“The world doesn’t believe that innovation looks like me.” Barry Givens
In this episode, we sit down with Barry Givens, a techie, an entrepreneur, and a lover of all things helping to add COLOR to the tech industry. Based in Atlanta GA, he currently spends his time helping and advising emerging entrepreneurs (mostly African-American) and is working to launch several projects to bring racial parity to the economics, education, and workforce of the tech industry. He co-founded Collab Capital in 2018 where he and his partners Jewel Burks Solomon and Justin Dawkins invest in Black founders to turn their genius into generational wealth. He also serves as the Managing Director for the Cox Social Impact Program powered by Techstars and serves on the board for Venture Atlanta.
In 2012, Barry founded a cutting edge hardware technology company named Monsieur. At Monsieur, he and his team developed a patented mixing technology that evolved the way the hospitality industry markets, sells, and dispenses cocktails. Barry and his team successfully raised over $4MM in seed and Series A funding and grew the company to a successful exit in 2017.
Prior to founding Monsieur, Barry graduated from GA Tech and spent his early career with John Deere as a design engineer and with Caterpillar as a product manager. He also dipped his toe in the entrepreneurial waters creating a custom shoe company named Slushie Kicks and co-authoring a book titled Plan "B" Sucks: Work on Your Dreams, not Your Boss's.
Barry has been featured in notable publications such as CNN, CNN Money, Wired, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, Fast Company and many more.
Throughout the episode, you'll learn about his inspiring path to entrepreneurship and honest perspective on the challenges of fundraising, his thoughts on the power of Black innovation, his lens on preparing the current and next generation for opportunities and careers in tech, and his aspirations to build an even bigger Black Wall Street.
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Book references:
Black Fortunesby Shomari Wills