The groundswell of sexual misconduct stories over the past few months has revealed a huge problem that affects institutions from Silicon Valley to Hollywood to Washington, D.C. And where there’s a big problem, there are entrepreneurs working on a solution.
That’s the mission of AllVoices, a website that will help employees anonymously report sexual harassment and misconduct directly to company leadership. Tinder founder Sean Rad and Claire Schmidt, a former film executive, co-founded AllVoices. Rad brought in Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff as a leading investor and advisor. AllVoices’ reporting tools will officially launch in the next few weeks.
“Using AllVoices, employees can report harassment and discrimination straight to the CEO and board without repercussions,” Rascoff said in an email. “This also provides the leadership team with a ton of data, and when there’s data about a problem, it’s harder to look the other way.”
Terms of Rascoff’s investment weren’t disclosed, but he is one of the largest investors in AllVoices’ seed round. The investment isn’t directly tied to Zillow, though Rascoff said it aligns with his company’s commitment to “information transparency and creating a culture that’s inclusive.” Zillow itself hasn’t been immune to sexual harassment allegations; the company was the target of a 2014 lawsuit but vigorously denied claims of sexual misconduct in the workplace.
AllVoices aggregates reports of sexual misconduct by company and delivers that information to CEOs and boards without personally identifying anyone who complained. Companies will be able to access AllVoices for free but can pay for a premium option with details on incidents reported and bespoke action plans, according to CNN.
AllVoices is one of many startups that have emerged out of the #MeToo movement, ignited by a New York Times investigation into Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Susan Fowler forced the tech community to evaluate its own bad behavior, publishing a blog post about sexism she observed when working as an engineer for Uber. Fowler is an advisor of AllVoices, as is theBoardlist founder Sukhinder Singh Cassidy. Rascoff and Sing Cassidy discussed gender equity issues in the workplace at the 2017 GeekWire Summit.
“Part of our model is to build a strong list of advisors who can help us continuously understand the issues from all angles and help us reach out to organizations who can benefit from our platform,” Schmidt said in a blog post announcing AllVoices. “We believe in building coalitions, not in acting alone.”
