Latest news with #Brackeen
Axios
14-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
Black Tech Week draws Keke Palmer as attendance and sponsors surge
Keke Palmer, fresh off the ESSENCE Festival stage in New Orleans, headlines this year's Black Tech Week, a rapidly growing Midwest-based tech summit that blends entrepreneurship, cultural influence and genuine funding opportunities for underrepresented founders. Why it matters: The three-day event, which kicks off Monday, has become a hub for dealmaking, upskilling and ecosystem building for Black and brown innovators in the Midwest and beyond. Only 0.4% of U.S. venture funding went to Black‑founded startups in 2024— the lowest share in years. Black Tech Week is built to close that gap. The Big Picture: Organizers expected fundraising and turnout to take a hit, but the opposite happened. Black Tech Week is growing — even as many major companies, such as Target, Google, Amazon, Meta, and T-Mobile, cut sponsorship funds or eliminate DEI roles due to political and shareholder pressure. Organizers tapped into Ohio institutions, garnering strong local support from the state's Fortune 500 companies. This year, Black Tech Week expanded its sponsors and added workshops focused on entrepreneurship, AI and access to capital. What they're saying: Candice Matthews Brackeen, CEO and founder of Lightship Foundation, which acquired the event, says the event's growth is personal and political. "While other companies pulled back after November, we've gotten bigger," Brackeen told Axios. "The city, the county, the state — they've all shown up to support this." Zoom in: As an Ohio native, she's proud to host a conference that helps put the Midwest at the center of innovation and culture. Brackeen points out that Cincinnati is quickly becoming a core hub, thanks to Intel, Amazon, and massive public-private investment. Ohio is often overlooked, she says, "but Ohio builds businesses, too." Zoom out: When Brackeen first attended the Black Tech Week conference a decade ago, there were only a few hundred people in attendance. This year, more than 6,200 attendees are projected to attend. Speakers for the conference include Fawn Weaver of Uncle Nearest, Calvin Butts Jr. of private equity firm East Chop Capital and a growing slate of Black founders with major exits. Workshops cover AI, venture capital and the soft skills often missing from traditional tech training. "We go from panels in the morning to workshops in the afternoon," Brackeen said. "This isn't just about inspiration — this is where the real work gets done." The vibe is less buttoned-up expo, more real-talk block party for builders, dreamers and dealmakers, said entrepreneur Rodney Walton, who has gone from attendee to speaker. "You don't have to be uptight. You can be who you are," Walton said. "It's authentic, and when people show up that way, business actually gets done." Walton says the conference helped him connect with investors — and even the pastor who officiated his wedding. The bottom line: Brackeen said they are looking for business leaders who are moving the culture every year.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Yahoo
Four family members, including Bay schoolteacher, charged in Old Beach Bar fight
PANAMA CITY BEACH ― Four family members, including a Bay District Schools teacher, are facing charges after a fight at The Old Beach Bar on June 10. The incident happened about midnight at 19952 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach. The bar often hosts matches for the American Pool Players Association. According to an arrest affidavit, witnesses told deputies that Bay District Schools teacher Summer Chester, 40, along with family members Calvin Chester, 39, Gavin Chester, 19, and Homer Chester, 42, arrived at the bar and created a disturbance, interrupting pool matches and breaking a player's personal pool cue. According to an incident report from the Bay County Sheriff's Office, an employee of the bar, Stephen Weaver, 32, discovered Calvin Chester, 39, bothering individuals while playing pool and asked him to leave leave multiple times, but he refused to do so. When Weaver stepped outside to call 911, Calvin and Gavin Chester began chasing and hitting Weaver with closed fists, according to the report. Weaver suffered a chipped tooth from the incident. Deputies said Summer Chester, 40, a teacher at Surfside Middle School, knocked Brenda Woods, 69, to the ground on her back and began striking her repeatedly with a closed fist. The affidavit said the incident was caught on video. The incident gave Woods a black eye on the right side of her face that had swollen nearly to the size of a golf ball, the affidavit says. She was taken to the hospital. The Sheriff's Office said video footage showed Timothy Brackeen, 70, trying to help Woods when Gavin Chester began punching Brackeen, giving him several bruises to his face, eye and rib cage. Gavin and Calvin Chester were both seen on video striking victim Maria Arnold, 44, multiple times in the face, according to the report. "Brackeen stated the family was surrounding Weaver, while Weaver was trying to get them to leave the property," the incident report says. "Brackeen stated he saw Woods fall from being struck by someone. Brackeen stated 'the kid was like a raving maniac,' identified as Gavin. Brackeen said people were pulling Gavin off of someone else, but Gavin would keep going right back and re-engaging in the fight." One victim, James Bain, 40, said he was there to play pool. While the fight began to escalate, Bain was attempting to break up the fight when Homer Chester began hitting the Bain multiple times until the he fell to the floor, according to the affidavit. Bain was taken to the hospital. According to the incident report: Summer Chester was charged with aggravated battery on a person 65 or