A few years ago I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a major in English Lit. When I tell people I now work in the tech industry (and have started several successful businesses since graduation), they’re often flabbergasted.
Earlier this morning a fellow female entrepreneur asked me if women in technology have “brains that are wired differently.” The short answer is of course, “no.” Anyone can be involved in technology and you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t at least curious about how to get started.
One of the projects with which I’m currently involved is Boulder, Colorado-based TechStars. In brief, TechStars supports young entrepreneurs with stellar ideas by providing up to $15,000 in funding, a summer’s worth of mentoring, and countless networking opportunities. Last year more than 300 companies applied. Only 7 of those companies had a woman involved. Fewer than 2 percent of any of the applications included a woman. None of the TechStars teams had a female on board.*
This year, we aim to change all that.
We’re looking for super-star women entrepreneurs in the tech industry. The application process is quick and dirty. It goes like this: you tell us how you and your company could use $15,000 in funding, and how you’re going to rock the tech world. The application deadline is March 31. Apply by March 3 and you’ll be invited to participate in “TechStars for a Day,” a one-day mini-camp for applicants. If we choose you, you get to spend the summer doing work you’re passionate about, meeting other entrepreneurs and tech types, and earning funding to keep on building.
Bonus: you get to say you’re one of the first female TechStars. And them’s bragging rights.
*(NCWIT CEO and Co-founder Lucy Sanders is one of several female mentors involved with TechStars).
Gwen Bell is a writer, technologist, entrepreneur, and world traveler. She also likes cupcakes. Find her at gwenbell.com.
