My first SXSW was 11 years ago. Arriving there in 2012 with just an idea for my first company—a secure communications platform called Lisnr—was scary, to say the least. I wasn’t on any event lists. But more than that, there wasn’t any programming aimed at encouraging Black founders, or even seemingly any desire to do so.

I kept attending SXSW over the years as both my company and the offerings for minority founders grew. Both happened in no small part thanks to Silicon Valley Bank, which made it a point to support founders like me, both financially and socially.