Today is opening day of Philly Tech Week, the first annual celebration of technology and innovation in the City of Brotherly Love (and Sisterly Affection).
Between getting my geek on, I will be working on the trailer for “The Innovators,” a web documentary that will show the changing face of innovators. While African Americans are celebrated as music and sports innovators, the story of entrepreneurial-minded black innovators is largely untold.
I want to give a big shout-out to Angela Benton and Wayne Sutton, organizers of New Media Entrepreneurship Accelerator, for stepping up and helping black founders bring their ideas to the marketplace.
This summer, NewME will host a select group of minority-led start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area. The program will provide mentors a co-working space and networking opportunities with some of Silcon Valley’s digerati. NewME will culminate with a Demo Day, which I plan to shoot for my webdoc.
The speakers and mentors will include MC Hammer, who told the Wall Street Journal:
Just as it was no big deal to get a hold of me for this (interview), I’ll be just as accessible and available to NewME entrepreneurs. Hollywood is in the perception business where you create layers to create mystery. In Silicon Valley it’s about taking away the layers to get to the substance.
And when the layers are taken away, venture capitalists and angel investors will discover that black founders are, well, “too legit to quit.”
