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With over 3.5 million Black-owned businesses in America, we continue to see the landscape of Black entrepreneurship grow and expand. And as a Black entrepreneur myself, I know firsthand the importance of seeking out support in order to take your business to the next level. That’s why today, I am so happy to have Jewel Burks Solomon on the podcast. She is the managing partner at Collab Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund she launched to close the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs. Prior to that, Jewel was Head of Google for Startups US, where she created initiatives that have deployed over $45M in non-dilutive capital to Black and Latino-led businesses since 2020. She was also the Founder/CEO of Partpic, a startup acquired by Amazon in 2016, which streamlined the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology. Jewel is a seasoned expert in the venture capital space. And whether you are a business-owner looking for funding, a Black woman wanting to fund businesses you believe in, or you just want to make sense of the industry, Jewel drops a ton of gems in our conversation. About the Podcast The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. Resources & Announcements We are preparing to launch our Patreon community! Sign up now at therapyforblackgirls.com/joinpatreon to get exclusive updates and be the first to know when we launch. We can’t wait to see you inside! Did you know you can leave us a voice note with your questions for the podcast? If you have a question you'd like some feedback on, topics you'd like to hear covered, or want to suggest movies or books for us to review, drop us a message at memo.fm/therapyforblackgirls and let us know what’s on your mind. We just might share it on the podcast. Grab your copy of Sisterhood Heals. HBCUVC Black VC Consortium - www.bvcc.vc BLCK VC - www.blckvc.org Where to Find Jewel Instagram LinkedIn Collab Capital Stay Connected Is there a topic you'd like covered on the podcast? Submit it at therapyforblackgirls.com/mailbox. If you're looking for a therapist in your area, check out the directory at https://www.therapyforblackgirls.com/directory. Take the info from the podcast to the next level by joining us in the Therapy for Black Girls Sister Circle community.therapyforblackgirls.com Grab your copy of our guided affirmation and other TBG Merch at therapyforblackgirls.com/shop. The hashtag for the podcast is #TBGinSession. Make sure to follow us on social media: Twitter: @therapy4bgirls Instagram: @therapyforblackgirls Facebook: @therapyforblackgirls Our Production Team Executive Producers: Dennison Bradford & Maya Cole Howard Senior Producer: Ellice Ellis Producers: Tyree Rush & Ndeye ThioubouSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Rashmi Mohan hosts Nashlie Sephus, Principal Tech Evangelist for Amazon AI focusing on fairness and identifying biases at AWS AI. She formerly led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, which launched visual search for replacement parts on Amazon Shopping using technology developed at her former start-up Partpic (acquired by Amazon), where she was the CTO. She is also CEO of Bean Path, a nonprofit startup developing the Jackson Tech District, a planned community and business incubator in Jackson, Mississippi. Nashlie earned her PhD from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where her core research areas were digital signal processing, ML, and computer engineering. She has been featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CBS kids' show Mission Unstoppable, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Amazon Science, AWS re:Invent, Afrotech, and Your First Million podcast, among others. She also serves on several start-up and academic advisory boards along with mentoring others and investing in Atlanta-based start-ups. Her honors and recognitions include the BEYA 2024 Black Engineer of the Year Award, Mississippi Top 50, 2019 Ada Lovelace Award, and Georgia Tech Top 40 Under 40. Nashlie describes her early love for mathematics and music and how these informed her later doctoral research in digital signal processing in music data mining. She shares a personal experience that deeply influenced her work in AI, particularly in responsible AI and fairness, which eventually led her to her current role mitigating bias at Amazon, notably in facial recognition technologies. Nashlie and Rashmi discuss the importance of building diverse teams to practicing responsible AI and building sound products, as well as collaboration with open consortia and organizations such as the Algorithmic Justice League and Black in AI. Nashlie describes the inception and growth of Partpic, an app she started developing while finishing school. She also talks about BeanPath, her nonprofit organization with a mission to bridge the tech gap in Jackson, Mississippi through makerspaces, networking, and community engagement. Links: BeanPath
Are you looking forward to exiting your company? Take a glimpse into what happens during and after exiting a business. Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at Collab Capital and the ex-CEO and founder of PartPic, tells us how PartPic got acquired by Amazon and what she would've done differently. And Danyel Surrency Jones, the head of Amazon's Black Business Accelerator program and co-founder and ex-CEO of POWERHANDZ, explains why she made the move to Amazon and offers some helpful entrepreneurial tips to keep you going.—Click HERE to leave us a message!By submitting your voicemail, you're granting us permission to use the recording in episodes of This is Small Business. Please note, voicemails will not receive direct responses. For help with other questions to Amazon unrelated to this show, you can reach out to Amazon's customer service team at amazon.com/contact-us.
