Ask HN: How many YC companies have African American founders?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6966969

by penguinlinux • 13 years ago

31 65 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am curious of how many YC companies have been founded by African Americans, I am trying to encourage some teens in my neighborhood to learn about programming and startups. I want to show them examples of companies that were started by African americans, which companies can I use as an example?

byoung2• 13 years ago

Not sure if this has changed since 2011, but according to this article:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/11/technology/diversity_acceler...

Another Y Combinator representative told CNNMoney: "We've never collected any stats about people's race or ethnicity. It's not a big factor when we're judging applications."

Maybe the founders (if any) can identify themselves

wudf• 13 years ago

And if it were a big factor, it would show in the statistics. Case closed, please move on everyone!

ovoxo2• 13 years ago

LOL @ "It's not a big factor when we're judging applications". Because, it is a factor ... but, not a big one.

ytdtty• 13 years ago

How many are founded by Native Americans?

RomanPushkin• 13 years ago

You mean by indians?

moocowduckquack3• 13 years ago

Sorry to break it to you, but Columbus was a bit wrong about that. You see there's this thing called the Pacific...

gtremper• 13 years ago

I'm pretty sure there are Indian YC founders, just not Native American ones.

ricardobeat8• 13 years ago

Thankfully other languages have evolved separate words (e.g. índio vs indiano) so witty remarks from both sides can be avoided.

jayp• 13 years ago

Michael Seibel founded two YC companies: Justin.tv and Socialcam

OafTobark• 13 years ago

My understanding was SocialCam and Twitch.TV were both built under Justin.TV. Only later was Twitch.TV spun out. Not sure SocialCam was ever a separate company. Anyone with better knowledge can chime in

zbruhnke• 13 years ago

Social Cam was spun out as a separate company and participated in the same batch of YC as me (W12) They also sold it to Autodesk for about $60MM if I recall correctly only a month or two after the batch.

Michael was a super nice guy and should be considered a great example here. I always appreciated him bringing beer to the dinners personally though I remember the group office hours with him and his great insights into problems or struggles we were having just as fondly.

eof• 13 years ago

That seems like an odd strategy to me; like "no really, you can do it look these other black people did it"--as i would expect the merits/benefits of programming itself to be the main motivating factors. Perhaps I am underestimating the amount of self-imposed race-based limiting factors; which makes me sad and surprised. On the one hand I want to say, "please focus on the fact that they can do anything they want; and this is a great thing to do"--and on the other, if showing them African American's doing it will be significant toward getting some of them into programming; then by all means.

I have no idea about yc; but you might find this answer on quora useful: http://www.quora.com/Who-are-some-notable-African-American-f...

SoundExecution• 13 years ago

Being able to "see yourself" in a certain position, or discovering that a particular avenue for success is "culturally acceptable" is definitive in breaking the mold and helping young minorities expand their horizons. In short, race matters when considering positive role models, Penguin's efforts should be applauded.

Edmond3• 13 years ago

Yes you are definitely "underestimating the amount of self-imposed race-based limiting factors;"...It is true for many kids not just African Americans, seeing people you can identify with even if just superficially can influence how you view certain careers/professions.

SwellJoe4• 13 years ago

For a white kid in America, race doesn't matter, in this, or almost any other context.

For a black kid, seeing black people in leadership roles does matter. It's a reality that for many poor black kids in America, the only obvious path out of poverty is sports or drugs, neither of which are very good options...especially for nerdy black kids living in poverty. That's not to say entrepreneurship is an obvious path out of poverty for anyone (white or black), but being technically savvy is extremely good for your value in the employment market, no matter what you choose to do.

Anyway, I believe you are underestimating the amount of self-imposed race-based limiting factors. I think we're all probably also underestimating the external society-imposed limiting factors on people of color in America, as well (because most of the people on HN are white, grew up in a middle class household, and male).

pessimizer4• 13 years ago

If you've never seen or heard of a person that shares a major trait with you doing a particular thing, but you know that people with that characteristic are common, you probably don't think that you can do that thing either.

In addition, it's not at all unreasonable to think that way. Why waste your time on something that you will ultimately likely not be allowed to do? That's good decisionmaking, not "self-imposed race-based limiting factors."

acjohnson553• 13 years ago

Why are so many diners in NYC owned by Greeks? Why are so many corner stores owned by people of Arab heritage? Why are so many basketball players and musicians black? Why are so many CEOs white? Why are so many doctors South or East Asian?

Having a clear line of progression into a career, validated by people you feel connected to, is important. I would say that having a familial connection is strongest, followed by a social connection, and lastly followed by cultural/ethnic connection.

