This month our co-founder, Alessandra Knight, sat down with Nii Cleland of Flair to learn more about his vision, his company, and what’s happening at Flair. Nii and Alessandra originally connected on LinkedIn, and the two have crossed paths at a few events.
What does your company solve for?
We help organizations measure and demonstrate their progress in creating racially equitable cultures – our mission is to create a world in which all ethnicities can thrive. And we do so by employing data-driven solutions to measure, understand and advance racial equity.
What problem are you working on right now?
The biggest thing I’m working on now is replicating the founder sale approach within non-founders. For example, I’m working on getting non-founders like account executives to sell product in the same way that a founder might sell that product by training them on how a founder might speak about or talk through that product. It also involves hiring the right people for this type of work. It’s a bit of trial and error.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
I’ve got so much to do. There’s no time to rest, but it’s also the mission and vision of my company, creating a world where all ethnicities can thrive, that really propels me. We’ve got a lot to build and that excites me.
What’s one piece of advice you might offer to someone who is about to embark on starting a company?
I would say, make sure that your cofounder complements you. Wherever you may lack specific skill sets, find someone who can plug those gaps.
How does your team work i.e., hybrid, fully remote, in-person?
Our team is composed of 22 people, one of us are in France while others are in the UK, and we’re a remote first company, but we also offer a hybrid setting. Every worker has the option to work from a co-working space up to 5 times a month and we cover that.
Five years from now, what impact do you want to have made?
For my company, I’d like for our product to be one of the core ways organizations start to make progress towards racial equity. And personally, I’d like to have grown into the CEO role and become an established CEO, as opposed to someone in the very early days of learning to become a CEO.
