Last Thursday, the Kapor Center hosted the third annual People Ops Tech (POT) pitch competition, and the results were inspiring. Ten startups from around the country brought their innovative ideas to eliminate workplace bias, discrimination and harassment.
Silicon Valley prides itself on its ability to find innovative solutions to complex problems, but the tech sector itself has struggled to improve its dismal diversity numbers. The POT Pitch Competition aims to channel the disruptive talent of entrepreneurs to fix a deep and longstanding problem in tech in the workplace. Companies competed for for a total of $115,000 in prize money for the most innovative solutions.
The top winners were:
First Place — earning $50,000
QualifiedIO: building a standard for measuring technical proficiency, to bring transparent meritocracy to coding education and workforce
Second Place — earning $25,000
Aday Technologies, a solution for employers of hourly workers, integrating and managing the entire lifecycle of an hourly employee — everything from hiring, scheduling, payments, and training.
Third Place — earning $15,000
IncludeIO, a recruiting tool that uses mini-mentoring sessions to validate underrepresented and nontraditional technical talent.
Audience Choice Award — earning $25,000 from Google for Entrepreneurs:
CultivateAI, providing inclusion analytics by measuring digital bias and engagement, using a manager’s most common forms of communications, email, and chat.
Did you miss the event? Don’t worry? You can watch it below, or check out the coverage from the San Jose Mercury News:
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A huge thanks to all our sponsors, Google for Entrepreneurs, Silicon Valley Bank True Ventures, Workday, Comcast Universal, Greenhouse and TMP Worldwide!