Hi, everyone. My name is Ny. Well, I'm um a co-founder and the CTO also of a mission driven um start up called, um Speak Fully.Um I'm here to actually talk to you all about um what it takes to really build um a tech product or a tech solution. Um That really has an ultimate purpose of doing social good. Um There are different ways of talking about it. People have used different terms. Um I've even heard people talk about empathy driven tech, um socially conscious tech. These are all different um ways of sort of describing um anything that has an ultimate um good purpose. Um I know that um Sarah Y was just on a few minutes ago and she was talking about tech for good and, you know, the mission and the vision and, you know, and the principles behind that is very similar. And Sarah and I connected um a few days ago and we talked about how we're sort of approaching it in very similar ways and, and I think it's, it's phenomenal to actually see so many conversations centered around this. Um So I've got about 20 minutes here in front of you all.

Um And I thought that I would structure the discussion around um what, um what I think and you know, what I think will be useful for you all is to understand what we really mean when we talk about tech for social good. Um And then I actually want to dive a little bit into um the various stages of actually going through and building a product or being part of a team or part of an organization that actually is building something that's um that's got this ultimate beautiful vision. Um But I thought I'd also do it with the real world. Good example. And what better example than, than my own um speak fully. So I thought that would be a great, great way to like dive into this in a little deeper um and feel free to like drop your questions through the chat. I can see it all um And happy to take them as they come. Um And um for those of you who are just joining, my name is Nanda ni Iswar. I'm the CTO co-founder of um speak fully and we go right in if I can move this. All right. There we go. Um So as I was saying, what, you know is socially conscious tech um or empathy driven tech. There are various, like I said terminology.

Um And, and, and, and in my opinion, I think any solution that's really trying to derive this very simple but a human centric outcome, something that has a big purpose that sits behind it, I think definitely qualifies as that. Um you have um it could also be um tech products or tech solutions that enable, you know, some sort of awareness about what our society is all about. What are some of the um social nuances that we are having to deal with in the current climate? Um What are some of the movements that are going on around us? How do you be an ally towards the movement or how do you um stand against, you know, something that you feel is, is, is wrong against your principles. I think all of those also do qualify as, as um socially conscious tech. Um It could also be tech that essentially is solving very, very simple challenges that we face every day um as people as, as as humans itself. Um and also solutions that can actually make us better than what we are, make us better people um enable us to make better choices both personally, as well as professionally, as well as socially. Um great examples are um you know, apps that like nom for example, I use no for a little bit and it talks about how you make good choices with your food and what you eat every day.

So I think there are various ways that you can still, you know, ultimately have a good outcome or a good goal. Um And then of course, last um bullet point here I talk about solutions that are, you know, don't really have to be very high tech or deep tech or very, you know, heavy machine learning dependent. I think it could be a very simple, but it needs to be very purposeful. Um things that actually enable us to do things better do solve our day to day problems. Um Think about great examples are um calm. Um It's essentially a way to help you meditate, essentially a way to help you bring in some mental wellness. So the various examples and it's lovely to actually see so many different organizations that are actually taking some of these small problems and actually trying to find really good solutions for it. And that's really actually gonna be the segue into what I think is um again, going to be the process of how you go about trying to um build a tech product like this.

Um First of all, you always want to start with some problem that needs to be solved. And I think there are a lot of us here. There are so many women here in this conference. Um And we have something that comes very, very naturally to us, which is the fact that we have a very high eq we have emotional portion and we also have a lot of empathy that's just, you know, weaved into, into our DNA of who we are. Um And I think there's a great way for us to naturally recognize some of the problems that actually occur in the real world because we are just very empathetic as people. I think that allows us to recognize what, what exists and what problem needs to be solved. It may not be something that solves for something at a larger scale. I'm not talking about, you know, the large tech giants that essentially go after big big problems. So uh problem solving capabilities at scale, building tech at scale, it doesn't have to be that we certainly need that. We absolutely need those, but it doesn't have to be that it could be something that's really impacting you on a day to day basis. Then think a little bit about, you know, what is it that we can do as technologists?

What's the responsibility and, and the ownership that we can take as tech people, tech women and see how you can actually like get it to a place where that problem doesn't exist anymore. Ask ourselves that question. I think that's a great way of trying to approach it and think about it a little differently than what we normally do in the nontraditional sense. Um The second aspect of it, I think is really finding the core principles and figuring out what are our foundation of uh you know, value systems that we believe in and how do you weave that into your daily operationalization of your tech itself? Like how are you putting it into your tech processes and, and some of this is gonna start to make sense when I talk about, um you know, talk about the real world example, but just sort of hear me out and understand the, the place that I'm going, which is first find the problem that needs to be solved.