For many of these kids, the first two types of connection are already very weak for high paying careers. Well, at least for those careers that have reasonable prospects of success (ruling out music performance and sports). It can be transformative to these kids to have some example to follow. Believe it or not, not everyone in America is born believing in the reality of the American Dream. It just seems that way to many, because they have been surrounded by people for whom the American system is working from their earliest memories. Many others grow up awash in evidence the game is strongly rigged against them. If that's what the preponderance of evidence tells you, then why try?

I would go further and say that not all the limits black people face in this country are self-imposed. Even if you're doing all the right things, there is a burden to constantly prove you're not one of those black people on the evening news. Not to mention, black people disproportionately lack the privileges of wealth and social connections compared to other ethnicities. This leads to a vicious cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy on the perceived capabilities of black people, as perceived from both within and outside of many black communities. I would argue that institutions should feel some responsibility to recognize these inequalities and even act against them in ways that align with their philosophies.

joshlev• 13 years ago

Not to be incisive, but I think startup founders are extremely poor role models. Of those I've met, most have been very narcissistic and self-serving (successful ones and failures alike). Plus, I'd wager that those who aspire to be 'startup founders' are putting the cart before the horse.

If black highly intelligent role models are who you're after - Neil Tyson exhibits all of qualities that a kid of any race/creed/religion should aspire to have.

source: I'm a jew and I love Neil.

dnautics• 13 years ago

that's funny, because i'm a scientist and I don't like him at all; to me he seems to use science as a source of authority and power, which is antithetical to the entire philosophy of science.

skannamalai• 13 years ago

I'm also a scientist and I find Neil deGrasse Tyson extremely grating. I find something about his snarky/condescending tone to be poor qualities for his role as "science communicator."

Edmond3• 13 years ago

Hmmm I have always thought him to be an effective science communicator, I don't see how he's used science as a source of authority and power.

He's also quite accessible, I have randomly ran into him in NYC on a couple of occasions and was always cordial.

pessimizer4• 13 years ago

Why would you use a cosmologist to inspire black teens to become involved with technology and startups? Are smart black people fungible?

anaccountonhn2• 13 years ago

Read the comment before responding. Neil is being held as a "black highly intelligent role model". What is your source of confusion.

jacalata5• 13 years ago

Incisive? I can't think of a definition that makes sense in this context.

anaccountonhn2• 13 years ago

Use a dictionary. " 2. biting or sarcastic; mordant"

zosegal• 13 years ago

Garrett Johnson co-founded SendHub.

davidsmith89003• 13 years ago

- I think NewMe Accelerator will be a better option. Here is their link ~> http://www.newmeaccelerator.com/ . It is like the YC for African American people. There's alot that you'll find.

davidsmith89003• 13 years ago

- Here is a link to the startups ~> http://www.newmeaccelerator.com/startups/

penguinlinux2• 13 years ago

Thanks for this link. This is a great resource.

davidsmith89003• 13 years ago

Penguinlinux. I would love to help you out more. You should even talk to Angela Benton who runs the program. She is a very nice woman.

conjecTech2• 13 years ago

Paul Judge is also a very prominent and successful entrepreneur in Atlanta. He's had a number of security related businesses. He's currently working as chairman of Pindrop Security and probably doing other things of top of that. Link:http://www.pindropsecurity.com/about-pindrop-security/

Edmond3• 13 years ago

You could also compile a list of black "geeks" (yours truely) online and perhaps set them up for mentoring...

ricardobeat8• 13 years ago

Why should race (or gender) matter?

As a south-american, the term african-american irks me. It reeks of political correctness, not respect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism_treadmill#Evolution

EDIT: eh, what did I get myself into... over here we're just plain white/black/latin/asian/etc, despite some media usage of the term 'afro-descendant'. I do support affirmative action policies in general, it's just my personal opinion that teaching kids to be self-conscious about race in this context is not necessarily positive.

SwellJoe4• 13 years ago

Because race still effects the world we live in.

To insist on a "color blind" view of society, our industry, etc. is to deny the real experience of people of color within it, who have found discrimination and prejudice.

We can and should say to racists that try to prove some sort of race-based superiority that genetically "race" is a silly fiction, and has no basis in reality. But, we can't deny that black folks in America have a very different experience than white folks. Doing so is counter-productive to the conversation that needs to happen.

javert2• 13 years ago

To insist on a "color blind" view of society, our industry, etc. is to deny the real experience of people of color within it, who have found discrimination and prejudice.

I inisit on color blindness in all kinds of social, business, and political relationships, but I do not deny that blacks have a much tougher time, other things being equal.

Race-based discrimination, whether supposedly for or against blacks, does not actually provide value for blacks in general in the long run, and neither does it provide value for non-blacks.

