



Entrepreneurs Pledge to Safeguard Freedoms; Advance New Economy Jobs in America

As American entrepreneurs and business leaders, we believe that the historical commitment to civil liberties as set forth in the United States Constitution is a unique advantage for U.S. businesses — one that is inextricably linked with our global competitiveness and success. Any threat to fundamental civil liberties is bad for American business. It is incumbent on us as entrepreneurs, leaders, and patriotic Americans to speak up. We believe that the rights and liberties enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights are under threat and need to be safeguarded.

In Tech, we have an environment that celebrates the open exchange of ideas without regard to an individual’s background, religious practice, ethnicity or sexual orientation. This ethos has led to the creation of some of the world’s most admired brands — companies that have transformed the way in which the world lives, works, and communicates.

We are concerned about recent incidents of harassment in diverse communities that could lead to a brain drain of much needed talent.​ Rather than attract the best from throughout the world, we risk losing our edge. ​Whenever our employees and colleagues experience hostility and fear, we believe, as business leaders, we must support them, unconditionally.

There is a pragmatic reason for this support. Tech talent who are confident their government will guarantee their freedoms — and operate free of fear — are better enabled to create America’s future innovative products. Simply put, innovation in Tech thrives on trust and inclusiveness. We deeply cherish:

Open and trusted workplaces ​ where our talent shares ideas confidently

​ where our talent shares ideas confidently Our ability to attract the brightest talent ​from around the world to build success

​from around the world to build success An entrepreneurial ecosystem ​ where entrepreneurs for generations have mentored each other without regard to an individual’s background or beliefs

​ where entrepreneurs for generations have mentored each other without regard to an individual’s background or beliefs A track record of creating global enterprises​ using a model where our country has been a beacon of participatory government, the rule of law, and a fair, level playing field

We will work to maintain American leadership in our industry globally — with the guiding premise that any perception of the United States regressing on individual freedoms diminishes America’s brand.​ ​Moving forward, we, as leaders, identify three core tenets which will guide our actions:

Our Pledge:

We pledge to unconditionally protect our people from the erosion of their civil liberties, and to speak up and resist such attempts. We categorically refuse to contribute our skills or platforms to any effort that infringes on civil liberties by any government agency. We accept a responsibility to partner with communities where the effects of rapidly changing technologies have hurt our fellow Americans. As a business community that has built a formidable leadership and impact globally, it is our patriotic duty to find innovative ways to help create New Economy jobs throughout our country.

DISCLAIMER: The individuals listed below have endorsed in their personal capacity. They do not reflect the endorsement of any organization, corporation or entity to which they are affiliated. Titles and affiliations of each individual are provided for identification purposes only

We are proud to have 135+ dynamic tech leaders from across the United States as signatories to this pledge. This campaign is on-going:

Lend your name— if you would like to join fellow entrepreneurs, investors and leaders in signing the statement, please fill this form.

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Jennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing, Stanford GSB

Faruq Ahmad, Founding Partner, Palo Alto Capital Advisors

Shinya Akamine, General Partner, Core Ventures Group

George Arison, Founder & CEO, Shift

Paul Arnold, Founder & Partner, Switch Ventures

Ross Baird, CEO, Village Capital

Lindsay Baker, President, Comfy

Lalit Balchandani, Senior Director/EIR, Adobe

Chris Barbin, CEO, Appirio

Alex Bard, CEO, Campaign Monitor

John Battelle, CEO EIC, NewCo

Josh Becker, CEO, Lex Machina

Andrew Beebe, Managing Director, Obvious Ventures

Daniel Berkowitz, Former Senior Director of Corporate Communications, AppDynamics

Elana Berkowitz, Co-Founder, HelloVote

Mark Bernstein, CEO, Willpower Labs

Dolores Benardo, Leadership Development, Airbnb

Gina Bianchini, Founder & CEO, Mightybell

Benjamin Black, Co-founder, Akkadian Ventures

Eve Blossom, Founder & CEO, WE’VE

Catherine Bracy, Founder, Executive Director, TechEquity Collaborative

Sage Brennan, CEO & Co-founder, Cicerone Mobile

BC Broussard, Founder, Flying Cranes

Jorge Calderon, Founder and CEO, Eddily

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Founder, Joyus.com & theBoardlist

Robin Chase Co-founder, Zipcar and Veniam

Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director, Sapphire Ventures

Debra Cleaver, Founder & CEO, Vote.org

Georges Clement, Co-founder & President, JustFix.nyc

Kendall Collins, CMO, AppDynamics

Anil Dash, CEO, Fog Creek Software

Alex de Carvalho, Co-founder, Visual Storytelling Institute

Jim Delli Santi, CEO and Founder, JDS Consulting

Suzanne DiBianca, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce

Stephen Dinan, CEO, The Shift Network

Joanna Drake Earl, General Partner, Core Ventures Group

Derek Eder, Partner, DataMade

Althea Erickson, Global Policy Director, Etsy

Johannes Ernst, CEO, Indie Computing Group

Gwen Edwards, Angel Investor & Managing Director, Golden Seeds

Nick Ellis, CEO, HIRABL

Jeff Epstein, Operating Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Naomi Fine, President & CEO, Pro-Tec Data

