By Whitney Carter
Dallas Doing Good
A local tech start-up has won a $250,000 grant from Google for Startups’ 2023 Black Founders Fund for North America. While it was a rigorous process, Calvin Waddy and Shelby Baldwin made it look easy with their North Texas-based business, Buzzbassador.
Buzzbassador was created to help brands get noticed in the tech-based world we live in through social media marketing. That advertisement can’t be just any advertisement though. It has to be quick, catchy, and it has to have the ability to reach a large group of people. But for that advertisement to get to the consumer, a lot of work behind the scenes must happen.
“If you’ve ever been on Tik-Tok, Instagram, or YouTube, you’ve surely seen influencers promoting certain products, whether it’s pet food, their favorite walking shoes, or makeup. Usually, these influencer partnerships require hours of manual work for a brand to execute, from onboarding the influencer, to tracking what sales they generate, monitoring their social posts, paying them, and more,” Shelby says.
She says this is often not feasible for small businesses simply because there are a lot of other things they must manage. Not to mention the costs to make influencer marketing happen and get an actual return on your investment.
“Buzzbassador is changing that. Our software platform automates all the workload of influencer marketing, so that smaller businesses and their teams can better utilize this key marketing strategy, partnering with influencers and creators at scale to get the word out about their brands and grow their sales,” Shelby says.
Shelby and Calvin founded Buzzbassador in 2020, but have been working together as co-founders since 2017. They built three online clothing brands together from 2017- 2019, which ultimately gave them the idea to launch this company.
Incredibly, their business flourished through the height of the pandemic when so many had to close their doors. It was during the pandemic when people were spending most of their time on social media or online shopping.
While they make it sound simple, the method behind their success has been anything but, filled with adversity. They say that underrepresentation made it particularly difficult.
“Being underrepresented founders is definitely a challenge, particularly with gaining access to capital. At the end of the day, access to capital is an important factor in scaling a startup,” Calvin says.
According to Calvin, less than 1 percent of all venture capital goes to Black founders, and less than 2 percent of all venture capital goes to women founders.
“These statistics are by no means due to any shortage of talented, brilliant Black and women founders– we know this because we’ve met countless of them,” Calvin explains. “Our industry is competitive, and every startup is looking for funding in these times. Investors hear hundreds of pitches per week and may say yes to five companies the whole year. We know that in every pitch we give, the odds are working against us.”
While it would seem to many that these are disadvantages, these two have seemingly turned them into ways to get a leg up.
“It’s fuel for us. We know going into every pitch that we have to be above and beyond the rest in order just to get our foot in the door and maybe get a second meeting. So, we are driven to constantly be great, build an excellent product, provide value to our customers, and go above and beyond in everything we do,” Calvin says.
Calvin elaborates that even when they have a 5-minute pitch, they spend days preparing for every second of the delivery and every potential question they may get asked afterward. He says the pressure makes them better.
The two recently applied to be considered for Google for Start- ups’ 2023 Black Founders Fund for North America. Calvin says he went through several weeks of a rigorous selection process, including multiple pitches, interviews, and business deep dives.
“We were so excited when we made it to the final round, be- coming 1 of 24 companies selected by Google across North America and receiving both $250,000 in non-dilutive support and the opportunity to be mentored by Google execs and experts in the coming months. The Black Founders Fund is specifically focused on providing capital and other support to Black-founded tech companies, an attempt to help level the playing field of venture capital,” Calvin says.
Part of what they do every day utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is making headlines around the world. Shelby and Calvin say they understand why it is receiving mixed reviews, but at the same time, they see the technology working for good when in the right hands.
“For our customers, for example, they will be able to use our technology to save hours of their time and unlock millions in revenue that they couldn’t have reached before due to scalability issues,” Shelby says. “With every technological advancement, from Henry Ford’s assembly line to new technology like AI and machine learning, a new set of bottlenecks are unblocked that workers and businesses have faced for decades, opening up a new realm of potential.”
They say the success of it all is amazing, but this is not just about their success, but those who are coming behind them. They want so many other students in underrepresented communities to understand passion with a purpose will completely elevate an idea.
“Since we came from very humble beginnings, we always find ourselves rooting for the underdogs. In what we do every day, the underdogs are the small businesses and smaller content creators – we strive to help them grow, succeed, and break barriers,” Shelby says.
The other underdogs they root for and want to inspire are the entrepreneurs like them- selves – the people of color and the women and the young founders who may not believe it’s possible for them to build a successful, scalable business.
“We hope people see our story and know that if we can do it, so can they. All it takes is the courage to get started, put themselves out there, and be willing to take risks.
We are constantly looking for opportunities to meet and work with new brands, creators, and fellow entrepreneurs in our community to help them grow their businesses or if nothing else, just start believing in themselves,” Shelby says.
The two agree that Dallas is part of this next generation of technology that is helping to revolutionize the future.
“The fact that Google has now chosen Texas-based startups for this Black Founders Fund in every year of its existence, including multiple companies from Dallas, proves that big tech companies and big-name investors are expanding their attention beyond siloed coastal hubs,” Calvin says.
Buzzbassador currently services over 450 brands and 140,000 creators and has enabled over $20 million in influencer-driven sales for their brands.
Photos: BUZZBASSADOR
Dallas Doing Good is a media organization under the Good Foundation. Together, in partnership with Ruthie’s Fueled by Good, we engage with the Good Foundation Fellows. The young men and women who participate in the fellowship program gain skills and experience in writing, interviewing, and media relations.
