Coffee Meets Bagel co-founder Dawoon Kang has challenged Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s comments about the number of foreign CEOs in the world of tech.
In a conversation with Donald Trump on the Breitbart News Daily radio show last November, the controversial advisor and former Breitbart editor said: “When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think… A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”
And in a new video produced by Quartz, Kang takes task with this sentiment, speaking about why she believes diversity is important, both in a company and for building great product.
Kang says: “What is the connection between being a civic society versus having too many – which wasn’t even true, factually – too many Asian founders? Really there is no connection whatsoever.
“The reason why it’s so important for Silicon Valley to have this diverse representation, is because we actually service people in a global manner.
“But when you don’t understand what your customers want, and what their lifestyle is like and what their preferences are like, when you don’t have the ability as a company to put yourself in their shoes, then you’re not going to be able to produce a great product.”
Check out the video over at Quartz here.