Revolt's "Bet on Black" returns for season 6

Well, what happens when you give the next generation of black entrepreneurs the capital, the connections, and the mentorship to turn their big ideas into a big business? Well, Revolt's Bet on Black is back for season six, and this time the founders are all HBCU students, including students from right here in Atlanta, which we love. So joining us live are Revolt CEO Natavio Samuels and Bet on Black mentor Ryan Wilson, co-founder of The Gathering Spot. To talk about it, guys, it's good to have you here. It's great to be here. Hi, this looks good. Season six. Wow. So let's start by talking about what makes this season different. I mean, you talk about all the students coming from HBCUs. Share with us the thought behind that. Yeah, so I'll say this year is bigger, better, and more impactful than ever before. Bigger in the sense that we have Kenya Barris and Marsai Martin, if you're familiar with them. They were joined up together with Black-ish Kenya, the creator of Black-ish Marsai, one of the stars. And so both of them are executive producers on this year's show. Kenya makes an appearance. Marsai is an incredible host. We brought some of the students' favorite mentors and judges back, like Ryan Wilson. So it's absolutely bigger. It's better from a storytelling perspective. The production has been up-leveled and super excited about the HBCU entrepreneurs that we're highlighting. And then from an impact standpoint, this is the largest prize we've ever had. Half a million dollars. Each one of these, each one of these young kids entrepreneurs gets a check with no exchange of equity. So bigger, better, more impactful than ever before. Oh my gosh. Okay. Let's back it up just a little bit. And for those that are like, tell me more about, about Bet on Black. What's this all about? What would be like the summary that you'd say about the show, the quick summary is Bet on Black is a Black Shark Tank except here every single person gets funded and they don't have to give up any equity, that's the difference, that's crazy so I can imagine if everyone's getting funded, I mean you probably go through a very rigorous process to even get the group that we see on TV because you can't just give money like that to everyone, right? Absolutely this is about black excellence at its absolute finest, we find the cream of the crop and we make sure that they get funded and their dreams get funded. So you mentioned this guy over here. Ryan is one of the favorites year after year, season after season. What's the experience like for you? And then I want to know back over here, what you think it is about him that makes him the fave. It's been amazing. I mean, I've been a part now for two seasons, season five and season six. These students are truly building amazing businesses. So the advice that I've been able to give really is, I've been in awe more than anything else watching them go from ideation to execution, you'll see when you watch the show too that they go through a series of challenges and these students are amazing, right? Like just on their feet coming up with real answers to really complex, I mean the team throws some pretty hard scenarios at them, well I can imagine too that for you, I mean you mentioned you started your business at 24, like you know a thing or two about the challenges of what they're wanting to do, so that's valuable experience for them to get from you, right? I try to tell them to share. Yeah. I mean, well, there's never, there's never a day that's, that's too early to start, right? And these students are evidence of that. They're a lot of times still in, in college, right? They're still in class, but building remarkable businesses. So I'm really excited about what this signals in terms of just the talent that exists in our communities, that when you have the opportunity to put a spotlight on it, these students shine right throughout all of the seasons. We've seen it. What was the biggest, the most important part of putting real money behind these young entrepreneurs? Yeah, at Revolt, we are super passionate about trying to close the wealth gap that exists in this country. And if you're going to close the wealth gap, you have to do it by investing capital into black ownership, right? And all too often, the problem is black founders are over-mentored, over-lectured, and underfunded. And so the key here is making sure that people get real capital so that they can fund these dreams and build the wealth that our community desperately needs. When you put it like that, though, you know, like that puts into perspective exactly why you're doing this. Yeah, certainly. So I want to mention this, too, because I think this is huge. The fact that Target supported all six seasons. What do you think that that says and shows about the future of black entrepreneurship? Yeah. Do you want to go first? Well, I mean, it needs to be invested in. Right. I mean, these are ideas that are real businesses, like I mentioned. And to have a large company like Target see that it's important to start early with these students and small business owners, that is a really, again, important signal that the company is sending. And what I'll say from our side is Target, without question, has had some missteps with the Black community. And I think they have to be accountable for those. And as the CEO and leader of a Black-owned company, it's not my job to take any bullets for any Fortune 50 company. But what I can do is speak to the power of our partnership. And Target has been phenomenal partners for the last six years. They have been one of Revolt's largest advertisers pre their DEI announcement. After their DEI announcement, I would actually argue that our business has grown with them. And over the last six years through this show, we've invested $3 million into black entrepreneurs. No, again, no equity taken. And so I think you will be hard pressed to find other advertisers who are stepping up and investing in the community in that way. In fact, I would actually say that so many advertisers out there have actually walked away from black people. They've walked away from our community. They've walked away from investing in black media. They've walked away from, silently walked away, no press announcements, no controversies, none of that. So I think it is important for us as a community to look at Target side by side. And I think when we do that, what we'll see is there are a lot of brands who are not catching any flack, who are doing way, way less for the black community than Target is today. Well, now we need folks to watch, right? We know what this is about. We know the exciting new parts of Season 6. How can we watch? When do these new episodes drop? They can tune in on Revolt every single Monday, 9 p.m., and then you can catch it on YouTube every morning after. Love it. Can't wait to cheer these students on. I'm so impressed with them already, what they've accomplished so far. Guys, thank you so much for coming in today. Thank you for having us. We appreciate it. New episodes of Bet on Black, powered by Target, air Mondays on Revolt, also streaming on Revolt.com and their YouTube channel as well.