Startups & Networking in Boulder

Boulder is a super town if you are launching a start-up or are a networking fiend. BusinessWeek said we were a top location for startups! And I really think you could fill up your entire week with networking events: Flatirons professionals, Green Drinks, CleanTech, the list goes on and on. In other words, you are not alone if you are looking for that type of support. However, one way you may be alone is if you are a woman. You can’t really tell from this picture I snagged from the TechStars site but most of the mentors for small businesses are men. Now, I am not going to go down the road of explaining this away by trotting out  reasons of inequality (although, I’m sure that plays some part) but I’m wondering why men are more likely to be risk takers than women because really that’s what we are talking about here. Going your own way, taking a risk, forging ahead on your own, you can use any cliche you like.

I touched on this topic while having lunch with a business woman, who had owned her own business for 20 years or so and while this is not a definitive list, it’s a start. Most of these ideas are hers but they are taken from my memory so the errors are my own:

• Not natural risk-takers. I don’t know why but that has to be a contributing factor.

• We have to feel like we’re the experts on a topic before we feel comfortable taking or leading a project, which does not work in a new business environment. After all bringing a new service or product to the market means that we’re the experts; there’s no degree we can get in our new business.

• Getting bogged down in minutia. If the project is to do x, we have a tendency to think about p, q, r, s  and wonder if we can do all those but really the question is can we do x.

• Wanting to do it. Do we really want to do it, then we should do it. If we don’t, then don’t. Pretty simply and binary but it’s a question that needs to be answered.

I’m sure there are others and really a fair question would be to me, “well, why don’t you do it?” Good question. I don’t know yet. But there are people in the community making an effort to provide support to women-owned businesses. One of them is  called Startup Women (Boulder) organized by a great woman, Fiona Schlachter.

For me personally, I think I’d feel more comfortable going out on my own as part of a team, working collaboratively towards a common goal.  Because I don’t feel like an expert, having the option of bouncing ideas (and ultimately blaming) someone else  would provide one form of a sanity check, unless they’re nuts too.