Diversity in Tech — Tracking Progress

Diversity in tech. This topic has been discussed quite a bit this year. And certainly within the startup ecosystem.

While we all want to see an increase in diversity, I think the only way to really improve is to measure the numbers so we can know if we are actually improving or not.

I’m not talking about the NVCA numbers that come out every once in a while, I’m talking about each investor tracking their own numbers on a deal by deal basis.

To that end, Deep Space Ventures has been posting on our website and social media, our portfolio composition numbers to track diversity in our portfolio.

To date, through 18 investments in 2 years, 56% of our portfolio companies have at least one founder from an underrepresented group. Is this great? No, it’s not good enough, but it’s a start, and we will do better while holding ourselves accountable to our founders, community members and peers.

I would like to encourage other VCs and Angel Investors to report their metrics (or at least track them) and make a conscious effort to increase diversity among the founders they invest in.