Economic Development Expert: How an Inclusive Tech Community is Tied to Regional and Community Growth

Ray Leach: Hello, and welcome to Innovation in Equality. A podcast bringing inequities in tech to the forefront through candid conversations with founders, investors, and stakeholders. I'm Ray Leach, the founding CEO of Jumpstart, a full service venture capital and economic development firm, helping to unlock the full potential of entrepreneurship. Today, Jumpstart's Lamont Mackley talks to WKYC news anchor, Russ Mitchell, about the conditions creating inequities and entrepreneurship, and what an inclusive innovation economy might look like.

Russ Mitchell: I'm Russ Mitchell with WKYC TV. And today I'm talking to Lamont Mackley, the chief inclusion and outreach officer at Jumpstart. In the next half hour or so, we're going to take a look at how an equitable tech economy is tied to innovative growth throughout the country, and right here in Cleveland. Lamont, how are you today?

Lamont Mackley: I am doing fine, Russ. Thank you for having me on this particular podcast. I very much appreciate it.

Russ Mitchell: It is a pleasure to be with you today. Now, before we get any further, you have got a fascinating background. Before we get into the nitty gritty here. You've been a bank president. You're a lawyer, you're now heading a office of inclusion. Take us through your background. How did you get to where you are right now?

Lamont Mackley: Well, I guess my story started I'm from the Washington DC area. I grew up in the fifties, sixties, seventies, right in the middle of the civil rights movement. And I was surrounded by very activist people in my life and in my family. And they encouraged me to get engaged and involved in the social orders of the day and social issues of the day. And also encouraged me to get an education. I thought coming through high school and graduating high school that I would go on to college and become a lawyer. And I pursued that. And about halfway through law school, I kind of decided that the law really wasn't something that I wanted to do in terms of a practice. I really wanted to do something that would have more impact, economic impact. Turns out that I had been working in a bank and got the opportunity to be in an internship, programming in a larger bank there in the DC area. And I did that.

Lamont Mackley: At the same time. I did finish my law school. I got my law degree. I was encouraged to do that. And one of the better decisions that I made in the process of getting my education and it absolutely helped me as it related to my banking career. It allowed me basically to go from the famous drive-in teller all the way to the president of a bank. And I actually had to very good fortune to be president of four banks in various different locations in the United States. And these banks were community development banks, which were really specializing in using a regulatory banking to in fact, have some type of community impact in areas that were underbanked, if you will.

Lamont Mackley: And so, I had the privilege of doing that and making that happen. And that led me to Cleveland and eventually to Jumpstart. And I got the honor and privilege of learning a lot more about equity engagement and how that financing instrument can change a person's life in terms of innovation, tech innovation, being backed by venture capital money and then creating an opportunity for people. So that's something I've learned here at Jumpstart, and you've been involved in that process.

Russ Mitchell: Like I said, it's a fascinating background. And here you are today, helping people get into the crazy tech world.

Lamont Mackley: Yes.

Russ Mitchell: When we talk about tech equity, kind of take me through that. Where are we at this point? And what are we talking about exactly?

Lamont Mackley: So tech equity basically is an opportunity to, you come up with some type of innovations. Some type of disruptive technology that is new and innovative, and you are now developing that technology, but you need risk capital in order for that technology to be developed. Which means that it's not like a normal kind of business where you know that you can have some outcomes. It's not a restaurant where if you have served the right kind of food, people were going to purchase that food, and you're going to have a great business.

Lamont Mackley: This is a technology that hasn't been tested yet. This is a technology that you think and believe that if you develop it the correct way, it in fact is going to be a big success. So you have to have backers with capital money who are going to be equity partners, owners with you to develop that technology. And there's no guarantee that that technology will be a winner. So you're getting money, big money, to support an idea or opportunity. Now the good news is if it really is a disruptive technology, if it's something that is unique and special and that it serves a great purpose in our world, in our economy, then you can make a lot of money being involved in that. And the investors will make a lot of money in being involved in that.

Russ Mitchell: Let me ask you this though, if you could have the best idea in the world, let's just say for the sake of the discussion, I've got the best idea in the world and I bring it to you. Just how tough of an industry is this to crack for anybody to break into?