Once you've done that, you need to make sure you're aligning yourself, your people and your principles um along with the tech solutions that you're trying to build, that's very important. Um You know, when you're trying to build something that actually has a good positive uh human impact.

And then of course, last but definitely not the least is really trying to build out your core team and you need to find alignment and create an environment where you actually bring people that are very like minded that they can actually like thrive in an environment of innovation and actually like building new things and for the ultimate purpose of it.

So finding that alignment and finding the right people around is actually very important for us to like try to build this out. Um Any questions so far at all, the chat seems quiet. So I'm just gonna move forward. Um This is basically um a perfect example and this is, this is speak and this is what we're trying to do here. Um At uh you know, I speak fully clearly. This is an example of a problem that's really begging to be solved. I think there's, we know the statistics out there and here's one staggering stat right in front of you. It's, you know, we know that the problem of the workplace mistreatment is huge. It's something that people are now being more aware of, people are actually being able to talk about it. But if you look at it, there's 78% of employees actually say that they did experience some form of misconduct in the workplace. Surprised not at all 78% you know, but what really um is even more uh chattering is the fact that 75% of that group don't even come forward to actually report it. Um So right here in front of us, if you read the statistic, there is a real world problem. There are two problems.

Actually, if I, the way I look at it, I see the first problem is the fact that people are actually being mistreated and 78% are being mistreated. And then you have the second problem where people aren't even able to come forward and report it. So there's two very obvious problems that exist right in front of us that I think is begging to be solved. And that I think that makes us all better when we actually solve this. It it impacts people in a positive way. So checks various boxes and all of these is is what helps us actually build and create something that's tech for good tech, for social, good, you know, and pathetic software. And this is um this is what we're trying to do at speak. And I thought this is a great example of telling you how we approach the problem, recognize the problem. And then now, now I'll get into a bit about, you know, the, the founding principles and how we went about building it. Um Like I was saying, in my earlier slide, you know, the second stage of all of this, once you've really identified the problem that needs to be solved, you're really now coming in and figuring out what are your core principles, what are your core value systems that you believe in?

What's the value proposition that you're gonna be putting out in the product in the, in the uh in the tech solution that you're creating out? The first thing that we came up with was yes, through our product and through our business, we're gonna give employees a voice. Um Absolutely. That needs to be um that needs to basically be practiced even from within unless we practice it, unless we actually put that in and translate that into how we're building it. We're not gonna really see the outcome because we're not talking about us placing ourselves in the shoes of the customer and, and keep in mind that the customer can, is also your internal employees. So we have to think about giving your employees a voice. Um So you want to design your product, you want to build your product um through your small team inside um and allow every person, every architect, every designer, every engineer in your team, every project manager to really have an equal voice there. And as they're putting ideas forward on how to actually create this, that's when you truly create a product whose essential outcome is meeting this primary goal. And the second aspect of it here is, you know, um keeping in mind that communication is actually a two way street.

Um And, and here's where, you know, communication can, when I, the minute you say communication, a lot of people start to think about, you know, verbal communication or written communication. But I'm also talking about how you communicate with your customers and your employees um through your tech, through your product. Um We're now in, in, we're now right in the thick of actually building this product to solve the workplace mistreatment problem. How do you make sure that communication happens through this two way communication happens inside of the product. When you, when you start to approach your problem solution that way, then you're going to try and build out features, you're gonna be building new features inside the product that actually enable that sort of communication, that sort of two way um street. Um And also not to, you know, not to forget the fact that we have to really try and, you know, follow some of those principles, even within the tech team, as we're building this out, a lot of us here, you know, are part of like, you know, large tech teams and we understand the importance of that kind of two way um conversations.

Um So it's, it's, it, it really has to be very purposeful is what I'm, I guess trying to say the third thing that I wanted to talk about here is about, you know, how we believe in transparency. That's again another um foundational principle for us. Um And um and it, and it may be, it may be similar for a lot of, a lot of you and you know, you can all understand the need for transparency and the transparency. Now, when you think about it with respect to the solution you're coming up with for the mistreatment problem, then you're naturally going to create a avenues where whoever is interacting with the solution you're building with your employees, your, you know, the the hr leaders, the tech leaders, whoever it is, they want to make sure that what they see is complete.

