“In my very first company, which was an engineering design company, I had an advisor who was fond of using that term ‘Go where they ain’t,’” said Founder and CEO of Cathedral Leasing Doug Speight. “His philosophy was to go into industries and go into niche areas where there isn’t a lot of competition. It gives you the opportunity to try stuff, fail without major implications.”

Speight is the American Underground entrepreneur-in-residence in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs and CODE2040 in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, where he is working to change the attitudes surrounding venture capital and investment in minority companies as well as encourage minorities and women to pursue entrepreneurial leadership in Durham, he said.

A self-described “gadget geek,” Speight has worked with cryogenics, 3D printing and holograms, helping scientists to think commercially about the technologies they develop. Before jumping headfirst into entrepreneurship, Speight worked with NASA and Oakridge, launching thousands of patented technologies into the marketplace, growing new startups and helping existing organizations grow.

Speight’s projects included everything from cryogenics technology to holographic technology to 3D printing, and he worked alongside scientists from around the world who owned their specific areas of technological expertise, but weren’t necessarily prepared to take their products to market.

“It was frustrating because they’re just not wired to think about commercialization. They’re just not wired to think about startup companies. Their job is to get the funding to continue their research and the technology, the innovation, is really just a by-product,” Speight said.

As a result, part of his job, was to retrain those brilliant minds and the way they think about what they’ve created and how it can be valuable, a difficult task when many fields focus on publishing research and maintaining the funding cycle.

“You really have to play and pull on their heartstrings in terms of what it could mean to humankind, what it could mean to commerce and the economy in the United States and around the world,” Speight said.

From there, Speight moved on to Venture Accelerator at GIGTANK in 2014 to be the entrepreneur in residence at the first 3D printing accelerator in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There, he leveraged his background, certifications, and work moving companies out of laboratories and into the marketplace to help nine startups refine their manufacturing techniques and produce everything from shoes to medical models.

While there, he also began incubating his own company, Cathedral Leasing, which he would eventually take back to his hometown of Durham, where he grew up around entrepreneurship – the third generation of a Durham-based legacy that began with his grandfather in 1938.

“In looking at returning to Durham for this EIR program, I want to be able to do a number of things. One, help to increase the number of minority and women entrepreneurs in the city and help to stimulate that activity so that Durham can go back to this ‘Black Wall Street’ scenario it enjoyed in the earlier part of the century, but also change the conversation around venture capital and how they view investing in minority companies as well.”

Many are vocal about funding minority entrepreneurs, Speight said, but there are always opportunities to expand existing funds’ networks to introduce new companies looking for investment.

“By doing this, by investing in early-stage minority-led companies, they can unearth opportunities that other people overlook. It’s all about the underutilized assets, being able to unearth something that the rest of the industry has completely glossed over,” he said.

Speight also wants to identify a channel by which funders can reach minority companies that might not be identified now and create a new means of communication to implement into their strategy.

“It’s being able to show them the diversity that’s available in minority-led companies as well. For instance, we’re in fintech as an equipment leasing company operating a B2B marketplace, so we’re in a unique space where there aren’t many minorities operating at all. So it’s a little give-and-take between the two: being able to create those new channels so that they can access new pipelines, but also being able to illustrate that there’s a full diversity, a very broad plate that they can choose from,” he said.

For more information on Speight, visit cathedralleasing.com or follow along on Twitter @CathedralLease.

Techpreneurs is a production of Relationary Marketing. This episode was produced by Chuck Bryant and host Clark Buckner, with editing support from Jon Martz and Jess Grommet. Music by Andrew Malone. Photography by Walker Leigh Chrisman. Artwork by John Inniger. This episode is powered by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in support of the Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub network. 

Alex Rodriguez is the co-founder and CEO of Workmand, a platform that connects small businesses with local contractors on demand. The 21-year-old is also the entrepreneur in residence at COCO in Minneapolis, Minnesota – the youngest EIR in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs and CODE2040.

Not only does Workmand connect small businesses with contractors, but helps to simplify the logistics as well by taking care of transactions through the platform, saving entrepreneurs time and helping local contractors connect with new customers.

Rodriguez’s father owns a small construction company, and Rodriguez had long had dreams about running his own business, too, whether it would be a clothing company or a construction service like his dad’s.

