Changing the game, not just the score.

Tomorrow is the Startup Runway Foundation's 10th Showcase. I'm THRILLED to share our Finalists with the investor world tomorrow. The majority are from Atlanta and the Southeast. Most are pitching for the first time. I love first pitches--don't you? It's the pure founder signal.

With the 10th Showcase, I'm taking a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of this grassroots organization I launched to connect underrepresented founders to their first investors. It's quite a journey.

Our outcomes

• We've doubled our support to founders every year since we began. We plan to double again in each of 2021, 2022, and 2023.
• 30% of Finalists successfully raise a seed round, including most recently Ecotext, a 2019 Finalist whose seed round is proudly led by my firm, Valor.
• 1 in 3 Finalists raising capital means our Finalists are 6x more successful than the average under-represented founder is. The program works.
• 5000 startups screened to date. 92 Finalists showcased through our investor introduction program--9 of them tomorrow!
• 100+ investors introduced to Finalists, representing over $1B in venture and angel capital.
• $22M+ raised by Finalists to date--and that number goes up every month.

Healing the bleeding innovation artery

One of the general partners at Valor, Gary Peat, likes to say "underrepresented founders are just founders at Valor." It's true for us. With the support of people like you, we're making it true across the country from right here in Atlanta.

You probably know, according to 2019 US Census numbers, more than one-quarter of the 100 largest metropolitan areas have minority-White populations, including Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. In this environment, the gap between the people who start businesses and the people whose businesses get funded is stark. The truth is, most founders today are underrepresented in major innovation hubs like Atlanta. White founders are becoming the minority city by city, as they already are in innovation hubs like Atlanta, Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. Yet . . .

• Black founders receive less than 1% of venture capital. 
• Only 2.2% of venture capital goes to women. Women of color, in particular, receive less than 0.2 percent of VC funding, with a shocking average investment of only $42,000.
• 5% of Black Americans hold business equity. 15 percent of white Americans do.
• 71% of venture capital firms have no female partners. 98% have no partners of color.
• Black families have, on average, 10% the wealth of white families, meaning their access to angel capital is at a completely different scale. Startup Runway helps make a big difference with grants and with introductions to angels and early-stage VCs.

Change the game with me

These numbers mean one thing: our system of finding/funding innovation is so broken it can't be "tweaked." It has to be overhauled.

That's part of the meaningful, necessary work the Startup Runway does by connecting first-check writing investors to competitively selected founders who happen to be "underrepresented," which means VCs haven't historically known how to pattern-match for their excellence.

In this work, our presenting sponsor Cox Enterprises is a strong partner and grant-writing underwriter. AmFam Institute has also stepped up as a beacon of light. I'm grateful to Slalom Consulting, The Gathering Spot, TIE Atlanta and our dozens of mentors for also showing up across 10 Showcases so far, and untold hours.

I am inspired by the work of our new board of directors Kim Mackenzie, Jeanette McWilliams of SCAD, Sam Ulu of Candidly (Finalist), Sheffie Robinson of Shamrck (Finalist), and Richard Baily of SiriusFM (Finalist) are doing to help us double again in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

You can help this game change faster--check out our 2021 Sponsorship Brochure and get involved.

If you're interested in innovation--as a customer, an investor, a mentor--I'm inviting you to join us tomorrow for the 10th Showcase. You'll love the energy, the people and the connections you create.

The better world you want begins every time you reset your agenda around your values. Hope to see you tomorrow--here's your link to register to join us.

Download the full brochure for more.