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Plug In South LA helps build diverse startups in a traditionally underserved area


Derek Smith launched Plug In South LA with goal of helping historically under represented people build successful startups.

The programming includes weekly workshops along with more industry-specific groups and advice from people in the tech community who work with each cohort on things like pitch deck critiques, the importance of storytelling, financial planning and so forth. Vaughn Blake, a partner at Blue Bear Ventures, says he met Smith right after he launched Plug In South LA and was asked to participate on a panel during one of the early demo days. For the first several years, prior to the first official Plug In South LA cohort in 2020, he ran monthly and quarterly programs focused on helping diverse founders who were in the early stages of building a startup.

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