It was more than 10 years ago when Freada Kapor Klein published her book “Giving Notice” about hidden biases. Fast forward to today, and it’s sometimes hard to say that anything has changed.

Kapor Klein, a long-time advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in the tech industry, is the co-founding partner at Kapor Capital and co-founder of Project Include . TechCrunch had the privilege of chatting with her about diversity and inclusion over the last several years.

“I would characterize where we are now is a leap forward over the last ten years and several steps sideways and a few steps backwards,” Kapor Klein says. “And so I think it’s a very noisy time to be looking at D&I. Because any point you can make in a positive direction, there’s a countervailing negative. And similarly, any time you can raise a criticism, somebody can point to something hopeful. So, we’re still in the middle of it — I hope — although I worry about diversity fatigue, which people are talking about and writing about these days.”

What’s clear is that a comprehensive approach is needed, and in order for that to be successful, there needs to be unequivocal commitment from the top.

We also discuss the rebound effect for harassers, why heads don’t roll when companies don’t fulfill their diversity goals and where there’s hope in the push for more diversity, inclusion and equity in tech.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MRD: I wanted to chat with you specifically, just because you’ve been working on this issue for more than a decade at this point. And I figured you would have some good perspective to add. So far, I’ve chatted with a handful of people and my plan is to try to see what the common themes and then go from there.

Freada Kapor Klein: Are there some, some emerging hypotheses or some emerging consensus or too early to tell?

MRD: So far, I’ve had some conversations that have centered around the heads of diversity and inclusion. And while the idea of them is great, often times, they’re not truly empowered within these companies. Looking at Google as an example, and some of the turnover they’ve seen throughout that role.

Also, I’m looking at how one of the changes has been that it’s become more acceptable to be vocal about this issue and speak out against it. But that doesn’t always translate into real work and actions, and progress being made.

And then also, of course, there are more worker-led initiatives, also using Google as an example. But then what may be the next step actually needs to be like, okay, well, you’re speaking out, you’re walking out, but now maybe it’s actually a matter of leaving these companies because the workers are the most important part of these companies. But it’s not always an option for some people who don’t come from wealth and really need these jobs. Those are kind of the high-level takeaways so far.

Freada Kapor Klein: That’s interesting, but maybe there is a call to action for those who are — I once long ago heard the term post economic.  And so maybe there is a call to action for those who are going to be the beneficiaries of the 2019 IPOs and who are in a position to vote with their feet.

MRD: Yeah, that’s a good point.

Freada Kapor Klein: So, great. Where would you like to start?

MRD: Looking back over the last ten years of your work in Silicon Valley across diversity and inclusion, what gives you hope that we’re moving in the right direction? Or, do you think we’re moving in the right direction?

Freada Kapor Klein: I would characterize where we are now is a leap forward over the last ten years and several steps sideways and a few steps backwards. And so I think it’s a very noisy time to be looking at D&I. Because any point you can make in a positive direction, there’s a countervailing negative. And similarly, any time you can raise a criticism, somebody can point to something hopeful. So, we’re still in the middle of it — I hope — although I worry about diversity fatigue, which people are talking about and writing about these days.

But I do remain hopeful for very specific reasons. And one of those is quite simply changing demographics in the US. The march of demographics is unstoppable. And we know the K 12 school-age population in the US, which has been majority kids of color for five years now. And so that is the future workforce. Changing demographics is certainly one cause for hope. And critical mass, which has been a concept around a long time in social science, has some real legitimacy.

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | In-depth with Freada Kapor Klein

Just as the Bluetooth headset ushered in an era of hands-free calling, AR startups are trying to convince manufacturing startups that AR headsets will bring new efficiencies with hands-free computing.

As Magic Leap and Microsoft have dropped hundreds of millions trying to spend their way into new tech modalities for enterprise customers, smaller players are relying on less groundbreaking hardware and hoping that easy-to-use software can drive new customers into their arms. One player using this approach is an AR startup based just outside of Portland called RealWear. They aren’t promising digital holograms and floating whales, but they’ve received more than $100 million from investors that seem to believe in a more “conservative” approach to enterprise AR.

RealWear’s HMT-1 hardware is akin to the form factor of yesteryear’s Google Glass, but the tech is even more straightforward; it’s not a transparent display, just a small screen in a worker’s line-of-site that can be pushed out of the way when not needed. When it comes to differentiating a hardware startup that isn’t relying on its own hardware advances, there are definitely risks that another deep-pocketed player can replicate what they’ve done, though RealWear certainly isn’t short on investor cash for the time being.

The company announced today that they’ve pulled in about $81 million in funding since they announced their Series A early last year. About $56 million of that was Series B equity funding, while they also raised $25 million in debt. The latest round was led by Teradyne, with Bose Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Kopin Corporation and JPMorgan Chase Co. also participating. If that last investor draws your attention, the company tells TechCrunch they are closely eyeing an IPO, a unique move in an industry that has proven heavily reliant on VC cash.

Investors have seen major potential in the enterprise AR space, but major players have flared out in the past 12 months, leaving some wary of making another bet in the space. Earlier this year, we reported that ODG, which had raised $58 million for its AR glasses, was in the midst of a fire sale for its IP. The same fate came to Meta months later, which raised $73 million. All the while, Magic Leap has continued to dominate AR venture capital deals, but it isn’t clear what progress they are making with enterprise customers relative to their $2.6 billion raised.

RealWear has raised tens of millions, yet most of that cash is going to sales rather than R&D, a benefit the company has from licensing other firms’ tech rather than trying to solve the unsolved AR optics issues. The approach has worked, at least in terms of quickly building a business on its way to being cash flow positive. The company said it had about $12 million in revenue last year, and was estimating $25-30 million this year.

For now, the name of the game for RealWear is converting pilots into paid rollouts. CEO Andy Lowery tells me that about 95% of the company’s 2018 revenue came from paid pilots, but that there have already been some big conversions. The company tells TechCrunch they have shipped 15,000 units in the past 18 months, though a recent major deal with Turkish telecom company UROS will force them to scale much more quickly. The firm announced in April that they are ordering 10,000 of RealWear’s devices as part of a major tech push in Kazakhstan.

RealWear is also working with customers like Colgate, BMW, Walmart and Coca-Cola.

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | AR headsets promise new enterprise productivity, but can the startups building them survive?