Startups
Rapper and producer Pharrell Williams released "Entrepreneur" with Jay-Z earlier this summer, a song that became an anthem for Black ambition. Now, Williams is launching an incubator to put money behind his message.
Called Black Ambition, the nonprofit aims to invest in Black and Latino startup founders, and it's beginning by creating two prize competitions set to close in July 2021. The effort is backed by Adidas, Chanel and philanthropic organizations including The Rockefeller Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. Silicon Valley startup investor Ron Conway and Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti also contributed.
<p>The first competition will award up to $250,000 to current students or recent alumni from a historically Black college developing or in the seed stage of a company. Smaller prizes will be awarded to at least nine additional teams. </p><p>The second competition, called the Black Ambition Prize, will give $1 million in seed money to an early-stage company focused on tech, design, healthcare or consumer products and services. Another nine teams will get smaller prizes. Finalists will be connected with and mentored by a network venture capitalists and angel investors. </p><p>"Because we don't have enough of the market share, our kids end up having issues with disproportionate access to healthcare, disproportionate access to education and as a culture, we have disproportionate access as it pertains to legislation and representation," Williams said in a video announcing the news.</p><p>Williams was inspired to pool talent from historically Black colleges and universities and build a new pipeline of investment and resources to young people. </p><p>"We want to lift our HBCUs. They lift so many of us. They deserve to be in lights," Williams said. "We think it's high time that we own more companies.</p><p>In August, Williams published a piece in Time Magazine that accompanied a cover spread on "<a href="https://time.com/collection/the-new-american-revolution/" target="_blank">The New American Revolution</a>." It coincided with his release of "Entrepreneur," the song and music video he produced with Jay-Z as <a href="https://dot.la/pharrell-williams-entrepreneur-2647055995.html" target="_self">a tribute to Black founders across the nation</a>. </p><p>"Recent events and tragedies have illustrated the always existent stark divisions in the American experience, and while entrepreneurship has long been a tenet of the American dream, marginalized people have faced long-standing barriers to success," Williams said in a statement. </p>
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On this week's episode of Just Go Grind, hear from Melanie Stricklan, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Slingshot Aerospace, a company that builds situational awareness technology to bring clarity to complex environments in order to create a safer world.
<p>Key Takeaways: </p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>When Melanie first joined the Air Force, combining data from satellites and aircraft with the sensor on board U.S. aircrafts was often done manually. The intelligence agencies that received the data would return their analysis around three days to three months later. The long delays and cumbersome process of interpreting data that could otherwise be helpful in achieving outcomes in missions was a problem that led her to found Slingshot Aerospace.</li><li>Stricklan considered herself an "intrapreneur" in the Air Force, but found critical insight and guidance offered by TechStars to help guide her and her co-founders' entrepreneurial vision and operation</li><li>Boeing was Slingshot's first client, and the company went deep with aerospace defense in the first couple of years, building tech that could be leveraged for commercial space</li><li>A Slingshot Aerospace company priority is to make sure that employees are curious and have a bias for action.</li></ul><blockquote><strong></strong>"If you don't relay (the north star) to the team almost on a daily basis, things can unravel both from the culture perspective and a focused perspective and an offering perspective."<em></em></blockquote><blockquote><strong></strong><br>"It became really evident through the first year that, 'hey, if we don't do something about culture, culture is going to create itself and it's probably not going to be what we want it to be'."<em></em></blockquote><blockquote><strong></strong><br>"It's important to me to make space sustainable, just like we have initiatives down here on Earth to make our planet more sustainable." — Melanie Stricklan, Slingshot Aerospace<em></em></blockquote><p><strong>Melanie Stricklan</strong> co-founded Slingshot Aerospace in 2016. Today, she's the company's chief strategy officer, where she leads the strategic vision and growth strategy. She served in the United States Air Force for 21 years. Melanie holds a BS in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and a MS in Space Operations Management with an emphasis in Space Systems Engineering from Webster University. She was named the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year for El Segundo, California and was named one of Inc. Magazine's 2019 Top 100 Female Founders in the United States.<br><strong></strong></p><blockquote></blockquote><p><em>Want to hear more episodes of Just Go Grind? Listen on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon/id1397036566" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2brgfQPQQiBiFlAI8sJblD" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ilsxar5is2o27lzjosjgcxoen3a" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a> — or wherever you get your podcasts.</em><br></p>
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Ryan Edwards, the co-founder of Happier Camper, said he's asked all the time if his company leans on influencer marketing to promote their vintage-style trailers beloved by millennials.
With a waitlist six months out and demand growing from hotel-weary travelers, he said it isn't a priority yet.
"We almost don't need to," said Edwards.
That's because the $25,000 to $50,000 custom trailers have been a hit with a loyal fan base, and rising demand during the pandemic has only helped. Orders for compact trailers at the lower price end, including Happier Camper's 75-square-foot camper, are growing as newbie road trippers look for COVID-safe travels.
<p>The L.A.-based manufacturing startup closed a $3.7 million round last week that will help it fulfill its backorders and Edwards said he's already looking to raise a second round.</p><p>The RV Industry Association, which tracks RV manufacturing, said it's seen a spurt in new RV customers doubling from about a quarter of all buyers to 55% this year. Even though manufacturing facilities had been closed due to the pandemic, RV producers report record sales. </p><p>"They provide the freedom to still travel while allowing you to control your environment," Geraci said. "As states opened up after having been in lockdown, people flocked to RV dealerships."</p><p>Edwards wouldn't disclose the investors but said the round was led by the same angel investors and small boutiques that will help Happier Camper close a second at the top of next year. </p><p>The colorful, fiberglass campers are among the smallest on the market, and come filled with a set of modular cubes that Edwards compares to Legos. You can reconfigure the pieces inside the camper — to construct a bed, for example — or bring them outside for seating. The kitchenette unit was built to move around, too. </p><p>Unlike traditional RVs or Airstreams, which Edwards see as his biggest competitor, these lightweight models attach to almost any four cylinder car with a hitch. They start at around the same price of a mid-range sedan depending on the model and add-on features. </p><p>"Someone who's never towed a trailer in their life can quickly and efficiently learn," he said. "It provides this self sufficiency and autonomy." </p><p>Geraci said travel trailers like the ones Happier Camper sells cost less and generally attract a younger demographic of buyers. Customers 45 and under were already the fastest growing group of RV owners before this year. The pandemic, she said, "has supercharged that." </p><p>The industry is also banking on this new wave of trailer and RV customers that they hope to make lifetime consumers. </p><p>"As they fall in love with this lifestyle and this amazing community, they're going to look to trade those units and get the next best one," she said. "We believe many of those will be RV-ers for life." </p>
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