Why having a diverse team can be very beneficial to your startup

When you hire creatively and from distinctive groups of people with different skill sets it helps your startup grow while utilizing everyone to their full potential.

Because hiring well is so important to the success of any startup, we’re going to look at how to hire the best people for your new business.

Specifically, let’s focus on why having a diverse team can be very beneficial to your startup.

Hiring is easier

Hiring staff for your startup is on top of your list of important things to do. One way to make hiring easier is to hire diverse staff.

Consider this survey by Glassdoor that shows two-thirds of people surveyed value diversity when looking at a new place to work.


If you’re looking to hire the cream of the crop, meet their needs by hiring a diverse team. Consider staff from different backgrounds, various cultures and unique histories.

Remember that diversity means different things to different people. For example, Millennials view diversity as something much different than Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers.

The old definition of diversity meant race, color and gender. The Millennial definition means a blending of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. They see diversity as the basis for team collaboration.

Millennials highly value diversity, so if you’re looking at adding members of this group to your team, consider their diversity values very carefully.

Diversity drives innovation

When we talk about diversity here, we think about two areas – diversity traits that are inherent in your team, and diversity traits that are acquired through experience.

For example, hiring a team of people for your startup from different cultures certainly brings in both areas of diversity.

Why does diversity drive innovation? When diverse people are brought together to build a team, they have more creativity, more ideas and more unique experiences that can lead your startup to the top.

Churn rate is lower

If you’re looking to reduce the amount of team members leaving your startup, have a diverse team.

One study shows that a lack of diversity can decrease productivity and lead to high turnover.

Also, if your startup doesn’t include a diverse team, it can be hard to find a way for a new team member to fit in.

Be inclusive and foster an atmosphere of healthy diversity in your workplace to keep employee turnover low.

A diverse team is a group with a tight bond dedicated to seeing your startup succeed.

More people to choose from

There’s an American television series that features a law firm that only hires from Harvard.

Imagine how difficult it would be to limit your hiring pool in such a way. What if there just weren’t enough candidates you wanted to hire?

When you are dedicated to hiring a diverse team, you simply have more people to choose from.

You can look at men, women, older adults, younger adults, people from other countries, people from different ethnicities/ backgrounds, and even educational experiences.

Be the leader in your community and hire an exceptionally diverse team that will help your startup succeed.

Diversity increases creativity

A diverse team is beneficial to your startup because collectively they bring more new ideas to the table then they would if they all came from the same city, the same college, and the same background.

A diverse team is able to come to the table with unique ideas and creatively solve problems. This is a huge benefit for your startup.

A diverse team works to stimulate each other and propel team members to new ideas and perspectives.

Final thoughts

According to the Stanford Graduate School of Business, diversity is important in the business culture of today.

Businesses, and especially startups, must find answers to difficult and intricate questions. Startups are working to create a successful business model, and that takes talent.

Consider hiring a group of people with different backgrounds and personalities. Diversity doesn’t just mean age, race or gender. It means people with different ideas coming together for a common purpose.

We’ll leave you with one last note. Scientific American says that when we are around people who are different than us, we are more creative, diligent and hard-working.

So, when hiring your startup team, hire people with a diversity of experience and ideas for the best shot at success.

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