“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” - Steve Jobs

The below questions may be the type of questions you receive from investors now or as your company matures. It is important that you are able to answer them (and it is fine to talk about your intent if you are still early stage).

Responsible product design

• What are the possible direct or indirect negative impacts or unintended consequences of your product on stakeholders (non-users, communities, cities, etc.)?
• What are the positive consequences you want to focus on?
• How does the company ensure the integrity of the product?
• Does your technology do anything else that your users don’t know about, or would feel upset if they find out about it?
• What are the possible product design risks? e.g., unintended consequences such as user addiction?
• How do you incorporate the impact of future business risks such as scarcity of resources, legal requirements, and environmental damage?
• When it comes to product/algorithm design, have you incorporated any ethical principles into your process? e.g., mental well-being of customers, bias mitigation.
• Do you have an ethics statement or responsible tech policy?
• Have you integrated inclusivity practices and accessibility standards into your product design?
• How will you ensure your technology is accessible to all people?
• How do you value the fairness of your pricing? Is there research to support this if questioned?
• Within your company, are there sufficient processes and tools built in to ensure meaningful transparency, auditability, reliability, and suitability of the product output?
• Who in your organization is responsible for any tech failures, and do you have procedures in place for redress?
• Do you have data sets to share with your customer base that evidence reasons for your product design choices?
• Will you have a process in place to ensure as your company grows to monitor and review your product design regularly? **