By doing due diligence and being open and willing to make the right moves and connections, it's more possible than ever to find the right type of capital to build a venture, whether you need $5,000 or $5 million. To be sure, receiving adequate funding for a startup is still difficult for most Black women, but it is more likely these days. Less than 10% of all venture capital deals go to women, people of color and LGBTQ+ founders, but thanks to Hamilton's spotlight on this underrepresented business segment, and through her company, conditions are changing. ("Go Wildcats!") Unfortunately, these shared background aspects are all too common, yet through absolute will and determination, we managed to build thriving businesses with little or no funding. We are also entrepreneurs who have been underestimated, homeless, lived on government assistance and, ironically, attended the same high school in Richardson, Texas. We are Black women raised by a single mother, and both moved around a lot. (Treat yourself to this video.) A little further study revealed that she and I had a few things in common. If you don't know Hamilton's story, it's remarkable. With no formal education other than a high school diploma, she set out to create change that would ultimately disrupt the VC world and empower underrepresented and underestimated entrepreneurs, including founders that identify as women, people of color and LGBTQ+. The founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital - a venture capital firm that focuses on investing exclusively in startups led by underestimated founders - Arlan Hamilton, who identifies as a lesbian Black woman, formed her VC fund in 2015 when she was homeless and living on food stamps. According to the recent survey Black Entrepreneurs – 2021 Trends, conducted by Guidant Financial and the Small Business Trends Alliance, "…women up 46% of Black entrepreneurs, this group shows one of the highest percentages of female small business owners in any segment – 53% higher than white small business owners." Meanwhile, an article published this year in the Harvard Business Review, "Black Women Are More Likely to Start a Business than White Men," stated that fully 17% of Black women are in the process of starting or running new businesses, compared to just 10% of white women and 15% of white men. If you identify as a Black woman and live in the United States, listen up: our cohort is among the fastest-growing demographics for entrepreneurs in America.
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