Meet Soko Founder Martel Metellus
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Martel Metellus is the founder of Soko, a discovery network for the Black community to connect, collaborate, and find new opportunities. Founded in September 2019, Soko began as a freelance marketplace for Black skillworkers.
Like many great startups, Soko was created to satisfy the founder’s own pain points. Metellus developed Soko to solve his need of wanting to hire Black people to work on his various entrepreneurial ventures, including several fitness endeavors.
Metellus moved from Arizona to Boston in 2015 to attend Babson College and play basketball. The budding entrepreneur also has aspirations to become a Venture Capitalist.
He possesses a great combination of humility, ambition and intellect which is on full display via his blog — Mind of Martel — in which he opines about topics like what is a blockchain.
Metellus is on the verge of introducing the next evolution of the Soko platform, and you can follow along for updates on Twitter @JoinSoko and join the mailing list here: http://www.joinsoko.com/.
Please find our pre-podcast Q&A with Metellus below. You can listen to our BSU podcast discussion via any of your favorite audio platforms: SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play.
Where did you grow up?
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and then moved to Chandler, Arizona at the age of 10.
Can you describe your household growing up?
I grew up in the projects of Brooklyn with both of my parents constantly working around the clock with my mom working in the medical field as a phlebotomist and Dad as a full time tailor. I grew up in my grandparent’s apartments with some of my cousins, aunts and uncles. I never felt like an only child because I had so many family members around me on a regular basis. It was always lively and had a great experience despite the location I lived in — ignorance is bliss right? Then my mother and father decided to move to Arizona for a better environment and that is where I felt the effects of being an only child so I had many years of isolation and self reflection to really understand myself.
How would your family describe you growing up?
My family would describe me as a kid who always was interested in observing people. I would get caught in watching what other people were doing or how they interacted with each other. I was also a curious kid. Read all kinds of books and asked many questions. Known as a soft rebel, I would never get in trouble outside of my home where I would rebel on rules I thought didn’t make sense. When in school, my mom would always get calls from my professor saying that I disrupted class or was talkative. I enjoyed being around other kids and sometimes was overexcited.
What is the first career you recall wanting to pursue?
My first career I recall wanting to pursue was aerospace engineering. This came from when I was young and my pre-k teacher said that I would become an astronaut. When I got to high school, I took a fascination in Calculus and Physics which ultimately led to me combining engineering with space interests. Also the glassdoor salary listings were very attractive.
You came to Boston for college and to play sports. Did you select because of its innovation economy? If not, why did you choose Boston?
No, I chose Boston, specifically Babson College because my Uncle who had worked for a company in the area and had plenty of good things to say about the school and the area. I didn’t really think about innovation or even entrepreneurship at that time. I barely even knew what it meant. In fact, I thought I was going to get into finance and become a hedge fund manager, not get into startups.The coach had told my mom that the business field was the most lucrative and the package I got from the school made the most sense financially for me to attend.
What are some of the other companies or projects you’ve founded or been a part of?
I founded a startup idea called UpFit back in my fitness days where it would certify students to become trainers and connect them to students on campus who were looking for trainers. I was a part of a strategy consulting team for ClassPass to advise them in GTM strategy and corporate channel development for their corporate wellness play. I founded my own fitness training company where I trained investors, engineers, entrepreneurs, and VPs of Fortune 500 companies all while I was in college.
You mentioned you originally developed Soko to help identify Black talent to help with your other businesses. How big of a focus is talent acquisition in Soko’s future?
It’s a huge focus for Soko’s future as many companies have reached out to me personally expressing interest in a platform like this to hire talent. It will be our enterprise solution on top of the social network functionality. Currently companies are starting to notice that they don’t have enough Black people on their executive teams and are rushing to hire but don’t have a place to easily find Black professionals of specific positions.
Soko was a bit dormant since you originally founded it in September 2019 as a freelance marketplace for Black skillworkers. How has the murder of George Floyd sparked the recent momentum for Soko?