older. While being processed at the Bay County Jail, deputies said they foundmethylphenidate, a drug used to treat ADHD, on Summer Chester. She was additionally charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and introduction of a controlled substance into a detention facility. Gavin Chester was charged with battery on a person 65 or older and two counts of battery. Calvin Chester was charged with one count of battery. Homer Chester was charged with two counts of battery. Homer Chester is defending himself in court. Summer and Gavin Chester are being represented by Gunter & McClaran Law, a Panama City-based firm. Their first arrangements are scheduled for Aug. 4. "As this is an active investigation, we are unable to provide additional details at this time. However, we want to assure our community that the safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priorities. We take all allegations involving employees seriously, regardless of when or where they occur," Bay District Schools said in a statement. More Breaking News: Panama City Police: Woman, 20, charged with attempted murder after brick/gun ambush "We have full confidence in our local law enforcement agencies and the judicial process to handle this matter appropriately. We appreciate the continued support of our families and community as we remain committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and positive learning environment for all students," the statement adds. The school district did not comment on Summer Chester's employment status. This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Old Beach Bar fight results in charges for four family members
Technical.ly
22-06-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Will there be more software developers working next year?
For the first time, the number of software jobs in the US has stagnated. This coincides with the broader trend of lower labor force participation across sectors. Previously, recent college grads always had a lower unemployment rate than the general workforce. That has flipped — now recent grads have a notably higher unemployment rate. Societal shifts because of new technology tend to be more noticeable over a decade than over a single year. Is AI different? Brian Brackeen says there will be fewer software developers working in the United States a year from now. I call bullshit. We're making a bet of it: Loser has to wait in line to buy the other a cheesesteak from South Philadelphia's beloved Angelo's — since we'll both be in that city for a tech-inspired celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence around the next Builders Conference (Here's coverage of our most recent one). Contrary to what I say to my friend's face, Brackeen is no fool. The proven entrepreneur–turned–provocateur venture capitalist has a point. Two big changes are hitting software development at the same time, making it difficult to distinguish between them: Higher interest rates have chilled speculative tech building, and new artificial intelligence tools are creating new efficiencies. Further complicating the trend, pandemic habits boosted international tech hiring, and the decades-old digital transformation appears to be aging. Expensive software developers seem an ideal role for executives to replace. In 2024, the American economy added new software developer jobs at the slowest year-over-year rate on record. All this comes in a strange macroeconomic moment. Take the first quarter of 2025: Tech hiring didn't just stall — it retreated. Software developer job postings were still falling even long after the pandemic-fueled bonanza had faded, a Wall Street Journal analysis found. Tech unemployment climbed above the national average, peaking at 5.7% in February. Other than robotics, most current AI excitement is concentrated in knowledge work, something college graduates specialize in. (The plumber I once worked for used to say that getting a college degree was a way to buy a chance to work in air-conditioning). So as economists research whether AI is affecting job prospects, they're focusing on degree holders. A real change is underway. For decades, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates was almost always lower than the overall unemployment rate. Following the Great Recession, unemployment peaked in June 2010 at 9.5%; It was bad for recent college graduates too, but that rate never got above 7.8%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank. The same thing happened in the recessions of 1990 and 2001. But those figures have flipped in recent years — and the gap is widening. The first quarter of 2025 ended with an unemployment rate for recent college graduates that was almost one-and-a-half times higher (5.8% versus 4% for all workers). Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees this week that over the next few years, the online commerce giant 'will reduce [its] total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.' Any move toward the end of knowledge work bodes poorly for software development, an especially well-paid (and occasionally rote) trade. Fewer people are working — but not (yet) because of AI This coincides with a broader trend: Labor force participation remains down from pre-pandemic levels. A recent explainer from the Federal Reserve underlined the stakes: Either we grow our economy by improving productivity or by adding more workers. With aging demographics and early retirements, we've been trending in the opposite direction. That drop isn't theoretical. There are 1.7 million fewer Americans in the workforce now than in February 2020, per the US Chamber of Commerce. That means many jobs, including tech roles, are going unfilled. So software developers are harder to come by. But I'm still betting we'll have more of them by next year. Why? For one, the trends don't line up with