In this episode, Dr. Nashlie H. Sephus, a Tech Evangelist at Amazon (AWS), Founder/CEO of Bean Path, Entrepreneur and now a Real Estate Developer, joins Dear Sister! to take our audience on her journey. From being a CTO of a startup that was sold to Amazon to developing 14 aces in downtown Jackson, MS, Dr. Sephus is "just getting started". Dr. Sephus is the Applied Science manager for Amazon's Artificial Intelligence (AI) focusing on fairness and identifying biases in AWS AI technologies. She formerly led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, which launched visual search for replacement parts on the Amazon Shopping app in June 2018. This technology is a result of former startup Partpic (Atlanta) being acquired by Amazon, for which she was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Prior to working at Partpic, she received her Ph.D. from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014 and worked for a year with Exponent, a technical consulting firm, in New York City. Her core research areas were digital signal processing, machine learning, and computer engineering. She received her B.S. in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University in 2007. She is featured as Georgia Tech's inaugural top 40 under 40 alumni in the Class of 2020. Dr. Sephus is a native of Jackson, Mississippi and a 2003 graduate of Murrah High School/Power Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC). She had several internships and research experiences worldwide with companies such as IBM, Delphi, University of California at Berkeley, GE Research Center, GE Energy, Miller Transporters, and Kwangwoon University in Seoul, South Korea. In 2018, Dr. Sephus became the founder and CEO of The Bean Path non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS, assisting individuals and startups with technical expertise and guidance. In September of 2020, she became the owner and developer of the Jackson Tech District, at least 12-acres of mixed-use commercial real-estate in downtown Jackson to bring tech training and workforce/economic development to the area. In addition to these, she is the co-founder of KITTLabs in Atlanta, GA which was created to assist in building equity and opportunity, targeting Black entrepreneurs in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math). During her leisure time, she enjoys playing tennis, playing the piano, listening to music, bargain hunting, biking, gardening and working on do-it-yourself (DIY) projects at home. For more information, please visit: https://linktr.ee/phenomenashlie
Dr. Nashlie Sephus sold her innovative AI company called Partpic to Amazon, where she's now a Tech Evangelist for Amazon AI, focusing on erasing racial bias from artificial intelligence. She's also the founder and CEO of The Bean Path non-profit based in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi where she assists individuals and startups with technical expertise. Listen to learn how she's changing the game for women of color in tech, also as the owner of the Jackson Tech District, 14-acres of mixed-use commercial real-estate to bring tech training and workforce/economic development to the area. And join the conversation by following Wings of Inspired Business on the free and socially interactive Podopolo app, where Sarah and will answer questions. Download Podopolo here and invite your friends to connect around podcasts recommended to you by what interests and inspires you.
Dr. Nashlie Sephus sold her innovative AI company called Partpic to Amazon, where she is now a Tech Evangelist for Amazon AI, focusing on erasing racial bias from artificial intelligence. She's also the founder and CEO of The Bean Path non-profit based in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi where she assists individuals and startups with technical expertise. Listen to learn how she's changing the game for women of color in tech, also as the owner of the Jackson Tech District, 14-acres of mixed-use commercial real-estate to bring tech training and workforce/economic development to the area.
In this episode, the guy chat with Ivan Walker, Chief Technology Officer for the Bean Path & Software Engineer at Amazon, about his journey through tech, the importance of being your authentic self, and steps to breaking into a career in tech. Tune in. More about our guest: Ivan Walker is a software development engineer (SDE) with the Amazon/A9 visual search team based in Atlanta, GA. He put his PhD studies on hold to assist startup company Partpic build out their platform for visual search for replacement parts. Partpic's success in this space led to their acquisition by Amazon. He recently lead the infrastructure effort for his team to launch their fastener recognition service within the Amazon mobile app. As a doctoral student at Georgia Tech, Ivan split his time between researcher and instructor. As an instructor, Ivan was consistently highly rated by his students. Ivan's research topic was developing paradigms to utilize neural interfaces (non-invasive EEG) to assist athletes in achieving optimal performance. Ivan holds a B.S./M.S. in Computer Engineering from Jackson State University. His previous work and research experiences includes Intel (GEM Sponsor), IBM, Raytheon, Army Research Laboratory, and Air Force Research Laboratory. His research interests are in cognitive science, machine learning, software engineering, and education.
