There are lots and lots and LOTS of female entrepreneurs who start all kinds of business. I know - I searched aggressively for women entrepreneurs to see if I could find any who met my criteria, so I could invite them to speak at my conference.
Many women innovate in fields they're interested in, including physical goods manufacture. Many women start social-oriented web sites (not nec. products). Incredible amounts of women are freelancers, consultants, coaches, trainers, writers, etc.
There are hundreds of thousands of western, middle-class women who work as much if not more than the mythical "startup founder" -- on other business endeavors.
This pretty much invalidates the "women don't want to start companies" and "women don't want to work much" theories.
The question is, why don't they do product businesses?
I have a "tech startup." This time a year ago, it was bringing in $3k a month. Now it's $15k. By the end of the next 12 mos, it'll be earning nearly half a million dollars a year. I'm not living off ramen and working 90 hour weeks - to the contrary, I spend maybe 20% time on the app and my husband & I have apartments in Vienna, Austria and Philadelphia, NYC, and a really nice car ;)
That's why I'm trying to bring the products gospel to people (including women) who would otherwise stay employed or start consulting businesses.
I think that women, on average, are more interested in different fields than men. But products cut across all fields.
PS - And before you ask - no, my husband is not a breadwinner. He and I both quit consulting to work on our apps & products. The money ideas are almost always mine.)
I do complain about working too much on Twitter, but that's because I've had a low-grade chronic illness for the past 1.5 yrs and it's got me down. I probably work about 30-40 hours a week average. Sometimes it's 50, and sometimes it's 10.
Many women innovate in fields they're interested in, including physical goods manufacture. Many women start social-oriented web sites (not nec. products). Incredible amounts of women are freelancers, consultants, coaches, trainers, writers, etc.
There are hundreds of thousands of western, middle-class women who work as much if not more than the mythical "startup founder" -- on other business endeavors.
This pretty much invalidates the "women don't want to start companies" and "women don't want to work much" theories.
The question is, why don't they do product businesses?
I have a "tech startup." This time a year ago, it was bringing in $3k a month. Now it's $15k. By the end of the next 12 mos, it'll be earning nearly half a million dollars a year. I'm not living off ramen and working 90 hour weeks - to the contrary, I spend maybe 20% time on the app and my husband & I have apartments in Vienna, Austria and Philadelphia, NYC, and a really nice car ;)
That's why I'm trying to bring the products gospel to people (including women) who would otherwise stay employed or start consulting businesses.
I think that women, on average, are more interested in different fields than men. But products cut across all fields.
PS - And before you ask - no, my husband is not a breadwinner. He and I both quit consulting to work on our apps & products. The money ideas are almost always mine.)
I do complain about working too much on Twitter, but that's because I've had a low-grade chronic illness for the past 1.5 yrs and it's got me down. I probably work about 30-40 hours a week average. Sometimes it's 50, and sometimes it's 10.