When Kat Calvin called Amanda Spann and Janelle Jolley about her idea of starting a black girls’ hackathon series, they both had the same reaction: “Are you crazy!?” It turns out that Calvin was crazy — crazy motivated to change the demographics of the technology sector. With fervor, she quickly built a team to help her. Black Girls Hack blossomed when this group brought Calvin’s seed dream into reality.
“Currently, African-Americans make up less than one percent of tech founders,” Spann told theGrio about the group’s enterprise, “but we can do something about that.”
Black Girls Hack is the first non-profit hackathon series specifically targeting the African-American tech community. The idea can be traced back to the moment these three friends met in New York City at the Focus 100 Symposium, which connects thought leaders and tech startups founded by black women. “We were all experiencing the same problem of not being able to find a technical co-founder for [our] startups. Having a technical co-founder is important because you need it to get into incubation programs for startups and it makes it easier to build out tech products,” Spann explained.
All three young ladies already have startups of their own. Calvin is the co-founder of Character’s Closet, a web destination that lists the outfits that popular TV characters wear, plus how to buy those outfits or similar looks at different price points. Spann started Glamobile, which is slated to become a review and recommendation community for fashion, beauty and shopping apps. Lastly, Jolley has spawned Sidewalk District, a platform for local and independent retailers. It is a virtual sidewalk allowing people to browse participating stores anytime, anywhere.
Their inaugural Black Girls Hack event was held in Atlanta last weekend and it turned out to be a huge success. Yet, the most amazing thing about this event is the fact that these three African-American, female technology entrepreneurs did not know each other two months ago. But through their resolve to change the technology landscape through Black Girls Hack, they were able to acquire sponsorship from companies like Mailchimp, SendGrid, and Limitless Smart Shot in a short time.
With these sponsorship resources behind them, eight teams were able to compete for the black hackathon championship. Mostly based in Atlanta, as the groups got into the grueling competition they still had a common goal. Black Girls Hack intended “for every company to at least have a beta version, if not a full version, of their mobile app completed,” by the contest’s end Calvin explained. Certainly, this was a rare competition that was a win-win scenario for all.
In case you are unfamiliar with the concept of a “hackathon,” this type of event is a coding contest that pits individuals or teams of coders against a challenge. The range of puzzles presented and prizes awarded varies so much it is mind-boggling. Recently, a hacker was awarded $60,000 by Google as part of it’s Pwnium 2 hackathon for breaking the security protocols of the company’s Chrome browser.
Yes, the days of hacking being deemed little more than a cybercrime are over. Today, incredible skills with computer languages are rewarded with big money and tremendous opportunity to break into the tech sector. This can mean receiving venture funding for your dream idea, and the ability to start a groundbreaking company with powerful mentors — critical resources many blacks in tech believe African-Americans are barred from enjoying because of the industry’s lack of diversity.
The Black Girls Hack founders believe they can change this — and they chose the city of Atlanta to make their start for a good reason.
“We held the inaugural event in Atlanta, because [we] felt that it has a budding tech community,” Spann said. “A lot of accelerators like Hypepotamus are popping up. We wanted to stay away from New York and San Francisco because they already have an established tech scene.”
Each team in the competition was paired with a coach to help guide the development of their products. Cheryl Hubbard was happy to lend her time.
“I got involved through a venture capital friend of mine. She sent me the information and said ‘you have to go help them,’” the business coach and marketing director for WowNowWhat.com said.
The biggest challenges startups face? “[N]ot enough money and lack of a strategy [for what] makes them a business,” she told theGrio.
Another coach, Steven Otu, was very impressed by the event. The founder of VocalTap, a platform that helps small businesses learn from each other and stay accountable to their goals, rarely sees diversity at mainstream events like this. “Last weekend they had [another] hackathon here in Atlanta,” Otu noted. “There were over 100 participants, but only one or two were African-American.”
The scene at Black Girls Hack presented the opposite image. Amid the coders were supporters just checking out the scene — while looking to build their tech industry contacts.
Sisters Charlotte and Antoinette Newman, the founders of Team Fenom, were their to take in a rare forum for techies who look like them. The sisters created their beta web site featuring women’s sports information, news, lifestyle info, and community without knowing how to code at first. Charlotte asserted that their story presents “a lesson for anyone interested in starting something” if they “don’t necessarily have a technical background,” she told theGrio. “You should still move forward. There is room for you as long as you have one of the pieces necessary to start a business. We both have MBAs so we focus on that piece of the puzzle.”
Ama Marfo, founder of Airfordable, is one of the eight startup leaders that competed in Black Girls Hack. Her online platform will provides layaway payment plans for air travel — once she builds it. Marfo saw the hackathon as a big chance to advance her project. “I don’t have a technical background and I have been searching for a CTO [Chief Technology Officer] for a long time,” she told theGrio. “When I heard about this opportunity, I was excited because I really need this prototype done. I can’t talk to investors without a prototype.”
It’s a good thing that she took the risk, and made her case for her project. Marfo was named the hackathon champion based on her concept. Hopefully, this win will generate the attention and networking opportunities critical to building her executive leadership brain trust.
Black Girls Hack’s next event is going to be in Newark, New Jersey in March. “We chose Newark for a few reasons,” Calvin said. “First, just like every other black woman, I have a giant crush on Corey Booker. Most importantly, I have been really impressed with how hard Newark is working to build up the city. We expect to get people from all around the New York and Connecticut areas to come to the event.”
Everyone interviewed for this piece, when asked, was enthusiastic in their pronouncement that young black people eager to start a new venture should go for it, and love it while they build it. Black Girls Hack is making it easier for people to follow this simple advice. With their passion to diversify the tech sector, maybe these women will help cultivate the next Mark Zuckerberg by promoting talent from urban communities.
Lawrence Watkins is the founder of Great Black Speakers, Great Pro Speakers, and co-founder of Ujamaa Deals, which is a daily deal site that promotes black-owned businesses. He graduated in 2006 from The University of Louisville with a B.S. in electrical engineering and earned his MBA from Cornell University in 2010. Lawrence currently resides in Atlanta. You can follow him on Twitter @lawrencewatkins.