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DryMerge raises $2.2M in seed funding

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DryMerge is an organization founded by two friends who’ve known one another since elementary school, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Yale University dropout Edward Frazer and University of Wisconsin graduate Samuel Brashears founded the corporate in 2023 and still run it today.

According to a press release, the corporate’s product streamlines user processes while saving time. “We founded DryMerge about a year ago with the idea that we could use AI to automate API integrations for developers. This year, our vision became much bigger—we realized we wanted to automate repetitive work for everyone, not just API integrations for developers,” Frazer wrote.

Frazer continued, “Work automation makes people’s jobs 10 times more enjoyable. Thousands of DryMerge users save hours every day by automating CRM data entry, support requests, targeted outbound calls, web research, and more. We think what our users do is amazing, and we spend almost all of our time helping them save more time.”

According to a press release, the corporate has received funding from Y Combinator, Garage Capital, Goodwater Capital, Ritual Capital, and Breakpoint Capital. It has also received angel investments from Umur Cubuku of Citus Data, JJ Fiegelman of Way Up, Kulveer Taggar of Zeus, and Nate Matherson of Positional, amongst others.

According to At first, the couple was unsure about their enterprisefuture. It took them a while to work out the best way to construct a product that may be useful to many users.

“…I’m a fairly young founder—I dropped out of Yale to build a company, and my co-founder Sam just graduated from the University of Wisconsin,” Frazer wrote on his LinkedIn page. His early confidence in what they were working on could border on arrogance, until he modified after receiving feedback.

Frazer continued: “I knew very little about how people worked, what problems they had, and how to solve them—and importantly, I didn’t care—I figured it was enough to build some cool technology and watch users come out of nowhere.”

Frazer concluded, “It wasn’t until halfway through that we realized that ‘cool tech’ was a useless value proposition—we had to talk to over 100 people from different segments like customer success, support, other founders, etc. before we had a solid picture of what people’s actual workflows looked like, and only then did we start building something valuable.”

The couple was also recent participants of the thirty eighth Demo Da Y Combinatory. In its blog post concerning the event, Y Combinator guarantees to speculate in each company it selects to participate in the YC Winter 2024 Batch for the corporate’s entire life. Out of greater than 27,000 applications, only 260 corporations were chosen, making its acceptance rate of lower than 1% one in every of the corporate’s most selective metrics. Y Combinator is increasingly specializing in corporations that leverage AI to facilitate practical applications of AI technologies and huge language models, which perfectly describes DryMerge’s mission and purpose.

According to , when their product works, users have a much easier time. While there are occasional mistakes, resembling the platform misunderstanding a user’s command or request, the platform still has potential. However, it’s one in every of the newest entries in an increasingly crowded platform-as-a-service integration market that’s currently expected to achieve $2.7 billion in market share by the tip of 2024.

However, Frazer is confident that he’ll have the option to realize a foothold in the market, regardless that his current user base is around 2,000.

“Our users range from online fashion retailers to school administrators to asset managers—the vast majority of whom have never touched a single line of code,” Frazer said. “They use us to save hours a day on tasks ranging from customer service automation to data entry to customer relationship management.”

Frazer continued, “We believe there is a huge opportunity for enterprise in simplifying automation and delivering easy-to-use tools that empower non-technical people.”


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Business and Finance

Daymond John celebrates the fifth annual Black Entrepreneurs Day

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Daymond John will have a good time the fifth anniversary of Black Entrepreneurs Day in Atlanta for the first time.

November 22, John’s signature Black Entrepreneur Day (BED) will take over Atlanta’s historic Fox Theater to have a good time Black Excellence and Opportunity. This 12 months’s event is free for all to attend and includes brand activations that enable participants to reinforce their business and brand for the foreseeable future.

From insightful discussions with inspiring guests to the NAACP Small Business Powershift Grant Program, which can award over $1 million in grants to over 40 Black-owned businesses, Black Entrepreneurs Day offers the whole lot a Black business owner needs to raise take your corporation to the next level the next level. This 12 months’s event is special for John; In addition to hosting BED in Atlanta for the first time, the event shall be streamed live for all to enjoy.

