Windows of Opportunity

There are moments in our history when elements have aligned to create a wave of entrepreneurship. I like to refer to these as “entrepreneurial freedom events,” periods in which the combination of innovation and market dynamics spurred opportunities to build businesses. In my lifetime, there are two that stand out. The first was the arrival of the internet and the dot-com era, which ushered in a new category in technology. This event opened the door for e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, AI, blockchain and so much more. Budding entrepreneurs had a new and different access point to bring their visions to life.

As a Black entrepreneur in America, I’ve adopted a leadership thesis built from lived experience of entrepreneurial freedom, and that is rooted in empowerment: If every person is offered the agency to build a career around their passions, every person will experience entrepreneurial freedom.

The second defining entrepreneurial freedom event emerged from the growth of Facebook, Amazon and Google. This event ignited the birth of the creator economy—creating platforms with the tools for hundreds of thousands of individuals to become their own boss and create their own equity. I’ve learned from and thrived in both of these entrepreneurial freedom events. Most importantly, I was fortunate to be able to act on the opportunity. However, too many aspiring, diverse entrepreneurs were not able to seize the momentum created by these events due to lack of access, funding or both.

Inequity has long been a problem in value creation through entrepreneurship, and the data confirms it. In 2016, the median White family had more than 10 times the wealth of the median Black family,¹ which means more financial security to start a business, focus on education or invest in local communities. In the first half of 2021, Black startup entrepreneurs received just 1.2 percent of the record $147 billion in venture capital invested in U.S. startups.² Proximity to wealth is a primary determining factor for entrepreneurial success.

The Price of Privilege

My first company was AskTipster, a platform to democratize personal styling. My best friend, Andrew, was my co-founder. Andrew and I met in childhood while attending a predominantly White private school in Connecticut. I was one of four Black kids in my grade at the school. Andrew is White, but we had a lot in common and quickly became friends.

Andrew was a quiet and creative kid who was largely misunderstood. People mistook his silence for attitude, and he was quickly labeled a “bad kid.” I was a Black, dyslexic kid with a short fuse who had trouble fitting in and performing well in the classroom. We bonded over our shared isolation and used it as fuel to create our own world through entrepreneurship, spending our weekends coming up with ideas with the dream of starting a company together one day.

Hard work and hustle aside, the company was given an early advantage through a seed investment made by Andrew’s father, which also came with access to a network of primarily white male investors. Along with our product we poured hours into and sleepless nights, this network contributed to us landing a spot in Stanford’s StartX program, one of the top venture accelerators in the world. Again, I was one of the only Black members of my cohort. Through the experience at StartX, we pivoted the business and grew our AdTech solution to over one billion impressions and 10 million downloads. We sold the company to Flowcode in 2019.

AskTipster is a story of access. Andrew and I had access to capital and networks that empowered us to pursue an entrepreneurial journey. Most Black entrepreneurs lack this type of access. Their hard work does not have the same horsepower, but it should. A new entrepreneurial freedom event began in 2020, and a focus on empowerment can ensure that we eliminate the access disparity, not just for Black entrepreneurs but for every underrepresented group. Disparities in entrepreneurship exist for many people, including, but not limited to, women, BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, veterans and the formerly incarcerated.

Inequity has long been a problem in value creation through entrepreneurship, and the data confirms it… In the first half of 2021, Black startup entrepreneurs received just 1.2 percent of the record $147 billion in venture capital invested in U.S. startups.²

A New Era of Entrepreneurialism

The COVID-19 pandemic compressed human habit change rapidly, with the result that millions of Americans think about work differently. What normally would have taken years to achieve was accomplished in 18 months. It brought an acceleration to a digital-native era, a reckoning for millions of Americans to reconsider or restart their careers, and a global shutdown that gave people time to think about what is most important to them. At the same time, the murder of George Floyd forced many to confront the systemic racial and economic inequities that exist in America every day. The murder moved me to action, to join a flood of innovators who want to seek justice, establish social and economic equity, and create a sustainable future.

Our opportunity is to build new technology to replace old systems, new ideas for what it means to be employed, and new definitions of success. Entrepreneurial freedom is not unique to the self-employed. Rather, it is an opportunity driven by people committed to helping others access the resources and opportunities they need to define and achieve their vision of success.

Without access, I would not have entrepreneurial freedom, and an all-inclusive offer of entrepreneurial freedom is a path to a sustainable and equitable future. I started AMP with that vision—if we can empower diverse entrepreneurs with access, we can achieve economic equity. We’ve spent the last 12 months building a platform to ensure that diverse founders have access to early-stage funding, which was the catalyst for my entrepreneurial freedom journey.

Where AMP is looking to solve capital access disparities, there are countless allies in our journey doing incredible work toward a shared mission. I count on many friends—people like Daniel Acheampong, Sydney Sykes and Marlon Thompson. Daniel’s accelerator Visible Hands helps overlooked founders build venture-backed tech companies from scratch. Sydney’s BLCK VC is empowering the next generation of Black Venture Capital investors, and Marlon started Future Capital to inspire and train the next generation of diverse angel investors.

William Hayden and Daniel Taylor, cofounders of AMP. Photo courtesy of AMP.

William Hayden and Daniel Taylor, cofounders of AMP. Photo courtesy of AMP.

We are part of a broad, vocal, entrepreneurial cohort of Black founders determined to ensure that we achieve economic equity in our communities. As part of that mission, we aim to inspire other leaders to join us in action toward progress. Answering the call for inclusive entrepreneurship doesn’t only happen in the founder’s seat. Executive leaders at established corporations can implement policies to increase supplier diversity, encourage employees to build entrepreneurial side hustles, and invest directly in their business and social communities. Local governments can enact policies to support new businesses, track job quality as a key metric in employment statistics, and implement lending programs based on behavior instead of credit score. Community members can ensure that personal networks feed a community network that drives success through collaboration and cooperation. AMP is working to encourage progress in all of these categories, and we’re always happy to share our learnings and ideas. Let’s connect: team@amp.community.

My mission is to build an ecosystem of opportunities. I hope that in sharing my story, I will inspire action toward a shared goal. Working together, we can ensure that entrepreneurial freedom is possible everywhere. That is the future I dream of, and I invite you to dream the same.

¹https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/the-economic-impact-of-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap ²https://news.crunchbase.com/news/something-ventured-funding-to-black-startup-founders-quadrupled-in-past-year-but-remains-elusive/