But as newcomers flock to the land of gray skies and green hiking trails, the native Washingtonians are moving out. Between 2014 and 2015, the number of those born in the state dropped two percent under the previous year’s census numbers. And as the population of Seattle shuffles around, other demographic details might be ticking up in homogeneity, thanks to the city’s booming tech community and the conscious and unconscious biases that come with it.
Take San Francisco for Example
The easiest point of comparison for how a large city can change is San Francisco, also a huge technology city and one that has seen plenty of growth. Diversity levels have tilted towards more male, richer, younger, and more highly educated as a result, as one well-documented Atlantic article explained last year. The article’s title alone covers the basics — San Francisco’s Diversity Numbers Are Looking More and More Like a Tech Company’s — but the kicker sums up the core issue: Speaking during a panel discussion at Tech Inclusion Seattle on June 14, 2017, Chris DeVore, managing director of the Techstars Seattle accelerator and a managing partner venture fund Founders’ Co-op, offered a new point on view: He focused on the differences between Seattle and San Francisco rather than the similarities. Joshua Pineault, managing partner of San Francisco’s VC Jump Canon and also on the panel, took the dis to his base of operations well. “As a community, when push comes to shove and we’re presented with a choice about whether we want to be an inclusive city that’s more affordable, easy to get around in, and able to embrace a global role in the world, we say yes. And I think other cities like San Francisco have not done that.” But Seattle’s comparatively easy road is a lot harder than it looks.
Seattle Inclusion Is at a Crossroads
CEO Melinda Briana Epler and CTO Wayne Sutton are the cofounders behind Change Catalyst and its Tech Inclusion events. First launching in 2015, the Tech Inclusion conferences have expanded each year, and in 2017 will come to over twelve cities across the U.S. Their experiences running an event series dedicated to addressing the inequalities in the tech community makes them the right voice to listen to about the future of rapidly expanding environments like Seattle. I sat down with the Change Catalyst founders at Galvanize in Seattle’s Pioneer Square District to learn more about how to point the city in the right direction. Melinda in particular had a connection to the area. Wayne’s advice on Seattle’s future was optimistic, but more focused on the effort still to come than the insight from Chris or Joshua. At Tech Inclusion Seattle, a focus on action over words was demonstrated through the very structure of the event itself.
Connecting People With Companies
The two-day event packed all its lectures, fireside chats, and panels into the 14th. One speaker discussed the best practices to unite politically through the internet (Settle on a specific hashtag as a group, so all the tweets are in the same place, for instance), while another speaker covered the practices needed to ensure a company’s interview process avoids personal biases (Never say a candidate reminds you of yourself at that age. Were you really that great?). The pace was fast: Talks were typically ten minutes, while panel discussions were capped at 40 minutes. But when the dust had settled on the compact event, everyone was invited back the next day for a four-hour-long job fair. Tech Inclusion calls itself a “unique solutions-focused” event, so it’s good to see that they dedicate an entire day to busting one of the biggest unspoken culture rules an exclusive community follows — You can’t be what you can’t see. Whether or not you’re optimistic about the future of a diverse Seattle, it’s clear everyone involved should remain cautious and emphasize action in order to avoid falling back on hidden biases. Entrepreneurs in the startup world shouldn’t be surprised by the dangers of rapid expansion: After all, 70 percent of all failed startups died because they tried to scale too quickly. Startup cities are no different. “We find them. They come out. We want to create as many opportunities as we can for companies to find diverse candidates. We do our best to hold both the companies and the people accountable to back up with they’re saying.” Images: Aaron Roche of rocheAM Photography Read more about building an inclusive company at Tech.Co
