“I believe that for a brand to be successful, it has to be driven by passion.” – Kunbi Tinuoye
UrbanGeekz is a groundbreaking videocentric African American, Latinx and multicultural digital news platform focused on technology, business, science, and startups. Based out of Atlanta, the UrbanGeekz team is on a mission to make tech ‘cool’ and accessible, especially for underrepresented groups.
We were thrilled to sit down with Kunbi Tinuoye, Founder and CEO of UrbanGeekz.com, to gather some behind-the-scenes insights on this growing global brand. As an award-winning journalist and broadcaster with an impressive global footprint, Kunbi is an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Here are a few highlights from our conversation.
How did you get started with UrbanGeekz?
In 2014, I was a southeast correspondent for NBC’s African American website TheGrio.com. At the time, it was a pretty high-profile brand—probably one of the top ten African American websites in the US. What really struck me was that in the four years I was in this very high profile job, I wrote about four stories about business, science, technology, and innovation. I realized that there was a big gap in the market. That’s what propelled me to start the website.
It’s been very well-received. You have amazing traffic, content, and support. Talk about your growth.
You know what it’s like when you launch these things, especially a bootstrapped startup with very little funds and resources. At the very beginning, I had a lot of naysayers telling me, “What are you doing? You’re not going to be able to do this.” I just threw myself in and did what I felt needed to be done. In the first three months of the site going live, we had stories that had 40,000 Facebook shares—no PR, marketing, or anything. We have amazing traffic and traction, and it’s all organic.
What is the demographic you’re reaching?
I always really like to highlight this to people—we’re headquartered in Atlanta at Atlanta Tech Village, but UrbanGeekz is not a regional platform. It’s huge. It’s global. We have great readership in Atlanta because we’re based here. We also have readership in New York, San Francisco, Chicago—most of the urban hubs in the US. On top of that, we have readership overseas in London, Johannesburg, and South America. This is a global brand. In terms of demographics, we’re targeting African Americans, Latinos, women, and multiculturals across the globe.
What are your goals for this year and beyond?
Our first goal is to get sponsors and partners to come on board so we can take the brand to the next level. We’ve achieved all of this with absolutely no funding, which is crazy. To have a brand that is making traction and having an impact on a global level is amazing. If anyone knows me, I’m crazy ambitious with no resources. My vision is crazy. We would love to have correspondents and reporters on the ground in Johannesburg, London, Rio, and other major hubs overseas to pull stories and contribute to UrbanGeekz.
How can the audience watching/reading support you?
We have a small but mighty team. We need support to keep this brand going. First, we need people to click on our site and share our stories. Secondly, one of the things that we’re really looking to do now is partner with corporate sponsors, smaller businesses, and brands. If you like the brand, get in touch and let us know if there’s any way you can work with us.
Connect, follow, and learn more: UrbanGeekz.com, Geekz Watch.