Hue. reposted this
💜 Hue. has been awarded a $150K equity-free grant from the Google for Startups Founders Fund! 🎉 Funding Black founders is crucial, here’s why ⬇ I recently spoke with a founder—let’s call him David—who needed fundraising advice. David’s startup is gaining traction, and he’s been advised to raise a #friendsandfamilyround to boost product development. Sadly, he feels discouraged. David is the first in his family to graduate college, and at 21, he earned more than anyone else in his family in his entry-level job. Now in their late twenties, him and his friends are still in their growth era and don’t have extra cash to invest. David feels stuck. 🚫 His network can’t fund his venture, and he has too little traction to raise a formal round. This is a common experience for many underrepresented founders—Black, Latino, low-income, women, and more. ✨ Grant programs like the Google for Startups Founders Fund provide essential capital to level the playing field. ✨ The Hue team is incredibly grateful for Google’s support for underrepresented founders and its commitment to uplifting startups pushing boundaries in AI. ❓ Does David’s experience resonate with you? Have you raised a friends and family round? What advice would you give other founders? ❓ Comment below ⬇ Check out to the other Black & Latino founders in my Google for Founders cohort! Sherisse Hawkins Nana Wilberforce Ph.D Seke Ballard Megan Nunes Manny S. Kene Anoliefo Tiffany Ricks George Holmes, PhD Rocio Frej Vitalle Rocio Frej Vitalle Florian Pestoni Darren Riley Eitan Winer Darryl Keeton Constanza Gomez Sergio Suarez Jr. Gerald Kierce Iturrioz #GoogleForStartups #FoundersFund #poweredbyhue #beautymarketing #huecommunity #hiring #fundraising
Congrats to you & the Hue team!! Hue is a game changer for the industry.
Congratulations! Nicole Clay Sylvan Guo Janvi Shah 🎉
Kaili Emmrich GfS picked a good one here with Nicole Clay and Hue!! Congrats!!
I’ve often noticed that black and brown founders are encouraged to ‘bootstrap,’ as if being broke is something to be proud of. Programs like this are crucial for leveling the playing field, providing underrepresented groups with the same opportunities as others.
Some advice for David: If you have access to a college alumni network, tap in. If there’s no formal entrepreneurship program that supports recent grads, ask those entrepreneurship professors for intros. Somebody knows somebody that knows somebody. Ask them to share your pitch deck, the ask, and follow up. Play the accelerator game- regional programs like 43North or vertical focused ones like GeniusNY may take you down a different path that still gets you where you need to go and then some.
Congratulations Nicole & Hue team, initial capital needed to take idea off the ground and build a viable business is important I hope programs like Google for Startups will expand and add up the numbers of startups into locally innovative ideas that are bringing solutions to the most vulnerable communities in Africa & other developing economies
I'd like to be connected to ‘David’ to see how I can help. Shoot me a PM
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Such an important message. Thank you Google for Startups for uplifting Black & Latino founders and congratulations to all the recipients 👏🏽
Operations & Strategy Lead
1moCongratulations Nicole Clay!! And I love the additional note about the experience of people like David. I have heard that advice given to founders before and it often does not account for the understanding that not everyone has the same group of family and friends who are able to invest in these ventures (even if they want to)