It Doesn’t Add Up

Infographic: Why Underrepresented Founders Should Be Invested In More

Aug 10, 2016

After I attended the Camelback Ventures Entrepreneur Showcase last week, I felt confident that my thesis — that there is an imbalance between the number of high potential startups founded by underrepresented founders and venture capital that their startup companies are able to raise — was true. But I felt I only had that gut feeling (which is vital in early stage investing) and nothing else to stave off my curiosity.

Proof of Concept
What I learned from Camelback Venture’s Inspiring 2016 Showcasemedium.com

So I decided to conduct some research and explore some notable reports on the subject of Minority and Female Entrepreneurship. I took some time to read a few articles and skim research reports such as the Center for Global Policy Solutions’ “Color of Entrepreneurship” report and digitalundivided’s “#ProjectDiane” report. My goal for this market research was to get directional answers (please excuse my leftover consulting jargon) for the following questions:

What is the state of Minority & Female Entrepreneurship in the US?
Is there a funding gap with respects to Minority/Women founders and if so, what could contribute to that gap?
What is the economic impact in the US of under-investing in our diverse entrepreneurship segments?

I was able to find data on each of these issues but of course, I couldn’t simply share these findings through bullets — I had to do something more creative (for some reason). I wanted to create something that captured my thought process as I read these various articles and reports — that’s right, I created an infographic. You can find the final version here but below are the four separate section of my infographic entitled “It Doesn’t Add Up: Why Underrepresented Entrepreneurs should Receive more Investment Capital.” Please feel free to provide me with feedback or suggested research reports in the comments section!