Inaugural Indianapolis Tech Census Reveals Diversity as Top Priority

Powderkeg, a community-as-a-service platform for technology entrepreneurs, investors and professionals, today released the city’s first Indianapolis Tech Census Report, which contains findings on momentum, growth and challenges facing Indianapolis’ tech sector from a survey of nearly 400 members of the community.

Respondents identified diversity and equality as the social issue taking top priority. But on a scale of 1 to 10, respondents gave the tech community an average score of 4.4 for diversity and 6.3 for inclusivity, revealing that, while diversity is a priority, the Indy tech community has improvements to make in this arena.

“The silver lining in the RFRA debate is that it opened up an opportunity for Indy to take center stage by building tech companies and supporting not-for-profits that impact important social issues, like diversity,” said Josh Driver, survey respondent and founder, selfless.ly. “In order to do this we must further embrace an open and diverse tech community, which includes sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ability, age and socioeconomic status. The best way to start is by implementing diversity and inclusion policies in our tech companies now.”

Additional key findings from the report include:

  • In 2017, over a third of respondents (34 percent) saw revenue growth of more than 100 percent and 20 percent reported revenue growth in excess of 200 percent.
  • Marketing and sales SaaS company respondents had the highest 2017 revenue growth rate, with 56 percent of companies reporting annual revenue growth over 100 percent.
  • The majority of workforce respondents (63 percent) reported annual salaries in excess of $75,000.
  • Indy’s developers are young. Eighty percent of developers surveyed are 35 or younger, while a third of developers are 21-25 years old. The majority of developers have been members of the Indy tech community for five years or less.
  • A majority of entrepreneurial respondents (54 percent) are bootstrapping their tech companies and half (50 percent) struggled to raise capital in the state of Indiana.
  • Two-thirds of investor respondents believe there will be more tech investment opportunities in Central Indiana in the next 3 years and 83 percent plan to invest the same or more into local companies over this period.

Powderkeg’s Member Platform connects entrepreneurs outside of Silicon Valley and New York City, who have traditionally been at a competitive disadvantage because of resource scarcity and disconnected tech ecosystems. Last week, the company announced plans to expand its footprint in Indiana by creating at least 37 high-wage, local jobs by 2022, as well as expand into four additional cities in 2018, serving a total of 50 cities by the end of 2020. For more information on Powderkeg, upcoming events and findings from the census, visit Powderkeg.com.

About Powderkeg

With more than 10,000 active members in cities around the country, Powderkeg helps high-growth tech ventures connect with the resources they need to grow and scale in areas beyond Silicon Valley. The Powderkeg Member Platform connects tech professionals with a suite of resources to help them play smart, take the next step on their journey and make a bigger impact. For more information, visit Powderkeg.com.