It wasn’t until four and a half years ago as a senior in high school that Rodriguez decided he wanted to marry his family business with something he used in his everyday life: technology.

“I did it, really, by talking to a few friends, some acquaintances who own small businesses, and I noticed that the most valuable asset to small business owner is time. They’ve got a million things to do, and if they’re doing a task that they don’t specialize in, they’re really wasting their time,” Rodriguez said.

As an EIR in partnership with COCO and CODE2040, Rodriguez will work not only to build up Workmand, but also to be a leader in promoting diversity inclusion in Minneapolis’s tech startup industry.

It’s a mission that Rodriguez has been interested in since he first started attending startup events and noted that he was usually the only person of color or Latino in the room.

In order to promote the diversity Rodriguez wants to see in the future of tech startups, he has challenged himself to be a leader in it, using Workmand as an example for other businesses to follow in building an inclusive tech community.

“It’s one thing if I grow a successful startup, but if I’m showing a lack of diversity inclusion, I look at it as a failure because I’m excluding my people, I’m excluding people who I associate myself with,” Rodriguez said.

By not hiring diverse teams, big companies are missing out not only on growth opportunities, but also talented underrepresented groups who may go work for competitors or in other industries, Rodriguez said.

“Just being a platform to connect people? That’s really not enough. We really need a place where people have the resources, the opportunities, the capital to go on and do their own startups, to get internships, to get jobs,” Rodriguez said.

For more information on Workmand and Rodriguez, visit workmand.com or follow Workmand on Twitter at @WorkmandHQ or @headhonchoarod.

Techpreneurs is a production of Relationary Marketing. This episode was produced by Chuck Bryant and host Clark Buckner, with editing support from Jon Martz and Jess Grommet. Music by Andrew Malone. Photography by Walker Leigh Chrisman. Artwork by John Inniger. This episode is powered by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in support of the Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub network. 

Marcos Cunha has worked to make the world available at a push of a button, and now his mission is to make the tech industry accessible as well.

Cunhas – the creator of YouRoam, a service that allows users to user their own phone numbers while traveling abroad with no roaming fees – is the entrepreneur in residence with CODE2040 and Google for Entrepreneurs at Capital Factory in Austin.

Born in Brazil and spending part of his childhood in Miami, Florida, Cunhas grew up in inclusive and diverse environments throughout his early education, but encountered a radically different environment when he attended school in Indiana later, he said.

There, Cunhas experienced a level of racial profiling both in and outside of the workplace he never had in his previous locations, an experience that would later play a key part in his interest in helping minority entrepreneurs like himself to get off the ground with their ideas.

As he has worked to grow YouRoam from a small operation into an internationally-used service, Cunhas has integrated his business experience with companies like Telecom and Goldman-Sachs into lessons he can share with others as he finds who in his community that share his dream in making the tech industry accessible and welcoming to all.

Actively hire minorities.

“It may feel like you’re taking a chance by hiring a minority student or a minority, because maybe they don’t look like you or don’t talk like you or they don’t act like you or you just don’t have any in your staff or in your team because people in general tend to congregate around other people who look like them and talk like them and have gone to the same schools as them,” Cunhas said.

“But trust me and trust the numbers and trust everything you read about the importance of having that minority person in your team, the way they’ll help you think differently, the way they’ll help you understand such a huge portion of the population. They’ll bringing a whole different mindset to how you should launch, how you should design.”

Take the leap.

It can be easy for minority entrepreneurs to feel constrained by the statistics of a not-so-diverse community that can often make it hard to find funding, Cunhas said, but building a supportive network and deciding to persevere despite possible difficulty is important to getting a successful business off the ground.

“I think you have to forget all about that and take the approach, take the leap. Go out and seek mentors and advisers who are going to help you along the way. Build that network of people who can be there for you and keep you positive,” Cunhas said.

“The pitch deck is a work of art.”

The pitch deck is an idea’s first direct connection with potential backers, and it’s important that the first impression is a good one, Cunhas said.

“It’s not just about what you’re saying, but about what they feel when they’re reading and looking through it,” Cunhas said.

If an entrepreneur isn’t necessarily a great designer, the investment to have an aesthetically pleasing pitch deck created is one that should be seriously considered.

