Introducing Social Good of Silicon Valley
Hello! We are Gloria and Vinamrata, and we’re starting a new initiative called “Social Good of Silicon Valley,” a blog in which we plan to showcase founders working at the crossroads of social good and tech.
So your first question is probably- why another blog?
The answer is simple- we think that current tech publications are dominated by stories about startups that are focused on solving the problem for the 1%. While the media likes showcasing things like Uber for your laundry, or Airbnb for your dogs, it doesn’t do a good job spotlighting tech for marginalized communities (for more on this, see some awesome pieces on frameworks about how to think about tech and social change here and here).
This sentiment became especially clear to us when we interact with our friends. When we describe our goals to use tech for social good, their responses range from“that’s impossible” to “there’s no money in that” to our favorite “that’s just a pipe dream- ultimately, companies have to be focused on profit, and there is no money in social good.”
We are shocked when we hear the above because Gloria and I have met countless founders (in both the for-profit and not-for-profit world) through working together on CS+Social Good at Stanford. They are superstars in fields that range from economics to medicine to computer science that are both living comfortably and helping improve people’s lives. They have found ways to do so in both private and public sectors. They have often shirked their intended careers to use tech for good due to its enormous potential to scale impact quickly.
We realized then the problem wasn’t that these founders don’t exist, but there is no one sharing and celebrating their stories.
We also think this problem of lack of coverage of social good projects/founders became salient in 2016, when the world was faced with more problems than it knew how to solve. Problems such as the disproportionate number of African American men being killed by the police (and for that fact, ending up in prison), the incoming administration’s policy on climate change, the 2016 US election revealing rifts between rural vs urban America, the impending consequences of automation on people’s employment and job, continued oppression of LGBT people, the rise of obesity in the US, increased terror attacks all over the globe by extremist individuals (many of which are being recruited online), continual lack of access to quality education, etc. We could go on and on.
So, we decided to start this publication as a result. The overall goal of the publication is to showcase founders from all over the world who are creating social impact via tech.
What does social impact mean exactly? Our definition is the following:
- Technology for populations that are underserved, marginalized, or underrepresented.
- Technology that mobilizes people together around important issues.
- Technology that helps people connect to each other in meaningful ways
- Technology that directly impacts people’s quality of life / standard of living.
- As a company, social-good oriented in both intent and outcome and strong purpose of mission in execution and focus
We think that social impact can be one, two, or all of the above bullets. However, we try to ensure that every project we feature meets at least one out of the five bullets above.
In the publication, you’ll learn about how they started their projects, what their projects are about, any advice they have, how you can get involved, and some random fun tidbits to get you inspired in other domains of your life (new midnight snack anyone?)
To put more concretely, our goals with the publication are:
- Dispel the myth that social good, tech, and sustainability are not viable
- Spread awareness and encourage dialogue about tech and social good
- Inspire people to get involved in social good tech ventures, whether for profit or non-profit.
If any of this sounds appealing to you, like our Facebook page here or follow our Instagram @socialgoodsv to stay up to date on stories. If you know a founder that we might be interested in talking to, nominate them on this nomination form here. If you have any feedback or questions for us, feel free to drop a comment. We’ll be sure to respond :)
Until then, cheers world!
Vinamrata & Gloria
Founders and Editors of “Social Good of Silicon Valley”