In part 2 from last week's episode, the guys continue their conversation with Dr. Nashlie Sephus. She is an artificial intelligence scientist for Amazon and CEO of the Bean Path, a non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS, assisting individuals and startups with technical expertise and guidance. She discusses her plans to turn her hometown into a thriving center for tech entrepreneurs. Tune in as this is a must listen on technology and black excellence!! More about Dr. Sephus: Dr. Nashlie Sephus is the Applied Science manager for Amazon's Artificial Intelligence (AI) focusing on fairness and identifying biases in AWS AI technologies. She formerly led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, which launched visual search for replacement parts on the Amazon Shopping app in June 2018. This technology was a result of former startup Partpic (Atlanta) being acquired by Amazon, for which she was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Prior to working at Partpic, she received her Ph.D. from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014 and worked for a year with Exponent, a technical consulting firm, in New York City. Her core research areas were digital signal processing, machine learning, and computer engineering. Dr. Sephus is a native of Jackson, Mississippi. She received her B.S. in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University (MSU) in 2007. In 2018, Dr. Sephus became the founder and CEO of The Bean Path non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS, assisting individuals and startups with technical expertise and guidance. In September of 2020, she became the owner and developer of the Jackson Tech District, at least 12-acres of mixed-use commercial real-estate in downtown Jackson to bring tech training and workforce/economic development to the area. Learn more about the Bean Path at: https://thebeanpath.org Support the Bean Path: https://thebeanpath.org/donate/
In this episode, the guys chat with Dr. Nashlie Sephus. She is an artificial intelligence scientist for Amazon and CEO of the Bean Path, a non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS, assisting individuals and startups with technical expertise and guidance. She breaks down her journey into tech and how she overcame her adversities. She explains why it is important to pursue fields in technology and how to transition into it. Later she discusses her plans to turn her hometown into a thriving center for tech entrepreneurs. Tune in as this is a must listen on technology and black excellence!! More about Dr. Sephus: Dr. Nashlie Sephus is the Applied Science manager for Amazon's Artificial Intelligence (AI) focusing on fairness and identifying biases in AWS AI technologies. She formerly led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, which launched visual search for replacement parts on the Amazon Shopping app in June 2018. This technology was a result of former startup Partpic (Atlanta) being acquired by Amazon, for which she was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Prior to working at Partpic, she received her Ph.D. from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014 and worked for a year with Exponent, a technical consulting firm, in New York City. Her core research areas were digital signal processing, machine learning, and computer engineering. Dr. Sephus is a native of Jackson, Mississippi. She received her B.S. in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University (MSU) in 2007. In 2018, Dr. Sephus became the founder and CEO of The Bean Path non-profit organization based in Jackson, MS, assisting individuals and startups with technical expertise and guidance. In September of 2020, she became the owner and developer of the Jackson Tech District, at least 12-acres of mixed-use commercial real-estate in downtown Jackson to bring tech training and workforce/economic development to the area. Learn more about the Bean Path at: https://thebeanpath.org Support the Bean Path: https://thebeanpath.org/donate/
For entrepreneurs, the day you sell your business is the goal you’ve been working toward for years. But what if this experience doesn’t live up to the hype?Jewel Burks Solomon, Founder of PartPic and Head of Startups at Google, talks about the day after her business was acquired by Amazon, what the process was like, and how reaching this perceived finish line isn't always what an entrepreneur might think.
Check out this conversation with Sevetri and Jewel Burks Solomon! She's what we call a Founder's founder now turned investor. Why Jewel's story is so important: 1. She entered tech as an employee at Google after graduating Howard University 2. She co-founded her first company Partpic which SOLD to Amazon 3. Like most founders who exit, she then went to work at Amazon to full fill her obligation and help transition the company 4. She started what she calls an “alternative” Fund called Collab Capital which doesn't just invest in your traditional tech startup (learn why she started Collab) 5. She is also the Head of Google for Startups (hear how she got that job) I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did! For more conversations like this join the Resilient Virtual Book Tour and to watch past conversations visit sevetriwilson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jewel Burks Solomon is the Founder of PartPic, which raised over $2million before being acquired by Amazon. And that was just the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. Now, she’s a managing partner at Collab Capital—a group working to provide a viable pathway to sustained wealth for the black community. She’s an incredible story, a fascinating entrepreneur and investor, and someone we can’t wait for you to hear from...
