Black entrepreneurs ride the StartupBus
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
The renovated Chase bank on
125th St. buzzed with excitement
a few weeks ago when,
meeting each other for the fi rst time, 30
young people were about to embark on
a remarkable experience. They hailed
from New York, Detroit, Washington,
D.C., Baltimore and Oakland.
During a 72-hour road trip to New
Orleans on the StartupBus, this select
group of young tech, design and business
talent would form a collaborative
community to think up, develop and
market startup companies.
Celebrating its 10th year, Startup-
Bus’s goal is to provide the creative
environment to build a real working
project and pitch it to potential investors.
Seven other similarly fi lled buses,
traveling from all over the country and
Mexico, converged in New Orleans,
where ideas were pitched
The unique StartupBus sponsored by
Chase is a project of the company’s Advancing
Black Pathways initiative. All
selected participants are black and the
theme of the bus, co-named Advancing
Black Entrepreneurs, was to develop
projects that mainly focus on improving
black Americans’ fi nancial health.
Among the eight New Yorkers, Malorie
Casimir, a 26-year-old Brooklynite,
took time from her job at Flatiron
School — a for-profi t business teaching
tech skills — to join the 5-day hackathon
trip.
Casimir graduated from The New
School, where she studied opera. After
a year working at a startup, she enrolled
in Flatiron School’s 15-week intensive
Boot Camp, and afterward began a
tech career at Flatiron School.
“At the very start of the road trip,
we pitched ideas to the whole group,”
she explained, of how groups formed
to work together. In her case, she and
another participant had a similar idea,
and two others joined with them.
Their project, SmallStreet, is a micro
investing platform aimed at facilitating
what is known as “buying back
the block” — like a Wall Street for
small businesses.
Along the way, mentors and previous
attendees, also aboard the bus, provided
their professional insight. Teams
pitched their ideas and received feedback
while making professional contacts
at tech stops in Akron, Detroit,
Atlanta and Montgomery.
As a computer engineer, Casimir
worked on the coding, which came
toward the latter part of project development.
Did she sleep? Every now and
then.
In New Orleans, 30 startup teams
presented their ideas during the fi nal
pitch.
SmallStreet did well, fi nishing as
the runner-up in the StartupBus 2019
Competition. And, they also received
Contestants before embarking on their bus journey.
Software engineer Malorie Casimir
from Brooklyn and part of the
winning project — SmallSteet —
a platform to help invest in community
businesses.
the People’s Choice Award. Casimir
noted how one member of their team,
a marketing pro, attracted 2.8 million
Not all just suits! Purple-haired Madelena Mak, Senior National Director
of StartUpBus with National Director Collen Wong give an overview
at the reception the night before the bus took off from 125th St.
impressions through social-media postings.
So, what do you get from this rolling
ride of tech and networking?
“Bragging rights!” Casimir exulted.
But, it’s more than just that: These
techies are serious. Casimir consults
with her team once a week, further developing
SmallStreet.
The project’s projected launch date
PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY
is 2020.
The Advancing Black Entrepreneurs
Bus also received the Best Bus honor
based on overall pitch quality and engagement
with the community, with
the key measure being social-media impressions
generated by the buses.
The Advancing Black Entrepreneurs
Bus earned a collective 3.5 million impressions.
Schneps Media CNW Month xx, 2019 23