Are West Coast Startups the Least Diverse and Inclusive?

Bottom line: While the coasts have the highest number of non-white executives, they still have poor representation of Black and Latinx executives. White and Asian executives are generally overrepresented in the startup ecosystem. We should make more of an effort to build accelerators, incubators, and venture funds in the middle of the country in order to help inclusive startups succeed, which improves the makeup of the entire ecosystem. There are opportunities to do both – increasing diversity on the coasts and supporting companies in the heartland – to improve the quality of startups.

The Pacific and Northeast are the most diverse regions for entrepreneurs with 28% and 19% of startups in these regions, respectively, having ethnically diverse founding teams. The Rocky Mountains, in comparison, had the least diversity with only 10% of startup teams having at least one diverse founder.

The results are similar when looking at startup executive teams. The Pacific (30%) and Northeast (22%) lead in diversity, while the Rocky Mountains (11%) is falling behind.

However, the data for the middle of the country isn't all bad: 24% of ethnically diverse executives in the Southeast were Black and 24% of ethnically diverse executives in the Rocky Mountains were Latinx, the highest representation in the U.S. for both groups. The Pacific region had the lowest representation of Black executives (7% of non-white executives) and Latinx executives (11%).

Meanwhile, the Pacific has the lowest representation of Black (7% of non-white executives) and Latinx executives (11%). The Northeast has the second-fewest Black (13%) and Latinx (15%) executives.

Startup diversity can be increased through incubators and funding in the middle of the country that focuses on helping diverse startups succeed -- a process that improves entrepreneurship opportunities for those from all backgrounds. 

Read the full study HERE.