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Finally, the conversation about the lack of diversity in social media and web/tech entrepreneurship is heating up. Now what?

African Americans Only 1% of Internet Start-up Founders

Finally, a few post about the lack of diversity in social media and web/tech entrepreneurship outside of the “black channel” are starting  to pop-up around the interwebs. Maybe 2011 is “our” year or the year we’ll not only see more minority own startups launch but get funded, covered by major tech blogs and receive the same respect as other social media and web/tech entrepreneurs. Hey… I can dream right? Before I post a few links of the recent blog post about the lack of diversity problem, lets look back on a some articles I think really started to highlight the problem. Most are from BlackWeb 2.0 where my friend and colleague Angle Benton and team have been covering the minority web tech space since 2007. The post that really has been an eye opener is the Venture Capital Human Capital Report in which BlackWeb 2.0 highlights that African Americans Only 1% of Internet Start-up Founders as you can see in the chart at the top of this post.

 

Other articles from around the web about the lack of diversity in the social media and tech entrepreneurship space pre 2011 are:

 

Fast forward to late 2010 and early 2011 the conversation about the lack of diversity in social media and tech entrepreneurship is heating up and others are starting to take notice. Also note the previous post were discussed a lot during SXSW 2011 and a few of us decided to launch our own startup (gokit) during SXSW as you can read here on Black Enterprise as a result. You see, the links above are primarily from minority own or affiliate sites with the exception for one or two. In the past few weeks there have been Quora questions and other post by non minorities noticing the lack of diversity in the social media space and highlighting minorities entrepreneurs. Here are a few:

Now What?

So now what? The conversations are heating up, we know there is a problem, few are making it or at least trying. How can myself and others help solve the problem?  I have a few ideas along with some of the notes and comments from the TechCrunch post about women of color. Here are some suggestions

 

Also note, I’m working with a team planning an accelerator based in the Bay Area this summer around minorities startups. For more information on the project email me if you would like to get involved.

Your turn!

What can you do and/or what are some suggestions how to solve the diversity problem in the social media and web/tech entrepreneurship space?