Today’s edition of links is all about women and entrepreneurship, one of my favorite topics:
- XX Combinator: Tereza Nemessanyi takes to the comments of A VC and suggests an XX Combinator program for women. Given that women presently represent less than 5% of seed/incubation programs, it’s a good suggestion, but Fred’s post teases out some of the finer points and offers a rallying point for interested entrepreneurs to jump in.
- Incubating Women Entrepreneurs: Audrey Watters from Read, Write Web moves the story a bit further and provides the helpful statistic that just 3% of Y Combinator participants have been women. She spotlights Women 2.0 Labs, which provides incubation services to both men and women, as well as a helpful Kauffman Institute study on the importance of mentoring in supporting female entrepreneurs.
- Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business): I somehow missed this post in February, but it ties nicely into the discussion about how merit based advancement is a critical factor in start-up success or failure.
- 5 Thoughts On The Gender Gap In Entrepreneurship: Tim Berry has the courage to come right out and say it – women are under-represented in high tech and start-ups, and have less opportunities for mentoring, funding and growth as a result.
- The Lack of Women in Tech: Brad Feld brings the discussion back full circle with more links to the subject and some comments on how recent research from the National Center for Women & Information Technology is driving current thinking.