When “Don’t Be Evil” Isn’t Good Enough: A Framework to Evaluate Your Next Opportunity in Social Impact Technology by Alicia Chen

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Translating Tech Skills into Social Impact: A Journey

Hi, there. I'm Alicia, co-founder and CTO of CoProcure, a marketplace for government purchasing. Today I am going to guide you on how my tech-based career began transforming into a robust source of social impact, underscored by the importance of technology in solving societal challenges, and helping you to evaluate such opportunities.

About Me: Who is Alicia?

I lead a somewhat busy life with two kids and a growing company which leaves mostly no time left for hobbies like rock climbing or knitting. I had commenced my career with the tech behemoth, Microsoft, where I learnt the basics of Software engineering, which lead me to join Dropbox, the first woman engineer, as a matter of fact, and was part of the journey as it grew from a 70 member team to a sturdy 2000.

Meaningful Impact through Tech

The career that I had commenced at the silicon valley, introduced me to the idea of impacting the world positively, where I started questioning, the true value I was creating for the world. This poked me towards thinking how we can disproportionately serve populations that are often overlooked by Silicon Valley.

On realizing the importance of such an Influence

Post Dropbox, I moved onto the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) where I discovered a lot about social impact. But realized that the solution to these problems would have been approached more efficiently as a tech startup would do, creating a series of feedback loops to work it out. Hence, I decided to focus my work towards technology, and aimed to refactor the key systems in our society which aren’t working well.

Navigating the Social Impact Tech Landscape

In the process, I tried to create a framework to evaluate opportunities in social impact based on a series of questions, which includes a true North Star mission, technology being the solution, funding sources and the cultural atmosphere.

Is the Mission a True North Star?

The true North Star is your mission which can often fail if it's purely for marketing purposes or if it changes over time affecting your org, or worst-case scenario if it fails to measure the impact it's casting on society.

Is Software the Solution?

Software isn't always the solution; it depends on the problem. If you are trying to change laws or policy, or get FDA approval, even the fastest software can't speed up these slow processes.

How is the Project Funded?

Non-profits, user-funded tech companies, governments, and volunteer organizations represent various funding models and each has its own unique set of challenges to tackle.

Cultural Suitability: A Must

Last but not least, before you join any organization, evaluate whether the organization culture aligns with you. The organization should have sound product and funding strategy, strong leaders, a talented team, and a really strong culture of its own.

CoProcure: Social Impact at its Core

Lastly, talking about my own startup, CoProcure, a mission-aligned tech startup, where we live our North Star mission every day. We aim to fight the inefficiencies in government protocol of a month-long procurement cycle for everything from printers to fighter jets. Our company focuses on creating a marketplace where all public contracts are on one platform easily searchable to all, thus making public procurement slightly easier.

My Takeaway

As a concluding note, building a career focused on social impact and technology is possible but needs patience and commitment. One might need to launch something independently to truly integrate these two aspects. Remember, be selective and thorough with your due diligence. Pursue something meaningful and impactful!

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