Here at Black Web 2.0 we want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Thank you for your continued support as we’re excited about 2012 and beyond.

Here’s to a great and successful 2012!

Like many entrepreneurs, startups and various news sources today everyone is trying to find a way to get some attention from main stream media, technology blogs and traction on social media sites. Here at BlackWeb 2.0 as we continue to post the latest news in the technology industry we want to make sure we’re providing a way and making it easy for everyone to share their story and send us tips about various projects they’re working on.

With that being said we have launched a way for you to new submit guest post and articles to Black Web 2.0. Just click on the box below or on the right sidebar to visit the new article submission form.

Also if you have any tech news or press releases just send us an email to Tips@BlackWeb20.com and it will reach the team for consideration.

We’re excited about the updates and have big plans for BlackWeb 2.0 in 2012 . Thank you for the support!

About:
Established in August 2007 Black Web 2.0 is the premier destination for African-American’s in Technology and New Media. We cover culturally relevant Technology industry news; mainstream Technology industry news; & African-American Technology and New Media Executives, Entrepreneurs, and Influencers. We also analyze emerging web trends and how they apply to web properties that target African-Americans or African-American culture.

Mission:
Black Web 2.0′s mission is to bring to the forefront the wealth of exceptional innovation, talent, and ambition of Blacks in the technology and new media industries in an opinionated and authentic voice.

Black Web 2.0 Team

Hello readers, we’re excited to let you know that in addition to Twitter and Facebook you can join the BlackWeb 2.0 conversation and community over at Google+. We’ll use Google+ to keep you up-to-date on the latest news in Technology and New Media.

What to Expect on Google+ ?

Soon, we’ll announce more ways we’re planning to use Google+ but expect industry news and lots more. Have any suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments or on google+ in the post here: https://plus.google.com/b/117747195125235710899/117747195125235710899/posts/cTtmonXJ8sT

Add BlackWeb 2.0 to Your Circles

Just click on the +1 button to add BlackWeb 2.0 to your circles. See you on Google+

I’ve been biting my tongue on this one for a while.  Happy to share a snippet of all the excitement over the past several of months.  If you haven’t heard already CNN’s Black in America 4 will be on the NewME Accelerator and the lack of diversity, specifically for African-Americans, in Silicon Valley.  In the documentary I have no doubt that you’ll fall in love with the 8 Founders (11 total in the NewME Accelerator summer 2011 class) who traveled from their hometowns to spend the summer in the program.  Their personal stories are amazing and I feel very blessed to have had the unique opportunity this time around to get to know all of the Founders, both in-house and local, on a very personal level.  I’ve made some great friends during this process and have seen not only their products grow but also their growth into better entrepreneurs.  Take a look:

I can’t wait until you all can see the full doc, it airs November 13th, 2011.

xoxo,

Angela

A slate of new talent has arrived in Silicon Valley. What’s great about it is that they are black and young entrepreneurs, bringing fresh and innovative new technologies to the forefront. Black business magazine, Black Enterprise features the new faces of Silicon Valley in this month’s issue.

This edition features Chuck Baker, founder of the File Blaze, Johann Schleier-Smith, co-founder of Tagged, Raissa Nebie, founder of SpoonDate, and Angela Benton founder of Black Web Media and the NewMe Accelerator.

Read more about these entrepreneurs and their companies in the August issue of Black Enterprise

Important Note:  You may see Wayne and I say #BOOM consistently in the coming weeks and throughout the summer, it’s our version of the fist bump, lol

We are just a couple of weeks out at this point and we are still in awe about the amount of support that we’ve gotten not only from speakers and mentors but also from the people who are financially and resourcefully helping to make this historic program happen.  When we first conceptualized even putting something like this together we knew it was a huge idea, and to be frank I was hesitant at first mainly because I knew it was such a BIG idea and BIG ideas need a lot of support to make happen.  As soon as we started reaching out to people about the program any hesitation that I’d had in the past just plain disappeared.

