The Black New Venture Competition: Igniting Pathways for Black Entrepreneurs
“Being an entrepreneur is a masochistic love, one that requires relentless passion and devotion to the startup. If you embark on the journey, make sure it’s something you want to do through and through.” This is part of the advice to entrepreneurs from Cheryl Campos, one of the semi-finalist judges of the Black New Venture Competition held at the Harvard Business School on February 28–29, 2020.
A new initiative of the HBS African-American Student Union (AASU), the Black New Venture Competition (BNVC) aims to connect promising early-stage Black entrepreneurs with resources to develop their ventures into dynamic powerhouses. The event serves as a launching pad for innovative ventures founded by Black entrepreneurs, providing exposure to capital, mentors and advisors. From over 300 applications, twenty semi-finalists were selected and invited to come on-campus for a day of workshops, mentorship, and networking, known as the Black Tech Master Series. After pitching to a panel of judges, five semi-finalists were selected to pitch to an audience of more than 500 the following day, as part of the 47th Annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference. The final winners were judged by a panel composed of Peter Boyce II (General Catalyst), Adina Tecklu (Khosla Ventures), Jewel Burks Solomon (Google for Startups), Henri Pierre Jacques (Harlem Capital), and Michael Trolano (G20 Ventures).
The Black New Venture Competition was created by Tyler Simpson and Kimberly Foster, both students of the HBS Class of 2020. Tyler shared, “The idea of the Black New Venture Competition developed out of an independent project Kim and I were brainstorming for the Fall. We wanted to do something to help shed light of the systemic issues people of color face in tech and entrepreneurship.”
She continued, “We floated a number of different ideas and then settled on a venture competition for early-stage Black entrepreneurs. I don’t think either of us could’ve imagined that this idea would turn into the largest venture competition for Black entrepreneurs. The Black Tech Master Series was an ideal complement to the venture competition because it allowed us to combine our interest in educating our community on these topics as well as empowering them with the capital they so desperately need.”
Kimberly added, “There is no lack of innovation when it comes to the ventures Black founders are creating, running and scaling. However, we’ve seen year after year that less than 1% of all VC funding is allocated to this demographic. This doesn’t make sense to us. There needs to be a larger push for inclusive investments within the venture capital ecosystem. As members of the Harvard Business School community, we think it’s important for us to bring Harvard Business School into the equation to narrow the investing gap for Black entrepreneurs and highlight an under-tapped, rapidly growing market. Our entrepreneurs have founded such resilient businesses that will provide optimal returns for any investor.”
Cydni Williams is one of the HBS students who helped organize this inaugural event, and will be co-leading the BNVC next year with Kam Phillips-Sadler. When asked why she wanted to get involved, Cydni shares, “Personally, I know many founders who’ve tried to create companies and hit a roadblock somewhere — maybe in mentorship, or funding. The BNVC is special because it will hopefully allow us to create a space for innovators, where we can share direct feedback, and show proof of success. To me, it’s all about creating opportunities.” With prize money of $175,000, sponsored by General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Google for Startups, there is also a significant financial upside for the winners. Judges for the competition included representatives from Harlem Capital, Google for Startups, Rough Draft Ventures, G20 Ventures, and New Age Capital.
It’s the first year that AASU has hosted this particular competition. Moving forward, there are lots of opportunities to continue building on this success. “I think we’re at the beginning of growth here, with people on both the founder and investor side starting to put themselves out there and participate. Things will ramp up quickly. There’s a lot of room to expand the space, to serve the community. It’s not taking away from other opportunities, but rather tapping into an underserved market,” Cydni continues. “Ultimately, we want to create a community, where the participants in the BNVC can reach out to each other, or reach back to participants from earlier years. We want to provide more incentives to founders, and more resources to make it work, so that everyone’s a winner. We want to mix-up the types of perspectives we can offer to people, we want to provide more access and feedback.”
In this special series, we’re proud to introduce the five finalists of the Black New Venture Competition and share their insights. We hope that their stories, advice, and lessons learned will be helpful to aspiring entrepreneurs. We’ll also be sharing tips and insights from some of the semi-finalist judges for entrepreneurs and future BNVC applicants.