Jewel Burks Solomon is the Managing Partner of Collab Capital and the Head of Google for Startups in the US. Having founded and sold her first company, Partpic, to Amazon in her mid-20s, Jewel has made a career out of investing in and helping to mentor traditionally underrepresented founders. Having experienced some challenging investor conversations while growing Partpic, Jewel set out to design an investment fund that better aligned the incentives of investor and entrepreneur. The result is Collab Capital, where she and her two partners are about to close their first $50mm fund. On this episode, Jewel joins our host, Alex Kravitz, to talk about the innovative structure of Collab Capital and the ways that her entrepreneurial journey shaped the direction of the fund.
From her humble roots in Jackson, Mississippi, to obtaining a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech and later becoming the CTO of a startup (PartPic), lead by Black women and acquired by Amazon; Dr. Nashlie Sephus is on a mission to ensure her community is empowered and equipped. In this wrap session, Nashlie shares her experiences as an AI Leader from college to startup life and now Amazon and also drops gems on the importance of rooting & planting tech seeds back home through her nonprofit The Bean Path. Follow Nashlie: https://twitter.com/phenomenashlie https://thebeanpath.org/ https://twitter.com/TheBeanPath --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techwrapqueen/message
Jewel Burks has been an entrepreneur for as long as she can remember. In her early 20s, she founded the tech company Partpic, which she sold to Amazon. She currently serves as the Head of Google for Startups in the US. In addition to her role at Google, she is the Managing Partner at Collab Capital, a venture capital firm created to close the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs. Jewel has been named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 and one of Atlanta's 100 Most Influential People.
In this episode of Support is Sexy, learn about what it’s like to sell your company to a huge company, like Amazon, from Founder of Partpic Jewel Burks Solomon. Now Head of Google for Startups in the US and Manager Partner at Collab Capital, Jewel shares her story from counting dollar bills from her family’s business to developing her own product and business to now providing capital and support to other entrepreneurs in this episode of Support is Sexy. Elayne Fluker Elayne Fluker is author of the new book, “Get Over ‘I Got It’: How to Stop Playing Superwoman, Get Support and Remember that Having It All Doesn’t Mean Doing It All Alone.” As host of the SUPPORT IS SEXY podcast, she interviews more than 500 successful women entrepreneurs around the world, who share inspiring, true stories of the ups and the downs of their entrepreneurial journeys. Elayne is also founder of SiS.Academy, an online learning platform for women entrepreneurs. For more information about Elayne Fluker, please visit elaynefluker.com. Thank you for listening! About our Guest: Jewel Burks Solomon is Head of Google for Startups in the US, where she works with underrepresented startup founders, and Manager Partner at Collab Capital, an alternative investment fund focused on closing the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs and innovators. Jewel was Founder of Partpic, a startup that was acquired by Amazon in 2016, the same year she was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30. Insight from this episode: Insights into the emotional journey of selling your company and questions you must ask yourself before you do it. Insider look into the first steps in launching a tech company. How to tell if you are the answer to the problem you’re trying to solve. How to find the people with the right skill sets to help you in your business. Quotes from the show: On how she knew to take action: “It would not go away. I kept thinking about it, kept thinking about it. I had so much energy around it. I was really excited about it.” – Jewel Burks Solomon Support is Sexy Ep. #748 “There is a risk of [people “stealing your ideas”], but it’s a very low risk as compared to the risk involved if you just keep it to yourself, and no one ever helps you, and you never get it off the ground.” – Jewel Burks Solomon Support is Sexy Ep. #748 “Ideas are a dime a dozen, everybody has ideas… but the execution is what matters.” – Jewel Burks Solomon Support is Sexy Ep. #748 “When things don’t feel right, they’re not right, and you should always go with your gut.” – Jewel Burks Solomon Support is Sexy Ep. #748 “We can’t wait on other people to wake up to the fact that there’s all this opportunity in our communities. It’s really on us to make the investments that we think are the right investments to make.” – Jewel Burks Solomon Support is Sexy Ep. #748 “The best way to grow your company is through customers.” – Jewel Burks Solomon Support is Sexy Ep. #748 Stay Connected: Elayne Fluker Website: elaynefluker.com Twitter: @elaynefluker Facebook: Elayne Fluker Instagram: @elaynefluker LinkedIn: Elayne Fluker Youtube: Elayne Fluker Jewel Burks Solomon Website: JewelBruks.com Twitter: @JewelMelanie Instagram: @JewelMelanie Collab Capital Website: collab.capital Twitter: @Collab_capital Instagram: @Collab.capital Google First Startups Website: startup.google.com Twitter: @GoogleStartups Facebook: @GoogleForStartups Instagram: @GoogleForStartups Youtube: Google For Startups Support is Sexy Website: Support is Sexy Podcast Facebook: Support is Sexy Instagram: @supportissexy Youtube: Support is Sexy Podcast Playlist Post-production for this episode was provided by Podcast Laundry. [Music: “Stomp and Clap” by Scott Holmes from Free Music Archive]
