My curious mind has led me to exploring a career in what Harry Stebbings (podcaster @TheTwentyMinuteVC and SaaStr) calls “the wonderful world of venture.”
In other words, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to identify, meet, and invest in early-stage Midwest startups that have potential to become breakout companies.
Similar to Sydney Thomas, (an investor and operator at Precursor Ventures), the first thing that came to mind was finding my people. With all the talk around the lack of diversity in both tech and venture capital funds, I figured the limited number of black men in this space must be tight.
Although I’m new to the game, I still haven’t found a comprehensive network of black men at venture capital firms to lean on as a safe haven. (If you know something I don’t, let’s connect!)
Rather than talking about lack of diversity, I decided to collect and organize a list of black men in VC. The goal is to highlight everyone for taking action — from the VC vets, to those that haven’t gotten much media attention.
This list includes both the dealmakers and gatekeepers, as both play a strong part in the investment process. This is a great resource for diverse entrepreneurs seeking genuine support, aspiring VCs, startups seeking diverse board members, conference panels, and general community building.
I did not spend too much time researching regions beyond the Bay Area, NYC, and Detroit so if I’m missing anyone, feel free to comment or email profiles to me (aaron@detroit.vc) to add to the list.
In a world of hate, lets come together and make black excellence louder.
Paul Judge — Partner, Judge Ventures
Rodney Sampson — Partner, TechSquare Labs
Robert F. Smith — CEO & Chairman of the Board, Vista Equity Partners
Benjamin Jealous — Partner, Kapor Capital
Clayton Bryan — Venture Partner, 500 Startups
Chris Lyons — Chief of Staff, Andreessen Horowitz
Ken Coleman — Special Advisor, Andreessen Horowitz
LJ Erwin — Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
Naithan Jones — Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
Kamil Saeid – Investor, Aspect Ventures
Jamison Hill — Principal, Bain Capital Ventures
Erik Moore — Managing Director, Base Ventures
Kirby Harris — Partner, Base Ventures
Obi Ugwanali — Cofounder & Managing Partner, Black Angel Tech Fund
Ken Grimes — Managing Director, Black Angel Tech Fund
Kwame Anku — Cofounder & Principal, Black Angel Tech Fund
Marc Mitchell — Cofounder & Senior Advisor, Black Angel Tech Fund
Ron Berry — Founding Principal, Black Angel Tech Fund
Vincent Diallo – Partner, Bleu Capital
Marlon Nichols — General Partner, Cross Culture Ventures
Rashad Drakeford — Marketer in Residence, Cross Culture Ventures
Troy Carter — General Partner, Cross Culture Ventures
Nicholas Pianim — Managing Director, DAG Ventures
Javaughn Lawrence — Investor, Eniac Ventures
Abdul Ly – Special Projects, First Round Capital
KJ Sidberry – Investor, Forerunner Ventures
Darryl Finkton – Managing Partner, FundRx
Jason Towns – Managing Partner, Groundwork Ventures
Tyson Clark — Partner, GV
Mark Crawford — Investor, Intel Capital
Brian Dixon — Partner, Kapor Capital
Luke Thompson — Investor, Maschmeyer Group Ventures
Elliott Robinson — Partner, Microsoft Ventures
Earnest Sweat — Investor, PLD Ventures
Lo Toney — Partner, Plexo Capital
Charles Hudson — Managing Partner, Precursor Ventures
Frederik Groce — Analyst, Storm Ventures
Adrian Walker — Managing Partner, Telescopic Ventures
Garth Timoll, Sr. – Managing Director, Top Tier Capital Partners
Arthur Johnson — Managing Partner, TwilioFund
Kobie Fuller — General Partner, Upfront Ventures
Michael Seibel — Partner, Y Combinator
Kingsley R. Chin — Managing Partner & CEO, KICVentures
Carmichael Roberts — General Partner, North Bridge Venture Partners / Founder & Managing Partner, Material Impact
