Blog
Blog
MBA Voices
MBA Voices
Eleven student teams were required to run a “design sprint” – a structured and rigorous process for quickly identifying critical questions facing a venture, and rapidly developing multiple answers to these questions to test with stakeholders. Jake Knapp of Google Ventures, who invented the Sprint process, ran the first two days, then handed over to faculty co-chairs Alan MacCormack and Russ Wilcox. The pressure was on the teams to make progress, rapidly building prototypes to a high level to generate insightful feedback on how well the solutions matched real customers’ needs. [...]
Brian Hollins (MBA 2021) spent six years at Goldman Sachs prior to HBS focused on venture capital and growth equity investing for the firm. He will be joining Lightspeed Venture Partners this summer, and is a co-Founder of BLCKVC, a platform to help launch and scale the venture careers of African-American investors across the country. After school, he plans to continue working in the VC industry, partnering with incredible founders to build leading technology platforms of the future. We caught up with Brian to learn about his new podcast "The Road Untraveled: VC Perspectives on COVID-19" – a project he hopes will provide insights directly from the VC industry to founders and investors on how to manage their business and financial expectations through these unprecedented times. [...]
The Black New Venture Competition was an event designed to offer support to promising early-stage Black entrepreneurs with resources to develop their ventures into dynamic powerhouses. The event served as a launchpad for innovative ventures founded by Black entrepreneurs, providing exposure to capital, mentors, and advisors. The Black New Venture Competition awarded $175,000, thanks to funding from General Catalyst, Google for Startups, and Khosla Ventures – making this event the largest pitch competition for Black founders in the country. [...]
The statistics regarding black entrepreneurs are staggering. Fewer than one percent of black entrepreneurs get VC funding, and of that .0006 percent goes to black women entrepreneurs. This is not because there is a lack of innovative ideas and lucrative ventures from black founders. [...]
"There's a community that has hovered and prayed over me – that's why I'm here. I know I'm not unique; I know tons of people who could've been here. More people can do this if given the opportunity." [...]
Load More Loading...
The views and opinions expressed in the MBA Voices blog are those of the authors.
Any political views shared by students are their own; HBS does not endorse a
particular party or candidate.