Beyond Words | Glowforge

There is a general acknowledgment that systemic racism has yet to be properly addressed. A cultural shift in how we address race is overdue.

Institutions across the country are making public statements to do better, but we need to move the conversation Beyond Words.

Join us on Thursday, September 3rd at 11:30 am, for a “town-hall” style discussion with Dan Shapiro, CEO, and Cofounder at Glowforge. 

Glowforge's Stance on Injustice:

"We founded our company to bring about a world where anyone can print anything. And we realized from the very start that if we didn’t build a company that looked like our customers, we’d fail. Here are the two big reasons why: 1) We aspire to serve everyone, but we can’t unless we represent everyone.  2) Talent is evenly distributed, but tech recruiting is broken.  We operate within systems of oppression. We believe that by creating a company that struggles against them, one that strives to do better, we can create a role model for others in our field. That means not just financial successes that rewards its employees, but a place where amazing people can do wonderful things while taking care of each other."

Read the full statement on injustice here.

About the Guest: 

Dan Shapiro is the CEO and cofounder of Glowforge, the iconic 3D laser printer. Starting with the biggest 30-day crowdfunding campaign on record, designers have now used their Glowforge printers to create millions of products like wallets, lamps, and furniture. Dan is also the author of Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook, published by O'Reilly, and creator of Robot Turtles, the bestselling board game in Kickstarter history. He’s previously served as CEO of Google Comparison Inc, Founder and CEO of Sparkbuy (acquired by Google), and founder and CEO of Photobucket Inc. He has been featured on NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and on the front page of the New York Times. 

Dan will answer questions from the community and discuss steps he and Glowforge are taking to address the systems of racial injustice and discrimination

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Upon registering for the event, you will be given the opportunity to submit your own question and indicate whether you would like to ask your question yourself or remain anonymous or have someone ask your question for you.

How the town hall works:

• Event attendees will be able to submit questions for the speaker at registration and indicate if they would like to ask the question themselves or not. Priority will be given to those asking the question themselves.
• 30 minutes before the event starts (11:30am), event attendees can join to hear a local community leader talk about the work they are doing to fight discrimination and how you can get involved.  You will also have the opportunity to vote on the first 10 unique questions submitted at registration by attendees.
• During the event, the speaker will be asked 5 questions - 2 from the YP Media events team and 3 from the questions voted on by participants – either by us or the attendee who submitted the question.
• We encourage any additional comments or questions during the event. But please do so in the chat, as we will deliver them to the speaker after the event.
• Speaker is committing to a follow-up response to the chat commentary (within a week) to ensure the voice of the community is heard.