“We’re doing it live this year and we’re always trying to improve what we have,” John says BLACK ENTERPRISES.

“I think we added another element to it called ‘Entrepreneur Square,’ where if you want to come early, you can come in and a company like Constant Contact takes photos. Hilton for Business, Chase, Chase Wealth Management is there, US Navy. You add a lot of different things to it.”

It shall be a star-studded event featuring Grammy-winning artist and philanthropist Kelly Rowland, iconic artist Flavor Flav, influential media personality Charlamagne tha God, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles (presented by JP Morgan Wealth Management), financial educators Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings with “Earn Your Leisure” and a live performance by multi-platinum Atlanta rapper 2Chainz presented by Raising Cane’s.

Through the NAACP small business Powershift grant program, entrepreneurs can do exactly that use to the Powershift Grant program and grow to be one in every of 40 firms awarded a share of grants value over $1 million. This 12 months, partners including JPMorgan Chase, Hilton, T-Mobile for Business and Constant Contact will contribute a complete of $100,000 in grants, with each grant valued at $25,000.

“We are very passionate about what we do,” John says of the Black community. “I think we can now gain more power by democratizing the retail space with solutions like artificial intelligence and social media. Let’s support each other and support each other.”

Given the strong sponsorship support for BED 2024, John sees it as clear evidence that giant corporations recognize the value of investing in the Black community, even in the face of opposition from anti-DEI efforts.

“There are many other cultures that love to support us as well. They love our music, they love our food, they love everything about us and they just want to know how they can support us,” notes John.

“I think if we look at it this way, it means we can never gain or thrive on our shortcomings, but we can always find those gems and ways to grow from what we are. We are a resilient nation loved by all.”

Launched in 2020 to handle the challenges facing the community in the wake of the events surrounding George Floyd, Black Entrepreneurs Day was established to shift the focus from hardship to empowerment. Designed to uplift Black entrepreneurs, the event goals to teach and encourage through conversations with iconic Black leaders and celebrity guests, features celebrity musical performances and offers key financial support through the NAACP Powershift Grant program.

Tickets for Black Entrepreneurs Day 2024 are free and may be purchased at: BlackEntrepreneursDay.com Now. Press play to learn more about this 12 months’s event.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Black Girl Digital on a mission to empower diverse creators

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Meet Black Girl Digital (BGD Media), one among the fastest-growing multicultural, independent marketing agencies within the makerspace, is led by two dynamic Black women entrepreneurs.

Founded and led by CEO LaToya Shambo and CMO Latoya Bond, Digital black girl goals to deliver revolutionary, data-driven marketing solutions tailored to the brands and creators who’re shaping the longer term of promoting and commerce. With a long time of combined experience, these two business leaders have come together to create an agency uniquely equipped to navigate the complexities of multicultural marketing.

“The mission of Black Girl Digital is really about how to bring brand and creators together to go beyond partnerships and build a deeper relationship,” says Shambo BLACK ENTERPRISES.

The pair first met while collaborating on the 2023 Black Girl Digital Awards. While many individuals discuss women competing in business, Shambo and Bond saw a chance to mix their strengths and platforms.

“We went through the process of working together and I saw her talent and she saw my talent. We noticed that we both had these unique skills that worked really well together,” Shambo says.

Combining Black Girl Digital’s expertise in influencer marketing with the BBM Agency’s strength in celebrity business management, BGD Media is uniquely equipped to handle the intricacies of multicultural marketing.

“Because her company was more involved in paid marketing, brand management and communications strategy, it really complemented what we did on the Black Girl Digital side, through partnerships with corporate brands and diverse creators,” Shambo explains.

“Together, we have been able to join forces and offer our brands and creators a full range of media and marketing services, thanks to which the partnership goes deeper rather than superficial.”

