Black founders can get tactical advice at Disrupt

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and widespread protests for racial justice, a number of venture capitalists

made public statements

about wanting to improve diversity in the tech industry — and more specifically to fund more diverse founders.

Their comments are certainly worth applauding, but actual change is a lot harder. And if it comes at all, it will take time. In the meantime, how can Black founders navigate a tech and venture capital industry where they have

historically been underrepresented

, overlooked and worse?

To answer that question, we’ll bring three Black founders together at

Disrupt 2020 from September 14-18

who can speak directly about their experience raising funding and launching startups.

One of our speakers,

Michael Seibel,

is now funding startups himself as partner and CEO of startup accelerator Y Combinator

. Before that, however, he was co-founder and CEO at Justin.tv (which became game streaming giant Twitch) and then at its spinoff Socialcam (which was acquired by Autodesk). So he can talk about both sides, as both a founder and investor.

Joining Seibel will be two YC startup founders —

Reham Fagiri

of furniture marketplace AptDeco

and Songe LaRon of barbershop software maker Squire

. We’ll talk to all three of them on the Extra Crunch stage, getting as specific and tactical as possible about what black founders can expect and what steps they can take to succeed.

Learn more at

Disrupt 2020

, which runs from September 14-18. Buy the Disrupt Digital Pro Pass

or if you’re an early stage founder a Digital Startup Alley Exhibitor Package

today and get access to all the interviews on our main stage, workshops over on the Extra Crunch Stage where you can get actionable tips as well as CrunchMatch

, our free, AI-powered networking platform. As soon as you register for Disrupt

, you will have access to CrunchMatch

and can start connecting with people now. Use the tool to schedule one-on-one video calls with potential customers and investors or to recruit and interview prospective employees.