TheBridge profile: Ginny Fahs
Name: Ginny Fahs
Current city: San Francisco, CA
Current job: Co-Founder & Executive Director, #MovingForward
Past job: Software Engineer, Uber
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Blue Bottle
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. Working as a software engineer at Uber was an amazing technical education, and the technical skills I gained there have been invaluable at #MovingForward. Our founding team built venturemovingforward.org and our open-source directory ourselves. To this day, l manage and maintain all of the tech for our organization.
Q. Job advice in three words? Always be learning
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? #MovingForward applies the tech community’s open-source model to policy. We want corporate policy in startups and VC to be more transparent and accountable, and built an open-source tool that helps us get there.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? How to serve everyone. Tech companies focus on serving the people who can pay for their products, which means they don’t always prioritize initiatives that would be helpful for overlooked or disadvantaged populations.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? How to test hypotheses. The policymaking process is lengthy and policies are hard to roll back, which means they frequently come into being without being tested. Innovators always prototype, test, and adjust based on needs.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but can you describe a "day in the life" of your job? All of the emails. All of the calls. Lucky to get to work with inspiring people. Some heads-down writing or coding time on a good day.
Q. Best advice you’ve received? My favorite advice nugget comes from former U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith: “Go where you are rare.” So many governments, non-profits, and policy organizations have seats missing at their table and could benefit from technical perspectives. Those of us who can bridge the worlds of tech and policy need to show up in these spaces.
Q. Startup to watch? Elektra Labs - Healthtech startup that evaluates connected products so health organizations can implement trustworthy digital health tools and improve remote patient data collection
Q. Last time you were completely unplugged? I did a 10 day solo hike on the Camino de Santiago in Spain in November - magical.
Q. Morning routine? Morning is my best time (though my sister thinks I am “far too cheerful” in early hours). I typically wake up in the 5-6 range, sit in the sunlight and listen to the birds while drinking coffee and getting a head start on the day.
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