Natalie Foster, Co-founder, Peers

Brittany Fuller, Founder & CEO, Roadmap

Jamie Gardner, Principal, Gardner Consulting

Christie George, Director at New Media Ventures

Jasvir Gill, CEO, AlertEnterprise

Josh Goldstein, CEO, Department of Better Technology

Bobby Goodlatte, Founder & CEO, OpenVote

Mike Gridley, Managing Director, Akkadian Ventures

Mamoon Hamid, Co-founder & General Partner, Social Capital

Julie Hanna, Chairwoman Kiva, Board Member Mozilla Corporation

Mar Hershenson, Managing Partner, Pear Ventures

Jodi Sherman Jahic, Managing Partner, Aligned Partners

Leila Janah, CEO & Founder, Sama and LXMI

Dean Jansen, Executive Director, Participatory Culture Foundation

Leslie Jump, Founder & CEO, Startup Angels

Sina Khanifar, CEO, RSRF

Kaval Kaur, CFO, AlertEnterprise

Michael Keating, Founder & CEO, Scoot

Shuja Keen, Managing Director, The Resource Group

Susan Kim, CEO, EatWith

Gary Kremen, Founder, Match.com & Clean Power Finance

Elena Kvochko, CIO, Group Security Function, Barclays

Aileen Lee, Founder, Cowboy Ventures

Cadir Lee, President, OhmConnect

Kathy Levinson, Founder, Lesbian Equity Fund

Ginger Lew, Managing Director, Cube Hydro Partners

Sheila Ellian Lewis, CEO & Navigator, Ashton212

Alex Lofton, Co-founder, Landed

Dave Lu, Co-founder and President, Pared

Jorn Lyseggen, Founder & CEO, Meltwater

Matt Mahan, Co-founder & CEO, Brigade

Jules Maltz, General Partner, IVP

Kanyi Maqubela, Partner, Collaborative Fund

Karla Martin, Business Development and Innovation, Shopkick

John-Paul Maxfield, Founder, Waste Farmers

Ross Mayfield, CEO, Pingpad

Loretta McCarthy, Founding Partner, Golden Seeds

Andrew McLaughlin, Chair, Access Now

Dave McClure, Founding Partner, 500 Startups

Sascha Meinrath, Director, X-Lab

Lenny Mendonca, Angel Investor, (Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Co.)

Chris Misner, Independent Advisor; former GM, Apple Online Store, APAC

Lisa Diaz Nash, Director, Atma Connect

Dan Neumann, Founder, Neumann Capital Management

Keith Nilsson, Managing Partner, Visionnaire Ventures

Mathieu Nouzareth, Co-founder & CEO, FreshPlanet

Amanda North, Founder & CEO, Artisan Connect

Mike Obrien, Co-founder, Appirio

Sara Olsen, Founding Partner, SVT Group

Jen Pahlka, Founder & Executive Director, Code for America

Stephanie Palmeri, Partner, SoftTech VC

Dan Parham, CEO, Head of Product, Neighborland

Nayan Patel, Founder & CEO, H2

Sunil Paul, Co-founder & CEO, Sidecar

Julie Pearl, Chair, Tracker Corp & CEO, Pearl Law Group

Sam Perry, President, Ascendance Ventures

Jesse Pickard, Co-founder & CEO, Elevate

Victoria Pettibone, Managing Director, Astia

Ramoa Pierson, CEO, Declara

Shelly Porges, Managing Director, Reservoir Q Global

Lauren Pufpaf, CMO & Founder, FEED.FM

Jesse Pujji, Co-founder and CEO, Ampush

G. Nagesh Rao, 2016 Eisenhower Fellow, Chief Technologist, SBA

Daniel Ramot, Co-founder & CEO, Via

Osman Rashid, Founder & CEO, Galxyz

Andrew Rasiej, Founder & CEO, Civic Hall

Nina Richardson, Independent Director, Silicon Labs

Adam Roberts, Founder & CEO, Camerarrific

Alec Ross, Author of The Industries of the Future

Greg Sands, Founder & Managing Director, Costanoa Venture Capital

Reshma Saujani, Founder & CEO, Girls Who Code

Max Schireson, Former CEO, MongoDB

Linda Segervall, Principal & Founder, Icon Branding

Premal Shah, Co-founder & President, Kiva.org

Radhika Shah, Co-President, Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs

Tina Sharkey, CEO, Brandless

Naveed Sherwani, Founder & CEO, PeerNova

Narinder Singh, Co-founder, Appirio

Savneet Singh, Co-founder and President, Gold Bullion International

Jeff Stanger, President, CDI Lab

Beth Ann Steinberg, Founder, Mensch Ventures

Lisa Stone, CEO & Co-founder, BlogHer

Mark Surman, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation

Dilawar Syed, President, Freshdesk

Steve Thommes, Founder & CEO, Rainbow

Tracey Turner, Founder & Chairman, Copia Global

Tanya Van Court, Founder & CEO, iSow

Sharon Vosmek, CEO, Astia

Charley Wang, Co-CEO, Josephine

Jeff Weitzman, Co-founder, Go Factory

Steve Westly, Managing Partner, The Westly Group

Bryan Whitaker, CIO, TargetSmart

Brooke Wurst, Founder & CEO, Remote Harbor