Hi Josh,

Thanks for this one! DE&I is near and dear to my heart. It's a space I'm attempting to approach from a different angle via blacktechresource.com. I've worked within the DE&I space for most of my career. Whether you're in a startup or an established company, I've found companies struggle to move the needle on DE&I. As Jeremy mentioned, it can become quite performative. Startups have an exceptional opportunity to establish strong DE&I because they're just getting started. DE&I and the investment in it, be it financial or otherwise, starts at the top. I would love to see startups choose more representative boards and leaders. I find that founders sometimes simply don't know where to find board members from backgrounds and communities different from theirs. I'm sure you're aware that DE&I usually isn't considered the most profitable investment when it comes to profit and shareholder value. Because of this, it's often an afterthought for CEO's and company leaders who are against demanding expectations from their shareholders. There would need to be an alignment of values and expectations from all parties, and I think that can be a real struggle. If there were a way for founders who are invested in prioritizing DE&I to find the right investors, board members, etc., I think that could be a good start.

I like this one. It seems as if many DEI initiatives are performative rather than really addressing key issues.

A tough one to solve holistically. What is the low-hanging-fruit. Is it hiring? Within hiring, where would you start?