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

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Blavity’s razor-sharp founder Morgan DeBaun has an incredible backstory—she was an early investor in Tesla and Facebook, graduated at the top of her class at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and was hired off of a LinkedIn post at Intuit in Silicon Valley where she quickly rose through the ranks. Then she left it all to start a media company geared toward Black millennials called Blavity—and she did all of this before her 30th birthday.

There were several factors that were building up to her decision to leave Intuit, but the final straw came on the day Mike Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson Missouri and she was dismayed by the lack of coverage by Black media as the story broke.

She teamed up with her friends Aaron Samuels, Jeff Nelson and Jonathan Jackson (who has since transitioned out of the company). But soon she found another challenge—less than three percent of women get venture funding each year, and for Black women— it’s less than one percent.

Despite all odds, here’s how Morgan DeBaun built an influential media empire reaching one of the most important and overlooked groups of our day—Black millennials.

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How I Built Blavity, A Media Empire for Black Millennials

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24 COMMENTS

  3. It’s 2023 and we’re still the only ones anywhere lol 😂 I’m Oakland and is typically the only black man any coffee shop I go to and this city is filled with black people. Like how is that even possible???!!!

  5. She said there were no black media brands covering the Mike Brown story… that is a LIE! Flat out. Maybe the black media that were covering it was actively being shadow banned

  7. If this were a white person, creating media for white only, accepting only white investors, etc. it would be a completely different story. Why can't we all just be equal. No color. No race. Her success is founded on racism.

  11. This story drives the wrong narrative it should be about her parents and how they set up her life correctly not how she keeps saying she did everything herself and then admits that the parents. This is the problem with people like this they get a certain position and they play politics and Game, rather than just show the next person the path

  14. She’s a hustler for sure, but don’t agree about black people influencing almost everyone. Music, no. Rap, yes. Sports, 2/4 major sports yes but the the biggest sport in the world (soccer) is the most racially diverse. Way to much weight in that

  15. Black male but a HUGE amount of respect. Listened to this while going to work; inspirational 🙌🏾.

    Ill admit, it is also fustrating hearing how she had trouble with black investors also, but Ive also connected with the narrative that we dont need white acceptance in order to make a product succeed or to be considered good. Running with that full speed on my chest.

  16. Written for and by white people. Lol it's the tech industry it's filled with minorities. It's crazy how you never miss a change to race bait!!

    Also hilarious how she broke the law to fabricate a client list and you act like it's funny 🤣🤣

  22. This is a very powerful and inspiring story. In the Caribbean, there are so many talented persons of all races with significant business ideas but we are really seen as the minority on the global front. I am inspired even more by your story to find avenues to give our Caribbean people the support they need.

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