Venture capital has long been a wealth-generation engine—but access remains deeply unequal. This article explores how startups like Uber and Airbnb have spawned waves of innovation, mentorship, and investment, yet continue to exclude many underrepresented founders and employees. We examine the power of pillar companies in building self-sustaining innovation ecosystems, spotlighting efforts in New York City, Tulsa, and beyond. Learn how Visible Hands' strategic investments and ecosystem-led initiatives can level the playing field, ensuring the next generation of millionaires reflects the true diversity of our society.
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If you read a headline that 5,000 new millionaires were instantly created thanks to a ‘push of a button,’ would you believe it? In 2019, that headline existed, thanks to companies like Uber, Pinterest, and Airbnb going public.
Here's the issue—while these IPOs created enormous wealth, they remained concentrated among a narrow, homogenous group.
Now, imagine a different scenario: one where the founders and employees of these industry-defining companies truly reflect the nation’s demographics.
Our vision at Visible Hands is to invest in pillar companies that reshape entire regions, by empowering underrepresented founders and an inclusive workforce to achieve life-changing exits—creating generational wealth that fuels new ventures and investments. These employees will become the foundation of the ecosystem, evolving into entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors who reinvest in their communities, driving a self-sustaining cycle of innovation and opportunity for everyone.
Compared to real estate or stock investing, venture capital stands out because it enables individuals to generate substantial wealth without requiring an upfront personal investment.
To be clear, achieving a life-changing exit through a startup is extremely rare—but everyone deserves a fair chance at making
it happen.
For those who have access, it’s an incredible opportunity. But for underrepresented founders, employees, and investors, these opportunities are much harder to come by.
Despite growing conversations around diversity, the flow of venture capital dollars remains highly uneven. Research from the nonprofit RateMyInvestor and Diversity VC found that only about 1% of venture-backed founders are Black, and less than 2% are Latinx. Women-founded startups receive just over 2% of total venture funding, despite making up nearly 40% of all businesses in the U.S. Venture capital is also highly concentrated geographically, with over 70% of VC funding flowing to just three states.
These disparities aren’t just about who gets funding—they also affect who gets hired at high-growth companies and who profits when startups succeed. The lack of diversity extends beyond founders and investors to employees within major tech companies and startups. As of 2021, women made up only 29% of employees in technology firms, and their representation in technical roles was even lower—hovering between 15% and 20% at major tech companies. In leadership, the numbers are even starker, with women holding just 11% of executive roles in Silicon Valley.
Without systemic change, high-growth startups will continue to be shaped by a narrow group, reinforcing existing inequities and leaving many talented individuals without a path to wealth creation in the innovation economy.
Pillar companies serve as foundational anchors within the startup ecosystem, sparking waves of innovation, job creation,
and mentorship.
We've seen this play out with companies like Uber, Pinterest, and Airbnb. Over 250 startups have been founded by former Uber employees, collectively raising more than $10 billion in funding (LinkedIn). Similarly, ex-Airbnb employees have launched over 140 startups, each securing at least $500 thousand in funding, with total investments exceeding $11 billion.
Beyond company spinouts, these ecosystems also produce new investors. Uber, Airbnb, and Pinterest have each cultivated thousands of employees who are now reinvesting their knowledge and capital—whether as angel investors (see alumni investment clubs) or as venture capitalists.
Ultimately, pillar companies become startup factories, fueling local economies and making them self-sustaining hubs
of innovation.
We need to develop robust regional and sector-focused ecosystems that provide underrepresented founders with the resources to scale, build high-performing teams, and access the right investors—both angel and institutional.
As a VC fund, our platform strategy is focused on building and sustaining these ecosystems to identify, support, and scale high-potential investments.
Over the past few years, we have launched, collaborated on, and drawn inspiration from various initiatives - primarily in Boston and New York City - to build thriving startup communities. Our approach considers the full lifecycle: supporting founders, engaging investors (both VCs and angels), and developing hiring pipelines. Now, we are integrating these best practices into a unified strategy to expand in select regions and sectors.
One key source of inspiration is the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), which has implemented a multi-faceted approach to fostering an inclusive startup economy:
Beyond New York, we see similar ecosystem-building efforts taking shape in Tulsa, where Build in Tulsa is convening multiple operators to support founders at different stages:
If we want to level the playing field, one-off programs and quick fixes won’t cut it. We need a full-circle approach that supports founders at every stage while also strengthening investor and talent networks.
As mentioned earlier, our goal is to invest in these pillar companies—but a single check isn’t enough. The startup journey is long and full of challenges, especially for underrepresented founders. As a community, we need to think beyond funding and address the full range of obstacles these founders face.
A single check won’t change the odds, but building strong, interconnected ecosystems will. By creating networks that connect founders with the right investors, talent, and resources, we can increase their chances of growing into pillar companies and catalyze a self-sustaining innovation economy that benefits everyone.
In the coming months, we’ll share more about our approach to ecosystem-led investing and how we plan to facilitate these efforts across different regions and sectors.
One day, we’ll see headlines celebrating a new generation of millionaires— in New York City, Tulsa, and beyond—who reflect the true diversity of this country, led by founders who look like those in our portfolio.