Lamont Mackley: It's tough. It's tough for anybody to break into. Because you've got to find the lane for how, number one, it gets validated that it in fact is a good opportunity. But then you also have to find those backers. Backers that are going to support you and help you because you probably don't know everything about your invention. So you need other parties to come in, to bring you expertise and help you with that. You've got to validate it. So you need partners that are going to help you validate it. You've got to have believers. You got to have people in there with you, working with you that believe that this opportunity is a disruptive and innovative opportunity. And then, and this is the biggest piece, you have got to have capital backers that in fact, believe in the idea and can attract not only their money, but attract others to put money into the idea and the development of the idea. So it's tough.

Russ Mitchell: You need lots of money is what I hear you telling me [inaudible 00:06:50]. Well, going back to your job now to get it before we move on to the equity portion of this, how do you help me? If I come to you, how do you help in your job right now? How do you help me get from point A to point B and beyond?

Lamont Mackley: Well I work at Jumpstart now as a chief inclusion and outreach officer. So my main job is to make sure these opportunities to get involved with the tech economy and tech opportunities of venture capital opportunities are available to African-American and Latinx, diverse populations, females have the opportunity to be engaged in this industry. What people at Jumpstart do is adding the expertise. We're putting the pieces around this entrepreneur, this idea that allows this entrepreneur to develop the opportunity.

Russ Mitchell: Yeah. Lamont at this point, how would you describe the state of minorities in the tech community? Long way to go? What phrase would you use?

Lamont Mackley: I would use long way to go. Absolutely long way to go. The representation has improved over the last few years for women entrepreneurs. And I say improved, it's 10% involved in the tech economy or tech innovations. However, for African-Americans, it's under 2% and for Latinx Americans, it's under 2% and quite frankly, that's not acceptable. And we have got to create the opportunities. We've got to make the connections. We've got to make populations aware of what is going on relative to the tech economy. The opportunity to take a innovation and idea and turn it into something that has value. And quite frankly, you can change your economic legacy for yourself and your family going forward.

Russ Mitchell: When it comes to the answer or the question of why those numbers are so low in the Black and Latino communities, you mentioned awareness. Any other factors out there?

Lamont Mackley: Yeah, I think African-Americans and Latinx communities have not been introduced to this possibility. You can go back to, in a lot of institutional scenarios, particularly around systemic racism, where the institutions would not let you in. They certainly weren't being invited to be engaged. We're talking about industries like sports industry and the entertainment industry, the medical industry, education industry, all of these great industries. At some point in time, they were blocking and they weren't intentionally engaging with diverse populations and inviting them in.

Lamont Mackley: And we know that the diverse populations have talent. They have initiatives, they have ideas, they have innovations in the case we're talking about a technology. But they haven't been allowed to be exposed to these opportunities. And how do you get in as I call it, how do you get in the game? How do you get an opportunity to be a part of it? What do we have to do to expose? What do we have to do to share knowledge? What do we have to do to share the educational process? And speaking of educational process, a big piece of the tech economy is built around this whole idea of education and being exposed to the schools that will provide you with those types of insights and educational opportunities.

Russ Mitchell: There are a lot of ways to go here as you're mentioning there, and a lot of possible rewards, not only for the individual, but let's talk about the community. What would it mean for the community? For the Black and Latino communities? If those numbers get better, if there is more tech business in those communities?

Lamont Mackley: Well Russ, I'll just explain it this way. And we use Ohio for a moment as illustration. So Ohio really started out as a agricultural industry. That's where its base was, around agriculture. Then over the years, it started to turn into an industrial base. We had lots of factories and we still do. Lots of factories and lots of industries like the steel industry and the auto industry and et cetera. But things have changed again. And the new change is around technology. And so the state has recognized that they have to be in this path of developing companies that are focused around new technologies. That's the new wave. So if you go back, as I said, agriculture is still a big player in Ohio. Certainly industry is still here. Industrial base is still here in Ohio, but if you do not create a atmosphere where we are driving our population and opportunities for businesses that are involved in tech, you are going to be out the game, if you will, as a state, as a region, as a city.

Lamont Mackley: Which means that, then your population who is living in these areas will not be exposed to the opportunities that this industry has for them. So you lose what? Jobs and opportunities for your state to grow from an economic perspective. So we have to be aggressive about the new opportunities and encouraging those opportunities because the new day has come. We're in a tech economy and we have to be embracing that economy. If we're going to attract talent, if we're going to be a leader, as it relates to great lifestyles, if we're going to have economic growth, we've got to be concerned about that and be encouraging the opportunity for innovative people and innovative ideas to be born right here in our community.

Russ Mitchell: When we talk about Cleveland specifically Lamont, are we further behind or are government agencies, I know what Jumpstart is doing. I know what you're doing. Are other agencies coming in to help bridge this divide in many ways?

