#StartupsEverywhere profile: Renee King, Founder & CEO, Fund Black Founders
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Connecting Black Founders with the Community & Capital They Need
Based in New York City, N.Y., Fund Black Founders is a crowdfunding platform dedicated to narrowing the racial capital access gap by connecting Black founders with the financial and community resources they need. Founder & CEO, Renee King is focused on building an organization that can provide a necessary “Family & Friends” funding round for founders who would otherwise lack access to such capital. We spoke with Ms. King about what led her to build Fund Black Founders, the importance of access to early stage funding for Black founders, and how government agencies can make existing resources more accessible to emerging entrepreneurs.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Fund Black Founders?
My background actually is in pharmaceutical sales and marketing. After that I went into assisting with the management of startups that were operated by overseas owners. Eventually, I founded a startup of my own called tech.ur.elders—a startup to help you find technology to care for your aging parents. This was something I was working through with my mom and my dad. And like a millennial, I thought there has to be technology to help me with this. During that journey, I discovered a lot of the Black entrepreneurial development ecosystem. I was attending the conferences and was joining different Slack groups. They were all saying the same thing: access to capital is such a challenge for our community.
It was very baffling to me because I would meet them and their startups were so much further along then so many startups that get early rounds of funding. Fast forward some to when I was attending a tech conference that was focused on Black women. There was an angel investor who was the keynote speaker. And during her talk she mentioned, “If you can't raise a friends and family round of funding, what does that say about you?” That was such a triggering statement for me.
It’s such a privilege to be able to raise the money you need to start your business from your friends and family. It's a significant privilege that many Black entrepreneurs do not have access to. That money ends up coming from their personal savings, their day job salaries, their credit cards. So I stopped working on my startup. I knew there was a way I could work to help fix this. It came down to the fact that I knew I could help address capital access for my community, knowing that they are unearthing innovation that can help in a large variety of ways. They have a different lens on things, they have different experiences. And we're bottlenecking their ideas and innovations by not getting them the capital they need.
What is the work you all are doing at Fund Black Founders? How does your platform and organization work?
As I was beginning this project, I dedicated time to trying to figure out what would be the best structure to actually address the funding gap. I knew I didn't want this to become another fund. Because I think unless you really challenge the structure of traditional venture capital, I don't think it's always fit for the businesses Black founders are building. The other consideration that was on my mind was that I always felt like the common refrain you hear when you would talk to investors or other founders, even on crowdfunding platforms, is about the importance of raising these large, oftentimes unachievable, amounts of funding. But when you start to dig and you look at the start of the race, if we're thinking like the Olympics, that friends and family capital gives you a really good jumpstart.
I did the research and the data showed Black entrepreneurs are starting on average with $35,000 and White entrepreneurs are starting with $106,000 in capital. And that's just financial capital. We're not talking about connections that a founder has in their network. We're not talking about access to knowledge and resources that help one navigate the challenges of starting a business. That’s how I knew that this organization had to be helping founders at the start. Fund Black Founders has to open doors for these founders through financial and social capital, so crowdfunding was the right solution.
Then we set out to build our platform in a way that reflected our community because the Black community was crowdfunding before crowdfunding was a word. Our team helps founders navigate this process so they don't make the same pitfalls many entrepreneurs like us go through. It starts with them coming to us to see if crowdfunding is a right fit. We determine if they have enough crowd—a village—to get started. If not, we help them build that crowd and village that they need. We'll then help them create a strong campaign to get the capital they need—including planning and campaign assets. We're going to surround them with champions who have come in to match what the founders bring in on our platform. And it’s not just the Black community that is funding our founders. We have people participating from all races, cultures, and backgrounds who understand that there is a need to fix this systemic problem.
Once the fundraising process is underway, they're also connected to additional resources, whether it's business plan help or connecting them to an accelerator that’s a good fit. We have funded seventy founders since we started. Over 4,800 people have come together to fund those founders. That’s over $1.4 million of capital that has gone out to these founders.
The Small Business administration operates programs like the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs to try to support innovative startups. Have you encountered these types of programs in your work? What was your experience like?
There are a number of incredibly well intended programs out there. We're still learning how to navigate through all the programs like the SBIR and STTR programs. But so many things will get put on your radar, and it can be challenging just to read through the information and figure if your organization qualifies. And even if you determine that the program might be a good fit, the application process can be so burdensome to try and navigate. I’ve tried hiring a contractor to help with an application process in the past, but it didn’t turn out the way we hoped. When something like that happens you feel like you've missed opportunities.
As a support organization, we are operating on tight margins. We’re trying to provide access to financial and other resources—such as a government program. But if my team has to upskill and overcome a number of obstacles to provide access to programs like that, then that puts some significant barriers in our way. There's data that shows Black entrepreneurs spend twice as much to start the same business as a White entrepreneur. And this is one of the reasons why. Because honestly, the Black community often doesn't have the same resources where we can talk to someone that can help easily navigate existing resources.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
Something that I and the founders that we work with have experienced is there can be a real disparity in the experience and assistance you get from certain government regional offices. A number of agencies—like the Small Business Administration—have local offices that are supposed to be more accessible to entrepreneurs. Yet one office will be really good at explaining programs and providing resources, while others may be significantly less helpful. An added layer to this issue is that, despite trying to be more accessible by having offices in local communities, these agencies need to have offices that are more responsive to modern entrepreneurs. I think that means having virtual offices because we know most of our founders are working full time jobs. It also means having availability when entrepreneurs need it. Right now most of these offices operate on a traditional 9 to 5 schedule. And, for example, it might be really hard for a founder to get a break from their full time job to go to that physical location. If we have a virtual option—and we keep it during off hours, such as lunch, after work, and weekends—the government becomes more accessible.
What are your goals for Fund Black Founders moving forward?
I am working to build our capacity. The last application invitation we sent out brought in over 2,000 people who wanted to be a part of our platform. We didn't have enough match capital for that many people. But I am confident that we will continue to grow, find the right resources, and make the necessary progress in narrowing the racial capital access gap.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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