Introducing the 2020 Black New Venture Competition Finalists
TracFlo (Grand Prize Winner): An Interview with Khalid David
“If there’s one factor that we always look for in our early employees, it’s what I call the grit factor. Like I need to know, like, what it is that they’re trying to prove. You can’t just be excited about the idea, or the opportunity. You need to have something that you’re trying to prove, something that’s independent of TracFlo — that you need to prove to yourself, or to whoever.” Read more
Fleeting (Grand Prize Winner): An Interview with Pierre Laguerre
“I used to join 10–15 pitch competitions a week. Early on I was the loser very frequently. I kept going, kept applying. It was about putting myself out there, getting comfortable in front of the audience, getting comfortable with the hard questions that investors usually ask after you pitch.” Read more
Coverr (Google for Startups Innovators Award): An Interview with Kobina Ansah
“Try as much as you can to get honest feedback from your clients. I’m more interested in clients who don’t want to use your product — “Why not?” — you know. How are we making you uncomfortable? Why do you think we’re not the best for you? Why would you use our competitor, instead of us?” Read more
Kliit Health (Audience Choice Winner): An Interview with Crystal Euvelocha
“I really think no one else is going to build your product as well as you. No one is going to be as passionate as you to do it. Your story is what’s really going to resonate with people and drive the message home — so talk to everyone and get loads of feedback!” Read more
Please Assist Me (Finalist): An Interview with Stephanie Cummings
“If I had stayed I would obviously be working really hard and to me, I wondered: do I want to spend the next forty years of my life climbing the corporate ladder? Or do I want to set off and try to start something? I thought, I don’t want to live with regret.” Read more
Insights from the Judging Committee
Cam Sadler is the Founder and CEO of NewCraft, the fastest talent infrastructure ever. It is backed by Y Combinator, Charles Hudson, Michael Seibel, Balaji Srinivasan and more. Prior to working on NewCraft, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at GF17.
Cheryl Campos is a Principal on the Investment Team at Republic, an SEC-registered funding portal and broker dealer that allows the broader population to invest in start-ups. She is also a Venture Fellow at Yard Ventures. Prior to this, she was an Analyst at SBIC and Barclay’s.
Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner and Co-Founder of Flybridge Capital Partners, which has invested in companies including BetterCloud, Bowery, Codecademy, and Firebase; he is also a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, teaching entrepreneurship and venture capital.
HBS Entrepreneurship Club: What criteria are you using to identify the finalists/winners in the competition? Are there specific characteristics you’re hoping for in either the team, product, or company?
Cam Sadler: I hope to see companies with potential to fundamentally change the way consumers or businesses operate. The question I plan to ask myself often is: could this become one of the most important companies on the planet?
Cheryl Campos: You learn quickly in this field. that at the end of the day, an idea may be spectacular but execution is what matters. When I’m evaluating an early stage company it always comes down to the team expertise and the product (both from a technical and market size perspective). For a more succinct rubric, companies need to answer these three questions: Why this? Why now? Why you?
Jeff Bussgang: My investment framework for the finalists is the same as it’s been throughout my many years as a VC: compelling team (smart, passionate, magnetic, comparative advantage/edge, insightful, resilient) and compelling market (massive scale, disruptive trends, network effects, attractive unit economics).
Why is it important to have this type of event, in today’s business environment?
CS: Today, much of venture runs on warm introductions and who knows who — we need more platforms that help outsiders break in on merit. Great to see AASU carving a new path.
CC: Everyone likes to fall back on the often quoted “pipeline problem”, when in reality with some intentionality and action, it’s easy to find founders that are traditionally overlooked yet outperforming. Events like HBS’s New Venture Competition are crucial for entrepreneurs that are underestimated by providing them a spotlight and and getting them the capital they need to change communities.
JB: In a perfect world, capital flows to the best people with the best ideas regardless of their background, ethnicity or accent. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. To help overcome structural market and human failures, events like this one are amazing opportunities to provide better access and exposure to otherwise undiscovered, underexposed entrepreneurs.
What’s the best piece of advice you would give an aspiring entrepreneur?
CS: Listen to feedback, but also have the heart of a ruler. You have to be the judge of what is great or not for your company and customers.
CC: Focus on the fundamentals and bootstrap to the last dollar until the growth of the company forces you to look at outside capital. Then, find the capital source that best fits your needs. Venture capital is not everyone and anyone. It’s capital that comes with commitments. If venture is right for you, make sure to leverage all the resources at your disposal to find the best way to position your startup. I lead a monthly group through Republic that gives 3–5 entrepreneurs feedback on their startup and pitch to help prepare them for the VC fundraising process. Understanding the lingo and terminology investors use, the metrics needed to make the opportunity compelling, and how to gain leverage in negotiations is key to closing your round.
JB: I tell aspiring entrepreneurs that no matter how hard they are told it is to be a founder that creates something incredibly valuable from nothing…it’s even harder! Thus, make sure you LOVE what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with to make the journey more palatable.
This article was written by Isabel Yap from the HBS Entrepreneurship Club. Thank you to Tyler Simpson, Kimberly Foster, Cydni Williams, and Kam S. Phillips-Sadler of AASU for their assistance in preparing this article.
