AngelList Weekly - Down the pipeline

Ahmaud Arbery was shot while jogging around his neighborhood. George Floyd was choked to death in an encounter with the police over a suspect $20 bill. Breonna Taylor was shot in her home while sleeping during a botched police raid. 

Though the circumstances around their deaths varied, there were commonalities. All victims were black. And, until there was outside intervention, no arrests were made against their killers.

In America, black men receive longer sentences for the same crimes¹. An unarmed black person is 3.5x more likely to be shot by the police than an unarmed white person². Using a resume with a white name instead of a black name increases the chances of an interview by 2.5x³. 

Even at the rarefied heights of startup-land, stats like these persist. Among founders of venture-backed companies, only 1% are black⁴. The engineering teams at big tech companies like Facebook and Google are the same— 1% black⁵. 

Investors and hiring managers often say there’s a pipeline problem. If we look further down the pipeline, we'd see the exact issues that have now been brought front and center. 

AngelList’s core mission is to democratize access to startups. Access means access to all. Silence isn’t an option; we stand with the victims of police brutality, marginalization, and systemic racism. We believe that black lives matter. 

If you’d like to learn more or contribute, we’ve provided a list of resources at the bottom of the newsletter. 

✌️🖤

The apps powering the protests

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have been critical in helping spread the message of racial justice, but the protests themselves have shaken up the app stores.  

Police scanner apps are at an all-time high. The most popular of them is called 5-0 Radio Police Scanner, which provides an audio feed of police radio channels. The app was created by a single developer who is donating the proceeds to social action charities. 

Protestors are also turning to a messaging app called Signal. Signal is like Whatsapp, except with better security and encryption features, ensuring that messages and contacts aren’t shared if a phone is compromised. Most importantly, Signal is open source, which ensures that it can’t be tampered with by the government. The app just launched a face-blurring feature that adds another layer of anonymity to pictures shared through the app.

Resources on allyship

• Be an ally. Follow this Guide To Allyship.
• Learn. We’d recommend the books So You Want To Talk About Race and How To Be Antiracist
• Donate. The National Bail Fund Network, Movement 4 Black Lives, and Showing Up For Racial Justice.

More from last week

For founders looking to bolster their emotional fitness, psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt provides a roadmap to work on their emotional fitness. She shares seven traits that are most common in emotionally fit founders:

• Self-awareness
• Empathy
• Willingness to play
• Curiosity
• Mindfulness
• Resilience
• Effective communication

David Frankel, managing partner at Founder Collective writes why starting small is a great approach to achieving success and why this may be a great time for entrepreneurs:

• New use cases are popping up almost daily
• CAC’s are at decade-long lows
• The world has changed — there are no experts
• VCs will be slow to overfund competitors
• By all means, please aspire to make a positive “dent in the universe.”
• Apply your talents to the biggest challenges we face.
• But don’t let ambition blind you to the low-hanging fruit all around us.
• The journey to a $1 billion company starts with a single prototype.

Greg Isenberg, Head of Product Strategy at WeWork, explains why Reddit is being unbundled right now and how-to to build your own successful vertical network product.

Julie Zhuo, former VP of Product Design at Facebook, shares her top question all employees and employers should take into consideration in an interview, and why it can help you stand out from your competition.

As you continue to manage a remote team, these five strategies will help you empower your team and make them feel connected to each other and their work:

• Over-communicate where possible
• Make yourself available
• Prioritize face-to-face conversations
• Offer space to de-stress
• Share strategies to help your local community

Hot startups hiring now 🔥

Funding and acquisitions

Aircall, a cloud-based call center software startup, has raised a $65 million Series C round to capitalize on the surge in remote communication needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it more critical than ever for companies to connect distant teams with customers.

Marqeta, a payment card issuing platform, has raised $150 million at a $4.3 billion valuation. Marqeta makes payment card issuing and processing simpler and more efficient for customers like Instacart and DoorDash. Marqeta's business grew at a rapid pace over the past few months, as COVID-19 led lockdowns have led to a surge in demand for digital payments.

Standard Cognition, an autonomous retail startup, acquired it's competitor Checkout Technologies. As cashiers across the country take precautions to limit interactions with customers because of the COVID-19 pandemic, autonomous checkout solutions are getting renewed attention.

Loom, a video recording startup, has raised $28 million in a Series B funding round. Loom enables recording your screen, voice, and face to create an instantly shareable video to get your message across quickly. Loom has seen its total users double to 4 million since January as companies that enable remote work collaboration under the global lockdown are experiencing a surge in usage.

Zynga announced it would buy Turkish mobile-game developer Peak for $1.8 billion, in a move that will boost the company's daily active user base by 60%. One impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been that many deals are getting done not in person but over videoconferencing.

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