AI breakthroughs. The unemployment rate for recent college grads crested above the overall rate way back in 2018 – though the gulf has gotten larger. Something else is happening. Next, pricing pressure can create surprising outcomes. Often called the Jevons Paradox, falling costs in something (like the price of building software) can boost demand for it (resulting in more need). The time required for any given software development can shrink, even as the need for people to do adjacent work can grow. Job titles can change — witness the decline of ' computer programmer ' — and job descriptions too. But software skills will remain in-demand for the foreseeable future. The third reason I took the bet is the maxim credited to Bill Gates: We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a year and underestimate what we can in a decade. (Note: I was less sure about taking Brian up on a bet over 5 years, but jumped at the bet for a year out — check the video here.) Early this year, University of Oxford researchers published a paper documenting the impact automation has had on language translators. It's changing the job and shifting the skills needed, but certain tasks remain stubbornly human. Will AI be different from other tech advancements? No question getting a job, especially a first job, in tech is harder than it has been. The leader of one coding bootcamp told me there's been 'a collapse,' and they're feverishly adapting their model. At present, that is more to do with higher-interest rates and general macroeconomic trends, with AI as window dressing. Focused on the medium term, boosters remain bullish that the growth in tech apprenticeship will continue. Brackeen's side of the bet is that AI is different from past technologies, and that the speed will sneak up on us. AI legend Geoffrey Hinton recently argued the same. My side of the bet is that even if this is right, it will happen slower than we think, and that titles like software developer will adapt, and therefore grow, for at least a while longer. We'll settle it over cheesesteaks. See you in Philadelphia next May.
Technical.ly
06-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Why every city has a ‘startup week' now — and whether they should
When first launched Philly Tech Week 15 years ago, the logic was straightforward: gather scattered entrepreneurs and technologists together, put the city on the map, and throw a few great parties along the way. A decade and a half later, nearly every US city with entrepreneurial aspirations seems to host a version of a 'startup week.' But as economic conditions, work habits and generational preferences shift, some are reevaluating whether the week-long event model is still effective — or necessary. 'The 'week' was proof that a city had arrived,' said Brian Brackeen, general partner at Lightship Capital and co-organizer of Black Tech Week, a national conference hosted since 2014. 'You had enough happening to fill multiple days.' The model flourished because it allowed cities to showcase a critical mass of entrepreneurial activity while providing flexible attendance options. 'If someone couldn't make Thursday or Friday, they could still attend events earlier in the week,' said Maria Underwood, a veteran ecosystem builder based in Birmingham, Alabama, which hosts the multi-day founded in 2015. Victor Hwang, founder of entrepreneur advocacy network Right to Start, believes a full week's slate of events encourages more local partnerships. Multiple groups could host their own gatherings under the larger banner, he said, relieving pressure from a single organizer and fostering greater community participation. Yet some old-school supporters — including CEO Chris Wink, who was instrumental in creating the original Philadelphia model — are skeptical the format still fits. 'Funding isn't there anymore to sponsor beer-soaked warehouse parties,' Wink said. He described the era of 'throwing 300-person parties subsidized by private equity firms' as 'insane by today's standards.' Instead, Wink said, founders now emphasize business value, intentional connections and efficiency in events — priorities that seem to clash with sprawling multi-day schedules. 'Happy hours are a dime a dozen' Brackeen, of Lightship Capital, echoed this shift toward intentionality. Black Tech Week, for example, has evolved to include highly structured investor-founder matchmaking sessions and corporate 'biz-dev days,'maximizing direct business outcomes rather than casual networking. Birmingham's Underwood agreed. 'Happy hours are a dime a dozen,' She said. 'The events that will sustain are ones creating intentional, strategic connections for founders.' Economic realities have also changed. CEO Wink cited the post-pandemic reevaluation of work-life balance and tighter capital environments as reasons why the sprawling event model might no longer be economically sustainable — or desirable. Still, 'weeks' remain valuable to emerging ecosystems. 'There's still a 26-year-old who was 12 when you first threw those parties,' Brackeen reminded Wink. 'They deserve their chance to experience it, too.' Though some places are still launching 'week'-themed editions — DC Tech Week was new on the scene last year, offering two dozen events across several days in the nation's capital — a rising trend is the startup 'weekend' instead. That's the branding for a program offered by Techstars, which partners on the three-day events in cities from Pittsburgh to New Orleans to Rome and Sao Paulo.. Ultimately, ecosystem leaders agree that while the week model once signaled vibrancy and ambition, its future might lie in hybrid, focused programming emphasizing specific business outcomes over sheer volume of activity. 'The vibe has shifted from 'cool and fun' to practical resilience,' Hwang said. 'People still care, but they care differently.'
