A pandemic, a pause, a pivot are three recent steps for what started as a local recruiting firm using tech to tackle diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Joshua Hunt's company has gone through several iterations. Still, through the past year's events, it has found a newly honed focus, helping companies in the hospitality industry make a more inclusive workplace via an AI platform. Already with a couple of big-name clients, the company has recently rebranded to Bolt to reflect those changes.
"My thing has always been to empower others to empower others, and that's one of our core principles," Hunt, co-founder and chief visionary officer at Bolt, told NTX Inno.
Hunt started what would become Bolt – ETA Talent — a recruiting firm focused on diversity – in 2018. As the company grew, he began hearing feedback from some of the talents he placed complaining of a lack of diversity and belonging. That led to Bolt ETA, which moved from placing talent to running engagement events to help companies put talk into action. It was gaining recognition with big-name clients like Microsoft. Then the pandemic hit. In-person events were put on hold. And so was Bolt ETA.
At that time, Hunter wanted a way to continue the mission of increasing diversity and inclusion, so he looked at ways to take the data it was getting from its previous in-person events and incorporate that into the new digital workforce.
"I was like, 'how can we quantify what we're doing with these corporations… how can we take the data from that event or create data around this event to show organizations that we're improving their corporation and saving money on their bottom line,'" Hunt said.
Now, like Bolt, the company calls itself a "culture-as-a-service" platform, taking the engagement practices it learned along the way and incorporating that into a tech tool for businesses – primarily focused on the hospitality industry. Using AI and machine learning, Bolt's platform integrates with the company's HR software to gauge employee's sense of often-overlooked things like voice, belonging, authenticity and connection. Leaders can then use that data to set and measure DEI goals and track initiative effectiveness and compare them to their industry peers. And going back to its roots as an events company, Bolt offers and implements engagement solutions for companies based on their metrics.
"If you don't have anything to measure and you don't know where you are, you're not going to move forward," Hunt said. "You're not going to know if you move, even if you did."
Already, it counts Makeready, the branding and operations company behind local hotels like the Adolphus, among its clients.
Hunt said, especially with the changing demands of a younger workforce, increasing diversity and inclusion is key to retaining talent. And to affect lasting change, Bolt operates on an annual subscription model.
"If you want to see radical change, we say, 'Hey, we're lifetime partners, this is like a safety protocol for you," Hunt said. "You don't say, 'Hey, I can go without my first aid kit this month… that doesn't happen."
So far, the eight-person team has been entirely bootstrapped. Hunt said in the near future, Bolt will soon be onboarding new clients. As it incorporates their feedback and feedback of the company's employees, he said it would likely expand into other industries shortly.
"What I tell people is you just got to start. You've got to start whatever it is that you feel like your purpose is, whatever your why is," Hunt said. "Follow that and keep that going. Things will come into play."
