Times of Entrepreneurship Stories
A New $500K Accelerator For Black Founders Opens In Brooklyn
BK-XL will select 12 startups founded by BIPOC leaders to receive as much as $500k in investment. The accelerator is part of a philanthropic commitment by Clara Wu Tsai, whose husband, Joseph Tsai, co-founded Alibaba.
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The Passion of Christian Hip-Hop Entrepreneur James Rousseaus
James Rosseau was one of the first evangelists of Christian hip hop. After 13 years of growing his Holy Culture Radio (HCR) entertainment channel, it now streams out of Wilmington, Delaware, showcasing the unique sounds of Christian hip hop artists like Lecrae, KB, Trip Lee, and A.I. the Anomaly.
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Venture Spotlight: $3.2B Advantage Capital Looks To Invest Even Deeper In Overlooked Communities
“After the civil unrest – my partners were very quiet,” said chief impact officer Sandra Moore, the only black woman partner at Advantage Capital. “I didn’t realize they were waiting for me, the only woman and person of color, to weigh in,” she said.
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What You May Have Missed
How A Black Founder From Pittsburgh Turne Pitching into a Winner’s Game
Jim Gibbs, co-founder of Meter Feeder, started to ask himself why he was begging venture capitalists, when he was the one making them money.
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A New Manufacturing Boom Is Coming To Pittsburgh
After 40 years of retooling, Pittsburgh may be poised to become a hub of a different kind of manufacturing: It’s not coke and steel at the center of this revolution, but cells. One of the stories from our Secondary Markets series, sponsored by
Armory Square Ventures.
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News With A Future Spin
Will the protests in Iran change the regime? A piece on the ongoing protests in Iran, about how people are brushing over the feminist connections to the Kurdish nationalist movement. The presence in the protests of many factors — youth generally, women, Kurdish people — is giving the protests staying power. Read the piece
here.
Twitter’s dying chirps? MIT Tech Review reports Twitter employees say they fear the platform will only last for weeks as employees quit, revolting against Musk’s “hardcore” dictum. This is a paywall story, but all you need to know was contained in the sentence above. People do always overestimate their own importance to an organization, but then, most bosses overestimate how smart they are. The bigger question: If Twitter died, would that be a good thing? Read the story
here.
Demon River. Courtesy of
Long Reads, a piece about how an “atmospheric river” brought flooding to British Columbia. This is also a story about why science should sometimes bow to narrative – because narrative is what moves people. Read the piece
here.
Is This The End of Crypto? A “leader” in
The Economist asks the question why a technology – blockchain — that was supposed to be immune to fraud ends up being at the center of the biggest ones. “Never before has crypto looked so criminal, so wasteful and useless.” Fair questions, but why do we think the editor who wrote the piece had some crypto investments? The key thing could be to recognize blockchain as the innovation and crypto as merely the first pass, like “Florida land for sale,” was the early iteration of the U.S. migration south. Read the story
here.
Living the dream
Buzzworthy: Speaking of Manufacturing Expansions
Gibson acoustic guitars added 100-200 jobs in Bozeman, Mt. The storied company made Jimmy Page’s guitars, among others. Here’s
the story.
Best Practices: Tips for Non-Boring Events
From Reid Hoffman’s take on what works at events from his Masters of Scale Summit, posted on LinkedIn:
- For panel moderation: Ask one panelist the question, and then ask the other two panelists to comment on the first panelist’s answer, rather than the original question.
- At a session: Open by asking participants to “talk with the person sitting next to you, and begin with the statement, ‘You would know me better if…’”
Rathskellar
A Time-Saving Hack
Limit your shopping this holiday season to one street, one afternoon in your local downtown. Not only will you be supporting local businesses, you’ll be limiting the amount of time you spend poking around on web sites, which tends to explode as the Internet is the ultimate distraction-maker. When in doubt, get a gift card.
Made in America: Here’s a secret of traveling in the south: Because artists’ costs of living are lower, the artists and makers’ markets feature less expensive items. Here’s one maker at the Soda City market in South Carolina: Modern Companion, which creates matching pet-human scarves. You will be the envy of the dog-walking circuit.
Upcoming Opportunities ⭐
To list an opportunity in our newsletter that reaches 13,000 influencers and entrepreneurs, email emacbride@timesofe.com. We charge $200 per listing.
Link: https://bit.ly/TimesofEOpportunities
1. Imagination Machine Mentorships
Founders in Europe are eligible for Imagination Machine’s support, which includes up to 500,000 Euros and remote mentoring. The organization is focused on creating do-good entrepreneurs.
Deadline: Nov. 22
2. A Course To Reach the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
In this free course developed by entrepreneurship professor John Lynn, professors and other entrepreneurship educators get a curriculum and supporting materials based on the influential book, The New Builders.
3. Nestle Youth Accelerator
Nestle launched its platform for youth entrepreneurs, including an R&D accelerator. An open challenge for science-based startups is currently accepting applicants and will be for the news four months or so. The platform is
here. Info about the acclerator at the link below.
Deadline to apply: December
4. BK-XL
A new accelerator launched by Clara Wu Tsai invests as much as $500,000 in founders of color. Entrepreneurs from around the world are eligible and asked to move to Brooklyn for mentoring.
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This story and others on New Builders Dispatch are made possible by a sponsorship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that provides access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity – regardless of race, gender, or geography. The Kansas City, Mo.-based foundation uses its grantmaking, research, programs, and initiatives to support the start and growth of new businesses, a more prepared workforce, and stronger communities. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect with www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.
