If you were able to do what you want and make a living doing it, what would that look like?

The world has accelerated to be digital-native faster than people anticipated, and that changes things. We are more online than ever before, and technology has laid the foundation for the future of work: a new category of “jobs” centered on the entrepreneurial potential of individual passions. Atelier founder Li Jin recognizes this future as the Passion Economy, where “new digital platforms enable people to earn a livelihood in a way that highlights their individuality.”

That’s a vision we believe in…

When everything we do is somehow tech-enabled, from the ground we stand on to the methods we use to communicate, it’s a useful exercise to try to define technology.

The word doesn’t have a very productive dictionary entry — technology (a noun) is “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes” — so, as a technology company, we work with our own definition:

Technology is anything that makes it easier for humans to pursue their goals within a community.

Technology is a force for good when it inspires and allows us to bring our best selves forward in pursuit of…

For a future that works for all communities, we need to work together. AMP was founded on the premise that a new and different approach to supporting entrepreneurship for Black Americans — one that is anchored in community, knowledge, access, and technology — can solve for systemic roadblocks to economic and racial equity.

Those roadblocks are represented in statistics today, where disparities in access to start-up capital and financing are a serious barrier to success for diverse entrepreneurs. According to Federal Reserve data, Black business owners in 2021 receive less business financing, less frequently, and at higher financing rates.* …

We are living in a connected world that allows for constant contact, engagement, and collaboration. It is a world where every entrepreneurial idea can be explored, where small business can reach huge audiences, where arts and culture are vehicles for the voices of our communities, and where activism can inspire millions to collective action. Innovators with change-making ideas have an opportunity to redefine the human experience, and successful entrepreneurs often are or become celebrities and leaders.

Entrepreneurship is aspirational, but the reality of entrepreneurial success is that it is a uniquely challenging pursuit for marginalized communities. There are embedded structures…