Project
Technology startup support systems often use the “Lean Startup” method described by Eric Reis. Entrepreneurs aim to build their first “Minimum Viable Product,” or MVP, during an intense phase of learning, iteration and testing. In this phase, founders are building the basics of what they need to get their company off the ground and an efficient product that solves customer needs. They are laying the foundation of their company.
Operationalizing ethics during the early stages of a company’s founding will make tech startups more resilient, more responsible, more relatable and more attractive to stakeholders. However, practical tools and processes to guide consideration, operationalization and iteration of company ethics are scarce.
This project was conceived in the wake of reports about the serious data privacy breaches and unethical practices of Cambridge Analytica, Theranos and others. During this time, public outcry for answers and action resulted in regulations such as The General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPR. Tech companies were challenged to craft ethical policies and procedures. Our mission, to examine how ethics can be part of the foundation of tech startups, was born
In April 2019 we kicked off the first pilot with a group of brave and gracious founders, cohort members and residents at AlphaLab Gear, a hardware accelerator program of Innovation Works in Pittsburgh, PA. This article provides more details about this experience:
Operationalizing ethics during the early stages of a company’s founding will make tech startups more resilient, more responsible, more relatable and more attractive to stakeholders. However, practical tools and processes to guide consideration, operationalization and iteration of company ethics are scarce.
This project was conceived in the wake of reports about the serious data privacy breaches and unethical practices of Cambridge Analytica, Theranos and others. During this time, public outcry for answers and action resulted in regulations such as The General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPR. Tech companies were challenged to craft ethical policies and procedures. Our mission, to examine how ethics can be part of the foundation of tech startups, was born
In April 2019 we kicked off the first pilot with a group of brave and gracious founders, cohort members and residents at AlphaLab Gear, a hardware accelerator program of Innovation Works in Pittsburgh, PA. This article provides more details about this experience:
Building From a Clear Ethical Foundation
By Jessica Pachuta & Dror Yaron, CREATE Lab "The wisdom that I gathered proved to be more important than I initially anticipated. I didn't know what to expect, but I am so glad I buckled down and really delved deep into what it truly meant for me as well as for my company's foundational code of ethics," shares Gabrielle Haywood, Founder and CVO of Virginia Dere, LLC and a Designer in Residence at AlphaLab Gear.
Team
Jessica Pachuta and Dror Yaron spent the past decade with the Community Robotics Education and Technology Empowerment Lab (CREATE Lab) at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. A unique blend of technologists, artists, educators, entrepreneurs and relationship-builders, CREATE Lab examines what ethical and equitable technology is and collaborates with communities of practice to build tools and processes for that inquiry.
This project is an extension of these efforts. We are not ethical philosophers, but practitioners and champions of ethical technology.
Throughout his career as community engagement leader, urban farmer, artist and educator, Yaron has been committed to rebalancing societal power structures by building relationships, and through storytelling.
Pachuta, MBA, filmmaker and organizational culture geek, has been working with youth, educators and community organizations on finding and using their voice to advocate for social justice and progress. She considers entrepreneurship a powerful and influential form of voice.
This project is an extension of these efforts. We are not ethical philosophers, but practitioners and champions of ethical technology.
Throughout his career as community engagement leader, urban farmer, artist and educator, Yaron has been committed to rebalancing societal power structures by building relationships, and through storytelling.
Pachuta, MBA, filmmaker and organizational culture geek, has been working with youth, educators and community organizations on finding and using their voice to advocate for social justice and progress. She considers entrepreneurship a powerful and influential form of voice.
