A Guide On Diversity And Inclusion For Startup Studios

Diversity is a term that has become ubiquitous in corporate settings, with recent cultural events highlighting a need for businesses to think and operate in a manner that is inclusive to all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. While we have come to hear the term diversity mentioned frequently in relation to company values and representation, it is also important for companies to recognize what it means to promote, value and celebrate a diverse workplace.

The benefits of diversity cannot be overstated — creating an inclusive environment breeds creativity and equips companies with the perspective and versatility to consider and solve complex and multi-faceted consumer problems with tact and empathy. Each of these elements is vital to the success of startup studios.

The startup studio model, founded on flexibility and innovation, is in fact fueled by a variety of these perspectives and skill sets. The nature of the businesses they launch requires agility and the ability to identify pain points across various markets and audiences.

What does it mean to integrate diversity into your business culture?

Here are a few key ways to integrate diversity and inclusion into your organization:

1. Communicate to your organization: When leadership takes an active role in communicating its commitment to promoting diversity, it can have a positive top down effect on the way these topics are addressed and handled within the organization.
2. Offer education: While some ideals such as inclusivity might seem self-evident, reinforcing them, with an attitude of acceptance, can go a long way in promoting a safe work environment for all employees.
3. Value differences: Differences in viewpoints, values, and perspectives, when approached with respect, can lead to innovative ideas and solutions that otherwise might go unnoticed.
4. Collaborate: Placing an emphasis on collaboration not only helps build bridges between coworkers, but also helps reinforce the trust that employees have between themselves and their coworkers.
5. Broaden recruitment: As we invite diversity into our lives, we begin to make space for expanding our perspective on the world that we thought we knew. Though change can be uncomfortable at times, building a company that represents a broad spectrum of our society helps us develop a deeper understanding of the world we operate in.
6. Stay flexible: When we promote flexibility in our businesses, it will allow us to respond better to changes in the markets that we serve.

Many of these qualities are intrinsic to the nature of the startup studio model and lend themselves to value and promote diversity and inclusion. This is proving to be valuable not just from an idealistic standpoint, but from a profitability standpoint as well. A recent study found that 43% of companies which placed an emphasis on diversity in their boardroom saw higher profits than those that did not. While diversity is important to all startup studios and the startups they build, there are a few standout venture and startup studios that place diversity at the forefront of their values and strive to create opportunities for minority business visionaries.

What do Founders Say About Diversity?

Entrepreneurs are oftentimes more focused on building the next unicorn startup through the help of technological advancements and need of funding, that sometimes they forget a key factor that is as significant as the above to drive success: diversity and inclusion.

However, many startup studio founders have made more and more progress in hiring a diverse team, as they are aware this makes the studio and its startups smarter and more dynamic. In fact, 80% of employees in a recent poll said that they considered the diversity of the company when choosing their job. To give a competitive edge, diverse teams are the key to thinking sharp and moving swiftly. Let’s take a look at some diversity of key players in the startup studio ecosystem:

1. Revitalize Ventures

Founder: Clarence Wooten and Andre Forde

“Revitalize’s mission is to change the complexion of tech by building breakout software startups with black founders and diverse teams. Additionally, we are focused on empowering underrepresented and underestimated communities. Our experience has taught us that startups are a team sport. So we seek out diverse founders, domain experts, and occasionally corporate partners, to gain insights into significant opportunities that we can tackle together as co-founders. We improve the likelihood of success by bringing experience, talent, capital and a deep network of diverse operators and Silicon Valley veterans to each of our startups.”

2. Hypothesis

Founder: Bong Koh, Peter Black, John Ryu

“Diverse teams = better outcomes. Data has shown that diverse teams are more successful. Ours is no different. We recognize that diversity brings new ideas and benefits everyone. We care less about where you live, and more about the problem you’re solving. Less about where you went to school, and more about the company you started in high school. Our founders and co-founders are brilliant minds and scrappy hustlers, working to create good in the world.”

3. Builders

Founder: Michael Van Lier

“We truly believe that fostering a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment will only make our ventures stronger. All in all, we aim to create a space where different identities — in terms of age, culture, physical or mental abilities and disabilities, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation — feel empowered and included. To achieve this, we must simply work together.”

Making a conscious choice towards better and higher equality is the first step. Remember, the large majority of diversity and inclusion efforts fail to translate intention into actions. Startup studio founders can make a difference and ensure their efforts are successful by following these simple steps.

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