Shambo attributes BGD Media’s success to its multimarketing service offering that “brings the customer closer to the creator and the creator closer to the customer.” One of the newest initiatives is the inaugural Black Influencer Weekend, which goals to showcase to major brands and corporations how Black creators are usually not only setting trends, but additionally driving significant cultural and economic change across industries.

During the three-day event, over 1,500 participants engaged in vigorous discussions and activations focused on community, connection and variety amongst creators. Highlights included the VIP Creator Games Night featuring bowling competitions and life-size Connect 4 video games, creating what Shambo describes as a “creator playland.”

On October 2, participants took part in a day stuffed with inspiring and influential discussions in the course of the Influencer Summit. Speakers included media personality Yandy Smith; creative director of beauty and lifestyle Tiarra Monet; and NCAA champion and ladies’s basketball coach Sydney Carter. Conversations covered topics equivalent to balancing a profession outside of social media, maintaining mental health, and constructing meaningful partnerships.

The weekend concluded with the third annual Black Girl Digital Awards, where content creators equivalent to Druski, Monet McMichael and Kai Cenat were honored for his or her power, position and recognition across various platforms. Additionally, business leaders equivalent to Yandy Smith, Marvet Britto and Mona Scott-Young have been recognized as pioneers of influence and visionaries redefining the digital landscape.

At its core, Black Girl Digital is about tackling the complexities of multicultural marketing, demonstrating that representation matters and that success comes when brands connect with communities on a human and private level.

“It’s not a monolith. This is not just one group of Black people. There are many people and many cultures in the Black community,” Shambo says. “Being able to express it. But that’s really why brands work with us. Because we are able to accommodate the different cultures found in each community.”

“We also mainly focus on the passion points and interests of audiences in these communities,” she added.

What’s next for Black Girl Digital? Shambo seeks global domination.

“These will be the Global Influencer Awards,” he says.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Snoop Dogg leads Martha Stewart in the art of negotiation

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Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg have been the strangest couple for several years. Stewart recently spoke along with her and revealed that the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper can be advising her on business negotiations.

The host praised Snoop’s business sense and positive personal qualities.

“He’s curious, he’s a great student, he’s a phenomenal negotiator (he taught me a lot), he’s tough and he’s incredibly sweet,” Stewart said.

She shared that Snoop often takes the lead in the case of negotiating the terms of their joint business ventures.

“We do a lot of work together and I wait until he negotiates the contract and then I go and follow him.”

While Steward considers Snoop to be a precious asset in business and friendship, Snoop spoke about their willingness to pass on opportunities to one another. One example is Snoop’s partnership with Skechers, which got here about in part because Stewart bypassed Snoop’s team and showed them the value of working with the brand.

“There were a lot of calls where she called me and said, ‘Snoop, I was trying to get you to do a deal with Skechers, but your people were in the middle. They didn’t want to do it. I say, “Really?” She said, “Yeah, you should mess with them.” Look at my shoes.’”

Likewise “The Dog’s Father”. contacted Marta partner with 19 Crimes on wine.

“On the other hand, I have a deal for 19 Crimes wine, red wine, we’re off. Boom, boom, boom. Hey Marta, what’s going on? You don’t have a wine deal. Do you want to come here and play with us?”

It looks like this odd couple has an actual relationship. They were spotted at the 2024 Paris Olympics supporting American athletes and even took some outing to ride horses.

Snoop Dogg has come a great distance since the beginnings of his rap profession. The musician is now a full-fledged businessman almost 30 years after his rap debut.

BLACK ENTERPRISES reported that Snoop is resting during a turbulent period in his life and profession, together with his criminal case involving the murder of a 20-year-old gang member closed.

Snoop was charged with voluntary manslaughter in 1993. The charges hung over his head until his acquittal in 1996. The record has been released to the public for the past 30 years, but Snoop will now not should worry about his legacy for posterity.

“Once the records are sealed, they will be hidden from public access and in most cases the defendant will receive back their fingerprints, booking photos and DNA samples, According to to the New York State Unified Judicial System.”


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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