Technical.ly
04-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
When do direct flights boost economic output (and venture capital deals)?
Though the US already has more liquid capital than any other country, regions short on institutional money still chase outside investors with tactics like subsidizing direct flights and flying in VCs for 1:1 meetings. Research does show startups gain measurable innovation advantages (more patents and citations) when direct flights link them to VC centers — with effects far stronger on international routes than domestic ones. So yes, ecosystem leaders should invite investors and host meet-and-greets, but not universally fixate on capital, because entrepreneurs need many resources, including quality of life. → Read on for details and join Chris Wink's weekly newsletter for more Pressed to choose between being a home for investors and entrepreneurs, choose the entrepreneurs every time. Venture capitalists are bankers with better branding. So forgive me for raising my eyebrows whenever I hear an economic development leader tell me they're working on attracting more capital to their region — or that an entrepreneur thinks her hometown just 'needs more capital.' Everybody says this everywhere. The United States has more liquid capital markets than any other country on the planet. We also have more airports than anywhere else. Stop complaining. Still, I admit research shows there are cases where that is sound economic development strategy. So when is it smart for regional economic development groups to chase venture capitalists? And what does it have to do with direct flights? 'Venture capitalists monitor their investments closely,' said Brian Brackeen, the Lightship Capital general partner whose Black Tech Week event series in Cincinnati matches startups directly with VC investors and corporate clients. 'Founders think constantly about capital. They prefer not to, but they have to.' Brackeen was my foil on this topic in the last Builders Live podcast alongside our cohosts Victor Hwang of Right to Start and Maria Underwood, an ecosystem builder turned startup COO from Birmingham, Alabama. Our conversation veered into the role of local events to bring in outside investors — the topic of a separate future story — but our original debate centered on when local ecosystems chasing outside capital made sense. Brackeen assured me that no 'sensible' local economic leader is expecting to attract a top-tier investment firm to open an office in their city or state on a whim. Most US regions are without much institutional capital. Local rich grandees might be angel investors, but can often be unsavvy, or at least limited in their checkbooks. Many economic leaders want to create ties to bigger pools of money to accelerate homegrown inventors — and limit departures for bigger investment hubs. Air travel is often regarded as an economic salve for such far-flung places. One signature initiative from Jobs Ohio, the liquor-tax funded, state economic development powerhouse, is its ' air service restoration program,' in which it effectively subsidizes direct flights from its airports to major financial centers at up to $10 million annually. Northwest Arkansas's entrepreneur support organization is organizing a VC immersion program, in which it flies in investors for 1:1 meetings with inventors. Ecosystem organizer Serafina Lalany posted a video of her team happily distributing posters of the campaign. 'Bringing investors to your city works,' said Underwood, who led efforts to integrate investor pitches into Birmingham's upcoming Sloss Tech event. 'We bring VCs who've never been to Birmingham to meet our founders. It's economical and effective.' Research backs her up, to a point. Startups gain measurable innovation advantages when connected by direct flights to venture capitalists, according to a 2016 MIT paper, with a 3.1% increase in patent filings and a 5.8% increase in patent citations. Interestingly, US communities don't benefit from new direct flights anywhere near as much as international cities do, at least according to a 2018 paper. Foreign cities with new direct flights to Silicon Valley saw an additional $23 million in VC funding over the next year. Any connection between big enough domestic and foreign hubs did the trick. With each newly introduced direct route between a U.S. and Chinese city increased annual M&A transaction volumes by approximately $50 million, according to a 2021 paper. Domestic cities didn't see the same boost. 'For companies farther away, particularly internationally, direct flights matter immensely,' wrote Waters. This advantage is magnified by geographical distance and cultural barriers. Selling bits of an early-stage private company for infusions of cash is always tricky, especially for first-time founders and in untested markets. Network effect is real, and local organizers can change that. Invite investors to your annual events and organize meet-and-greets, but ecosystem leaders ought not universally fixate on venture capital. Entrepreneurs need many resources. As Hwang put it: 'Making connections for entrepreneurs will make good things happen in lots of unexpected ways.'
