Quote: “As a founder of a startup, we have to get to the end goal - to liquidity and huge wealth gains for ourselves, employees and early investors.”

The Afropolitan Podcast highlights Afropolitans who embrace the unknown and walk with purpose. Through this podcast, we aim to empower Africans in the Diaspora to maximize their potential and contribute to the development of a vibrant and progressive black community.

In this episode, we chat with Morgan DeBaun, Founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., a digital media company for Black culture and millennials with over 100 million readers per month. Morgan is a serial entrepreneur, executive, corporate advisor, and angel investor. She is passionate about building companies and communities.

Join us as Morgan shares her incredible journey with Blavity and her insights on entrepreneurship, fundraising, managing boundaries, and dealing with failure. Morgan also discusses her reading list, the impact of the pandemic on her personal and professional life, and what it means to be Afropolitan.

Morgan's Website: https://bit.ly/3Tj1TaH

Morgan's Reading List:

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki - https://amzn.to/2NIasgG
2. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell - https://amzn.to/3VICqJb
3. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries - https://amzn.to/3CQouV0

Show Notes:

1:17 Morgan's early experience investing in the stock market at 13 years old
2:27 Misconceptions about being a founder and entrepreneurship
4:16 Strategies and advice for founders on recruiting and retaining talent
7:16 Fundraising challenges faced by black women founders and how to overcome them
10:08 Balancing personal and professional boundaries as a startup founder
12:56 The impact of the pandemic on Morgan's personal and professional life
17:40 The benefits and challenges of remote work versus office work
21:25 How to handle letting people go as a startup founder
26:56 Morgan's first encounter with failure and the lessons learned
30:42 Books that have profoundly impacted Morgan’s life
31:57 The hypothetical title of a book about Morgan's life
33:29 Transitioning from Intuit to Blavity and building a media empire
35:16 Morgan's perspective on what it means to be Afropolitan

The Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Connect with Afropolitan:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitan
Website - https://www.afropolitan.io/