4 reasons why women shouldn’t just work in startups - they should run ‘em

by Startacus Admin

4 reasons why women shouldn’t just work in startups - they should run ‘em...

It’s International Womens Day tomorrow (on the date of publication that is) and apart from the paradox that is the fact that this post has been written by a male, we thought it an opportune time to give all our Startacus clan a quick reminder as to why the female of the species make good startup leaders.

And as much as possible, we are going to distance ourselves from the standard stereotypical reasons - that women are better multi-taskers, have more maturity, but can offer a bitchy edge to any office. This is a post offering up perspective and balance….well almost anyway. And as all my posts are edited by the female co-founder of Startacus, I’m sure that she will cut out any unnecessary gumpf anyway!

A new pair of eyes and perspective

Fancy that! Of course it’s all pretty obvious if you think about it, but if your Founder / CoFounder / startup management team are all male, don’t be surprised if the perspective that is offered on the big and small decisions are all male orientated. Of course, we appreciate that men do offer differing perspectives, but to harness the power of a female mind, is not just optional, it’s kind of necessary if you want to make the most of your entire potential customer audience and also make the most of those often sterile business meetings!

Woman are used to taking risks

Again, bordering on stereotypical we agree, but since historically, women (along with other discriminated against groups,)  have often been more ‘marginalised’ in society, they are in a sense used to having to take risks to get where they want to go or want to be. Admittedly, taking risks isn’t always a good thing - after all not all risk taking leads to success, however it’s fair to suggest that when starting a business you are likely to make big decisions and take risks on a regular basis.

Tradition matters

There is often a big debate that women often don’t get to the top because as the natural mother of the family they leave the business nest to help build their own. However, rather than see this as a threat - let’s embrace it! After all, each one of us (sorry if this comes as a shock!) was conceived by our mothers. If we can’t respect that this might mean that both men and women need valuable time off to look after our families, then what type of startups are we trying to build? Recognising this fact could not only help you start getting your business house in order, but could also potentially help you cope with future parenthood too!

Because Gender doesn't matter - they are at least 50% of the population after all

50% sounds about right (although we think it might be slightly more) but women do make up around 50% of the global population, so there’s no harm in making an aspiration that there should be more female business, startup and global leaders! In fact let’s change the world while we at it! Of course, with all you good folk, whatever creed, colour, age or sexual orientation, on board too!

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• #international womens day
• #mindset
• #
• #female

Published on: 7th March 2014