About 200 Black tech founders and others are expected to gather later this week for the 5th annual Unicorn Ambition Conference produced by Black Men Talk Tech. The event, Nov. 9-10 at Sacred Space in Wynwood, features a basketball tournament, a welcome reception, a VIP dinner experience, keynote talks and workshops — and a $10,000 Pitch competition.
Sessions will cover topics such as Unveiling the Funding Blueprint, Crafting a Winning Pitch, The Future of Black Tech and Owning the Culture and Forging a Path to Unicorn Status Against All Odds. Speakers include best-selling author, activist and legislator Bakari Sellers, George Azih, founder of LeaseQuery, Marlon Nichols of MaC Venture Capital, Kofi Ampadu of a16z, Chris Gray, founder of Scholly, and many more.
Black Men Talk Tech, founded by Kredit Academy founder Evan Leaphart alongside Abiodun Johnson and Boris Moyston, is an organization that brings together Black tech founders with investors, major corporations, other entrepreneurs, and relevant market practitioners.
Leaphart says it is the intimacy of the organization’s signature Unicorn Ambition Conference that makes it special: With participation capped at around 200, it’s easy to make meaningful connectios with any of the speakers or conference goers. “If you truly want to get face time with people that are of influence, it’s truly one of the best places to be.”
Some of the past pitch competition prize winners and finalists have gone on to raise millions, Leaphart says. Here’s who’s pitching for this year’s $10,000 prize at the conference:
- Pierre Le Veaux, Seed at the Table
- Roy Scott, Healthy Hip Hop
- Xaviar Gray, Tech & Flow
- August Igein, Safe Box
- Perez Willie-Nwobu, Nara Therapy
Tickets for the 3-day conference, to which all are welcome, cost $199 and Refresh readers can get 30.5% off using the “REFRESH” promo code. Students can attend free: Just use your .edu’ email address with code STUDENT-UA5.
More info and tickets: blackmentalktech.com
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