It takes so much more than money to make something like this happen.  It takes time, resources, physical space, knowledge that’s willing to be shared and so much more.  Throughout the summer we are going to be streaming and tweeting as much as possible (you’ll see it all from a forth coming page designed to pull everything in one place) so that you can be included in the experience as much as possible.  From there you’ll be able to see the level of involvement from the people who are supporting this program.  It’s so much more than just a sponsorship.  That said a heartfelt thanks to our sponsors partners who are helping make this a reality:  Google, InteractiveOne, Tagged, Gunderson Dettmer, Syncom Venture Partners, Kapor Capital, Bronze Investments, and Justin.tv.

Last month, Black Web 2.o CEO and founder, Angela Benton announced the launch of the NewME Accelerator. The “first-ever technology accelerator for minority-led startups,” the NewME Accelerator will help a select number of startups take their budding businesses to the next level. Taking place over a nine-week period (June 16 – August 18), startup founders will travel to the heart of Silicon Valley to learn from some of technology’s top industry leaders.

In addition to five pre-selected startups, (goKit, kloud.co, Pencil You In, Cued, TriOut ) and a group of  locally selected startups (Central.ly, Mosion, AisleFinder, and Qykno), and a stealth startup, there were three additional spots open. With an opportunity this big being offered, the selection process wasn’t taken lightly.  In addition to concept, quality of pitch, and the problem the product solves were also taken into consideration.

The winners of the NewME Accelerator application process are:

• BeCouply – An exclusive mobile/web app and network for power couples.
  http://becouply.com
• Playd – A mobile app that allows you to check into, rate, share, and discuss the games you love with your friends and other gamers worldwide.
  http://playd.it
• FetchMob –  Offers a way for people to buy what they need without shopping for it.
  http://fetchmob.com

During the program, startup founders will have speakers and one-on-one mentorship opportunities with reps from successful startup reps including Zynga, Facebook, Twitter, Tagged, and Foursquare. At the end of the program, NewME participants will have the opportunity to pitch their products to investors and other members of the startup community.

“The NewME Accelerator is not just about the participating startups, but about providing a path for future minority-led start-ups to be encouraged to launch successful companies. We want to be an example to show that no matter your race or gender innovation can happen in the web/tech space. I’m beyond excited about this summer and am grateful to have the support from many industry peers,” said Sutton.

News of the accelerator has been spreading like wildfire around the web with tech influentials like Stanley “M.C. Hammer” Burrell showing his support. Benton and Sutton are pleased at the positive response.

“The amount of support and interest from the Silicon Valley community in the NewME Accelerator is overwhelming,” says Benton, “and serves as a testament to not only the need for a program like this, but also to the receptiveness of a program like this.  We are more than excited about this summer and the companies and individuals who’ve agreed to be involved.”

For more information about the NewME Accelerator and its first class, please click here.

On behalf of the entire Black Web 2.0 staff, we extend a heartfelt congratulations to the participants and wish them a successful journey on your path to becoming successful techpreneurs!

It seems like just yesterday we closed out the first NewME Conference, #goodTimes.  While small, we got a lot of good information and data on what is needed to make technology focused start-ups successful.  And by successful we mean either operating in the black or experiencing a liquidity event.  Entrepreneurs, private equity, business leaders, and key members of government all came together last May and what we came up with was no surprise but confirmed theories we each had individually.

Several things stuck out that day but the key takeaways were minority-led tech entrepreneurs needed:

1.  Mentorship from people who have led or been involved in the day-to-day of successful start-ups.

2. Access to early stage capital (especially since minorities often don’t raise formal friend and family rounds)

As the year trickled on and I got the opportunity to speak with many more Founders informally and even from talks I gave at places like Google.  The lifecycle of what I think needs to occur developed.  Without successful exits from minority-led start-ups we forgo creating new angle investors, venture capitalist, mentors, role models, and more start-ups.  And the importance of producing these start-ups goes above and beyond just being good for the economy.  It also helps students (pre-k through college) see the opportunity that can exist for them.  We’ll slowly but surely start to change the way students think and start getting them to major in Computer Science instead of an entertainment or sports related fields.  The panel I spoke on a week or so ago at Howard University hit this home even more for me.  The panel was about small business but I was excited and proud to see students stand-up to ask questions of the panelist with the goal of starting a business in the digital space.  Below is a slide that I think will help illustrate the lifecycle that I think is needed.  Like all things I’m sure this will change and refine as we all gather more information and experience new lessons.

