Black entrepreneurs often face an invisible burden in investor meetings. While others pitch their companies, Black founders usually feel they’re pitching their right to exist in the room. New data shows this pressure isn’t just psychological, but also financial. Black entrepreneurs received just 0.4% of startup funding in 2024, the lowest share in years. But two successful entrepreneurs reveal why authenticity might be the better strategy than performance.
The Hidden Pressure Behind Black Founder Pitches
Damilare Akinloye, founder of ArtNativ, stepped back from active pitching to focus on building his company. But his experiences from past fundraising rounds reveal the unique challenges Black entrepreneurs face.
There’s often this unspoken expectation to prove not just your idea, but your right to be in the room, like you’re representing a whole demographic, not just your startup. It’s subtle, but it creates a mental pressure to overprepare, overexplain, and overdeliver. He explains.
Cass Blonbou, Co-founder & CEO at Deep Interaction Lab, takes a different view. “Not really,” he says when asked about feeling pressure to over-perform. “I think it’s so ingrained in me that I don’t think about it this way anymore. I just aim high, all the time, period.”
The difference in their responses highlights how individual entrepreneurs cope with systemic challenges. Research from Management Science shows that after George Floyd’s murder prompted a brief surge in funding for Black entrepreneurs, investment levels returned to previous lows within two years. The temporary response was largely “token”, concentrated among investors who had never previously funded Black entrepreneurs.
Crunchbase data shows that Black-founded startups received just $730 million in 2024, down more than two-thirds from three years ago. This happens while Black Americans represent 14.4% of the U.S. population and start businesses at steady rates.
How Cultural Confidence Gets Misread in Investor Meetings
The concept of confidence itself becomes a cultural minefield for Black entrepreneurs.
“This one’s complex,” Akinloye reflects. “In many rooms, confidence is coded through Western norms; direct, assertive, almost aggressive. While for many of us, confidence can also mean humility and quiet conviction. Sometimes, that difference is mistaken for uncertainty.”
Blonbou learned to redefine confidence through his own journey. “I did not grow up seeing men being vulnerable,” he shares. “So I learned later in life that being vulnerable actually IS an act of confidence. I am doing my part to break that cycle for the next generation.”
Columbia Business School research found that only 3.47% of founders seeking VC funding are Black, suggesting systemic barriers prevent access to pitch opportunities in the first place.
The Style Change Request That Reveals Bias
Both entrepreneurs have witnessed the pressure to conform to investor expectations, though they’ve experienced it differently.
Akinloye recalls indirect feedback: “Not directly, but I’ve definitely gotten the ‘you should sound more North American’ kind of feedback, as if storytelling cadence or emotional tone needs to fit a template to be credible.”
Blonbou hasn’t faced direct requests to change his style, but he’s witnessed it happen to others. “No. But I’ve witnessed my female colleagues being told to do so,” he says. “I usually interject and tell people to do what feels right and be themselves. Listen, take the feedback, but implement it your way. Authenticity speaks for itself when delivering a message.”
Accent and Language as Barriers or Tools
Both entrepreneurs acknowledge how accent and language affect investor perception, but they’ve developed different strategies to address it.
“Accent plays a big role, unfortunately,” Akinloye notes. “Even when your message is strong, some investors subconsciously tune to familiarity. You learn to slow down your speech and calibrate delivery, not because you’re unsure, but because you want clarity to transcend bias.”
Blonbou transforms potential disadvantages into storytelling advantages. “I like to look at accent or language as a tool,” he said. “When it comes to investor conversations, I use these tools to tell stories. In my case, I speak English with a native North American accent. People who don’t know me are usually shocked when I share that I was born in Paris and that my first language is French. I use this tool to illustrate how far I can go if I decide to learn something new and become insanely good at it.”
The Double Edge of Black Passion Stereotypes
The stereotype of “Black passion” creates complex dynamics in pitch rooms that both entrepreneurs navigate carefully.
“It can both help and hurt,” Blonbou explains. “It hurts in the wrong room, but does not matter or helps in the right room. Again, it’s a tool that I use to gauge if I’m in the right room or not.”
Akinloye sees similar patterns but emphasizes the need for strategic balance: It can both help and hurt. Passion makes your vision relatable, but when over-read, it can be reduced to emotion rather than intelligence. The balance is showing fire with strategy.
This echoes research from Frontiers in Psychology showing that while entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm positively impacts investor willingness to invest, the effect varies significantly based on how that passion gets interpreted.