Ruben Harris is the Co-Founder & CEO of Career Karma ( https://careerkarma.com/ ). Career Karma is a community of peers, mentors, and coaches that will help you land a dream career in Tech. You never pay a dime. The only cost is to help people behind you. Career Karma is always free for students because after they coach you to prepare and get enrolled in a bootcamp in their network, the school pays them a placement fee for helping you. Here are some cool investors that have joined them: Michael Seibel (CEO of Y Combinator), Betsy Ziegler (CEO of 1871), Jewel Burks (CEO of PartPic), Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Capital), Unshackled Ventures, Paul Judge (Tech Square Labs), Prakash Jankiraman (Nextdoor), Justin Rosenstein (Asana), Erik Torenberg, David Phillips (Hackbright), Sten Tamkivi (Skype, Teleport, etc), Mandela Schumacher-Hodge Dixon (Founder Gym), Edward Lando, Kevin Lee (Product Manager HQ), Kevin Olusola (Pentatonix), Anarghya Vardhana, and more About Our Partner This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country’s fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor’s “Best Places to Work”, 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke’s collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI. Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast. Some of the Topics Covered by Ruben Harris in this Episode What Career Karma is and what it's like to work with them How Ruben and his Co-Founders decided to start Career Karma Sending 1,900+ cold emails to break into investment banking and the process behind cold outreach Ruben's experience going through Y Combinator and what he did after getting rejected from YC the first time The importance of not lying to yourself and staying laser-focused Ruben's experience raising funding in the seed round for Career Karma What's fueled the growth in the last year (2020) Why user-generated content has been a key driver for Career Karma How Ruben and his team approach partnerships at Career Karma and what they look for in coding bootcamps How Ruben and his team manage so many different relationships The business model behind Career Karma How Career Karma will become a $100B company What Ruben and his team are doing with Reskill America The book Ruben is reading right now Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
Jewel Burks Solomon is the Founder of PartPic, which raised over $2million before being acquired by Amazon. And that was just the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. Now, she’s a managing partner at Collab Capital—a group working to provide a viable pathway to sustained wealth for the black community. She’s an incredible story, a fascinating entrepreneur and investor, and someone we can’t wait for you to hear from...
As co-founder of Partpic, a startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision, Jewel and her team built groundbreaking technology poised to change the way people everywhere locate products.
Nashlie Sephus is a Jackson native who graduated from Jackson Public Schools to ultimately go on to earn a PhD in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. She worked in Atlanta as a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of a startup company, Partpic, that was ultimately acquired by one of the world’s largest technology companies. Her Jackson-based nonprofit, the Bean Path, is celebrating it’s two-year anniversary soon, and she’s working on a new live-work development near downtown Jackson that promises maker spaces, restaurants and an unprecedented creative environment in Jackson. https://thebeanpath.org/ https://twitter.com/phenomenashlie http://www.phenomenash.org/
In this episode, we chat about ethics in code, with Nashlie Sephus, applied science manager at Amazon Web Services, AI, and Abram Walton, Director of the Center for Lifecycle and Innovation Management, and former Director for the Center for Ethics and Leadership at Florida Tech. Show Notes DevNews (sponsor) Triplebyte (sponsor) CodeNewbie (sponsor) RudderStack (sponsor) Amazon Web Services Innovation Management And Business Analytics at Florida Institute of Technology Center For Ethics And Leadership at Florida Institute of Technology Part Finder (formerly Partpic)
Welcome to More Equity. Today, we're bringing you part 4 of our female founders series—a collection of honest conversations with trailblazing female founders who are thinking big picture about the state of women in startups and tech. As the current head of Google for Startups U.S., Jewel Burks Solomon is on a mission to level the playing field for under-resourced founders in emerging US markets. Prior to her current role, Jewel was the founder and CEO of PartPic, a visual recognition technology company that allows users to save time and money searching for replacement maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) parts. We spoke with Jewel about her path through the tech world, why she keeps going back to Google, and why she's so passionate that women and black entrepreneurs have more support going through an acquisition.
Carla Harris checks in with Jewel Burks Solomon, head of Google for Startups in the U.S. and co-founder of Partpic, which she sold to Amazon in 2016. Jewel discusses the importance of self-care and how she's advising companies to think creatively in this time of COVID-19.