With all that said I’m super excited to announce that we’ll be launching the NewME Accelerator this summer in Silicon Valley with Semantic Seed and Wayne Sutton.  Seven Founders will be based in Mountain View from June through August and will participate in weekly private dinners with Angle Investors, Venture Capitalist, Entrepreneurs, and other heavyweights.  They’ll also have access to an insanely impressive list of people who have graciously donated their time and agreed to participate as mentors.  The speakers and mentors have an unspeakable amount of experience and come from companies like Twitter, Path, Foursquare, TechStars, SoftTechVC, and a lot of others, you can check the full list out on the site there.

The Founders will have the option of working from Mountain View where we’ll be based or working from Citizen Space in the ever so popular SoMA area of San Fran.  Last but not least the summer will close with a Demo Day where the start-ups involved can pitch the product they’ve been working on to potential investors and others from the start-up community.  We’ll also be including local minority led-start-ups in the Bay Area in the festivities; they just won’t be staying in the house

While we are an accelerator the start-ups that are involved aren’t receiving any kind of investment from us.  They also aren’t guaranteed an investment from their Pitch at the Demo Day.  This is pure, unadulterated, balls to the wall, entrepreneurship.  And the entrepreneurs who are involved are doing what entrepreneurs do best.  Taking a risk.

If you’re a risk taker then we have 2 slots left and you can pitch your start-up on the NewME Accelerator site.  The deadline for submissions is April 29th and we’ll announce the lucky two shortly after.

There is only one word that will describe this summer.  EPIC.

Back in July, Black Web 2.o covered inDinero, a real-time financial dashboard that would call Mint.com for small businesses. The creation of Jessica Mah, inDinero allows business owners to keep track of their company’s cashflow in a simpler fashion than Quickbooks or Excel. The software securely links business accounts including bank and PayPal accounts, credit cards and loans allowing users to automatically access incoming and outgoing money.

The company has been generating a ton of buzz since it hit the scene in 2009 and has since received funding from Y Combinator back in 2010.  Since securing its first round of angel funding, inDinero has rolled out some new and interesting features including the ability to export transactions to a CSV file and the ability to create and customize rules on every financial activity allowing for quick and easy organization and access.  The team also recently redesigned the dashboard adding a new profit/loss calculator, a centralized location to view bank accounts as well as a place to track credit card debt. The dashboard was also enhanced to include more color. They also brought back the cash balance graph due to users’ requests.

Another great point about the software is the price point. There is a staggered price plan that will appeal to even the most frugal entrepreneur. Small businesses that are just starting out might want to try out the Solo plan which offers 50 monthly transactions, unlimited access as well as access for your accountant. Larger, more established business will want to check out the popular Small Business plan or the top of the line Enterprise program. The Small Business plan offers both the unlimited user and accountant access along with 500 monthly transaction for $29.95 per month. For $99.95 a month, users have unlimited access to all the features.

While inDinero is not a replacement for an accountant or CPA, it is an important tool for any small business to own, especially for those of us without a head for figures. Similar to tracking your personal finances on Mint, business owners can easily see where their money is going and eliminate any excess spending or adjust services rates to reflect costs and since it’s a business expense, you can always write it off during tax season.

Interested in giving inDinero’s premium a service for free? The team over at AppSumo has partnered with inDinero and Black Web to give away three free inDinero licenses to three lucky Black Web 2.o readers. That’s right, three of the Black Web 2.0 faithful will walk away with a free Enterprise plan worth $1200!

Want to know how you can be down? Simply comment on this story and tell us why you need inDinero. The best three commenters will be the proud new owners of some cool and functional software. You’ve got to hurry though as the offer ends on March 7. Be sure to check out the service and tell us what you think.