Lamont Mackley: Yes. I think that we, quite frankly, Jumpstart is a beneficiary of a state initiative called the third frontier, which is really focused on figuring out how to engage in technology and innovation and to finance that, create funds that would support these entrepreneurs and create opportunities around new technology. And the reason is important, as I said before, those companies, as they grow and as is disruptive technologies take off, they create jobs, they create opportunities. So it's very important that a state for example, get involved, which in this case, Ohio did, but it's also important, and we have seen that local communities do the same thing.

Lamont Mackley: So the city of Cleveland, the county government, all of these institutions have to be involved in pushing forth the agenda of technology and supporting this tech economy in order for us to be successful. The other big thing that would happen in this regard, and we've starting to see this around the United States, is that as these technologies develop and they turn into companies, they become employers. Opportunities for people to get good paying jobs. So you're creating opportunities because you're creating new companies, not old companies that are sort of losing their way, but new companies that are cracking into our society.

Russ Mitchell: It sounds like also these could become, in some ways, if the world changes and things get to the point where you're saying they need to be, these could almost be the new cornerstones of the community.

Lamont Mackley: Absolutely. And that's why to that point, that's why we have to make sure that everybody's invited into these opportunities. Opportunities for African-American, Latinx and females to be involved and engaged with it in a real way. And you asked earlier too, this impact can be powerful on a community or a neighborhood that typically is an African-American neighborhood or community. Because as those individuals are employed and engaged in this tech economy, their opportunity to grow their wealth goes up. Their opportunity to get a better education goes up. If African-American community, females, Latinas, community is left out of that, we're going to be way, way behind and it's going to be a worse situation for our neighborhoods in that case.

Russ Mitchell: Yeah, you talked about awareness and other things. It's actually, when you think about it to a lot of people, I think it's intimidating to try to go into a business like that, like this, but the tech industry. In your job, how do you diffuse that intimidation? How do you tell people that this is something you should try, you deserve as much of a swing at this as anybody else?

Lamont Mackley: Yes and you hit another major challenge. And I'll just say that that is the case because you're probably talking to somebody, let's say we're talking to an African-American that has an innovative idea. But they need the resources that a Jumpstart or another organization may have in order to move this forward. But you know what the biggest thing is going to be, it's trust. How do I know who to trust? Because I've got this invention, I've got this idea, I've got this very precious thing. And now I've got to share it with others who are going to be intimately involved in it. Who, might at some point, steal it from me. And you know that, of course our history, our history being African-American, the history as it relates to Latinx and history as it relates to a lot of women, they haven't had trusted relationships from a historic perspective.

Lamont Mackley: And so we have trouble convincing a lot of entrepreneurs, minority entrepreneurs to actually trust the system. And when I say it myself and you can feel it, I mean, "Okay, you asking me Lamont to trust the system." Even now, as you know Russ, we're having a lot of people who are talking about the vaccines. And of course, a number of the areas that have been a concern is getting people to take the vaccines in the minority communities. And that's what is that. As a trust issue because of the history. So it's the same thing, our job, in my case, from the tech perspective is to convince, to in fact trust because the outcome, if we can get through that, the outcome and the impact and the opportunity, particularly from a wealth building perspective would be absolutely great.

Russ Mitchell: You used a phrase earlier. I want to get back to disruptive technology. Tell me what would be considered a disruptive technology?

Lamont Mackley: A disruptive technology is a technology that comes along that in fact, changes the game. Everybody, all of a sudden needs it, it is something that is almost technologies that you cannot live without. The cell phone, or let's think 30 years back and think about what's happening with that piece of technology today, 30 years ago, we didn't have anything like that. And now we have it and it's like, everybody has to have one. I was just telling my wife the other day, I went into a retail establishment and I was waiting actually to get my order. And we ordered some food and I was waiting to get my order filled and I looked around and I counted the number of people that were in the store. And then I looked at everybody who had a cell phone and not just a cell phone in their hand, they were using it. But I counted 22 people in the store and 19 of them were actively involved with the cell phone.

Lamont Mackley: That technology changed the game. I can be in constant communication. I can play a game that I would have to be, normally I would have maybe been at home playing that game. I can be in my car and still communicating. That's a disruptive technology. Now people will argue is that good or bad? I'm not trying to determine that issue. But the technology itself changed the game of how human beings interact with others. Let me give you one other one that's real relevant to today. Think about the fact that had we not had a technology like Zoom or a technology like Teams in what's going on with the pandemic where we can't be physically connected. And Zoom came along and now has created a piece of technology that allows us to at least communicate, not physically, but we can at least see to each other. That's a game breaking piece of technology at a period of time in our history where we can't really physically get together. It's a game changer.

