TechStars is opening in New York! A great, exciting locus of tech money, mentoring and talent for New York City as yet another indicator of its renaissance for the tech scene. It’s got a terrific, talented and innovative slate of advisors. I confess that I wasn’t expecting there to be a ton of women. But I also confess that I thought there’d be more than 2. From Guest of a Guest’s Chiara Atik:
For those that are counting (and I KNOW some of you are counting…), 2 of the 48 are women, but those who are looking to quickly remedy the “lack of women in tech” pandemic need only apply to the program to balance out the ratio!
After noticing that there were only 2 women, I noticed that I knew a LOT of the people. In one of my meetings yesterday my buddy recounted an anecdote, about a meeting he’d had with someone about being asked to help organize a conference, and looking at the slate of organizers/speakers and realizing he knew 90% of them. He said he told them, if I know 90% of them that means we all know 90% of each other, which means we’re limiting ourselves on who we bring in and what we cover. We can be smart and knowledgeable and helpful, but we won’t be surprising.
Just to be clear, there are so many amazing people on this list. We are friends with so many of them. This isn’t about playing tic-tac-toe with the people we think “deserve” or “don’t deserve” to be there. It’s not about individuals, it’s about how the little box of squares above is a stark indicator of a systemic, industry-wide issue: The male-female ratio is staggeringly out of whack, and no one ever seems to notice. If, as she wrote above, Atik knew we’d be counting, why didn’t the people running the program?
After the whole Arrington dust-up, where pointing out a stark 8:1 ratio somehow morphed into me personally accusing him of keeping women out of tech, I feel the need to be over-abundantly cautious and say: Just because I point out the ratio and agitate for this cause does not mean I am criticizing the organization or the people involved. TechStars has clearly sparked a ton of great innovation, fantastic entrepreneurs and a productive, close-knit community. If anything, it is a supreme compliment that women would look at that and think, I want in. Awareness is the first step. The second step is applying. So let’s all make sure we get the word out to the best people we can to apply, apply, apply.
Best people - wherever you are - step on up. And if you need help, drop a line.
