Aaron Walker, founder of Camelback Ventures, and the first cohort, celebrates at GSV Labs in Redwood City with the making of a music a video.
If you're a 30-something entrepreneur in New Orleans or Atlanta who does not have familial wealth or a very strong network, it is exceptionally difficult to raise seed funding from initial investors. It is even more difficult if you're part of an underrepresented minority group in the tech ecosystem.
According to the United States Census Bureau, African-Americans and Hispanics have been consistently underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations. In 2011, blacks represented 11 percent of the total workforce, but only 6 percent of STEM workers. Hispanics were 15 percent of the total workforce and only 7 percent of STEM workers.
When looking at tech companies across the board - the numbers for women and minorities in technology are not much better. For instance, in 2014 Google released its numbers: Women at Google comprise only 30% of the global workforce, 21% of leadership roles, and 17% of tech roles. Minorities have it worse, with black and Hispanics together making up only 5% of the entire U.S. team, whereas they are about 28% of the U.S. workforce overall.
The problem that exists for minorities is not a matter of skill, but access. For example, I put myself through law school by coding for other companies and made the decision to launch my own startup Smart Coos, a few years later. However, after some significant traction it was time for us to raise a seed round. At that time, initial "access" to investors was lacking.
This is why my interest was piqued when I was invited to take part in Camelback Ventures' first cohort.
Camelback Ventures is a 9-month fellowship that provides startup founders with coaching, capital and connections between the idea and seed stage. What is the difference between Camelback Ventures and other organizations geared towards increasing access to underrepresented minorities? Effective execution and funding.
Camelback Ventures' first cohort of fellows consisted of 11 entrepreneurs. 92% of the cohort identified as people of color, 71% women, and 27% mothers. Over a 9-month period, we attended three week-long summits across the country in New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco. In between sessions, the Camelback team stayed connected with us virtually - creating a quality experience.
My co-fellows included:
Jacob Allen, of pilotED. provides a program that recruits and trains highly-effective middle school teachers to revolutionize their students' education through the enrichment of racial identity, rigorous academics, and the promotion of self-advocacy.
Logan Cohen, of Küdzoo. co-founded the educational mobile application to allow students to redeem their academic achievements for a broad range of rewards and opportunities.
Aimee Eubanks Davis, of The Braven Accelerator., is a Braddock Fellow who started her innovative non-profit based on her deep passion and belief that our next generation of leaders could emerge from anywhere.
Jonathan Johnson, of Rooted Schools, is a 4.0 Schools alum, Echoing Green Fellow, and Teach For America Innovation award recipient. Like most entrepreneurs, he started his startup because he wanted to solve a problem in his immediate community. Unlike most entrepreneurs, it was because of the death of a student.
Tina Tran Neville, of Calolo, founded a web and mobile app that simplifies the college admissions and financial aid process for students by creating a personalized planner.
Marcus Noel, of Heart of Man, created an immersive entrepreneurial educational program and brand that teaches disadvantaged middle and high school students STEAM through human-centered design, entrepreneurship, and digitally based skills.
Makeda Ricketts, of PinkThink, founded a for-profit social enterprise that creates fun, engaging, and social mobile games for each subject area of (S)cience, (T)echnology, (E)ngineering, (M)ath for tween girls ages 8-14.
Jerelyn Rodriguez, of The Knowledge House. co-founded her organization in 2014 so that young people in the Bronx could gain exposure to 21st-century skills, technology and entrepreneurship.
Jessica Santana, of New York on Tech is a fellow Syracuse University graduate. Her non-profit organization provides students with development, mentoring and networking opportunities that create access to degrees and careers in tech.
Margo Wright, of Yenko,, whom I initially met during our time at 4.0 Schools. started her for-profit startup-a mobile-first platform that uses predictive analytics, real-time grade tracking and productivity tools to help college students stay on track academically and financially - in order to help students graduate from college.
As for me, I founded Smart Coos for Parents because parents needed an easy and convenient place for their children to learn a second language with live instruction from home; and Smart Coos for Educators to help schools solve the need of English Language Learners with live bilingual instruction in the classroom and at home. With Smart Coos' web-based platform, children (birth to age 18) have the opportunity to learn a second language, including, Sign Language, Mandarin Chinese, French and Spanish, with a combination of live-language sessions and a unique use of technology to reinforce the lessons.
How do you measure the success of a single cohort? In the case of Mr. Walker's Camelback Ventures, it's easy. Rodriguez, Cohen and Noel made the 2016 list of Forbes 30 under 30 in Education. In other words, 10% of the list came from Camelback.
But that's not all. My co-fellows have received recognition from many prestigious institutions, including the Aspen Institute, Draper Richards Kaplan, Echoing Green, Penn GSE, Teach For America and Yale School of Management. And, Smart Coos was chosen as a finalist at SXSWedu 2016.
On top of all that, the fellows' organizations received additional funding because of their involvement in Camelback. The fellowship just ended 1 month ago, and yet, the first cohort has raised nearly $2 million.
Based on those numbers, it's time for Silicon Valley to start expanding equal access, funding and leadership opportunities -- because it is certainly not a question of talent.
The article was originally published on the Smart Coos blog.