Russ Mitchell: Certainly disruptive technology, game changer, I got it down, that's great. I was thinking about it the other day. I look at my grandfather, it may have been the car, the airplane, my father was television, for people today it's the cell phone and what comes out of that. So I understand what you're saying. Okay, going back to my original question before I was going to ask you this, and you've mentioned the pandemic, and when I think of people being intimidated to enter this field, but they have great ideas. Have you found that this particular time in history has been ripe for these kind of inventions? You mentioned Zoom. I wonder, if I'm out there and I have an idea and I want to, it's my goal to come up with something, at this time in history, unfortunately, in this pandemic, hopefully coming out of it. How right the time is this for me to develop something that could be a game changer?

Lamont Mackley: I have no inside knowledge on this at all. But as I think about the fact that the vaccine was created in what would normally take years to get vaccines out of the medical industry, I think about all of the technology that was probably used in creating that medicine. And pushing that medicine through the process to get it approved and to get it distributed even, I'm positive that technology was a big piece. Innovative technology, we haven't even seen it yet, that is going to be on the scene later down the road. This is one of those situations that, two plus two equals four because you have to figure these things out. And it forces different pieces of understanding to kind of come together, to create an opportunity, to create something and have impact.

Lamont Mackley: Now, in the case of Zoom, which is very interesting. And this is another reason why when you invent technology, you have to always be there to see it through. So Zoom was already successful. This technology, this platform, this opportunity to get people together, people were having meetings on Zoom a lot. And they were a successful company, profitable company. But the pandemic took them to another level of success. Everybody wasn't exposed to the technology. Everybody didn't know about it. In fact, there probably were a lot of people and sometimes they accused the older generation of this, of which I'm now find myself in of, "Oh, I'm not going to mess with that. I don't need to be on, I don't want to be on that." All of a sudden you're using it, all of a sudden you have to use it. And all of a sudden, "Oh, it's not so bad. This is pretty good."

Russ Mitchell: I think the other thing this has taught us, and this is just from my vantage point Lamont, you tell me what do you think about it is, it's also made us realize the importance of innovating even if you already have a successful product. I can remember before the pandemic Skype was the communication vehicle of choice for many operations. Now, so many people use Zoom, which a lot of people had never heard before.

Lamont Mackley: That's exactly right.

Russ Mitchell: So when you're talking about it and inventing something and coming up with something, it's the innovation part seems to me to be as much a part of the process as anything else these days.

Lamont Mackley: Absolutely. I'll give you another one that you and I probably knew a lot about. And that is the TV. TV came out, it was a great innovate... Well, my goodness, people sitting around the TV, black and white, wow. Nothing could be better. And then they came out with the color TV and now they've come out with the next generation of TV. You need more innovation on top of innovation on top of innovation.

Russ Mitchell: Which brings me back to your job. Let's say, I've covered you with this idea. And I've got innovation. You've helped me line up resources. You've helped me as part of the process and I'm moving forward. How much do you stay with me? How important is it that I have the guidance of a Jumpstart? Someone like you, as I move forward in my product and developing my product?

Lamont Mackley: If you're looking at something that's going to come out on what we call a positive exit because in a lot of cases, the companies are bought by others that then take the technology to the next level. So let's talk about it in terms of an exit and by the way, the exit creates money for you. That's wealth building moment for a lot of entrepreneurs. But let's say it takes eight years. Jumpstart might be with you about five years of that journey. Because once we get you to a certain point, you're starting to get more investors involved and they started to become your board of directors. They started to become your guiding force. You're probably going to be hiring more people. You're going to get past where Jumpstart's arrange of expertise and market sophistication is. So you're going to need additional resources around you other than Jumpstart.

Lamont Mackley: Jumpstart is really sort of the beginning of the journey, maybe the middle piece of the journey for a lot of entrepreneurs. But once they are up and running, once they pass that validation stage, he's going to attract attention not only nationally, maybe internationally. So he's going to grow beyond the capacity of a Jumpstart, and he's going to need more Jumpstart-like entities that specialize in, maybe the industry that he's in.