Jewel Burks Solomon is an Atlanta-based entrepreneur who was recently named Head of Google for Startups in the US. Jewel is no stranger to startups and entrepreneurship; she launched Partpic, a visual recognition technology company in her mid-twenties, and had it sold to Amazon in 2016. She was also named on Forbe’s 30 under 30 list. Jewel is also managing partner at Collab Capital, an investment fund designed to connect black founders to the financial and social capital they need to build profitable businesses.Jewel’s dream is transforming so many realities for new innovators in entrepreneurship, and we can’t wait to see what Google for Startups does under her leadership. Here are a few big takeaways from Jewel’s story:Don’t wait for people to believe in your idea and fund it - if you build it (and it’s good), they will come.Be smart about networking - put your ideas in front of the right people and nurture relationships with themSelling your company is not always the fantasy it’s made out to be, map out what your life would be like after you’re acquired and see if that’s what you really wantSurround yourself with other people who are doing the kind of work you want to be doing and who’ll inspire you to keep goingMost of all - don’t let your story, the place you live, or the color of your skin, define what’s possible for youIn honor of Black history month, we thank Jewel and the many black entrepreneurs who have paved the way for other innovators to be brilliant and brave.GuestJewel Burks Solomon- https://www.inc.com/magazine/201904/yasmin-gagne/partpic-amazon-jewel-burks-solomon.html
Host Carla Harris talks with Jewel Burks Solomon, the founder of Partpic, a startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision. In 2016 Jewel sold her company to Amazon for an undisclosed amount. But as you’ll hear, Jewel’s exit experience was far from a walk in the park. Jewel tells us why she left Silicon Valley to start a company in Atlanta, how she navigated the investing landscape, and what hindsight has taught her. Jewel’s candid explanation of the troubles she faced provide a valuable insight into the less-discussed downsides of the entrepreneur’s journey.You won’t want to miss this one. Come on and join us for the ride.Disclaimer textThe guest speakers are neither employees nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC. (“Morgan Stanley”). The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley. The information and figures contained herein has been obtained from sources outside of Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of information or data from sources outside of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is not responsible for the information or data contained in this podcast.This podcast does not provide individually tailored investment advice and is not a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it.© 2019 Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Members SIPC.
The joy of entrepreneurship was instilled in Jewel Burke Solomon at a young age. Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, she was inspired by the pride her parents had in their business and the sense of respect the community showed them. Her childhood was filled with warm memories of international travel and a passion for the arts. An entrepreneurial drive set in early, as she sold her own paintings while in high school. Solomon thrived while at Howard University, parlaying her success to an internship at Goldman Sachs in New York. She then leapt across the country to join Google, where her enthusiasm translated well to sales, pitching Google apps and products to enterprise customers. She returned to Alabama to assist a family member with health issues, then moved on to Atlanta. It’s where she thought of the business idea that would be her big break. Her grandfather, a farmer, was frustrated in how difficult it was to find parts for his tractor during harvest season. She founded Partpic to solve issues just like this — the company built visual search software so that customers could submit a picture and the algorithms would find just the right part. Solomon sold the company to Amazon in 2016, and she has since moved on to new challenges as an investor. Solomon credits her parents with instilling a sense of belief in herself, and she hopes to inspire other women to achieve their goals in business. If you liked what you heard, please hit the SHARE button above and share this episode with your network! Please visit our website for more inspiring stories: www.TrailBlazersImpact.com and FOLLOW US! Subscribe to our email list to get all our latest podcasts directly to your inbox: http://bit.ly/2ZBeoW9 Did this episode get you thinking? Please share your thoughts with us at hello@trailblazersimpact.com Keep in touch with Trailblazers Impact here: Twitter: @TrailblzrsImpct Facebook: @TrailBlazersImpact Instagram: @trailblazersimpact LinkedIn: TrailBlazers Impact Podcast Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/ Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/
