What we can all do to make Entrepreneur First an inclusive community

At Entrepreneur First we believe every cohort member should have the same opportunity to succeed and it’s the responsibility of each individual within the EF team and cohort to make this happen.

We seek out a diverse set of individuals whose paths would not have crossed otherwise. We have offices across Europe and Asia and each of these brings together extraordinarily talented people from across the world.

At EF we celebrate this diversity. We know many of our best companies come from diverse and unique cofounder combinations that wouldn’t have happened anywhere else. The diversity of thought and backgrounds in each of our cohorts leads to the novel and creative ideas that you see at each of our demo days.

We’re sure many of us have had times in our lives where we have felt judged on first appearances or stereotyped, before someone gets to know who we are. It’s frustrating and unfair. Many individuals may have held back by existing power structures and systemic biases. We’re all responsible for working to change this.

Being part of the cohort means being part of EF and it’s up to all of us, cohort and EF team, to make sure everyone feels welcome and included.

Below you can read more about what kind of behaviour is and isn’t ok at EF. If you’d like to read more about how we think about diversity at EF, read here.

What can you do?

The beauty of EF is our ability to bring together so many different people and it becomes every individual’s responsibility, including yours, to create an inclusive environment.

EF has had occasional incidents that do not reflect our values and go against our Code of Conduct, and while this is rare, we wanted to be clear about what behaviours are inappropriate.

Here are some things for all of us to think about and take action on:

• Be sensitive to other people’s differences. Be kind and be curious. What may seem normal to you may be different or surprising to someone else. For example, don’t directly comment on people’s differences, or joke about them. If you think you might have caused someone offence, apologise and try to talk to them about this to understand where you might have gone wrong.
• Challenge and report sexist, racist or any kind of discriminatory behaviour (see here for how to report). Sometimes these things happen due to ignorance, or different cultural norms, and it’s all of our responsibility to help educate those around us. Call out this behaviour and let the ‘joker’ know why the joke may not be so funny.
• Be aware that even if you think that something is funny, or if you’re just ‘joking’, it may not be perceived that way by the recipient. Even if that’s the first time you’ve said that joke, you can assume the individual has heard that joke many times before. What is perceived as funny, or amusing, in your culture may not be the same for the person you are speaking to. Think before you speak, and if you cause offence, apologise and try to understand why the joke was inappropriate.
• EF can be a tense environment and emotions can run high. Everyone in the cohort is going through a steep and challenging learning curve. Remember it’s not ok to swear at or get aggressive with anyone else on or at EF. Remember to take time to look after your mental health and wellbeing.
• Remember that EF is a professional environment. It’s about building a network that will be valuable during EF and for the rest of your career. Any event run by EF (however fun!) should be treated as a professional occasion.
• Sexual harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. This includes anything from explicit sexual advances, repeated requests for dates, to unwanted or unwelcome attention of a sexual nature. You should not assume that putting your arm around someone, or making comments about someone’s appearance is ok. If you want to pursue a romantic relationship with someone at EF, you should ask them out once and this should be explicit. If they say no, then you should stop it there.

When you join EF you’ll be asked to sign a Code of Conduct so we can make sure we’re all on the same page. Everyone in the cohort is expected to sign up to this and it’s up to all of us to remind each other of the commitment we made when we signed it.

If you need to report a Code of Conduct violation, read this post.

Together we are formidable

Together we can make EF an inclusive place that celebrates our individual diversity. It’s up to all of us to take action every day to make this happen, whether you are EF team, cohort and community.

We are always wowed when we visit each EF office how much we have in common— regardless of being in locations that are thousands of miles apart from each other. What makes us EF is far more important than what makes us different.

We are always keen to hear your thoughts on this, or if you would like to speak to us directly please do get in touch. Drop us an email or find us on the EF Global Slack :)

Alice & Matt

EF Co-founders