An Open Board: A new step toward tech accountability.

Many people have lost trust in the tech industry, but there’s a concrete step we can take to do something about it.

Most people who use technology don’t stop to wonder, “Who’s on the board of directors of the company that made this product?” But in a moment when tech is increasingly leaving us feeling uneasy, or even creeped out, unsure if we can trust what’s happening with our data or whether a company has our best intentions in mind, it turns out this is a question that matters.

So today, at Glitch, we’re doing something unprecedented in pushing for accountability and inclusion for a tech company: We’re making an open call for a board member for our company. It’s just one step toward ensuring that we build a lasting, successful business that does right by everyone we serve.

Now, if you like Glitch and just want to use it without thinking about the company behind it — great! Make awesome stuff, we’re glad to have you in the community. But many of you have told us you appreciate that we’re trying to ensure that Glitch isn’t just a company that makes an awesome product, but is thoughtful about being responsible to the communities we serve. And this is our next big step.

What we’re looking for

At Glitch, we’re a rapidly-growing, deeply innovative startup that serves an incredibly broad and brilliant community. Currently, our board consists of our co-founder and chair Joel Spolsky and me, Anil Dash, as CEO.

We’re looking to add at least one more voting board member, as well as potentially one or more non-voting board observers, with the goal of broadening corporate oversight and accountability, helping inform and shape company strategy, expanding the company’s network of relationships, and assisting in key tasks like high-level recruiting or partnerships.

Conventionally, these kinds of seats on a board of directors are apportioned through a closed private backchannel, or are simply negotiated by investors as part of the fundraising process. We think we have a chance to make a fundamentally more innovative strategy and a dramatically more inclusive company culture by making our call for board members as open as everything else we do at our organization.

Standard expectations for a board member include a deep familiarity with the communities, customers and audiences Glitch is looking to serve, experience growing and scaling a meaningful business, and the highest personal and ethical standards for a steward of our company.

That being said, we’re open to unconventional and unexpected candidates as well! This new board member does not necessarily have to have prior experience on the board of an early-stage startup, and naturally we want to explicitly welcome people who belong to underrepresented groups to nominate themselves.

We’re particularly interested in people who can complement or expand the skill sets that Joel and I are familiar with. If you’ve got deep experience with how to grow a high-scale B2B SaaS business, or a strong background in building large-scale creator communities, or fluency in how to build a world-class consumer brand in media and culture, or any other particular expertise that would take Glitch to the next level from a corporate standpoint, please do get in touch.

How the process will work

Reach out and send us a message to [email protected] to get in touch. Tell us a bit about yourself, and what things inspire you on the web or in your favorite creative community, and of course which parts of building a thriving, meaningful business are most compelling to you. And you can suggest others for the board — so don’t be shy about passing this call along, or even just letting us know about someone to contact.

Once you do, we’ll get in touch with you with any follow up questions and to schedule a call so we can get to know each other. (And just like everything we do at Glitch, everyone will get a response.)

What are the board’s responsibilities?

Obviously, the core responsibility of a board member is to ensure our business is run successfully, effectively and responsibly, and to encourage corporate accountability. You’ll be there to make sure we’re doing right by our community, our users and employees. Your responsibilities will include attending quarterly board meetings, typically in person in NYC, but remote can work as well. Naturally, we’ll cover expenses related to participating in any board responsibilities, and compensation for this role will be in the form of equity.

If you have special skills or qualifications that are pertinent to our work, we’re happy to accommodate those in your responsibilities as a board member, and we’ll work with you to strengthen any necessary skills as well.

We are excited to bring our company and our community to a new level by inviting a new board member to help guide our growth and evolution, and we can’t wait to welcome a new leader to our team.