One of the primary barriers to improving diversity among tech startups can be summed up in a simple networking interaction startup mentor and entrepreneur Preston James saw unfold recently.
Jason Seats, a Techstars mentor and partner in Techstars Ventures, told James he had recently met Sterling Smith, the founder of Sandbox Commerce, an Austin-based app development software startup. It's the type of connection that happens every day at coffee shop meetings, investor meetings and tech events throughout the city.
After the meeting, Seats looked up Smith's LinkedIn profile, and he later told James he was astounded to find he doesn't share any connections.
"Jason is like 'this is weird. How could we both be in Austin and we don't know any of the same people?' James recalled. It made them realize the disparity in networking many diverse founders face.
"I don't think anybody has really thought about it that way," James said. "If you look at your profile, what's in there? Maybe one or two black people you know, but that's probably not a first connection. It's a second or third. So what does that mean?"
"...people pounding on the door saying 'we need racial and gender equality now. It's 2016, why hasn't this happened yet?'"[/pullquote]
Networking plays a vital role in building a startup -- from finding co-founders to investors and customers. But in many cases entreprenuers of color aren't as actively involved in tech networks, which can translate to missed opportunities, James said.
That's one of the reasons James, a former Dell executive, startup mentor and angel investor, founded DivInc., a pre-accelerator program for diverse entrepreneurs. The nonprofit startup, which had its launch party this week, wants to bring diversity in tech to the forefront and help ethnically diverse founders and women entrepreneurs with an intense 12-week program covering the nuances of developing products, perfecting pitches and a planning to scale.
They want to help build companies that can inspire other diverse founders and show them a clear path to success.
DivInc, which is headquartered at Galvanize in downtown Austin, helps prepare emerging startups for top-notch accelerator programs, such as Techstars, and gives them the conversation points and investor connections they need to raise a seed round.
Its first round of cohorts includes:
Homads, a marketplace for month to month rentals.
Revealix, a software startup focused on identifying adverse skin complications before harm occurs.
Redenim, a marketplace to lease designer jeans through a membership program.
ConfirmX, a healthcare networking service
Ayoopa, a marketplace for casual adventures to rent gear instead of buying it.
Plume, a millennial solution to building credit.
Hauoli LLC, a startup developing motion tracking technology for entertainment, education, safety and healthcare.
CodersLink, an organization connecting U.S. companies to tech talent in Mexico.
MamaEnglish, a mobile platform that teaches English to young children in China.
By not taking equity, DivInc is able to attract startups that don’t want to dilute ownership before entering another accelerator or raising a seed round.But they have specific metrics for success, and will gauge their impact by whether companies achieve those goals of getting into accelerators like Y Combinator or find investors for a seed round.
"We want this to be as founder-friendly as it can be," DivInc Co-Founder Dan Austin said.
Ashley Jennings, co-founder of DivInc, said she spent months studying diversity and equality in Austin's startup scene. As she helped startups tell their stories through videos and multimedia at CF Studios, she began thinking about how to bring more women-led and minority-led companies into the local ecosystem.
Jennings brought together a small group of women to explore how mentors, networks and support could help other women founders. Everyone was excited to do something, but the group had stalled while looking for the right solution.
That's when she met Preston and began forming DivInc.
"I'm really, really excited because I think there's a movement happening in the country for women in tech," she said. "And I think Austin has the opportunity to be champions in that movement."
DivInc has formed a relationship with Galvanize, and, as the nonprofit scales, it hopes to expand to other Galvanize locations across the country and inspire other, similar organizations to form and help diverse entreprenuers.
The nonprofit has enlisted 16 advisors, including well-known Austin investors and other leaders who haven't been as involved in prior mentoring programs. That will help expand DivInc's network and connect diverse founders with key players in the Austin startup ecosystem.
DivInc Co-Founder Dana Callender said social media is one of the primary reasons the tech world has recognized its lack of diversity. She said, in the past, people were often scared or defensive about diversity in tech, often blaming the industry's white male dominance on the talent pipeline and a presumed lack of experience or education among diverse communities.
"People definitely ready for it now," she said. "And I think it has a lot to do with the social media platforms and media and social justice people pounding on the door saying 'we need racial and gender equality now. It's 2016, why hasn't this happened yet?"
The DivInc teams hopes to set and example, and eventually run itself out of business as diversity and equality issues are solved.
"Frankly, eventually, the vision is that we don't need to do this anymore," Austin said.
Editor's Note: This article has been clarified to better reflect the interaction between Preston James and Jason Seats.