How I Raised $12 Million For My Media Start-Up

Blavity’s razor-sharp founder Morgan DeBaun has an unbelievable backstory—she was an early investor in Tesla and Fb, graduated on the prime of her class at Washington College in St. Louis, MO, and was employed off of a LinkedIn publish at Intuit in Silicon Valley the place she rapidly rose via the ranks. Then she left all of it to begin a media firm geared towards Black millennials referred to as Blavity—and she or he did all of this earlier than her thirtieth birthday.

There have been a number of elements that had been constructing as much as her resolution to depart Intuit, however the ultimate straw got here on the day Mike Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson Missouri and she or he was dismayed by the shortage of protection by Black media because the story broke.

She teamed up along with her mates Aaron Samuels, Jeff Nelson and Jonathan Jackson (who has since transitioned out of the corporate). However quickly she discovered one other problem—lower than three % of girls get enterprise funding annually, and for Black girls— it’s lower than one %.

Regardless of all odds, right here’s how Morgan DeBaun constructed an influential media empire reaching one of the vital vital and ignored teams of our day—Black millennials.

Subscribe to CNBC Make It.: http://cnb.cx/2kxl2rf

About CNBC Make It.: CNBC Make It. is a brand new part of CNBC devoted to creating you smarter about managing your small business, profession, and cash.

Join with CNBC Make It. On-line
Get the newest updates: https://www.cnbc.com/make-it
Discover CNBC Make It. on Fb: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBCMakeIt
Discover CNBC Make It. on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBCMakeIt
Discover CNBC Make It. on Instagram: https://bit.ly/InstagramCNBCMakeIt

#CNBC
#CNBCMakeIt

How I Constructed Blavity, A Media Empire for Black Millennials