"I fervently believe in the potential of startup founders to have an outsize impact in the world, shaping and building our future. However, for that to be positive for everyone, everyone must be positively engaged. Shockingly, in the UK and around the world, less than 3% of venture capital investment goes to female led startups, and in the UK less than 2% goes to those led by people from ethnic minorities. While venture funding is not the only route to building a high impact company, it is the dominant path for tech startups, so the lack of diversity in the funding landscape is awful for these huge and under represented groups, but it is also bad for everyone: we all miss out through the rich diversity of human creativity being squandered by a lack of inclusion, and the picture is not limited to just tech startups. If we want a better world then all of us, especially those of us, like me, from over represented groups who benefit from great privilege, need to step forward to make a difference. Perhaps, like me, you want to see things change, but you struggle to know what you can do. I've always been disappointed by a lack of diversity and representation, but it has felt like a big issue that is beyond my ability to do much about. However, Grace Burton on the Future Worlds team recently introduced me to Better Allies, Karen Catlin's approach to creating more inclusive workplaces, which brilliantly tackles the deadlock by providing simple, everyday steps we can all take to turn intent in to action to make a difference. Therefore, I was very excited when Karen joined me to share her experience of 25 years building software products, serving as a vice president of engineering at Macromedia and Adobe, and pioneering the Better Allies movement. I’m a complete beginner, at the start of that journey, but I'm encouraged that making a difference is possible and, at the same time, I now feel accountable, because by making it so simple Karen leaves us no room for excuses for not doing what we can. Simple actions, simple challenge." Ben Clark: Director, Future Worlds
