Diversity can work in -- and for -- Silicon Valley

Walking into Walker and Co. is like visiting any other local start-up. Workers toil away on huge Apple iMac computers at a long desk, as music beams from the other room. The huge difference: a diverse staff.

Walker and Co. is led by African-American Tristan Walker, and his team is full of men and women of color, not the white and Asian men who dominate most start-ups and major companies here. "We have a good way of finding the best talent, and they just happen to be people of color and women," Walker says. Walker and Co. is building a line of personal care products for people of color, tapping a vast potential market around the globe. Its first product is Bevel, shaving gear aimed at men of color on a subscription basis, starting at $59.99. Walker says a diverse workforce helps his company reach a diverse consumer base, giving him the competitive advantage over major Silicon Valley technology companies that employ mostly white and Asian men.