By John Kregler, StartOut
When Melissa Bradley (she/her) went to the Small Business Administration to ask for financing for her startup, the associate laughed in her face. She was a Black woman and “there was no way” they would approve her loan. Right then and there, Melissa vowed to make sure that no person of color was ever put in that same situation again.
Melissa first got the idea to start a financial services company after working in corporate America and seeing how many people were affected by increased debt. But after the incident at the SBA, she shifted the way in which she wanted to help people and took the leap into angel investing.
“I was never going to let someone try and discredit me or my goals because of who I was ever again. I knew that I wasn’t the only person who had been treated unfairly by these major investors, so I looked at ways I could change it. Becoming an investor seemed like the only way to do it.”
Since 2012, Melissa has served on the adjunct faculty at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. It was there where she and a group of her students created the framework for what would later become 1863 Ventures. What started as a class project transformed to serve over 500 entrepreneurs of color in the D.C. metropolitan area within two years.
And that was just the beginning.
Melissa now leads a team of ten people that help train and scale over 4,000 BIPOC entrepreneurs across the country and in Africa and Canada. The goal is to create $100 billion of new wealth by 2030 and with her team; Melissa is certain they’ll get there.
But even today, Black and Brown founders continue to face bias and prejudice when applying for investment. To them, Melissa offers three pieces of advice:
- Know your numbers. Be able to convey the health of your business when considering investors.
- Hire slow and fire fast. You must know who and what’s needed — and what’s not — to grow your business.
- Build with scalability in mind from the very beginning. It will help in the long run.
As a founder herself through Ureeka, Melissa understands the need to put people first. Her and her two co-founders, both white men, operate equally as heads of the company and focus primarily on supporting entrepreneurs of color. Though looking back, Melissa recognizes the sensitivity of her position.
“Getting the capital we needed to start Ureeka probably wouldn’t have worked out the same if I showed up by myself. That’s not lost upon me. But with everything we do, both through Ureeka and 1863 Ventures, we’re trying to change that narrative.”
To get ahead, Melissa believes we need to address the problems. While Black women are part of the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs, there still aren’t enough out there. Major gaps exist with access to capital, entrepreneur narrative and data collection that all work against entrepreneurs of color.
And on top of it all, investors who look like Melissa are scarce and the ability to connect with those who represent all people are limited. But by conscious effort to encourage people of color to go into the venture business, she knows things will change. And by active education and storytelling, more founders will know they can and should enter the landscape.
“I think the universe is changing with respect to race and sexuality. Sure, it’s never easy for us. But if I can stand here today as a Black, gay woman and have my voice heard in the ecosystem, then anyone can and should have the opportunity. We all just need to do our part.”
In 2018, Melissa was honored with the Leadership Award at the 7th annual StartOut Awards.
Follow Melissa on LinkedIn for the latest news and updates on 1863 Ventures and Ureeka and follow our blog on Medium for more founder stories!
