Dealing With Insecurities as a Black Tech Entrepreneur

All of my friends or even people who I have interacted with will probably tell you one thing about me. I’m a pretty confident individual. I was raised by Ghanaian immigrants that didn’t let a day go by without reminding me of the endless opportunities America provided as opposed to West Africa. They empowered me in many ways to live fearlessly all while constantly reminding me that I’m a black man in America and that I would be judged differently from my counterparts.

“You have to work 10x harder than everyone else.”

Throughout my childhood my dad used to tell me this but I never quite understood until I reached adolescence. It started in high school when friends of mine would joke “You have a better chance of getting into college than we do because you’re black.”

At the time I would joke along with them but I truly felt mortified. I wanted NO handouts and didn’t want even the perception of being given a handout. I made sure my grades were impeccable. I took the SAT with every intention of scoring higher than the average senior admitted to an Ivy League school so that there was no doubt that I earned my way into the best schools in the country.

In fact, even during my 4 years at Princeton University there were numerous instances where I felt compelled to “prove” myself whether it was for group projects in a course or activities planned for extracurriculars that I was involved in.

Fast forward a few years later and I’m the co-founder of a tech startup, BrandSlip.com, which connects Vine, Youtube, Instagram and Snapchat social media stars with fashion brands, entertainment based media and music artists to create engaging content that helps promote brands in these particular verticals.

It’s been an exciting journey (particularly after a few failed startups in the past) but nonetheless there have been various scenarios that have startled me and somewhat highlighted fears other black entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to have expressed.

Last month myself and my partner William Lee (also an African American male) met with a potential client who was interested in working with us. We knew that this could be a big deal and potentially the biggest deal we ever had. After providing us with what exactly he was looking for, this client asked me and Will to take a few days and send out a proposal. During these few days we priced out payment for the influencers involved, creating the content, managing the campaign and our time/input as well.

We were quite astonished when the price came out to over $50k.

“$50k? Would this guy pay out $50k to two young black kids running a tech startup?”

Yes this very thought crossed my mind. It’s a bit embarrassing for me to admit but it did.

I wish this was just a one off occurrence but it’s not.

I had similar sentiments creep up when negotiating with investors on term sheets.

For other business deals.

When dealing with bringing on potential new team members.

The list goes on.

It was as if I felt I HAD to keep in consideration the perspective of others doing business with an atypical tech entrepreneur. A black male. I felt compelled to make sure that I made OTHERS feel comfortable doing business with “someone like me” before even ensuring that the business decision made the BEST sense for us.

Luckily, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t believe I’ve made business decisions based on making others feel comfortable working with me. I always came to my senses. I always realized the error in thinking like this.

I would tell my business partner Will, “If they don’t see the value in working with us then I don’t want to work with them. Let’s work with their competitors and show them what we’re capable of”.

But what about all the entrepreneurs out there that don’t fit the stereotypical look of a “tech entrepreneur”. How many didn’t even pursue entrepreneurship because they didn’t “fit the mold”? How many atypical entrepreneurs engaged in business deals that truly didn’t value their expertise because they felt it would make their customer/client more comfortable working with them at a particular price point? How many atypical entrepreneurs out there feel scared to reach out to large corporations, investors or business professionals for fear that they wouldn’t even be taken seriously because they don’t “look” like the average entrepreneur.

These are all thoughts I wonder about out loud. I hope these issues can be addressed because I believe they will open up the tech community many more willing entrepreneurs. The insecurities of being a black tech entrepreneur are very real, even for the more confident bunch.

Follow @therealkofi

Founder at BrandSlip.com