A look at the state of diversity and inclusion in the US tech industry, and why new startups and VCs with inclusive-minded CEOs are critical for change
Where the industry needs to go from here — Silicon Valley is entering a new phase in its quest for diversity and inclusion in the technology industry. Tweets: @amydiehl , @steven_aquino , @arlanwashere , and @triketora Tweets: Amy Diehl, PhD / @amydiehl : D&I in tech is still a struggle. Those accused of sexual misconduct face too few consequences, POC & women receive too little venture funding & firms make very slow progress in diversity #'s. Yet employees have found power when they organize and speak up. https://techcrunch.com/... Steven Aquino / @steven_aquino : Disappointing this story says nothing of disabled people in tech. For all the great work @ekp, @anildash, et al do we (disabled ppl) are marginalized just as much as women, people of color, LGBT. It's frustrating to see so many forget us when championing diversity. https://twitter.com/... Arlan / @arlanwashere : Whew boy, @meganrosedickey went IN on this deep dive. Worthy long read... https://techcrunch.com/... Tracy Chou / @triketora : this is a good summary of the state of world of diversity & inclusion in tech https://techcrunch.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This piece lands mid-arc in a long-running reckoning: by 2019, the industry had already absorbed years of employee activism over misconduct and slow diversity numbers, and coverage since has only sharpened the critique. Later reporting documented how women, people of color, and LGBTQ tech workers describe discrimination and isolation inside companies, and how giants' renewed diversification vows keep falling short on retention of Black and Latinx hires (tech giants' repeated diversity pledges).
What makes this article distinct is where it locates the lever: not in incumbent HR programs but in new startups and VCs run by inclusive-minded CEOs — a thesis that later coverage tested directly, from [[a:954583|Black founders calling out 'diversity theater' and the shortage of top-level Black investors]] to OATV's Indie.vc betting that modest $100K–$1M checks can fund more diverse founders sustainably.
First-order effects
- The named voices — Amy Diehl, Arlan, Steven Aquino, Tracy Chou — frame the immediate scoreboard: accused individuals still face too few consequences for sexual misconduct, while POC and women receive disproportionately little venture funding right now.
- Employees at tech companies retain organized leverage: the piece credits workers' collective speaking up as the force that has actually moved company practices, keeping pressure on incumbents' D&I commitments.
Second-order effects
- If inclusive-CEO startups and funds become the change vehicle, capital allocation shifts at the margin toward firms like Indie.vc that write smaller checks to more diverse founders, forcing larger VCs to defend their track records against 'diversity theater' accusations.
- Incumbent tech giants face a compounding talent problem: their weak retention of diverse hires pushes underrepresented workers and would-be founders toward newer, inclusively led companies instead.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the industry's structure changes at the funding layer rather than the HR layer — who becomes a partner, whose startups get backed, and which companies set workplace norms — echoing the historical analysis of how Silicon Valley's culture advantaged straight white men in the first place.
- Disabled people, often omitted from diversity conversations per the piece's own framing, represent the next frontier of accountability as definitions of inclusion broaden beyond race and gender.
The trend: Tech's diversity push is migrating from incumbent workforce pledges toward the venture layer, where who writes the checks increasingly determines who gets funded and hired.