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  • September 2020
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

The Black New Venture Competition

By: Karen Mills, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin Sinozich and Gabriella Elanbeck
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:24
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Abstract

Black entrepreneurs encounter many unique obstacles when raising capital to start and grow a business. During their second year at Harvard Business School (HBS), MBA students Kimberly Foster and Tyler Simpson decided to do something to make a difference for early-stage Black technology entrepreneurs seeking funding. In just four months, they created the inaugural Black New Venture Competition (BNVC), which attracted 300 applicants and became the largest student-led business plan competition for Black entrepreneurs in the U.S. Over the course of the competition, Foster and Simpson were able to begin to identify some of the biases and frictions in the evaluation and funding of early-stage Black ventures. Was there bias in the selection rubric? What would happen when these Black founders faced traditional white VC investors in their next funding round? Now Foster and Simpson needed to decide what to keep and what to change for future iterations of the BNVC. Were they, and their successors, even thinking big enough for BNVC 2.0?

Keywords

Startup; Start-up; Startup Financing; Startups; Start-ups; African-American Protagonist; African-american Entrepreneurs; African-american Investors; African-Americans; African-American Women; Black Leadership; Black Inventors; Black Entrepreneurs; Harvard Business School; Harvard; Business And Society; Early Stage Funding; Early Stage Finance; Technology Entrepreneurship; Discrimination; Technology Ventures; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurial Financing; Business Plan; Business Startups; Business Ventures; Financing and Loans; Business Growth and Maturation; Diversity; Gender; Race; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Small Business; Leadership; Information Technology; Competition; Technology Industry

Citation

Mills, Karen, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin Sinozich, and Gabriella Elanbeck. "The Black New Venture Competition." Harvard Business School Case 821-029, September 2020.
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About The Authors

Karen Mills

General Management
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Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Entrepreneurial Management
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Martin A. Sinozich

Entrepreneurial Management
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Related Work

    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    The Black New Venture Competition

    By: Karen G. Mills, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin A. Sinozich and Gabriella Elanbeck
Related Work
  • The Black New Venture Competition By: Karen G. Mills, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin A. Sinozich and Gabriella Elanbeck
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