Right now, most European startups aren’t diverse. Just 7% of European funding rounds went to all-women founding teams in the first nine months of 2023 and only 1.4% of unicorns are founded by a team of ethnic minority founders.
But it’s not like this benefits the tech ecosystem. Investing more in multicultural and women business owners could unlock boundless innovation and trillions of dollars.
So how can people in the startup community be part of the change?
Over the past two months, Sifted’s Anisah Osman Britton and Steph Bailey sat down with founders, investors and operators to discuss how, in 202, you can build an inclusive, resilient and sustainable startup. The result was The Inclusive Startup Playbook, a six-part podcast series, produced in collaboration with Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab, an accelerator for tech and tech-enabled startups to access capital resources and connections to advance a more equitable landscape.
Click on the episode headings to jump down to a summary and player of that episode:
You can find The Inclusive Startup Playbook on Spotify here, Apple here and more here.
Episode one: How to build a strong board
Board members can be a critical asset to a startup, but finding the right people can be a challenge.
The first episode of the series kicks off with how to build a board. In theory, a board has two jobs — governance on behalf of shareholders and hiring (and firing) the CEO — but in practice, a startup board performs other critical roles, from providing strategic guidance to helping customer acquisition.
To find out about how to build a great board which meets all these functions (and more), Anisah interviews Rachel Curtis, CEO and cofounder at Inicio AI, a startup which is using tech to help people gain a better understanding of their debt, Rupa Popat, founder and managing partner of Araya Ventures and entrepreneur in residence at Inclusive Ventures Lab, and Laura McGinnis, principal at Balderton Capital, who authored On Board with Balderton, a 101 Guide to board meetings for early-stage CEOs.
Listen if you’re wondering:
- What is the role of a board member and is it different from an advisor?
- What is the fiduciary duty of board members?
- How can you get your board composition right? Does it change over time?
- How do you know when it’s time for a board member to leave/step down?
Episode two: How to build more inclusive products
Instead of retrofitting products, more and more are being built with inclusivity in mind from the start
Designing and selling inclusive products allows more people to use them, which in turn increases the potential scalability and profitability of a startup. But anyone can have the best intentions, how can you actually build a product (almost) everyone can use?
To find out about building more inclusive products Steph interviews founders who are producing them: Dora Palfi is cofounder and CEO of imagi, a coding platform designed to help anyone code. Hannah Samano is founder and CEO of Unfabled, a consumer health platform providing women with curated and personalised solutions, and Simon Schwall is cofounder and CEO of OKO, an insurtech which is using satellite imagery and weather forecasting to simplify and automise claim management to create crop insurance for smallholder farms.
Listen if you’re wondering:
- Why are inclusive products important?
- How do you understand the needs of your users?
- What are the tools and processes product managers can use to build inclusive products?
- How do you ensure you’re not playing into stereotypes?
Episode three: How to build a values-driven brand
Being a values-driven company is increasingly important to customers — and investors.
If you were to list your startup’s values would you know what they are? Being values-driven is becoming more important to customers — 60% of Gen Z say they consider brands commitments to diversity and inclusion when making purchasing decisions — and investors — one in ten UK investors have taken part in ESG investing.
To find out how to build a startup with realistic and credible values, Anisah interviews Sanghamitra Karra, EMEA head of Morgan Stanley’s inclusive ventures group, who has eyes across the startup and investment ecosystem in Europe and beyond, Nina Briance, CEO of Cult Mia, a sustainable online fashion marketplace, and Mollie Claypool, CEO of Automated Architecture, a manufacturing platform for affordable and sustainable housing.
Listen if you’re wondering:
- Is it important for every company to have values across sustainability?
- How do you integrate your values into daily business operations?
- How can you make sure your values are seen across your supply chain?
- Does your board keep you accountable? Should your board keep you accountable?
- Do your values define who you accept money from? Should they?
Episode four: How to hire inclusively
The biggest challenge for most startups is hiring the right talent.
If your startup aims to increase productivity, enhance innovation and make more money the best thing to do is to hire inclusively. Diversity can even help build a “collective intelligence” which is when different thinking styles tackle problem-solving together.
So far, so good, but how do you hire inclusively in practice? To explore their hiring journeys and gain top expert insights, Steph interviews Gabrielle Lyse Brown, head of EMEA diversity & inclusion at Morgan Stanley, and Adaora Oramah, founder and CEO of AMAKA Studio, a social publishing platform empowering Pan-African creators.
Listen if you’re wondering:
- What can you do if you are not reaching diverse candidates
- How can you write inclusive job descriptions?
- Should all interviews be online?
- How can you assess whether a candidate will fit in with the culture of the company?
Episode five: How to manage trust
Managing strong growth alongside trust inside your startup is not easy.
Do you trust your startup? Your c-suite? Your colleagues? Managing trust inside a fast-growing startup is not easy — made even harder with remote and flexible working.
In this episode Anisah shares her top tips from her years of startup reporting (and heading up Sifted’s Startup Life newsletter), as well as interviewing three members of carbon accounting startup Perse's C-suite: Jane Lucy, CEO, Vikesh Sachdeva, cofounder and chief strategy officer, and Jaipal Naidu, cofounder and product & operations owner.
Listen if you’re wondering:
- How can you best manage trust among a startup c-suite?
- What is the best way to communicate good and bad news with employees?
- How can you manage middle managers?
Episode six: How to create a sales strategy
It's all well and good having a great product or service, but how are you going to sell it?
Thank you to Morgan Stanley for sponsoring this podcast series. Apply now through March 31st for the 2024 Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab, an accelerator for tech and tech-enabled startups to access capital, resources and connections to help further develop and scale their companies, and to advance a more equitable investment landscape.
Learn more at morganstanley.com/msivl and for more content about diverse entrepreneurs and their journeys, check out Morgan Stanley’s award-winning Access and Opportunity podcast.