Tell a story

“Josh Baer, the managing director here at Capital Factory, has instilled in us the importance of storytelling and how effective people are when, rather than just going through ‘Here’s a problem statement, here’s a solution, here’s a market size,’ you can create an entire story around what you’re doing so make the slides flow very, very nicely,” Cunhas said. “That’s a critical piece.”

Don’t wait to monetize.

Even if an entrepreneur isn’t pleased with the number of users in their new venture, it’s important to monetize on the front end, instead of expecting to “make something cool and try to monetize it later.”
“I think that’s a mistake, especially outside of Silicon Valley,” Cunhas said.

Without a clear business plan and even a few paying users, Cunhas said,a young business starts to look more like a hobby and less than a full-fledged venture with a forward-looking vision.

For more information about Marcos Cunhas or YouRoam, visit youroam.com.

Techpreneurs is a production of Relationary Marketing. This episode was produced by Chuck Bryant and host Clark Buckner, with editing support from Jon Martz and Jess Grommet. Music by Andrew Malone. Photography by Walker Leigh Chrisman. Artwork by John Inniger. This episode is powered by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in support of the Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub network.

Founder and CEO of TINSEL Aniya Williams is making tech more accessible to women in a very literal sense by creating jewelry that blends everyday technology seamlessly into stylish outfits.

At first glance, the company’s first product, “The Dipper”, is long-chained gold or gunmetal necklace with a chevron pendant and a long, multi-layered chain. However, the innovation also houses a full-functioning pair of earbuds, complete with a 3.5 mm jack that doubles as a clasp.

It’s a creative solution to a problem that many women face: tangled headphone wires in the bottom of a full purse, where tech can often be lost or damaged, Williams said.

And that was the conception point for TINSEL, which was inspired by Williams’ time at Voxxer – a company that makes walkie-talkie app for smart phones based in San Francisco, where Williams would later get involved with Galvanize.

Williams started as a part-time office manager, aiming to get more involved in the tech industry, adjust to the West Coast after moving from D.C. and to meet new people. She ended up staying for three years, running the marketing team by the time she left.

Working at Voxxer often meant that Williams would have to listen to audio for the app’s development or listening to music in her work environment.

“I had this pain point of I consider my headphones to be what I call a ‘modern-day essential.’ It’s not food, water, shelter, but I need them everyday and it’s a great inconvenience to my sanity and productivity if I don’t have my headphones,” Williams said.

But Voxxer isn’t the only connection to audio in Williams’ life. She is also a classically trained singer and on the board for Women’s Audio Mission nonprofit, which works to provide more opportunities for women in the audio engineering industry and owns one of the only recording studios owned and run entirely by women.

The goal of the program, Williams said, is as much about getting girls and women educated and involved in tech fields as it is about exposing them to other women in the industry.

“The theme of audio sound and theme of women. My product is for women, I’m all about providing opportunities for women and minorities in general, as myself being a black woman,” Williams said. “These are the diversity angles and a really common thread in my life as well.”

Increasing diversity in tech is becoming a forefront of conversation, Williams said, and is becoming something that people want to understand more and more.

As the entrepreneur in residence with Galvanize in San Francisco in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs and CODE2040, Williams said she is excited to help to bring diversity into the tech industry of Silicon Valley.

“There are times when I can go days without seeing a black person walking down the street, not including homeless people,” Williams said. “It’s like, where are they? They’re not in San Francisco.”

Though diversity may not come without a few growing pains, it’s important to realize the importance of having people of different backgrounds adding their thoughts to the tech we use in our everyday lives. By forfeiting diversity, companies forfeit culture and innovation in their product, Williams said.

“You don’t want to have any major industry that’s growing in this country be exclusionary,” Williams said.

Progress is being made slowly, Williams said, primarily because minorities are not alone in promoting diversity in the industry.

“It seems like more and more people on the other side that want to understand and they want to know what I can do. They recognize that they come from a place of privilege and they want to be able to balance and level the playing field as I should say. I have a really, really great outlook on how it can alter it now,” Williams said.

Techpreneurs is a production of Relationary Marketing. This episode was produced by Chuck Bryant and host Clark Buckner, with editing support from Jon Martz and Jess Grommet. Music by Andrew Malone. Photography by Walker Leigh Chrisman. Artwork by John Inniger. This episode is powered by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in support of the Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub network.