
Ask HN:  How many YC companies have African American founders? - penguinlinux
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?
======
ovoxo
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.

------
pshin45
For those wondering why this is important, see:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype_threat](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)._

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

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

~~~
ricardobeat
The theory is that people perform worse when a negative stereotype they
identify with is presented to them. Saying "oh, but unfortunately there are no
successful black entrepreneurs" in an entrepreneurship class to black kids
seems to be exactly that.

~~~
jacalata
...thats why the op is asking for examples of actual black entrepreneurs, so
that what will actually happen is, when presenting a list of entrepreneurs as
examples, at least some of them are black, and the kids are not explicitly or
implicitly told that there are no black entrepreneurs. You seem to be arguing
that presenting a list of white examples would not prompt stereotypes in
itself, and I think you really need to show that instead of simply assume it.

~~~
ricardobeat
Yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking along 'companies started by african-
americans' as the presentation context, which carries the subtext of blacks as
the exception.

------
pg
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.

~~~
acjohnson55
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.

~~~
argumentum
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.

~~~
acjohnson55
That's good to know that there have been more black folks than just the one
lone guy PG mentioned. I was worried for a minute.

Every black person is an individual obviously, but I think it's safe to say
that most of us don't have the luxury of thinking of ourselves as "just
another person", as much as we may like to. You tend to notice when you're the
only black person in a mostly non-black room (just as the average white person
would probably feel out of place in a mostly black event). That's been my
experience in the vast majority of my life, and even though many of the most
important people in my life are not black, the feeling of being the lone black
representative in these situations is never really far away. All this to say
that "colorblindness" sounds great in theory, but in reality, it's a privilege
that not everyone has.

I think you're right that there are practical issues of when and how to
collect voluntary ethnic information...but seriously, how awkward is that
discussion between founders really, compared to things like equity split and
job titles? It could just as well be left to the individual team members to
identify or not.

But my overall point is that even if YC decides it shouldn't actively do
anything about its minority imbalance (if it, in fact, exists), it would be
nice to do some from an informed position, rather than a blind assumption that
meritocracy is working as hoped.

~~~
argumentum
> It could just as well be left to the individual team members to identify or
> not.

This is not possible the way it works now (one HN user submits the application
for the whole team). Asking isn't any more awkward, but it is _unnecessarily_
so, in the sense it does no benefit _to the team_ (vs the equity question,
which forces a discussion thats likely been put off too long). I'm not white
myself, but I'm more concerned about people with ambiguous ethnicity (mixed,
adopted, immigrant etc) who may not like such questions (particularly as many
applicants are quite young). Nonetheless, I agree that's a minor quibble.

But I just don't see YC as having much of a role in solving such social
problems other than how it already does so (by funding startups and (now) non-
profits to "make things people want"). YC may have an outsized influence in
tech, but it's really a tiny, quirky little band of ~20 people (>(1/2) of
which are part-time).

Clearly YC would benefit if more underrepresented minorities learned to code
and started companies, but it seems the best way to do that is to make those
things easier _for everyone_. I.e. fund startups that improve education
(clever, code academy etc) and startups that make it easier to start startups
(fundersclub, wefunders etc).

------
moocowduckquack
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.johnsonems.com/)

[http://www.excellatron.com/](http://www.excellatron.com/)

[http://www.johnsonrd.com/ie/lj/ljprofile.html](http://www.johnsonrd.com/ie/lj/ljprofile.html)

[http://www.parc.com/event/713/high-efficiency-solid-state-
en...](http://www.parc.com/event/713/high-efficiency-solid-state-engine.html)

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

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

------
byoung2
Not sure if this has changed since 2011, but according to this article:

[http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/11/technology/diversity_acceler...](http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/11/technology/diversity_accelerators/)

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

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

------
eof
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...](http://www.quora.com/Who-are-some-notable-African-American-
founders-entrepreneurs-and-executives-in-Silicon-Valley)

~~~
SwellJoe
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).

------
mikeyouse
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](http://www.crunchbase.com/person/tristan-walker)

[2] - [http://allthingsd.com/20131218/tristan-walkers-next-act-
buil...](http://allthingsd.com/20131218/tristan-walkers-next-act-building-a-
proctor-gamble-for-people-of-color/)

------
ricardobeat
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](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.

~~~
pessimizer
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
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.

~~~
pessimizer
That's just a mistake. I'm pretty sure that there aren't many black non-
Americans asking to be called African-American.

>white South African would be.

The "African" in "African-American" has nothing to do with where you were born
or where your parents were born, just like the "Free" in "Free Software" has
nothing to do with beer. It has to do with the origin of the features that
make you distinct (in a historically particular way) from white Americans.

Of course, if white Africans who move to America identify as African-
Americans, it's certainly their right, and I'd gladly refer to them as that.

------
tptacek
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.

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

~~~
OafTobark
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
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.

------
zosegal
Garrett Johnson co-founded SendHub.

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

------
joshlev
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
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
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."

------
davidsmith8900
\- I think NewMe Accelerator will be a better option. Here is their link ~>
[http://www.newmeaccelerator.com/](http://www.newmeaccelerator.com/) . It is
like the YC for African American people. There's alot that you'll find.

~~~
penguinlinux
Thanks for this link. This is a great resource.

~~~
conjecTech
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/](http://www.pindropsecurity.com/about-pindrop-security/)

------
ytdtty
How many are founded by Native Americans?

~~~
RomanPushkin
You mean by indians?

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

