After navigating the workplace as an M&A attorney and seeing the many challenges underrepresented individuals face, Mandy Price knew there was more to be done, and that she could be the one to do it.
Price saw a big problem: Companies, even when well-meaning, were only prioritizing diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts during the hiring process.
Once candidates from underrepresented backgrounds were hired into organizations, they were faced with a slew of challenges stemming from a lack of diversity programming and understanding.
To get to the root of the issue, Price founded Kanarys in 2018 alongside her husband, Bennie Kind, and former Harvard Law School classmate Star Carter. Together the co-founders built a company that uses data to help transform organizations into more equitable, inclusive environments for their employees.
Named after the canary in the coal mine, Kanarys detects and solves issues in the workplace before they become crises.
"We were really interested in building a bridge between employees and employers where issues could be addressed without fear of retaliation and where we could provide true measurement around issues of inclusion, equity, and belonging," says Price.
Kanarys' proprietary technology offers multiple assessment types that measure metrics such as policies and procedures, inclusion and belonging, and pay equity.
The software uses AI-driven analytics and natural language processing to pull in large amounts of data from various sources, including proprietary client data, governmental data, and data pulled in from HR systems, among other sources.
After taking a Kanarys assessment, clients will receive a framework to help them understand what improvements need to be made as well as suggestions on the actions they can take next.
Kanarys also prioritizes improvements for clients so that companies can tackle lighter-lift changes quickly before moving on to longer-term projects.
Clients receive internal and external benchmarks as well as long-term support and customized solutions so that diversity efforts can become ingrained in company culture more permanently.
In addition to the written report and analyses, clients have access to a customer support team and also to a team of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) experts who can assist with implementation of the changes suggested in the report.
"Our clients understand that DEI is not an initiative or a program; it's something they need to constantly measure and monitor to ensure the health of their workplace," says Price. This is something that's ingrained within their business strategy.
Kanarys, which just closed its Series A fundraising round, knows that its assessments can put more money into clients' pockets.
According to a 2020 McKinsey report, executive teams with more than 30% women are more likely to outperform those with fewer or no women, and companies in the top quartile for diversity outperformed those in the fourth quartile by 36% profitability.
The numbers show that DEI isn't just a nice to have, but rather a must have. And companies are catching on.
"We've seen that more companies turn to DEI metrics as a key performance indicator of success," says Price. It not only increases innovation and employee engagement and lowers absenteeism, but more diverse companies have greater financial returns.
Hear more from Price in her documentary episode below, and check out the Spiraling Up docuseries by HubSpot for Startups for more founder stories.