Rusty and River Fields, two brothers born and raised in Brooklyn, have started the first hacker house for young Black tech entrepreneurs. 

The house, nicknamed “R-House”, brings tech enthusiasts together to live and work alongside each other for four weeks as they build their own Web-3.0 startups. 

Hacker houses are popular in urban tech hubs like San Francisco, but the Fields brothers wanted to address the racial barrier with their hacker house. 

“Black builders, they face unique challenges when they go to launch companies,” said Rusty Fields, who graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a neuroscience degree. “We really wanted to create the space and experience for them to build deep and authentic relationships for them to work together and really leverage the power of collaboration and community.” 

The first and second floors of the house are set up as co-working spaces, where they also host speakers and events.  

The first pilot program ends next week with a pitch competition, and the top three winners of the competition will share a $25,000 investment for their startups.