At the time of this recording, the New York Times released a report titled "As Cameras Track Detroit’s Residents a Debate Ensues Over Racial Bias," which discussed some of the issues in machine learning such as algorithmic bias, and facial recognition software giving more false matches for black people than white people. We chat with Nashlie Sephus, CTO of Partpic, which was acquired by Amazon in 2016, and now an Applied Science Manager at Amazon Web Services, about her journey into machine learning, developing Partpic, and tackling some of the ethical issues in machine learning in her new role at Amazon. Show Links Digital Ocean (sponsor) MongoDB (sponsor) Heroku (sponsor) TwilioQuest (sponsor) re:MARS Algorithmic bias Facial recognition Hex bolt Central processing unit (CPU) Caffe Graphics processing unit (GPU) Shazam Cocktail party effect Artificial intelligence (AI) Machine learning Partpic CodeNewbie Survey New York Times: As Cameras Track Detroit’s Residents, a Debate Ensues Over Racial Bias Part Finder Carriage bolt NVIDIA Apache MXNet TensorFlow Computer Vision Music information retrieval Digital signal processing
Jewel Burks Solomon is co-founder of Partpic, an Atlanta-based startup that was designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology. After Partpic was acquired by Amazon in 2016, Jewel became an angel investor and advisor to dozens of startups across the country. She is a native of Nashville, Tennessee and a graduate of Howard University. Links: Twitter Instagram Side Hustle Pro episode Nashlie Sephus, PhD Sponsor This episode is sponsored by DigitalOcean. Apply for DigitalOcean Hatch. (To inquire about sponsoring the YFM podcast, please get in touch.) Credits Producer and Editor: Anna Eichenauer Senior Producer: Bryan Landers Additional audio mixing and mastering: Alfred ‘Rook‘ Hamilton Additional production: Chacho Valadez Executive producer: Arlan Hamilton Music by Jeff Kaale (1, 2, 3, 4) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yfm/message
Jewel Burks Solomon, founder of Partpic, talks about taking an idea from its inception to a successful exit. In this show, we explore the importance of knowing your market, reasonable expectations, and building strong long term connections. Jewel has beautiful insights on family support, faith, and flexibility as essential components of growing your business.
Jewel Burks discusses her M&A process when she sold her tech company, Partpic, to Amazon. She and Jamarlin debate whether Sen. Kamala Harris should be held accountable for policing Facebook and Google in Silicon Valley when she was the attorney general of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Partpic founder and CEO Jewel Burks discusses how she developed an idea to streamline the purchase, repair and maintenance of parts. Partpic was acquired by Amazon in 2018. On Part 1, Jewel shares her sacrifices, research process (she talked to potential customers before investing time and money in the venture) and how she raised the first $2M. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
THE SHOW Jewel Burks was the founder and CEO of Partpic, a company she sold to Amazon in 2016. During our chat, we talk about what she learned, how she grew, and why winning requires laser focus. Behind Her Brilliance: God and Her Mom Say hi to Jewel on Twitter: @jewelmelanie Get tickets for XX here THE GUEST JEWEL BURKS |Jewel Burks is an advocate for representation and access in the technology industry. As co-founder of Partpic, a startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision, Jewel and her team built groundbreaking technology poised to change the way people everywhere locate products. Partpic raised over $2 million in seed funding from notable investors like AOL co-founder, Steve Case, and Comcast Ventures, and integrated its software into mobile apps/websites of large parts distributors and retailers. Partpic was acquired by Amazon in late 2016 and the technology now powers visual search for replacement parts in the Amazon Mobile Shopping app. Currently, Jewel serves as Team Lead for Visual Search at Amazon. In addition to this role, Jewel is a proud board member at Goodie Nation and the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project, and spends much of her free time advising startups and angel investing. Jewel has been featured in notable publications such as Forbes, Wired, TechCrunch, Essence, Glamour, and Business Insider. Prior to founding Partpic, Jewel served in management, enterprise sales, and strategic diversity roles at McMaster-Carr Industrial Supply and Google, Inc. Jewel is a native of Nashville TN, and graduate of Howard University. TOPICS COVERED Jewel's early days and path into tech How Jewel adjusted to the culture shock of Silicon Valley The brilliant way Jewel discovered the idea for Partpic Lessons Jewel learned raising $2 million The aftermath of selling a company And more! STUFF MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Jewel Burks Excuses Be Gone (Lisa Likes) The Four Agreements (Jewel's book pick) Start With Why (Jewel's book pick) Get tickets for XX here
Today’s guest is Jewel Burks. As co-founder and CEO of Partpic, an Atlanta based startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology, Jewel and her team built groundbreaking technology poised to change the way people everywhere locate products. Partpic raised over $2 million in seed funding to integrate its proprietary technology into mobile apps and websites of parts distributors and retailers. And then, something incredible happened, Partpic was acquired by Amazon. Currently Jewel serves as Team Lead for Visual Search at A9.com, an Amazon Company. In addition to this role, Jewel is a proud board member at Amplify 4 Good, and spends much of her free time working with startups. On today’s show, Jewel shares: How she came up with the idea for Partpic How she recruited a smart and talented team and Co-Founder What it was like to juggle working for Google while building Partpic And what it’s like to have your company be acquired. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Google Play Links mentioned on this episode Google Alerts Extreme Ownership Jasmine Crowe Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss Announcements Side Hustle Pro is now over 5000 members strong! If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here: http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook Social Media Info Connect on Instagram: Jewel Burks - @jewelmelanie Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro #SideHustlePro
