Start-up Society #82: The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Issue

Keeping the American Dream Alive

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Start-up Society

8 min readJan 17, 2022

Welcome to the 82nd edition of Start-up Society! This blog highlights some of the most exciting start-ups in the country striving to keep the American Dream alive.

Make sure you check out the previous issue, if you have not already, here.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! This Monday, January 17, we celebrate a national holiday in honor of the life and legacy of MLK, who was assassinated in 1968. MLK dedicated his life to the nonviolent struggle for civil rights in the United States. His leadership played a pivotal role in ending entrenched segregation for African Americans and in the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a crowning achievement of the civil rights era.

To honor Dr. King Jr.’s legacy, we are featuring two Black-founded & led start-ups bringing forth evolution, justice, and equity to crucial areas where racial injustice has plagued society: Healthcare and The Legal System.

Alabama

Acclinate

HQ: Birmingham

Founded: 2019

Employees: 10 (on LinkedIn)

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Acclinate is a digital health company improving health equity through inclusive research.
The start-up integrates culture and technology to achieve more inclusive clinical research, helping pharmaceutical companies, CROs (Contract Research Organizations), and healthcare organizations access and engage communities of color so their research efforts are more inclusive and reflect the populations they serve.

Acclinate’s HIPAA-compliant software platform is called e-DICT™ (Enhanced Diversity in Clinical Trials). e-DICT uses predictive analytics and machine learning to know who to ask, when to ask, and how to ask for clinical trial participation. For pharmaceutical companies, it accelerates the process of meeting recruitment goals of time, cost, and diversity.
Acclinate also created #NOWINCLUDED, a digital health platform that uses technology to engage with communities of color on health-related issues. The community platform is helping healthcare organizations that are using Acclinate to reach and engage diverse individuals, families, and communities (see how).

MEET THE TEAM

Dr. Delmonize “Del” Smith, Co-Founder & CEO

For years, Del watched his mother endure tuberculosis, a bacterial infection of the lungs that often requires a long series of treatments. The treatments that intended to help resolve the condition did not seem to be helping, and his mother was unable to overcome the disease and eventually passed away.
Years later, Del realized that his mother’s condition could have been managed better if a pharmacogenomic evaluation had been conducted.
After his mother died, Del sought out to locate his biological father. He was was successful, but found out his father had passed away from cancer the year before. More concerningly, he also discovered that every male on his father’s side of the family had passed away of some form of cancer before the age of 50. And so continued Del’s path of discovery.
Del is a serial entrepreneur and also held several IT & Network Analyst positions at organizations like the US Army, McKesson, and Memorial Hermann Health System. His experience formed a strong foundation in healthcare and systems.
Del earned his Ph.D. in Management from the University of Alabama, his M.S. in Management from the Sorrell College of Business at Troy University, and his B.B.A from Faulkner University.

Tiffany Whitlow, Co-Founder & Chief Development Officer

Tiffany was given up for adoption as a child because she was biracial.
When she became a mother at age 19, her son was diagnosed with asthma. When he was only a toddler, she discovered that his asthma medication, Albuterol, was significantly less effective for him than his white peers. We now know that Albuterol is about 47% less effective for black people.
This experience made her realize that if she had more insight into the health journeys of her family members, that would help her ask better-informed questions and research specific conditions.
Today, Tiffany has strong affiliations in the business community where she serves as an active board member of Urban Engine, Vice President of the Board of Directors for Nexus Energy Center, Advisor to the United Way of Madison County, Community Partner to Monrovia Middle School and Hampton Cove Middle School, A member of the National Space Club, A Kids to Love advocate and community partner, TRC Volunteer for the Decatur/Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Women’s Economic Development Council, and a member of Mayor Battle’s Diversity & Inclusion Council.

THE START-UP SOCIETY ASSESSMENT

As people are more receptive to solutions that are brought to them by people who look like them and who have similar historical and cultural experiences, Acclinate is unique in that its co-founders represent the individuals they are trying to serve.
Acclinate’s two-sided approach to achieving racial and ethnic diversity in clinical research is extremely important as the #NowIncluded community and trust-building aspect is just as crucial as the e-DICT platform in engaging and educating the community to empower them to participate in these clinical trials.

GO DEEPER

Prosper and Acclinate launch new health and wellness website

Thirty people to watch in Birmingham business for 2021

IDea Incubator Sponsor Spotlight: How BLUE KNIGHT™ Supports This Relationship-based Take on Health Equity

A New look for the 2021 Class of the Cox Enterprises Social Impact Accelerator Powered by Techstars

North Carolina

Courtroom5

HQ: Durham

Founded: 2017

Employees: 6 (on LinkedIn)

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Courtroom5 is an automated legal toolbox that empowers people to manage their own civil court cases without the need of a lawyer. Over 70% of people who complete their cases at Courtroom5 either win or settle.
The company states that its users are disproportionately people of color, with many facing the threat of foreclosure and eviction.

“As Black women, we are keenly aware of the many injustices plaguing our society. The crisis in access to justice that we’re working to resolve disproportionately affects Black and Brown people, and our customers are disproportionately Black and Brown. Our goal is to create an avenue where people can demand justice in the courts rather than in the streets.” — Dr. Sonja Ebron, Co-Founder & CEO

The online platform helps users maintain an online case record, manage evidence, find case law, file motions using guided document templates and manage tasks and expenses. It also aims to help its customers represent themselves effectively by providing on-demand video courses about civil procedure and about some of the skills needed to win.
Courtroom5 was founded for two reasons: First, the national average cost of a lawyer in the United States is $225 an hour, while the median hourly wage of a US citizen is just $20. Second, those who have to represent themselves in court because they can’t afford a lawyer often lose cases: The judicial process is tricky and complex, and the average person has no formal training in judicial proceedings.

MEET THE TEAM

Courtroom 5 is founded by former African American professors Sonja Ebron and Debra Slone, who know first-hand how tricky it can be to get caught up in the United State’s legal system. Ebron states, “We’ve had to represent ourselves in court, unfortunately, too many times. As academics, we felt a responsibility once we understood the lay of the land to share it with others.”

Dr. Sonja Ebron, Co-Founder & CEO

Surprisingly, Ebron does not come from a legal background— the Durham native is an expert electrical engineer with a background in utilities and artificial intelligence.
She recently was the CEO of blackEnergy — a national distributor of energy conservation products and an organizer of energy buying groups that helped people use their utility bills to support black communities.
Sonja began her career as a Managing Director at Solar Power & Light — a solar energy training and installation firm.
After, she transitioned to academics where she worked as the Coordinator of Electronics Engineering at Norfolk State University and as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Hampton University.
Sonja earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Debra Slone, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

Also not a lawyer, Slone is a librarian who felt the pain of being sued or having to sue others and not being able to find legal counsel.
Previously, Debra held Assistant Professor of Library & Information Studies positions at Valdosta State University, the University of South Florida, and Clark Atlanta University.
Debra earned a Master of Library & Information Science (MLIS) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her bachelor’s degree from Fisk University, an HBCU.

THE START-UP SOCIETY ASSESSMENT

Courtroom5 is just getting started. In 2021, the legal tech start-up received backing from women’s investment group SheEO and Precursor Ventures. In 2020, it completed the Techstars Kansas City Accelerator and received funding from Google for Startups.
After starting out as a modest educational site in 2017 and experiencing rapid growth in the last two years, we expect Courtroom5 to progress further into the mainstream in 2022 to help improve civil justice and we are excited to see the company use its recent funding to build out its artificial intelligence capabilities and represent more of the unrepresented.