Kate Pljaskovova, Fair HQ: “Making the world more inclusive, bit by bit”
Meet Kate Pljaskovova, CEO and Founder of Fair HQ
1. Describe your start-up in two sentences
Fair HQ is a B2B SaaS Diversity and Inclusion platform replacing expensive and ineffective D&I consultancies & trainings with a science and data driven approach.
2. What gave you the inspiration?
It’s a pretty personal story - I was pushed out of my own business by my co-founder who owned the majority of it. After this tough lesson, I decided to start a company to help women negotiate for their jobs, salaries, and promotions, fighting the gender pay gap. We ended up having massive clients such as Spotify, Deliveroo, PwC, etc. The problem was that we were trying to “fix the minority” (women) by teaching them to hack the system, while it would have been much more effective to fix the system (biases in company practices). So, when the pandemic hit, I decided to start working on the Fair HQ product, solving systemic inequalities in the workplace (and beyond) through technology & science.
3. How did you meet?
I don’t have co-founders, but I have an amazing founding team! It was pure luck - I met Bibi through my contact in the Behavioural Insights Team (Nudge Unit), and Tracy I just stalked on LinkedIn. I still cannot believe they said “yes” when I asked them to join.
4. What has been your greatest success to date? And your greatest challenge?
Greatest success - Our product works! It has improved D&I in companies that use Fair HQ. Just a couple of examples of success stories from our customers - 46% increase in women representation, 67% increase in ethnic minorities representation, and equalising inclusion experience for the LGBTQ+ community compared to their heterosexual peers.
Greatest challenge - Finding the people with a deep expertise in D&I and behavioural science. We made a couple of hires at the beginning that didn’t work out. We have developed a much more accurate way to assess people’s excitement and expertise in these areas.
5. How has Covid affected your business?
Fair HQ was only founded in 2020 so we don’t know, but the pandemic really emphasized social inequalities which put D&I on the top of employees and thus companies’ minds. The focus on actually achieving change and impact has strengthened even in the last 2 years. Examples of that are e.g. NASDAQ making it an obligation for all public companies to have at least two “diverse board members” or explain why they don’t with the timeline when they will achieve this requirement. There are also other tail winds - 75% of working population will be millennials by 2025 and this is the most “visually diverse” and multicultural generation of all. 88% of millennials require good levels of D&I in the company they’re working at or applying for a job.
6. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?
A spy at first, but that seemed a bit dangerous after some consideration. So, I later switched to wanting to become a diplomat. I did study diplomacy at Uni and had internships at WTO in Geneva and Czech Embassy in Israel. After my first-hand experience with diplomacy, I decided to stay in tech and change the world through that.
7. If you weren’t doing this, what would be your plan B?
I don’t have a plan B. I would be building something similar to Fair HQ.
8. What would you save in a fire?
My 7 month old baby.
9. Who is your role model/ greatest influence? And why?
I have so many! I will pick two. One would be my mom as she’s always challenging me to be better. I’ve also been reading an autobiography about Samantha Power - a war correspondent turned human rights activist turned US ambassador to UN. She’s super inspiring!
10. What is your happy track?
I had no idea as I listen to music 60-80% of my time awake. So I went to my Spotify statistics and apparently my favourite song is ‘Don’t you worry’ by Oh Wonder
11. What’s your motto?
We’ve developed our values super early on and we’re using them every day guiding our decision, focusing our attention and even when rating each others performance.
Back it up
Make it simple
Embrace the challenge
Care deeply
Inspire inclusion
12. What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Making the world more inclusive, bit by bit. This goes hand in hand with scaling Fair HQ. On a personal level - I cannot wait to see our baby boy walking.