Gray Matter Experience: Empowering young entrepreneurs and building community

Since 2016, Gray Matter Experience has been transforming Black entrepreneurship by equipping young people with the skills, networks, and resources to launch their own businesses. Founder and CEO Britney Robbins built the organization from her own experience navigating entrepreneurship without a playbook.

Since its founding in 2016, Gray Matter has been on a mission to transform the landscape of Black entrepreneurship by equipping young people with the skills, networks and resources they need to launch and sustain their own businesses. At the helm of this initiative is founder and CEO Britney Robbins (pictured), whose personal experience with entrepreneurship shaped her vision for the organization. Robbins, who grew up in Quincy, Illinois, was raised in a household where entrepreneurship was the norm. Both of her parents ran businesses but struggled to scale them into sustainable enterprises. This firsthand exposure to the barriers of business ownership, particularly for Black entrepreneurs, became a driving force in Robbins’ career. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she eventually landed in the startup world. Her experience at a venture studio, where business ideas were cultivated and turned into full-scale organizations with strong financial backing, contrasted starkly with what she had witnessed growing up. Recognizing the gaps in resources and support available to young Black entrepreneurs, she created Gray Matter Experience to provide education, mentorship and funding to students eager to explore business ownership. The Role of TeamWorking in Gray Matter’s Growth In 2021, Gray Matter moved into TeamWorking by TechNexus , a coworking space in Chicago created by TechNexus Venture Collaborative. The decision to set up shop there was an easy one for Robbins. The move had a tangible impact on the organization's ability to grow and operate efficiently, she said. "Just having the actual space for us to operate in was paramount," Robbins said. "We had our mailing address as my home. We had all of our stuff in storage. And so it really just gave us a centralized location to actually run a business." The ability to host meetings, welcome funders for site visits and conduct programs in a dedicated space increased Gray Matter’s credibilit

By Jim Dallke at TechNexus Venture Collaborative