As we launch Quantifi this week, we’re building not only the next generation of AI-powered digital marketing, but a tech company with a different approach to building our own team. According to studies and articles similar to this one, the tech industry under-indexes in its hiring and retention of minorities and women. We’re helping to change that.

Study after study demonstrates that a diverse workforce results in stronger business performance. The huge amount of recent tech job announcements in Indianapolis means that the pipeline for talent must increase. So it’s a win-win for software companies to focus on diversity and inclusion. At Quantifi, we’re committed to just that. Here’s how:

We talk about it. Diversity and inclusion can both be awkward topics. No one wants to sound ignorant, partisan political or insensitive in the workplace, so people often avoid the topic. But by acknowledging some of the discomfort in this problem, we start to get past the discomfort and move onto solutions.

At Quantifi, we address inclusion in our team meetings, web strategy, recruiting strategy — almost everything. It’s helpful that “transparency” is another one of our core values, so we encourage each other discuss this topic with openness, even when it gets a little uncomfortable.

We codified it. One of our core values is “Build a company that represents the country.” From day one at Quantifi, we were intentional about including everyone, and doing what it takes to discover, recruit and retain the best.

We experiment with recruiting strategies. Quantifi helps marketers rapidly experiment across social ad platforms at scale. In the same way, Quantifi experiments with new ways to attract top talent to our start-up.

We measure it. We measure our success against recruiting and retention goals with self-reported data that’s tracked and displayed within our payroll system, Paylocity

We expand beyond our networks. Find us at demo days at Eleven Fifty and The Iron Yard. Find us at Linking Indy Women and Ladies in SaaS. You’ll see our team at Nextech Catapult, Pints for Half Pints, and high school robotics clubs to encourage STEM education across numerous grade levels. Ask us about our participation in the H1B program to hire top talent from outside the US. We’ll see you at Disrupt: the Inaugural Midwest Tech Diversity Summit. Investing time, money and energy in these efforts helps us find the best talent outside of our networks.

We use technology. In addition to Paylocity and recruiting tools like LinkedIn, we use tech solutions like Textio that use AI to measure implicit bias in job descriptions and recommend improvements. Then we rewrite the job descriptions to make sure we’re inviting all candidates to apply.

“Build a tech company that represents the country” is a lofty core value and goal for Quantifi. In addition to being the right way to do business, it’s also in our best interest as we grow our start-up to success.

If you’re reading this article, you’re already likely familiar with the tech scene in Indy. We invite you to learn more about Quantifi, and share these job openings inside–and outside–your network to help us build the next midwest tech success!

About the Author

R.J. Talyor is CEO of Quantifi, a marketing R&D platform that taps the power of artificial intelligence to drive smarter digital advertising.