Techies say NYC needs more black geeks

 

Big Apple geeks say the code to startup success requires major networking. Want to learn programming or rub shoulders with developers over drinks? There’s an event for that.

One thing most of the city’s tech events have in common: relatively few of the high-profile entrepreneurs and developers in the crowd are black.

In New York’s booming start-up scene, African Americans “are absolutely underrepresented,” says Ron J. Williams, co-founder and CEO of Knodes and SnapGoods, startups that help people share goods and knowledge.??Sara Chipps, co-founder of the city’s popular Girl Develop It programming classes for women, says she’s concerned about the New York tech scene’s lack of diversity. “It is definitely not ethnically diverse…it’s mostly Asians and white people,” she said.?Techies say there’s an especially noticeable gap between the number of high profile female black entrepreneurs and developers in New York and their peers.

“In the past when I’ve gone to speak to groups of high school girls. I’ve looked for people that I can bring with me – I want to bring a diverse group with me.  When I was getting into this, you want to find someone who looks like you, so you can be like, ‘I want to be like this person when I grow up’. Often it’s very difficult for me to find black and black female developers and as far as entrepreneurs go – I know maybe one or two, but I know dozens and dozens of entrepreneurs, so there’s really no real representation in the community,” Chipps noted.

Is lack of education to blame?One possible reason: education. The Computing Research Association reports only 4.2% of all undergraduate computer science degrees went to blacks in 2010 – even though blacks account for 12% of the U.S. population. At the Interactive Technology Program (ITP) at New York University, widely considered one of the most creative innovation programs in the nation, the numbers are slightly higher. “We have 6% of the people enrolled this year who identify as African American,” said Dan O’Sullivan, the ITP department chair.“Certainly part of the problem can be mitigated by having vastly larger numbers of people of color…going into STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] fields and coming out with engineering and science degrees. There’s no question about that,” said Hank Williams, founder and CEO of Kloud.Co, a tool for organizing cloud service data. (Hank Williams is not related to Ron Williams).But Ty Ahmad-Taylor, CEO and founder of FanFeedr, a real-time sports website, says there are opportunities for people to teach themselves. “If you’re in New York City, there’s enough low-cost and online resources where someone can fully immerse oneself in the New York tech community if one wanted to,” Ahmad-Taylor said.??While Hank Williams believes not enough blacks are getting relevant degrees, he’s quick to add that “it doesn’t explain the numbers.” Not all careers in the digital technology industry - – like social media and venture capital positions -- require computer science or engineering training.  “An awful lot of the people who have been successful in tech – particularly in the venture world – don’t have engineering degrees,” Hank Williams said.Whether or not education is the reason for low black representation in the startup world, Ron Williams says the lack of high profile black role models in the industry is a problem. “If you don’t have folks who look like you, who feel like you, who relate to the same things as you, who are also off doing this interesting thing called tech entrepreneurship, it’s hard to actually get started, it’s hard for you to model behaviors, based on people who look familiar to you,” Ron Williams said.But Ahmad-Taylor says despite the challenges, it’s necessary for aspiring founders to overcome those feelings. “You shouldn’t be a CEO if you’re going to be limited by those thoughts or that attitude,” he said. 

Networking is key

It’s not that successful black tech entrepreurs don’t exist – they do, and they are increasingly well-networked in the city.“The New York City tech scene for minorities is maybe the most supportive of all technology communities in the world,” said Ron Williams. “I think we have an unbelievable investment in each other, from my experience – over the past year it has become an incredible place to find support from other kindred spirits, mentors, people to give back to."Ahmad-Taylor, Hank Williams and Ron Williams, along with about 20 other black CEOS in New York, belong to a monthly networking group called Digital Internet Gentlemen. “The goal is information and knowledge sharing, access to capital, and relevant introductions,” explained Ahmad-Taylor.But both Ahmad-Taylor and Hank Williams say New York’s community of black CEOs and geeks has a long way to go before it’s as well networked as its counterpart on the West Coast. “I would say the Bay Area has a better network – there’s an organization out west called Black Founders that does a pretty good job. There’s nothing that’s been as effective as that here in New York,” Hank Williams said.In an industry where everything from attracting talented staff to raising capital is all about who you know, a strong network of supporters is crucial to the success of any startup founder – including aspiring black techies. “Finding mentors and being rigorous around using their mentors is the best way for people to get ahead,” according to Ahmad-Taylor.Do black founders have to work extra hard to succeed? Ron Williams believes it depends on their connections. Success in the startup world “comes down to social interaction, people who advocate for you – you’ve just got to make sure you’ve got about as many friends in high places as the next guy. But if you’re starting off with less friends – if you didn’t go to Harvard, you didn’t go to MIT, you’re not a hacker yourself, you weren’t in that great computer science program somewhere, then by definition aren’t you starting off with less friends?”??“If that’s the case, you’ve got to work your butt off harder,” Ron Williams said.ITP's O’Sullivan agrees that one of the major benefits of attending a professional program is the connections that come with it. “I think the community of support from students and alums is more important than classes at ITP. That is what you pay for," O'Sullivan said.Where are the black Venture Capitalists?It’s not enough for aspiring entrepreneurs to build great products – they need someone to inject money into their companies, too. Venture Capitalists (VCs) are a major source of funding – and competition for their cash is fierce.?“Black VCs are far and few between. Period. That is a fact. It’s not that there are none – there are just very few,” Ron Williams said.?? He thinks diversity in the VC world is crucial. “Having that diversity increases the odds that you’ll look at someone who comes to the table with some brilliant idea or technology and say I want to back that person – not because you’re somehow overtly racist or prejudiced but just because people tend to more easily see merit in people who are like them, that’s a natural human trait – so having diversity helps offset that,” he said.Chipps agrees. “I think that there’s a mindset of who gets funded and what kind of person that is. And the person who comes to mind doesn’t tend to be black or female -- or a black female,” she said.Startups are risky investments - according to Harvard Business School, 70-80% of all startups fail to achieve their projected return on investment. Ron Williams doesn’t think VCs are explicitly making decisions not to fund black people, but wonders if some VCs may have a tendency to choose to invest in people who look like people who have been successful before.

“People are pattern recognizers,” Ron Williams suggested. “Whenever they can take risk off the table, they will. Just because we have similarities doesn’t mean I’ll get your money – but if we have enough differences I almost definitely won’t get your money.”

But, Ron Williams added, “You can’t just blame race when black tech companies don’t get funded. That’s not how it is to raise money. Whether you are black, white, or other, it’s really hard to raise money."Hank Williams is concerned, as the tech industry continues to grow, about what will happen if more blacks don’t enter the industry. “For those people that are not sufficiently engaged in the technology economy I fear the world is like a giant game of musical chairs. When the music stops, the people that have not secured a piece of the tech economy pie will be left without a chair to sit in, leading to a growing, permanent underclass."“The Internet is the largest recording of history that human kind has ever had, and it’s being made by white guys and Asian guys,” said Chipps. “We don’t know yet the consequences of how this will end up effecting future generations, but it will. The fact that we recognize people aren’t being represented in engineering – we need to talk about it and figure out why that is and think of a solution.”

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