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5-Point Recap of CNN’s Black In America 4

November 17, 2011
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November 13, 2011 was a historical day for Blacks in tech as CNN's Black In America 4: The New Promised Land: Sil  Valley aired.  The documentary followed eight entrepreneurs from around the country who relocated to Sil  Valley in the summer to launch their Web tech start-ups as part of the NewME Accelerator Program.<br />
	The documentary alone will not create a 100% meritocracy in Sil  Valley but has sparked discussion that didn't exist about Black Web tech start-ups. Kloudco founder Hank Williams  did an interesting analyst in his "Tech Industry Silence is Deafening on #BlackInAmerica"  post. Only three people from Rob Schoble's Influential Tech Industry list joined the discussion. With #BlackInAmerica being a trending topic the night of the doc’s premier, it’s not likely these tech savvy people missed it. As a note, popular start-up publication, TechCrunch, which routinely reports on the demo days and does extensive profiles of the other accelerator participants, didn't mention it at all. In response, here’s my 5-point recap. —Hajj Flemings
Pre-Screening/Panel Discussions</p>
<p>Black In America 4 inspired meetings and panel discussions around the nation.</p>
<p>	Here are a few of the cities that held self-hosted pre-screening: Atlanta, Austin, Detroit, New York, Sil  Valley, and many more.</p>
<p>	High School Workshops: Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) (Detroit, MI) and Mastery Charter School Campus (Philadelphia, PA).</p>
<p>	Conferences: The Black Angel Summit at Rutgers University hosted by America21.
The Educational Pipeline Issue</p>
<p>Currently, there is a lack of African American role models in the Web tech start-up space.  Building a talent pool of start-up founders, veteran entrepreneurs, angel investors, and VCs will be important for the future.  Also, sparking the interest of Black middle and high school students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is going to be critical so that we have the expertise within our community to build product and the platforms that the world will use. There has to be a greater commitment from the Black community to help be a part of the solution.
Most Interesting Comments in the Documentary</p>
<p>"Get a White guy to be your front man," Vivek Wadhwa, mentor in the NewME Accelerator </p><div class=

Vivek, made one of the most controversial statements of the documentary, but it raised a very important question for African American tech entrepreneurs: if you want to be successful, is this the secret recipe? Would you add someone to your team purely based upon color? Is it more important to have the right people on the team regardless of color? In early stage start-ups, one of the three factors that’s going to be looked is the team. So making sure you have a solid team is going to be critical." title="Vivek-Wadhwa-620x480" />
Most Interesting Comments in the Documentary</p>
<p>"I don’t know a single Black entrepreneur," Michael Arrington, Founder of TechCrunch</p>
<p>	Arrington’s statement was more eye opening then anything else. The comment started a conversation that went viral online. At the end of the day he was just communicating the harsh reality that African Americans are visibly missing from this part of the economy.
Economic Parity</p>
<p>For Black entrepreneurs to have a significant impact in the Web tech start-up space, start-ups are going to need to have access to capital.  One of the issues that was apparent is the lack of Black angel investors and venture capital firms. At the end of the day, people invest their money in people that look like them. Economic parity will be critical in scaling the number of Web tech start-up founders.</p>
<p>	Leave a comment and let us know what your take-a-ways were from the CNN documentary.</p>
<p>CNN’s Black In America 4: The New Promised Land: Sil  Valley re-airs  November 19th and 25th (Thanksgiving) at 8pm and 11pm EST.




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Tags: angel investors, Billboard, Black in America, Black in America: The New Promised Land, CNN, Hank Williams, hashtag, Kloudco, Lifestyle, Michael Arrington, NewMe Accelerator Program, Photos, Rob Schoble, Silicon Valley, STEM, TechCrunch, Technology, Twitter, venture capitalists

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