It is is through complete transparency and you're gonna naturally design your data and your architecture around those philosophies. So you're gonna, because you believe in it because you practice in it and you see the value of that transparency, you're naturally going to be building out your product with the same philosophy, with the same principle. And that's what's gonna ha make your product um reach the, you know, reach the people that it needs to reach. Um And then the other thing I also wanted to say here is the fact that, you know, think about interactions and think about your U I and your UX um as you're building stuff out. Um You've got to make sure that the users who are interacting with your product are always actually in control of some of those interactions. We wanna be. Um We wanna give the choice of interaction to the end user. We don't want the user to do something just because we've navigated the U user experience or the UX pages to that to that point where we want them to be.

But rather we want to leave the control in the hands of the person that's actually interacting with your product. Um And that's where, you know, again, you are impacting people positively. Um You know, we won't, you know, as, as, um you know, as you're designing out your security and your data principles, data collection principles, you know, we don't want to get caught into this whole surveillance capitalism world, right? And we want to make sure that people at the end of the day, the end users do have the right to be forgotten if they want to be the choice is theirs. Let's be respectful of that choice and build the product and build the tracking and the security in your solution. Keeping those um constructs in mind so that when it comes to it, you're respectful of the user choice, you know, and that, of course, is, is what um leads to making all of the good choices. So I think it's important to recognize that, you know, these core values, you have to practice them first. And that's what's gonna enable you to actually build your product through the same thing. And that's what we did it speak fully.

Um I'm gonna move on to um the next part which is really creating the team and I wanted to tackle it with two different aspects. Here. There are two angles. We have a lot of uh women leaders here, um and other uh men as well in the room. Um And they talk, uh you know, and, and I think we, you know, that there's one approach as a leader and the other approach is again for people who are actually looking to like join mission driven companies. How do you approach it? How do you find the right place? So I'll start out with, you know, the part of um being the leader. We've got this huge responsibility on our shoulders where we've got to embrace the responsibility that is being given to us. Well, let's embrace it. Let's make sure that we recognize the fact that we are here building something important, something that actually solves a very fundamental problem uh positively. And once we embrace that sort of responsibility, it's our job, our job to actually highlight some of the mission um values and um you know, the mission itself and the why behind the mission in the job description, put it out there. That's the first thing you want to put in your job description. So when people are trying to apply to, you know, to to jobs in your company or in your team, you want them to see that first.

Um and then you want them to apply on the basis of that foundation, that mission and the why behind the mission, why did you arrive at that mission? Why do you want to solve the workplace mistreatment problem as an example? So those are the uh pieces that I think needs to be highlighted. Um So people actually like see it and are and are inspired and driven by it. The other thing I would say as leaders is is that, you know, let's try to force rank a candidate's passion as well as their energy as opposed to just raw skill, you know, it's great. Yes, the raw skill is absolutely important. The intellect is important for sure. Um But at the same time, let's keep in mind that we want to actually um hire people for the positive energy that they bring to the table as well. Um And create situational interview processes like put them in a spot, put them in a situation of what your mission is gonna solve and see how they'd approach it as a job seeker. You know, the same thing when you see the job description that talks about the mission, see how your experience um allows you to draw the parallel, draw the dots between your skill and what the mission is trying to accomplish.

Probe them, push the leaders, push the founders, ask them where they're headed with their mission, ask them what's the vision, you know, and you know, try to like pose very um complex scenarios at them and see how they're thinking about it. And that's what's gonna help you decide if this is truly about the mission. Is this something that aligns with you? And if so then you should really absolutely go forward and apply to those roles. Got a couple of minutes. I know they're gonna cut us out super quick. But last but not least, just wanna talk uh here about at the end of the day, the bottom line when you're doing something that's um for a social positive outcome, let's not be afraid here um to challenge the status quo, right? So we can take charge of the narrative, we can change the narrative as needed. I think there are wonderful um you know, terrific women here. And yeah, people in this room, technologists in the room in this conference who absolutely have, you know, the talent as well as the interest as well as the drive to actually build something that's so important and much needed for our society. Um So let's, let's inspire each other.

I think that's the message I'm trying to get across o you know, over the last um 20 minutes or so to make sure that we go after and try and solve some of these small real world problems. Doesn't, let's not, we don't have to, you know, it doesn't have to be rocket science. We don't have to really solve and the moon on day one, but let's take small steps. But let's continue to like, you know, question, you know what our purposes, question, the product and the tech that we're building and question the trajectory of where it's going. That's what's gonna enable us to do something that's truly makes a difference. So I'm gonna pause there and see if there are any questions um from anyone at all, anything on the chat. Uh Please feel free to post and if not, you know, you can always reach out to me uh at any time. I'm usually on linkedin and um yeah, happy to um happy to have been here and talk to you all. Great. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks Alexis. All right. Well, thank you all. Thanks for joining and it was a pleasure talking to you all. I will be in touch. Bye.