Women in startups

I recently attended the StartUps 101 Women in StartUps talk hosted by the very charismatic Rosie Moth, co-founder of Telux.io. After discussing the definition of what a startup is “just having an idea doesn’t make you a startup!”, Rosie touched on some of the reasons why there is such a lack of women in startups. Although there are tonnes of opportunities to network and meet-up with fellow starter-uppers, it’s almost always over a beer and in a pub - and even if you’re able to get to them (which is nigh on impossible if you’ve got kids or family commitments), it can be tiresome and sometimes daunting being the only woman there. The advice Rosie gave was to create your own environments which relevant and where you’re at ease, and make it happen - like the StartUp Yoga sessions she runs.

It was great meeting so many interesting and skilled women, it was awesome that there were quite a few men present too - all of whom were eager to know what they could do to help balance things out gender wise. As much as this is a sweeping generalisation, women due to their natures can bring so much to the table, and it’s a shame that one of the reasons they don’t always feel they can, is due to confidence.

The definition of the word balance is ‘an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady’, startup life can be uncertain and full of challenges, having more females in startups could quite literally help with the balance. There were some incredible women at the event, all of which had skillsets and expertise that startups could be tapping into!

Saadia Choudry