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“What’s in a name?”
Luke Gregory
Richard Cummins is a Product Marketing Manager at Spotify who previously worked at Google for over almost a decade in advertising solutions roles.
Richard is also an adviser and founding member of UK Black Tech, a member of the Black Angel Group and will soon be releasing a documentary on the experiences of inspirational UK-based Black startup founders.
We caught up with Richard to find out how he got so well connected and to discuss the various roles he’s occupied within the tech ecosystem.
What initially attracted you to the tech sector?
RC: It was organic. At university I founded a clubbing website with friends which listed club nights both in the UK and across Europe. I started learning how to monetise the content we were making, in particular by researching how Google Adsense worked. Running the website made me realise that I wanted a job in the tech industry as I approached graduation. My first post-graduate job in tech was as a member of an IT support team, but I was still curious about ad-tech and I soon moved on to a role at a Group M ad network, working on monetising content online. I haven’t looked back since!
You’re an advisor to UK Black Tech (UKBT) – how does the organisation work to make the UK tech sector more ethnically diverse?
RC: In 2017 I curiously attended a UKBT event focused on initiatives which closely aligned with those I was working on then at the same time as part of the Black Googler Network (an employee resource group). UKBT has a variety of goals. It’s partly about promoting tech entrepreneurship in the Black community but also about developing the skill set of Black tech professionals, present and future – we’ve run coding programs to upskill technical knowledge and regularly publish reports on current and future trends. I also think it’s important to have a strong network within the tech community and UKBT helps with that. We’ve all been to networking events which feel stuffy and awkward and that feeling can be amplified for Black entrepreneurs. UKBT events are the opposite of that – they’re relaxed, yet professional and I always feel comfortable in the room.
Tech has, of course, been adversely impacted by the economic downturn. Can you see any long-term silver linings for tech?
RC: I see an economic downturn as an opportunity for disruption and, in particular, for new players in the market to make their mark. Many unicorns can trace their history back to the financial crisis in the late noughties. Look at Slack, which started in 2009 after the credit crunch. Whilst bigger/existing players in the market are focussed on cutting costs, new players can operate lean, buck the trends and grow during the downturn. I'm currently seeing lots of startups leveraging Large Language Models for the benefit of making everyday business processes more efficient.
How did you get involved with the Black Angel Group and how does it differ from other angel networks?
RC: During my employment at Google, I founded a community at Google for Startups, London focused on Black entrepreneurship and it got me interested in angel investing. The community gave birth to many great connections and relationships being established. I then enrolled in Andy Ayim’s Angel Investing School and the African Angel Academy to further educate myself. I realised that you don’t need massive wealth to start angel investing and you can build a portfolio based on a variety of small investments. It was a proud moment to be one of the founding members of the Black Angel Group, which is a collective of strategic Black angel investors who are all Google employees from around the world. I have gone on to invest in exciting start-ups such as Pager and Audioshake as a result of being a member of the Black Angel Group.
Can you tell us about one of your angel investments? What was the key factor about the company and/or the founders that made you invest?
RC: I’ve invested in Moonhub, which was co-founded by Dami Hastrup. Moonhub produce virtual reality training modules for larger corporates to train their staff using VR headsets. The major attraction was the calibre of the founding team – they pitched really well and I bought into the vision of the founders.
What three traits do you typically see in the most successful tech entrepreneurs?
RC: Risk taking. Successful founders rarely play things safe all of the time.
Open-minded. It helps to remove boundaries and ceilings to opportunities.
Knowledgeable. They usually have a deep understanding and clear vision of the area in which their business operates.
What advice would you give to a first-time founder when starting up their tech business?
Engage with other founders, players who have deep expertise in your areas of focus, or put together an advisory board. You won’t know everything, so ensure that you surround yourself with people who can fill in the gaps. There’s never a limit to the amount of strategic advice that you can take on board.
Not all money is good money. Do your diligence on prospective investors and gain an understanding of the other investments that they’ve made. Speak to other startups that they’ve invested in. What did they add to the business? Is that what your business needs?
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