Meet the female tech pioneers – Page 3 of 4 – StartupSmart

Kate Kendall

Founder of The Fetch, an online guide to what’s happening in business, digital and creative communities across Sydney and Melbourne.

 

Kendall consults to start-ups and innovative businesses and is actively involved in the Socialmelb, Silicon Beach Melbourne and Women Hack communities.

 

Earlier this year she hosted an event called Founder Friday, aimed at Melbourne-based tech companies. Founder Friday is a networking event initiated by Women 2.0 and held in partnership with Startup Weekend.

 

How are women faring in the tech space?

There are definitely more women starting to enter the industry but it continues to be male dominated.

 

With the advent of social media we’ve seen this beautiful thing during the past few years where more and more women are embracing their geek side.

 

Tech used to be this socially awkward discipline that had nothing to do with communication. Now women are happy to say they love tech and many people who don’t really have a technical side but are interested in the web want to get involved in the industry.

 

Having said that I’m often still the only female at the events I go to and organise, and I know comparatively only a small number of women working on a tech start-up.

 

Why is it so heavily male dominated? 

 

It is largely due to their ability to code, build their own product and lead what is going on in the industry.

I did a calculation the other day and realised I only directly knew one female technical co-founder of a start-up.

 

That was Cathy Edwards – a Melburnian working in San Francisco on mobile application reviewer Chomp. Extra marks to her because she’s raised investment too.

 

While some women have shown interest in programming or know how to already there are still many more men. I saw a statistic recently highlighting the number of women doing computer science degrees hasn’t increased since the 70s.

 

So generally I believe the Zuckerbergs of the world do portray quite a realistic image of the sector but definitely not in the way that others will enjoy the type of success he has.

 

Of course investors craft the image of the sector. Investors tend to follow a certain formula when it comes to investing – they look for patterns.

 

The mindset is that young males with zero responsibilities and sound technical minds have produced good returns and the investors were often those guys first.

 

So it’s not as likely for them to change course and invest in say, a woman in her 40s with two kids and a mortgage.

 

But it’s not all bad news, the industry is changing and studies have shown start-ups with a female co-founder are commercially more viable than those without.

 

What needs to change? 

 

I think women are still hesitant to get into tech because they don’t think they can. Children grow up being fed certain societal norms and I believe that affects the perception of technical fields by women.

 

The common misconception is that females are better communicators and less competent at maths and science, which are required for technical fields.

 

Although I studied science in my undergraduate degree, no one at school ever suggested that I study computer science.

 

The lack of female role models in technology further perpetuates the cycle. I think the perception that tech is about dirty garages with pizza-eating coders working alone at 3am also puts women off.

 

In reality the average workspace is nothing like that and technology is a very collaborative industry. What women also don’t realise is how easy it is to work remotely as a developer, which is fantastic for mothers.

 

I believe things will change when women feel empowered to enter technical fields and understand the pathways to tech entrepreneurship more. The perception of tech needs to change and women doing great things in the field should be celebrated.

 

What challenges have you had to overcome?

The biggest challenge I’ve found is it’s harder to be listened to. Good is not good enough, you really need to be exceptional and persistent.

 

There’s a certain subconscious “bro culture” in the tech industry. I was at a meet-up last year when a guy said ‘Wow, you know what you’re talking about!’ as if it was a complete surprise to him.

 

So you really need to prove yourself over and over again. You need to find a way to get invited to those invite-only dinners and become a part of the conversation because a lot of what goes on is between “mates”.

 

I’ve also learnt to argue my point in the workplace more – you really need to sell your ideas or they’ll not get implemented. It’s tiring and frustrating when a new male comes along and is accepted straight away.

 

I believe the problems will be overcome when the ratio of men to women changes. When you’re different you’re riskier. When the balance is tipped the culture will change.

 

Do you think women are more inclined to start up in order to set their own rules?

 

I think women have been less inclined to start up so far. Quitting your job to work on a start-up can be risky and if you don’t have the finances, energy or freedom to do so it can be difficult.

 

More women tend to bootstrap projects in their spare time and see how it goes. Some women do pursue an entrepreneurship path though – many for the flexibility and to create their own environments.

 

What tips would you give women starting in the tech industry? 

 

Get out there and get among it. Start reading TechCrunch, Y Combinator’s Hacker News, Paul Graham’s essays and other tech sources. Follow successful entrepreneurs on Twitter and enmesh yourself in their worlds.

 

Head to some events and start meeting tech entrepreneurs in your area. If you’re in Melbourne or Sydney come along to Silicon Beach Drinks – an open social gathering of tech entrepreneurs.

 

Tinker with front-end programming languages like HTML and CSS and watch tutorials online.

 

Head to a co-working space, Startup Weekends or developer meet-ups to get a taste and be involved. Ask questions – many of the people there will find it refreshing and will take it as a compliment.

 

Build a support group of like-minded entrepreneurs and bounce ideas off them. If you’re serious about building a start-up try to find a co-founder to journey with you.

 

Check out the beginnings of the Women Hack community too. Most importantly, just start.