Black Elites

Founders. Startups. The making of enduring companies.

Playbooks, teardowns and interviews from the operators building the next generation of category-defining brands.

In Entrepreneurship

Kevin Caldwell Is Challenging Decades of Transplant Medicine With Bone Marrow From Deceased Donors

For decades, bone marrow transplants have depended on living donors. The problem is that suitable matches are scarce, leaving thousands of patients waiting each year, and many never receive a...

The Unusual Strategy Behind Marques Brownlee’s YouTube Success

Here’s the thing about tech reviewing: access is currency. Early on, device makers hold most of the cards, early units, launch invites, one-on-ones with executives, and embargo access. Play...

The Biggest Bet in AI Hardware: Michael Carbin’s $4.5 Billion Vindication

Two months. That’s how long Unconventional AI existed before it closed one of the largest seed rounds in tech history — $475 million, at a $4.5 billion valuation, for a company that had shipped...

Angela Benton Turned Silicon Valley’s Diversity Gap Into a $47 Million Success Story

For years, Silicon Valley liked to call itself a meritocracy. The funding numbers told a different story: Billions of dollars poured into startups, and Black founders and other underrepresented...

Black Women Now Lead US Business Creation. Here’s Why.

According to the 2026 Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Businesses report, Black women owned roughly 2.8 million nonemployer businesses in 2025. That number climbed 13.2% in just one year, faster...

What a $150 Million Home Improvement Bet Could Mean for Black Homeowners

Buying a home is still difficult for many Black families. Keeping one in good condition is becoming an equally important challenge.The Go Urban Companies (TGUC) Financial just rolled out a $150...

The Hardest Part of Building an App Was Never the Coding. Sheena Allen Lived It.

Sheena Allen’s early edge wasn’t technical skill. She never had that. What she had was a willingness to split two things most people treat as one: knowing what a product should be, and...

Cyrus Harbin: The $500K Blueprint for Non-Technical Tech Talent

Cyrus Harbin used to read poetry to strangers for a living. Before that clicked into a career, he drove for Lyft — no computer science degree, no bootcamp certificate, nothing that looks like a normal...

Stephen Curry’s 3 Rules That Forced the NBA Hall of Fame to Make an Exception

For several years, an unwritten rule existed in the basketball sport. The Hall of Fame was meant for retired guys. Even the absolute biggest stars of the game have to wait till retirement to get...