This Week’s Top Stories…

🏁Race for Tech-cellence Continues

Vroom vroom. Middle America is catching up to the coasts. The Midwest, Plains, and South are building community engines for technology startups. Startup Genome just released its newest rankings for the Top 30 Global Startup Ecosystems. Of those, 7 tech hubs in Middle America made the list, including: 

• Chicago
• Austin
• Atlanta
• Denver-Boulder
• Los Angeles
• San Diego
• Washington D.C.

But that’s just one list where cities not usually associated with tech are exploding onto the scene. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the West Coast fintech company Figure has expanded its operations and begun hiring folks to help them grow their blockchain business. Dallas and Tampa Bay each landed just outside the Top 30 and will be jockeying for a spot on next year’s list. 

Figure is excited to announce the expansion of our mortgage operations into Charlotte! https://t.co/hy7BakcYls

— Figure (@Figure) June 22, 2020

Then there are whole states no one is looking out for, like Wisconsin, which doesn’t feature a city in the top 30 or 40 but is still projected to undergo huge growth in medtech and biotech. There’s all kinds of communities where growth is beginning, or deepening. We’re happy to see the brilliance continues to shine from more common places. 

📢Don’t Call It a Backlash!

When it comes to criticism, no tech company is too big to fail. Some may call it backlash, others a learning curve, but regardless there is still much for big Silicon Valley companies to consider. Facebook has seen backlash from advertisers over their inaction toward misinformation and hate speech. One group, Stop Hate for Profit, has successfully convinced dozens of large businesses to stop advertising with the social media giant until founder Mark Zuckerberg takes a stance on banning extremist posts. 

Meanwhile, Pierre Omidyar, the former founder of eBay, has quietly been backing and supporting antitrust efforts against Google, Amazon, and Facebook. Omidyar played a large role in the efforts to convince Google to stop selling AI technology to the Pentagon. He stands alongside other vocal entrepreneurs like David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founder of Basecamp. Hansson frequently criticizes major Silicon Valley companies’ approach to power and culture. 

While corporations are undoubtedly capable of wielding immense power, the feedback of their customers and employees must be taken into account if they want to survive.

💪COVID Can’t Touch This

In spite of a global pandemic, many tech industries are healthy. One of the biggest recovery leaders is machine learning and artificial intelligence. This year’s Disruptor 50 list has over 30 businesses citing that AI & machine learning are essential to the work they do.

Other industries continuing to thrive are those that meet new consumer needs, habits, and preferences. This includes industries like digital payments, online shopping, robot deliveries, distance learning, and telehealth. Telehealth specifically saw a 15x growth in just over three weeks from mid-march to early April. Whether you’re an investor, a prospective tech employee or just an outside spectator, the industries to engage with are right in front of our noses – which are hopefully safely underneath our cloth masks. 

🌱Growers Grow Where They’re Planted

VCs and accelerators know what side their bread is buttered on. The answer is investing in local economies and regional strengths. That’s the intention of Mary Grove and cofounder Brett Brohl, who this week announced the launch of Bread & Butter Ventures. Bread & Butter is a seed stage fund investing in “problem solving companies,” particularly in food, agtech, healthcare, and enterprise software. “I definitely feel like I’m getting a backseat education on Minnesota’s economy,” said Grove, ”and even more conviction to want to jump in.”

1/3 Some personal news: introducing Bread & Butter Ventures! Excited to team up w/ @BrettBrohl as General Partners of @Bread_ButterVC w/ @steph_rich as Head of Platform. A seed fund investing globally, grounded in the sector expertise our home state of MN: https://t.co/2EMez0YzaH

— Mary Grove (@maryGrove) June 25, 2020

Bread & Butter also points to a positive, growing trend for accelerators, specifically a move away from major markets like Silicon Valley or New York City. Make room for specialized or niche investments, just as special as the communities that create them. 

In Atlanta, VCs LaunchPad2x and Zane Venture Fund, have joined forces to prioritize funding for local women-led startups. Indianapolis’ Techstars Sports Accelerator Class, is a mentorship-driven program aimed at helping sports technology startups. And for those who want to attract investment, world-famous Y Combinator has taken its accelerator entirely remote, providing an opportunity to learn and grow your startup right from home, wherever that may be. We love to see the growth of local venture capital funds because it demonstrates each community’s passion for funding its own growth. Keep it up, everyone!

🏳️‍🌈Tech Speaks Up For Pride

June is an iconic month for recognizing equality and progress. This year it was not just conversations, but changes in the world around us. Arlan Hamilton, founder of Backstage Capital, recently tweeted a powerful call for the tech and startup community to listen and believe the underserved about the limits on their experiences. Only 76% of LGBTQ+ employees feel safe in their workplaces, and only 64% of trans or non-binary employees feel safe.

We were right about their not being enough funding for underestimated founders.

We were right about their being sexism, harassment, and abuse in tech.

We were right about their being racism in tech.

We’re right about our assessments today.

You going to believe us this time?

— Arlan 👊🏾 (@ArlanWasHere) June 27, 2020

A big part of feeling safe is feeling welcome. Tech leaders in communities between the coasts are stepping up to advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion in tech. As reported by McKinsey’s 2019 business and inclusion research, diversity and inclusion are like apples and oranges. While LGBTQ+ people might be on the team, their perspective doesn’t always get included.

What does promoting inclusion look like in action? 

• Fast Company released the first-ever list of LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary innovators in business and tech.
• Investment firms Vanguard and Morgan Stanley are expanding investment opportunities for LGBTQ+ community
• Columbus, Ohio-based Loud Capital, which announced its Pride Fund 1, a $10 million vehicle investing in companies led by LGBTQ+ founders. 

There is still so much work to be done in the tech community’s focus on inclusion and diversity, so make sure you’re doing your part to improve the dialogue surrounding the LGBTQ+ community’s safety in the tech space.

STARTUPS STILL HIRING

Austin, TX 

• Dosh is a cash-back rewards app for shoppers, hiring sales directors, an implementation engineer, a Director of Digital Comms/Brand Experience, and Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships.
• SailPoint offers identity and access management software, hiring in multiple strategic sales positions and engineering positions.

Chicago, IL

• Otus is a learning management and assessment platform, hiring front-end engineers, full stack web engineers (including a lead) and a data engineer.

Denver, CO 

• LogRhythm helps organizations detect and stop cyber threats, hiring customer care professionals, marketers, engineers, and developers.
• Snowflake is a cloud platform provider hiring in customer support, finance, IT, and HR roles across the US and globe.

Indianapolis, IN

• Emplify helps employers listen to their employees, and is hiring sales development reps, an employee engagement coach, and a manager of consulting services.
• Greenlight Guru is medical device quality management software, hiring in product development and sales. 

Raleigh, NC 

• Pendo helps product teams build great digital experiences, and is hiring front-end and back-end engineers, product and design experts, and a Director of Diversity, Quality, & Inclusion.

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