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Image Credits: Bruce Shippee/EyeEm / Getty Images
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Three percent of all investment partners are Black, and more than 80% of VC firms don’t have a single Black investor. Add in the fact that only 1% of all venture-backed startups have a Black founder, and it becomes clear that diversity and inclusion are largely buzzwords in the tech industry.
Megan Rose Dickey interviewed several Black VCs to gather their perspectives about expanding representation and the role VC can play.
“We are not about diversity for diversity’s sake,” said Lo Toney, founding managing partner at Plexo Capital. “It’s an alpha strategy.”
Here’s who she spoke to:
- Arlan Hamilton, managing partner, Backstage Capital
- Lo Toney, founding managing partner, Plexo Capital
- Sydney Sykes, co-founder, BLCK VC
- Henri Pierre-Jacques, managing partner, Harlem Capital
- Terri Burns, principal, GV
- Brian Brackeen, general partner, Lightship Capital
- Sarah Kunst, managing director, Cleo Capital
- Charles Hudson, managing partner, Precursor Ventures
Thanks very much for reading; have a great week.
Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist
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Image Credits: Mabry Campbell/Moment / Getty Images
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Many companies are trying to figure out how to return to their offices, but for SquareFoot CEO Jonathan Wasserstrum, getting it right is critical: his company helps startups locate office space.
Natasha Mascarenhas spoke to Wasserstrum about the steps he’s taking to bring back 50% of his staff while enforcing physical distancing.
“This is not about recruiting everyone back; it’s a methodical process to enable everyone to get what they need,” he told TechCrunch.
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Image Credits: KONTROLAB / Getty Images
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There’s no question that 3D printing is useful, but given the time and expense associated with the hardware, it’s failed to gain widespread acceptance.
But due to shortages of personal protective equipment needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology is getting a second look, writes hardware editor Brian Heater.
“It’s a pretty staggering mobilization, all told,” says Brian. “There’s a lot of power in the realization that you’ve been sitting on an extremely unique solution to an utterly devastating problem.”
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Image Credits: valentinrussanov / Getty Images
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We’re conducting a massive experiment: can we transform our educational system in the midst of a global health crisis?
Four TechCrunch staffers took up the issue:
- Devin Coldewey: Gaming will transform remote learning, but stigma must be addressed
- Natasha Mascarenhas: Screen time isn’t Satan, but it’s not safe either
- Alex Wilhelm: Zoom is a Band-Aid
- Danny Crichton: The high costs of free learning
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Image Credits: Nigel Sussman
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Uber’s purchase of Postmates in an all-stock, $2.65B deal gave the ride-hailing giant a boost in the public markets yesterday.
But why would Uber spend almost 5% of its value to buy a smaller rival? In a change of pace from his recent IPO coverage, Alex Wilhelm waded through Uber Eats’ numbers to better understand the acquisition.
“It’s hard to hate on the deal from any particular angle,” he found.
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Image Credits: Bryce Durbin
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Escalating military tensions between India and China are impacting the mobile app industry: India banned dozens of apps last week developed by Chinese developers, including TikTok.
In other news: the iOS developer backlash continues, Facebook shutters its TikTok clone and global app revenue reached $50 billion in the first half of 2020.
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Image Credits: PeopleImages / Getty Images
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“Everything starts with the idea of control,” says Basecamp founder and CEO Jason Fried.
Megan Rose Dickey spoke to Fried to learn more about his product management ethos and why he wanted to rebuild email from the ground up.
“You cannot fix the email problem until you have control over who can email you,” says Fried. “If you don’t have control over that, it’s hopeless.”
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Image Credits: Nigel Sussman
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“Even with companies that aren’t privacy-conscious, it can be hard to craft a comprehensive history of their business activities from when they were private. With Palantir, it’s even trickier,” writes Alex Wilhelm in this morning’s The Exchange.
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