White, old man offers tech panel seat to anyone who isn't white, old man

Ever since Facebook was a mere twinkle in Mark Zuckberg's eye, all-white, all-male panels at startup conferences have been the deplorable status quo.

On Monday morning, Alan Jones, startup evangelist at the Sydney accelerator BlueChilli, was set to speak on a fintech panel at the CeBIT technology conference in Sydney. That was until he checked out his co-panellists. Their blinding similarity — old, male, white — was dismaying, so he put out the call on Twitter to find himself a more diverse replacement.

Speaking with Mashable Australia before the panel, Jones, who hadn't yet found a stand-in, said the situation was very familiar and very disappointing. Read more...