It brought a lot of the Black community together and helped us realize that we need to stick together and build our own. The government doesn’t have our backs, and never did to begin with. More and more we started realizing that we don’t have our own platforms or even a unified way to find each other and create solutions. Once Soko reemerged in its evolved state (a discovery network for the black community), it started catching a lot of momentum and more people were talking about it. The need grew strong and still grows strong to this day as we develop version 1 of the platform.
What does the #BlackLivesMatter mean to you?
#BlackLivesMatter means more than just police brutality to me. That is one of the most important issues to me, don’t get me wrong but it goes deeper than that. Our free lives were stripped from us and we were forced to move against our will to a foreign place and become enslaved both mentally and physically.
What grade would you give Boston organizations on their commitment to words, actions, training and commitment to achieving diversity and inclusion?
I can never sugar coat reality so to be entirely honest with you, I would give them a D. There has been a lot of talk from many organizations but not nearly enough action. When you look at their executive teams and boards of directors, you don’t see a single Black representative. Instead, they opt to fill a “Chief Diversity Officer” role with a Black body rather than setting the tone within their positions of influence. The culture isn’t primed to invite someone who is Black in to work alongside them. It is easy to feel isolated as you have no one who can relate to you and you feel you have to change in order to fit in. Even if it’s not intentional, it takes a major toll on the diverse talent that enters the work field. The training is rendered ineffective because of the culture/organizational design that exists.
What’s the biggest challenge you face today in growing Soko?
The biggest challenge is remaining patient and making sure that the product makes a major impact upon release. It’s tempting to release a half done product to satisfy people who are anxious to see it but understanding that putting our best foot forward despite excitement will be crucial to growing it the right way.
What advantages and challenges do you face as a Black man working on a startup in America?
Some advantages are that all eyes are on me and other Black founders in the startup space. Our value is beginning to be recognized and this makes it a good time to create something great. Every investor is looking for a Black founder to fund which is unprecedented. I also get a lot of people reaching out to help and it’s nice to have support from the startup community during times like this. Challenges are still fighting the perception of who a Black man is and how we carry ourselves. It’s also hard to filter out those that see you as a quota to fill in their portfolio and those that actually believe in you as a Founder and want to invest.
What’s the biggest goal for Soko in 2020?
The biggest goal for Soko in 2020 is to grow our user base to 10,000 active users by the end of the year. This is a modest goal and something very achievable but it will be important to have those users be active. Making the platform engaging and something worth sharing with others will be important.
What does success look like for Soko 5 years from now?
In 5 years, success for Soko will mean that we are a $100+ million dollar company which is something rare for a black-owned tech company. It will also be the go-to platform for all of the Black community to find each other, communicate and build meaningful partnerships and connections. Every company will use Soko to recruit the best Black talent.
You mention on your blog aspirations of becoming a Venture Capitalist. What is it about being a VC that most intrigues you?
The biggest thing about a VC is the fact that I will have an opportunity to fund the dreams of young Black entrepreneurs like I am. Growing up, that access didn’t exist and I know many great ideas by Black kids go by the wayside because they didn’t have the capital to turn their dreams into reality. I want to be that authority that guides them through the startup ecosystem and provides them with the capital they need to make even their biggest dreams a reality.
We recently interviewed your friend Pariss Chandler from Black Tech Pipeline. How can Soko and Black Tech Pipeline work together?
I see us partnering in terms of providing platforms for young Black talent to be discovered and hired! I see Black Tech Pipeline being on Soko and Soko being something that helps facilitate communication and cohesiveness within Black Tech Pipeline. Black Tech Pipeline can also help Soko curate the best black engineering talent and give them opportunities.
What’s the biggest problem facing the world you’d most like to see solved?
One of the biggest problems I notice the world facing right now would be resource allocation. All of the valuable resources that can change the lives of individuals who need it the most are concentrated by the top 1%, whether that be money, property, or even health solutions. They aren’t accessible to all and that creates a wealth and health gap that is destroying the world as we see it.
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