Startup Funding | Learn from Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and CEOs of Disruptive Companies
Today’s episode of StartUp Funding with Dr. Roshawnna Novellus features Jason Crain who is a co-founder and COO of Partpic a visual search technology built for hardware based in Atlanta Georgia. The marketing and Spanish graduate turned technology entrepreneur serves on a number of boards including Scholar Made Charter Schools, Atlanta Dream Academy, and The Scholarship Academy. Crain, a Kansas City native, discusses on how his experience working in various Technology firms set the tone for his entrepreneurial career, helping him realize the various opportunities available in the Technology industry. He talks about the challenges of building a business and solving problems by know that the answers are not far away. He goes on to talk about fear of the unknown sharing how he overcame that fear saying “it’s the unknown that has been the fuel for me” adding that “entrepreneurs are professional problem solvers.” “When you are confident about the business that you are building then it’s very easy to turn around the naysayers” is just a piece of Crain’s advice for potential entrepreneurs. Crain shares advice on raising capital for start-ups using his experiences as a reference to encourage other to keep on being diligent. Other advice includes: making sure you need to raise capital, creating a well-researched investor’s diagram, and over-all, understanding the business entirely. Crain reveals the best advice he has ever received and shows us how the power of an idea mixed with the drive and perseverance of steadfast motivation brings about success in one’s chosen field. Roshawnna and Crain discuss: [2:33] Crain talks about himself and what made him venture into entrepreneurship. [4:36] What prevented lack of experience being an obstacle [10:02] Stories on experiences where potential clients did not buy your idea [12:04] How you know you are doing what you are meant to be doing right now [22:49] Knowing when you are ready [27:10] Jason gives us his take on raising capital [31:07] Characteristics to look for when expanding your team [34:05] Advice for other founders who want to raise capital [39:24] On publicity and the fundraising process [41:45] Best advice ever received [44:27] Personal habits which contribute to success
Jewel Burks is co-founder and CEO of Partpic, an Atlanta based startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology. On this episode of the NSBEpreneur podcast we find out how she got her idea for the company and what she did to get the ball rolling. Now,having raised $1.5 million in seed funding, Jewel and her team are moving full speed ahead towards integrating their proprietary technology into mobile apps and websites of parts distributors and retailers.
Join the squad this week for a very special episode with up and coming tech trailblazer Jewel Burks. Jewel is the co-founder and CEO of Partpic, a startup based in Atlanta, designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology. #Partpic has raised over $1.5 million dollars in funding to integrate their technology into mobile apps and websites for parts distributors and retailers. Tune in and Soak up these Lessons from a rising star in the Startup world. #YoungCEOs #MeetingsAtTheWhiteHouseWithObama #WomeninTech #TechInnovation #ATLStartUps www.digigoodtimes.com
Jewel Burks leads the mission at Partpic as CEO. She’s somebody you don’t want to compete against in a startup competition as she’s usually the one who takes the check home. Partpic is headquartered in Atlanta, but Jewel finds herself bouncing between the budding startup town and the bay area quite frequently. Partpic is recognition software in these enterprise space that helps people find and identify hardware parts by merely snapping a photo.
Took a trip south to Atlanta to learn a lot about a town doing plenty to become an attractive home to the next wave of big tech startups. All of the companies we featured in our episode are thriving thanks to a young workforce, low cost of living, and a growing VC network in Atlanta. Check out the podcast to hear more and see the links below for additional information. www.weand.co/www.roadie.com/partpic.com/ Popular coworking space in Atlanta: atlantatechvillage.com/ The hub of Atlanta's startup ecosystem: www.hypepotamus.com/ Check out more at our blog and on twitter
Episode 3 - PJ needs new chairs We have a very special guest falling in for @_HRPaperstacks. Welcome to @KeshiaEffinC. Music : In this episode we discus Drake - If you're reading this its too late Also we talk in-depth about what music is important to our special guest @KeshiaEffinC Media: We talk about Black Mirror - A Mini Series brought to us from brattish television that wars about the possible horrors of technology. Technology: We talk about women in technology and streaming media. Has apple changed the game? Special Shout out to @Partpic