Growing as a founder: How I took my startup journey to new levels.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” — Frederick Douglass
Starting anything new is hard, especially if you’re alone in the endeavor. Creating a new business, especially one that is technology-enabled, is especially so. This is the difficult and lonely space I found myself in after finishing my graduate studies at Columbia University. I was a solo founder seeking to create a grassroots news company to help bring “various angles” of coverage to underrepresented areas. That company is called Vngle.
Starting out as a solo founder, I had to wear so many hats, because there was always an endless list of needs (by the way, I totally don’t encourage the solo founder route if it’s possible to avoid). One of my biggest challenges however was my lack of technical understanding. I was constantly dependent on the ' perspective of others with engineering backgrounds to tell me what was technically feasible when it came to my work and that only hindered or slowed me down.
Because of this, I had to make a decision:
Do I continue being slowed down & dependent on others, or do I take the time to grow in my areas of need?
Well, I decided to do the latter and bone up on my engineering acumen. To do so, I applied to Flatiron School’s Software Engineering Bootcamp. The choice was simple because I wanted to understand the technology I was working with on a deeper level but I didn’t know where to start. Flatiron was a structured curriculum that enabled me to jumpstart that process. In reflection, it was such a pivotal choice, because now when I work with the engineers at Vngle, we are all on the same page when it comes to what’s feasible and in what time frames.
Along with meeting amazing peers who are also seeking to break into the tech scene in some capacity, Flatiron also gave me a space to explore my interests and share interesting technical concepts with my fellow boot camp members. For example, here’s a picture of me giving a talk on blockchain technology while at Flatiron.
I enjoyed my time at Flatiron, but it wasn’t easy (I’ve written more about that in other posts). Between balancing my startup and studies, there were many late nights and moments where my peers caught me taking a “nap” in-between sessions.
Though it was a challenge, it was one I needed to prepare for my next chapter to come.
During my last week at Flatiron, I unexpectedly lost my oldest brother. With such a devastating loss, I took a leave of absence from Flatiron to be with family and eventually transferred online to finish. After I got my bearings together again, I also picked back up with my startup journey. At 25, this was the 1st time I wasn’t a full-time student in decades. With that realization, I decided to make the jump into being the full-time founder of Vngle.
If you learn the backstories of many successful founders of great organizations, the common theme you will see is that the vast majority of them have an origin story that’s riddled by ridicule and rejections. That was no different for me. Even many of my close family & friends gave me tons of flak for making the choice to pursue my vision rather than pursuing a more traditional career path.
Being misunderstood by loved ones, combined with a global pandemic, made for quite the transition.
Though many of those close to me didn’t understand my path, I pushed forward and found community around those who did. Big thanks to Mozilla’s Fix-the-Internet Incubator,
Envision Accelerator, and DivInc’s Social Justice Innovation Accelerator.
I’m proud to say, despite the pandemic, I landed my team grants, an office space, & acceptances into great startup programs.
And personally…
Along with these amazing programs, I also had the pleasure of serving as both a Board Member for the Columbia Venture Community and a Harvard Franklin Fellow for Social Impact x Tech.
CVC enabled me to work with Columbia’s global innovation ecosystem that serves members across 50+ countries, While the Franklin Fellowship allowed me to join a cohort of young engineers to learn directly from experts across industries on how they are leveraging emerging technology to create real social impact on society.
Now I feel prepared for anything.
Though there is still a very long road ahead and many more challenges to come, I know I’m prepared for it. I made the sacrifice upfront to grow myself into being the leader capable of bringing a vision into reality.
With that, I’m overjoyed to say I’m not alone on this journey anymore. As Vnglers, we come together for a common cause: to help combat misinformation and underrepresentation across cities. We’re a group of socially conscious people assembling the tech & talent needed to bring “various angles” of more equitable coverage to more of America. 🇺🇸
I’m thrilled to say our mission at Vngle helped us be selected as an MIT Solve Global Challenge Finalist for creating Antiracist Technology in the US!
I’m also blessed to say I’m a 2021 Goldin Global Fellow for international grassroots leadership. I’m 1 of 24 grassroots leaders from across the world joining a cohort representing 19 countries to learn and share best practices on how to mobilize communities for genuine impact. This opportunity will accelerate my understanding of the cross-cultural needs underrepresented communities have across the globe. I’m so excited to be a part of this!
Today at Vngle we’re growing our grassroots network in the state of Georgia. We’re building partnerships with local officials and community leaders across the state to expand our coverage to new underrepresented areas. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media @VngleStories to keep up!!
As I continue to learn & grow as a social entrepreneur, I’ve decided to start sharing my insights. So I launched version 1 of my own site, BlakeStoner.com to catalog my entrepreneurial journey and behind-the-scenes thoughts (by the way, this was my Flatiron Final project).
Check it out and connect with me on social media to stay updated on my next moves!
Peace & love,
