One Percent

When most people think about the 1%, they think about the top tier of the most privileged Americans.

But in Silicon Valley, being black and in tech makes you part of a very different 1%.

We are the black engineers that make up only 1% of the tech workforce at companies like Google and the only 1.5% that have made it into leadership positions there.

We are the black investors that make up only 1.5% of the venture capital industry.

We are the black founders that make up less than 1% of venture-backed tech startups and are able to raise much less money than their white and Asian counterparts.

This one percent isn’t always a position of privilege. We experience the isolation and all too regular microaggressions that push minorities out of tech careers. As companies like Google and Facebook focus on getting more minorities into the pipeline, they still have very few black executives in leadership positions. And there is no doubt that the lack of black investors contributes to the often bleak funding outlook for black founders.

Those of us who are here are pulling more doors open behind us and hoping to see more companies are put in the work to make these numbers obsolete.

One Percent is where we’ll be collecting your stories. We want to know what you care about, what you’re working on, and why it’s important. We want to hear your experiences and insight.

If you would like to contribute to One Percent, write your post on Medium and share it with us or contact us.