It all began with an idea.
What if the ‘Whitest City in America’ led the way in bridging the support and amplification of Black owned businesses? What if the capital talks shift from simply being about money and moved toward the importance of social capital as well?
Those ideas led Stephen Green to launch the first PitchBlack in Portland, Oregon, in 2015, and since that time, Portland has been home to 6 editions of the event.
And this is only the beginning. What started in Portland has expanded to include events in Seattle, Austin, and Philadelphia. To date, 120 founders have pitched their ideas, more than 1800 people have attended the combined events, and more than $280,000 has gone directly to the winning companies.
In addition, the Portland winners alone have gone on to raise an additional $45M in funding since 2015.
“What started a party to celebrate some founders has grown into a beacon for how cities around the country can unearth, connect and lift up the talent that already exists in their midst." - Stephen Green
Press
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Ask Your Oldhead
In this episode of The Ask Your Oldhead Podcast I am joined by Stephen Green. Founder of Pitch Black, teacher of many business development skills and a great connector of people.
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Business Tribune
Pitch Black, the annual pitch fest for black and brown business owners from Portland, had a successful evening last Thursday. Fourteen founders pitched, laying out their product, business model..
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Silicon Florist
It’s been more than a week. I’m still processing. To be honest. It was the biggest PitchBlack I’d had the opportunity to attend. It had the most people pitching. It was sold out.
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Supermaker
With just one percent of VC funding going to Black founders, it’s of critical importance to have safe spaces where these entrepreneurs can be heard and for their ideas to be validated.
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Portland Business Journal
The event was held Wednesday as part of Sneaker Week. Thirteen black entrepreneurs pitched ideas before more than 300 people.
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Medium
In reality, the home of the “Swoosh,” “Voodoo Donuts,’’ and the “Naked Bike Race” …. is also helping lead the way in cultivating African-American founders
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Socap Digital
Green is also the founder of PitchBlack–a national pitch competition series that gives Black and Latinx startup entrepreneurs a platform to promote their business ideas
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The Oregonian
Pitch Black, the "Shark Tank" style business competition returns Thursday night. Eleven African-American entrepreneurs will pitch ideas to compete for thousands of dollars.
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Lost'N Portland
Chris, founder of Lost’N Portland sits down with Stephen Green for a chat about his coming to support Portland's small business, including PitchBlack.
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Free Enterprise
In Portland, one of the country’s most progressive tech startup enclaves, innovative black and Latino startup entrepreneurs are making a growing impact on the local economy.
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Portland Business Journal
Entrepreneurs from three startups walked away with $4,000 from the second installment of Pitch Black, which took place last night in North Portland.
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TEDx Portland
In this thought provoking Talk, Stephen Green questions the things we all know to be true. He asks us to rethink our paradigm of community consumer habits
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The Guardian
Distraught by the disappearance of the neighborhood’s cultural identity, professionals hope to reclaim the area with black-owned business developments
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TechCrunch
This year alone, the volcanic region of Greater Portland has erupted in activities focused on empowering underrepresented entrepreneurs to compete in the region’s growing innovation- and tech-based economy.