Brandon Greer — Analyst, OpenView Venture Partners
Edward Dugger III – President, Reinventure Capital
Alfred Jackson — Relationship Manager, Queen City Fintech
Aaron Gillum — Managing Director, Caerus Investment Partners
James Robinson — Managing Partner, Caerus Investment Partners
Don Thompson — Partner*, Cleveland Avenue
Michael Thompson — Founder & Managing Director, MDT Ventures
Wayne Moore — Cofounder & Vice President, Purple Arch Ventures
Dhani Jones — Chairman, Qey Capital & Founder of the Hillman Accelerator
Calvin Cooper — Director, NCT Ventures
Joseph Beard — Partner, Perot Jain
Lenard Marcus — Partner, Edison Partners
Hilton H. Augustine, Jr. — Chief Angel, Englare
Olawale (Wale) Ayeni — Senior Investment Officer — VC, International Finance Corporation
David Hall — VP, Revolution
Timothy Bernard Jones — Founder & Managing Principal, TBJ Investments
Aaron McClendon — Analyst, Detroit Venture Partners
Sherwin Prior — Managing Director, GM Ventures
Stefon Crawford — Analyst, GM Ventures
Derek Edwards — Vice President, Invest Detroit
Jason Barnett — Vice President, Invest Detroit
Karl I. Bell — SVP, Invest Detroit
Seun Oyewole — Analyst, Invest Detroit Ventures
Vaughn Blake — Founder & Managing Partner, Autochrome
Kobe Bryant — General Partner, Bryant Stibel
Adrian Grant — Entrepreneur In Residence, Comcast Ventures / Catalyst Fund
Adam Demuyakor – Technology Investor, Fifth Wall Ventures
Brentt Baltimore — Investor (MBA Intern), Greycroft Partners
Rashaun Williams — General Partner (The All-Star Fund), Manhattan Venture Partners
Austin Clements — Senior Associate, TenOneTen Ventures
Hamet Watt — Venture Partner, Upfront Ventures
Shane Kelly — Founder & Managing Partner – Wolverine Angels
Aaron Holiday — Cofounder & General Partner, 645 Ventures
Nnamdi Okike — Cofounder & General Partner, 645 Ventures
Oluwatoni Campbell — Associate, Bessemer Venture Partners
Jerrod Hill — VC Associate Intern, Bowery Capital
Kanyi Maqubela — Partner, Collaborative Fund
Kai Bond — Investor, Comcast Ventures / Catalyst Fund
Denmark West — Partner, Connectivity Capital Partners
Demi Obayomi — Associate, FirstMark Capital
Peter Boyce II — Partner*, General Catalyst Partners / Rough Draft Ventures
Brentt Baltimore — Investor (MBA Intern), Greycroft Partners
Brandon Bryant — Managing Partner, Harlem Capital Partners
Henri Pierre-Jacques — Managing Partner, Harlem Capital Partners
Imafidon Edomwonyi — Managing Partner, Harlem Capital Partners
Jarrid Tingle — Managing Partner, Harlem Capital Partners
John Henry — Managing Partner, Harlem Capital Partners
Winzell Steele Jr — Managing Partner, Harlem Capital Partners
Courtney Hall — Managing Director, Hillcrest Venture Partners
Brian Aoaeh — Partner, KEC Ventures
John Azubuike — Associate, KEC Ventures
Allan Jean-Baptiste — Principal, KKR
Carmelo Anthony — Partner*, Melo 7 Tech Partners
Ivan Alo — Cofounder & Managing Partner, New Age Capital
Anthony Saleh — Managing Partner, QueensBridge Venture Partners
Craig Vaughan — Partner, QueensBridge Venture Partners
Nasir Jones — Partner, QueensBridge Venture Partners
Chad Mitchell — Associate, Radian Capital
Al Forman — Partner, Tuatara Capital
Solomon Hailu — Investor, Tusk Ventures
Sean Carter (Jay-Z) — Partner*, Arrive
Richard Kerby — Vice President, Venrock
Winston Waters — Investor, Virgin Management
William Crowder — Partner, 42 Venture Partners
Chisom Uche — Associate, SixThirty
Special thanks to James Norman for reviewing the list, Richard Kerby for providing the base to build on, and both Andrew J. Albert and Sydney Thomas for encouraging me to publish this.
*Represents titles I was unable to officially identify.
This article was originally published on LinkedIn. It is reposted here with the permission of its author, Aaron McClendon.