Russ Mitchell: Want to get back to what an equitable future may look like. And you addressed this, but I want to get back to that in just a moment. But let me ask you Lamont, what's the best part of your job? In what you do right now? You've had many jobs, many careers, as you say in your life. Right now, what's the best part about your job?

Lamont Mackley: The best part about my job is connecting people, helping people move along in the economy or economic systems to allow them from a business dream perspective, to keep that moving in a way that hopefully has a economic change in their lives and in their family's lives. And what I hope will be a legacy for that family. When I see that happening, when I'm involved in that process of helping somebody, that really is, what really gives me pleasure and it's very satisfying.

Lamont Mackley: But it goes back to something. I had no idea it was going to do this in a banking, or a venture capital perspective. But my theme in my life is if I can help somebody as I pass along to my living will not be in vain. I just didn't know that I would be doing this kind of thing that would allow them to, one, two tips or some introduction or some opportunity to help them think something through would be the way that I'd be doing it. But I love it. And when it comes out in the other end and they had a business up and running and they're successful down the road. Wow. Wow.

Russ Mitchell: It sounds incredibly rewarding. Let me go back to what we talked about earlier. Just says, as we wrap this up and talk about what an equitable tech economy would mean for communities. What do you think the future would look like as hopefully this gap is bridged?

Lamont Mackley: Well, first of all, if we're not a part of it, if the minority community and equitable situations are not brought to bear, it would be disastrous. Assuming that happens. Now, we've got an opportunity in the tech economy to improve the lives dramatically of people individually, families and communities in general. Because the amount of money and opportunity and the growth potential for a technology to take off and to have this impact on the community is absolutely tremendous. Think of a company like Amazon. Its impact on our daily lives, it's impact on all the communities where it's putting its delivery systems in, unbelievable in terms of what it's doing. So it can change the life of an individual, a family, a community, a city, a county, a state. All of these innovations have tremendous opportunity, economically. And we've got to get African-Americans and Latinx and female entrepreneurs all involved in this so they can have a piece of the pie. Have a piece of the opportunity to grow and develop in to, have a success life.

Russ Mitchell: And Lamont, as someone who was in the front line of this, who sees the frustrations, who sees the success stories, how optimistic are you that things are going to get better?

Lamont Mackley: Wow, that's a loaded question. I am a optimistic by nature. The glass is always half full. I do have my moments though, where I just say, "Oh man, this doesn't look good." But I realized that the journey is a longer journey than just even my life. And I realized that for whatever reason, it may take a longer period of time to really solve and to have that Dave, that Martin Luther King was referring to in his dream, when that basic dream comes true. So I realized that I have a part to play in it. And if I believe that this is an opportunity, if I believe that I have a role that I've been put on this earth to do something positive with this opportunity and the privilege that I've been given and the exposure that I've been given to pass on to others then I ought to do that and I ought to be optimistic about what it could result in. Whether I'm there to see it in its total fruition or not, I should do my part in pushing forward. So I'm staying optimist.

Russ Mitchell: Well, that is fantastic. And if I am somebody who's hearing this and I've got a nugget of an idea, your best piece of advice for me would be what?

Lamont Mackley: Do your research. Get with some people that can start to help you. They may not have all the answers. Find an organization. Jumpstart is one of those organizations that specializes in helping businesses think their innovations through. Get on the journey. Be very strategic about how you thinking about the journey. Learn as much as you possibly can. There's a lot to learn and a lot to understand, and then surround yourself with good people that can give you the insights you need to lead to a successful conclusion or a conclusion that says, "Maybe this is not the right idea. Maybe I should move on to another idea."

Russ Mitchell: It has been a pleasure talking to you, Lamont Mackley, Chief Inclusion Outreach Officer at Jumpstart. Some great information there and some great advice as well. It looks like you really enjoy your job,

Lamont Mackley: Well Russ, thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it. And yes, I do enjoy my job because I just want to help people make their dreams come true.

Russ Mitchell: All right Lamont, once again, Thank you. I'm Russ Mitchell from WKYC. Thanks so much for listening.

Ray Leach: We are fortunate to have Lamont's perspective included in this series and even more fortunate to have his experience and passion here in Cleveland, helping us to strive toward a more open, honest, and equitable future. Thanks again to Russ Mitchell for leading this conversation today. And I'd like to thank you for listening to Innovation in Equality. Consider following wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you would please rate and review the show, it really helps. Innovation in Equality is a production of Evergreen Podcasts. Thanks to our producer and audio engineer, Dave Douglas and co-producer Vicky McDonald.