider sharing expenses to reduce cost per person. This might include shopping in bulk, sharing an Amazon Prime account (or any subscription for that matter), and taking advantage of family memberships at the gym. If you’re already committed to your startup on a full-time basis, you should be auditing...