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Where Are All the Kickass Women in Entrepreneurship?

March 10, 2009

When I tell people about this blog, they inevitabley know someone that they’d like to refer to me, which I take to be proof of how fantastically entrepreneurial we Americans (or young people? or Silicon Valley-ites?) are.

Nine times out of ten, that someone is a guy.

Granted, these guys have great stories, and diverse too, so I’d never want to turn them away. But, where are all the kickass women in entrepreneurship?

Carla Bruni, one of my fav un-PC, kickass woman artist-entrepreneurs.

Carla Bruni, one of my fav un-PC, kickass woman artist-entrepreneurs.

To clarify starting a home business selling Mary Kay is NOT entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is defined by risk-taking, unsensible fearlessness, and constant renewal.

Women, I’ve noted, are exceptionally risk-averse. They succeed in school because school rewards excellence in rule-following. They plateau in jobs because the work-world doles out the biggest rewards for calculated, but fearless, risk-taking.

I could go on about the dearth of women in grad schools, spending lots of money for a fancy hideout from the storms of worklife, or the number of women in their twenties who are still living off of their parents, or how many Ivy-educated girls are looking earnestly for a rich man to marry. But, that’s for another post.

For now, I just want to find awesome, kickass ladies who will make me shake in my boots, so I can tell their stories on this blog.

By the way, this is a challenge.

Bring it!

One Comment leave one →
  1. March 10, 2009 7:37 pm

    Hi Susan,

    Yes! Wonderful subject, and all-too-often overlooked. I can think of 2 awesome female entrepreneurs that you should talk to – Anu Shukla (seasoned, serial entrepreneur), and Danielle Cassley (young entrepreneur)

    Anu is the co-founder and CEO of OfferPal Media, a huge player in the web application monetization space (via Managed Offers). Check out her bio at and an interview with her at http://www.offerpalmedia.com/management-team.phphttp://www.worldsinmotion.biz/2009/02/interview_offerpal_medias_anu.php. She’s a total powerhouse building one of the most important back-end companies of the new web.

    Danielle Cassley is a recent Cal grad and programmer extraordinaire that is the brains and code behind Aurora Feint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_feint), one of the most popular iPhone apps and OpenFeint, which you can read about on TechCrunch http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/17/openfeint-a-plug-and-play-social-platform-for-iphone-games/. Danielle’s not famous yet because she is so humble, but she should be.

    Thanks again for the topic.

    Kjerstin

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