As a side note, other things are not equal. For instance, coming from an abusive family in America is probably much more of a disadvantage than being black. We need to stop fetishizing race in particular.

pessimizer4• 13 years ago

I think it's respectful to call people what they wish to be called. If someone prefers to be called "African-American," calling them that has nothing to do with political correctness, it has to do with the person standing in front of you.

wcummings• 13 years ago

The problem is when people use it as a synonym for black. For example, a Jamaican immigrant would not be African-American, and a white South African would be.

No one considers black an offensive term, and in many cases "African-American" is clunky and imprecise, for example this thread. OP is really asking about black founders.

moocowduckquack3• 13 years ago

Not a YC company, but Lonnie Johnson is an excellent example. Inventor of the supersoaker and now developing thin-film lithium air batteries and working with MIT on solid state thermoelectric engines.

http://www.johnsonems.com/

http://www.excellatron.com/

http://www.johnsonrd.com/ie/lj/ljprofile.html

http://www.parc.com/event/713/high-efficiency-solid-state-en...

conjecTech2• 13 years ago

Lonnie is one hell of a guy. He should be a role model for everyone.

moocowduckquack3• 13 years ago

They should build giant benevolent statues of him wherever children gather with the intention of soaking each other for fun.

penguinlinux2• 13 years ago

Another great resource., thanks for these links. very excite to have a great conversation with these young people.

pshin45• 13 years ago

For those wondering why this is important, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype_threat

"If negative stereotypes are present regarding a specific group, group members are likely to become anxious about their performance, which may hinder their ability to perform at their maximum level. For example, stereotype threat can lower the intellectual performance of African-Americans taking the SAT reasoning test used for college entrance in the United States, due to the stereotype that African-Americans are less intelligent than other groups. Importantly, the individual does not need to subscribe to the stereotype for it to be activated. Moreover, the specific mechanism through which anxiety (induced by the activation of the stereotype) decreases performance is by depleting working memory (especially the phonological aspects of the working memory system).

ricardobeat8• 13 years ago

Doesn't that support the other view, that race shouldn't be brought into play?

jacalata5• 13 years ago

Only if you can make a plausible argument that there are no existing stereotypes.

pg• 13 years ago

It's hard to say for sure because we don't ask people what race they identify as, and we don't know offhand which people are citizens and which aren't. But Michael Seibel seems a good bet if you want an example to encourage kids.

acjohnson553• 13 years ago

Respectfully, I think you ask should at least ask, as an optional question. Even on your application, it might be nice to know who's applying and how people of different ethnicities/racial identities perform in the process. The fact that you have provided just one example of a black YC founder, out of who knows how many, speaks to the fact, for whatever reason, black folks are not getting in the door. Even if this is simply the result of a whole bunch of things that happened before the application, it seems like something your organization should be able to speak intelligently about, as the clear leaders in the space. That's my opinion at least.

argumentum2• 13 years ago

There were at least 3 african-americans in my batch (which was large so I'm probably missing some). But I am not sure whether they'd want to be identified as anything else other than as hackers/founders. Feels weird to even try and count in my head, as I see my batchmates as simply batchmates.

I don't think explicitly adding ethnicity to the YC app would be good for anyone .. for one, these are (mostly) teams of 2 or more. Accepting or not accepting a team/idea/application doesn't reflect judgement of the individuals within the team, regardless of their background(s).

Since there is only 1 application per team, it may also introduce unnecessary and awkward questions between the founders even prior to YC's evaluation.

mikeyouse• 13 years ago

Tristan Walker is a very successful African American deep in the startup scene. He was director of BD for FourSquare and was EIR at Andreessen Horowitz for a spell.

He just announced his newest venture, Bevel, a health and beauty 'brand' for people of color.

I don't know him personally, but his public persona seems very welcoming if you wanted to reach out depending on what you're trying to achieve.

[1] http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tristan-walker

[2] http://allthingsd.com/20131218/tristan-walkers-next-act-buil...

ovoxo2• 13 years ago

I'm black and I've worked with black youth to get them involved with tech and here's what I've found:

Black youth don't necessarily need to find other black idols to look up to. They - much like any other youth - need to feel like they have access to the same tools that everyone else does to succeed. Tools = access, technology, opportunity, mentors, funds, etc...

Typically, these youths assume that others that look like them had access to the same tools that they have/had hence why they "need" to see successful people that look like them. As a result, if you truly want help them succeed in the long run, rather than simply show/tell them about successful black people (who may/may not have had a similar upbringing), help them gain access to those same tools.

tptacek• 13 years ago

I gave a talk at an informal event for YC cos a month or so ago, and the audience was both large and diverse. There were definitely African Americans in attendance.

Youth seems like the more troublesome homogeneity here. For whatever that's worth.

Ask HN: How many YC companies have African American founders?

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