Personal Style: Assimilation vs. Authenticity
The question of adjusting personal style to “fit in” reveals different philosophies about maintaining authenticity while navigating predominantly white investment spaces.
Akinloye’s approach evolved over-time: “Early on, yes. Dressing or speaking in ways that ‘look the part.’ But as I evolved, I realized authenticity builds more trust than assimilation. Investors buy into conviction, not costumes.”
Blonbou takes a more pragmatic view rooted in his diverse background: “As a citizen of the world (African blood, Caribbean culture, French upbringing, and Canadian chosen home), I hardly ‘fit in’ anywhere, literally speaking. I’m okay with that.”
He also sees adaptation as an interpersonal skill rather than a burden: “Different environments have different codes, and I think being aware of that and showing up accordingly is an interpersonal skill, not a burden. I used to work at a bank, and wearing a suit was just a must. I bought my own, picked fabrics, colours, and patterns that I enjoyed wearing, as a way to find a balance.”
Black vs. Non-Black Investors: A Tale of Two Rooms
Both entrepreneurs notice significant differences when pitching to Black versus non-Black investors, though they emphasize different aspects.
“Black investors often ‘get it’ faster; the vision, the struggle, the cultural nuance,” Akinloye observes. “With non-Black investors, you sometimes have to first translate the context before pitching the solution.”
Blonbou focuses on what happens once access is granted: “If you are able to get into the room to pitch, there’s a big chance the person who invited you believes you’re not going to waste their time. Black or not.”
He emphasizes the human element: “Once you’re in the room, I believe it really depends on WHAT you pitch, and to WHOM. At the end of the day, investment decisions are made by people. And people make decisions if they resonate, either intellectually or emotionally, when sensing a strong enough signal of shared purpose and ability to execute. That said, that’s a lot of ifs. All gated by the first one (getting into the room).”
Harsh Feedback: When Bias Becomes Explicit
The most revealing moments come through direct feedback that exposes underlying assumptions about Black entrepreneurs’ capabilities.
Akinloye recalls his experience: “Being told my idea was ‘too ambitious for my background.’ That kind of feedback exposes how bias and imagination collide. It wasn’t about feasibility but perception.”
Blonbou takes a more filtered approach to criticism: “Harsh is okay, if constructive. My selective memory registers, processes, takes the constructive bit, and moves on.”
When Authenticity Trumps Polish
Both entrepreneurs report that their strongest investor connections came through genuine storytelling rather than perfect presentations, though they maintain different levels of skepticism about the pattern.
“Absolutely. The moments I’ve connected most weren’t about slide design or buzzwords. They were about genuine storytelling rooted in purpose.” Akinloye says about winning investment through authenticity.
Blonbou remains more cautious about reading too much into individual successes: “I wish it were as simple as that. Yet, I’m sure a part of me would worry that kind of investment might be too good to be true, and wonder: where’s the catch?”
The Standard Pitch Model: Exclusionary by Design?
The entrepreneurs offer contrasting views on whether the venture capital pitch format itself creates barriers for diverse founders.
Akinloye sees systemic problems: “In many ways, yes. I feel the pitch model rewards performance more than substance, which can alienate brilliant founders who simply express differently.”
Blonbou takes a more nuanced view: “I don’t think the pitch model itself is exclusionary. I think the ‘rooms’ where the pitch happens can be exclusionary. Not all rooms are, so I default to assume good intent. That said, doing great work opens doors. So it’s important to keep in mind that what happens in the room is a two-way conversation.”
What the Data Says About Change
The statistics reveal the challenge’s scope. Research published in Management Science found that the investors who briefly increased funding to Black entrepreneurs after 2020 were less likely to invest in more than one Black-founded startup and were less inclined to engage deeply by taking board seats. Moreover, the best Black entrepreneurs appeared to anticipate this “token” response. They didn’t match with investors who had no experience funding Black startups.
Meanwhile, diversity-focused venture funds faced legal challenges in 2024, with Fearless Fund closing a grant contest for Black women business owners as part of a lawsuit settlement.
The Path Forward
These entrepreneurs’ experiences suggest the solution isn’t changing how Black founders pitch, but it’s changing how the industry evaluates pitches. Their stories reveal that authenticity, while riskier in the short term, builds stronger investor relationships than performance-based approaches.
As Blonbou puts it: “Doing great work opens doors. What happens in the room is a two-way conversation.”
The challenge remains getting into enough rooms where authentic stories can be heard and valued. But as both entrepreneurs demonstrate, staying true to their authentic selves while strategically navigating systemic barriers offers a path forward that doesn’t require sacrificing identity for investment.
