For the first time in 24 years, the NBA Foundation’s All Star-Pitch Competition returns to the Bay Area

by Asé Mora 

Seven tech startups based in the Bay Area competed at the NBA All-Star Pitch Competition, where Black entrepreneurs got the opportunity to showcase their cutting-edge businesses and how they utilize AI (artificial intelligence). 

Since 2022, the All-Star Pitch Competition has provided over $250,000 to emerging entrepreneurs according to the NBA Foundation. 

This year’s competition was hosted in collaboration with the Golden State Warriors and Kapor Capital, an Oakland-based venture firm that invests in underrepresented communities of color.

Senior Director of Talent at Kapor Capital Hillary Turnipseed said it’s all about bringing access to Black and Brown communities.

“Normally you have to know someone who knows someone to get in, and a lot of what my firm does is about closing those gaps in access and really creating those opportunities,” said Turnipseed. 

Pitch competition attendee and entrepreneur John Roussel shared, “I think it elevates us as entrepreneurs and shows that we have great ideas. If you look at venture funding to Black entrepreneurs, it’s always on the lowest end, so it’s good to see that people are getting access to dollars but also showing that we possess a lot of creative thinking, a lot of innovative ideas. Being able to showcase that in this form is really important.” 

Bay area local and competition attendee K Abdul Mahid said, “We need more exposure and [to] diversify. This [competition] shows that we are powerful. We don’t need no DEI to tell us that we’re involved.” 

The $75,000 grand prize was awarded to first place winner Jodi Anderson of Rézme.

The second place $50,000 award went to Bakari Grant of The Wellnest Company. The third place $50,000 award went to Leandrew Robinson of PosterChild.ai and fourth place $25,000 award was given to Arthur Garcia of Trez.co.

According to the NBA Foundation, this year’s competition was concentrated on impacting and uplifting diverse communities. In accordance, all seven tech startups worked interchangeably with some kind of community centered effort.

John Roussel said, “I like Wellnest as a real estate company that’s trying to improve the housing crisis that we have in California but also do it in a way that improves health outcomes.”

Aspiring entrepreneur and college student David Mendoza also affirmed, “It just really resonated with me personally family-wise. Just having seniors in my family and his story and why they do what they do, their company values just spoke to me. It’s something that I would love to support and I really ride for.” 

Event attendee Adriana Beach said they were impressed by Oben Health, founded by Pete Njonwe. Oben Health is an AI-supported healthcare alternative that seeks to improve access in healthcare by providing medical treatment out of barbershops and salons.

Beach said, “I found that particularly interesting because I’m a data privacy lawyer. A lot of my clients are in the healthcare sector, and I think that the health industry doesn’t do a particularly good job at serving the Black community or communities of color in general. So it kind of ties into a routine and it really resonates with Black culture, [things like] barber shops or nail salons where sometimes they can be therapeutic.”

Marcus Strother, executive director of MENTOR California, a non-profit organization that provides mentorship programs and tutoring to young people, and partner of the NBA Foundation, said he came to the All-Star Pitch Competition specifically for the opportunity to scope out new startups like PosterChild.ai.

“As a nonprofit I know the importance of being able to tell the story, especially because we work with young people and adults that are really trying to lean in and give support to young people. A lot of times it’s not about GPA or academics; it’s about the story that the young people are able to tell about how a nonprofit really changed their life,” said Strother. 

PosterChild.ai is an AI-powered storytelling platform that helps fundraising efforts of nonprofits by curating social media content to amplify their cause – relying on generative AI softwares such as; Saas, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity according to founder and CEO Leandrew Robinson. 

Like the majority of the startups featured at the competition, Posterchild.ai utilizes AI for a significant portion of their business model.  

“That was a trip. Four out of like seven were majority AI related. They didn’t resonate with me as much as the other ones,” Mendoza said.

Partner at New Media Ventures and fellow at Kapor Capital, Phillip Sanders stated he sees AI advertised religiously in his line of work, describing AI as “the two most overused letters in the alphabet right now.”

“Usually I’m diligent, I dig deep into the technical aspect … Do they really understand AI? Instead of [it] being used as a word to just throw around,” he said. 

Turnipseed said, “I think pretty much any company is trying to figure out how to leverage AI in what they do, so I feel like if you’re not talking about it then you’re behind, so it’s not surprising. I think it’s just going to be more of the norm.”

A research study conducted by QuantumBlack.AI by Mckinsey last year found that 72% of businesses around the world are adapting AI into at least one of their business functions. 

Beach said, “I think that’s kind of expected, people kind of drop that as a buzzword to get interest and more funding. Sometimes it actually is AI; sometimes it’s not, but you know I expected that.”

Competition attendee and NBA Foundation partner Janae Royston said, “I think it’s a good thing that people are thinking about how to use AI for good and how to improve communities. I think it’s really important and it’s probably more important that we don’t shy away from new technology, so I think it’s a really good thing.” 

Strother added, “It’s the new wave. It’s where the world is going so I totally understand it. I think I probably need to get a little better at understanding it as well, so it just pushes me that way.” 

The NBA Foundation invests in local and national organizations, provides employment opportunities, job readiness skills and training that helps facilitate a successful transition for youth into meaningful careers according to their mission statement. 

For students like Mendoza, the All-Star Pitch Competition is an opportunity to observe and learn from the competitors.

“If you really take note of how they did it, if you look at the winners and how they articulated themselves, how they came up with their answers for the questions and stuff, they really put us on game,” said Mendoza.

Information regarding location, date and time for next year’s All-Star Pitch Competition is unavailable at this time. 

Asé Mora is an aspiring journalist, studying at San Francisco State University, and an intern for the SF BayView National Black Newspaper. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

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Source: https://sfbayview.com/2025/04/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-the-nba-foundations-all-star-pitch-competition-returns-to-the-bay-area/