✅ Building a Fairer and Safer Tech Industry

The Allyance newsletter provides references on recruitment, diversity and inclusion.

Jan 13, 2026

Good morning readers and Happy New Year !

As we step into this new year, we want to wish a year filled with connection, courage, and progress. In times when diversity and inclusion initiatives face increasing skepticism and even pushback, our collective commitment matters more than ever.

Behind every HR policy and every hiring decision lies a simple truth: inclusion is not a trend but a responsibility. It’s about giving talent, wherever it comes from, a chance to shine and contribute.

In 2026, let’s continue to reach out and collaborate with those who believe that technology becomes stronger when it welcomes every voice.

Together, we can turn ideals into impact and The Allyance team is 100% up for it !

The Allyance team : Cyrielle, Caroline, Morgane, Léa and Alexandre (Nina, Ian and Tanguy could not be there).

✅ The Allyance newsletter provides many useful references on recruitment, diversity and inclusion. Here are some articles about hiring your first Sales, transphobia, MeToo in the French tech scene and AI.

😎 Hiring a first sales in Tech

We keep on opening our blog to experts to move the needle towards more inclusion. Today, Quentin Sinig, Go-To-Market Lead at Pruna AI, unpacks valuable processes, data and results about his experience while hiring the first Sales at a deep tech company.

The article stresses the importance of looking beyond big-brand logos to assess whether candidates truly understand your audience, can adapt quickly, and thrive with incomplete information. Quentin advocates for practical tools like realistic role-plays, clear compensation logic and transparent variable packages to build both trust and performance.

A dedicated section highlights that women tend to self-promote less. Yet, data shows they often outperform men in sales, which makes a strong case for deliberately including more women in the pipeline and partnering with specialized networks.

The piece also shows, through Pruna AI’s hiring metrics, how long and selective a thoughtful process can be, especially when diversity is actively nurtured at each stage.

The entire process took 63 days from start to finish. The fastest process, from first contact to offer, took 11 days.
Out of 32 total applicants, 1/3 were women, and female representation reached 60% percent in the later stages of the pipeline.

Explore Quentin's tips

🏳️‍⚧️ Scientific transphobia

The blog post from River Champeimont challenges a common pseudo-rational argument that dismisses gender as “subjective” and therefore less real or less relevant than biological sex, especially among some people in hard sciences who distrust social science.

It shows that gender is a robust human experience, evidenced across many cultures and eras by people who were ready to endure stigma, loss of status and even violence to live as another gender. River connects this to colonial history, explaining how Western powers violently imposed the idea that sex must equal gender on societies that already recognized more complex gender realities.

Through a personal narrative of transition, River illustrates how deeply gender identity is felt from childhood onwards, and how living as the assigned sex can feel like psychological torture.

But in fact, gender is surprisingly real. I would have doubted it myself, and I used to believe in the trans-skeptic logic above, but by coming to terms with the fact that I’m trans, I realized I was entirely wrong.

Read River's blog post

⚠️ Avertissement : viol et agressions sexuelles dans le prochain article. ⚠️

Me Too dans la Tech : l’enquête de Quartier Général

La tech n’est pas une industrie irréprochable et l’enquête de Quartier Général nous le rappelle. L’article de Louison Lecourt met en lumière une enquête policière menée suite à une plainte pour viol contre Jean de la Rochebrochard. Depuis 2015, ce dernier est le managing partner de Kima Ventures, le fonds d’investissement de Xavier Niel, la 7ème plus grande fortune de France. C’est l’un des fonds français les plus actifs dans le domaine.

Cet article a été très relayé par des entrepreneuses de la tech. Il est essentiel que ces faits soient connus afin que la sphère professionnelle (re)devienne un lieu où les agressions n’ont pas leur place.

« Il se démerde pour isoler les femmes dans sa chambre et ensuite il leur met la pression » affirme Mathias* , véritable célébrité dans le monde entrepreneurial depuis une dizaine d’années. Il poursuit : « J’en avais parlé sur les réseaux sociaux, sans mentionner son nom, mais pour alerter sur sa manière d’agir. »

Lire l'enquête

🧠 Formes de l’intelligence - Collège de France

Si vous cherchez un moyen de développer votre compréhension de l'intelligence artificielle, je vous recommande les vidéos du Collège de France suite à son colloque "Formes d'intelligence", organisé en octobre 2025. Je recommande particulièrement :

Une vision collectiviste et économique de l'IA de Michael I. Jordan
IA et culture : « je t’aime, moi non plus… » d’Alexandra Bensamoun
Mystères mathématiques d’intelligences pas si artificielles de Stéphane Mallat
Comment l’IA transforme le droit et la justice de Benoît Frydman
L'IA, entre technologie intellectuelle et déraison computationnelle d'Anne Alombert (ma préférée!)

📺 L'ensemble des 18 conférences sont disponibles en vidéo sur la chaîne du Collège de France :

Regarder les conférences

🔦 The Allyance’s 5th birthday

On November 28th 2025, we celebrated The Allyance’s 5th birthday with clients, partners, candidates and people who support our work !

This evening was very special as several children were able to attend as well as The Allyance’s team and a big announcement was made. Only the people who were there know about it. Stay tuned!