Michael Arrington ignited a firestorm last week when he posted an article to TechCrunch titled “Too Few Women in Tech? Don’t Blame the Men.”

“The problem isn’t that Silicon Valley is keeping women down, or not doing enough to encourage female entrepreneurs,” wrote Arrington. “The opposite is true. No, the problem is that not enough women want to become entrepreneurs.”

Arrington singled out New York media critic Rachel Sklar – who’d pointed the finger at TechCrunch in a quote for a recent Wall Street Journal article – and said that “ there are women like Sklar who complain about how there are too few women in tech, and then there are women just who go out and start companies.”

Sklar responded to Arrington via Twitter: “ Thanks for making this a topic of conversation.”

It's not a new topic of conversation, but Arrington's rant lent legitimacy to a broadly held perspective on it that's been stifled in a journalistic climate of forever political correctness. So now we can have a conversation.

As I’ve gotten older and a bit more experienced, I’ve more clearly seen the need for this conversation, and I’ve come to appreciate it. Men have thousands of business role models to choose from – not just in the Internet age, but in the past several thousand years of history -- thousands of career paths and personalities to pore over and pick and choose from, to get some sense, some little glimmer, of how this is supposed to be done. Of how people like me can do this. 

For women, especially in tech, that pool is vastly smaller. In many other previously male-dominated fields – medicine, entertainment, journalism -- young women today have as many same-sex role models as the men. In tech, we still don’t. When I encounter a woman I find relatable succeeding in tech, I hunt her down and I interrogate her. I’m desperate for examples of how to do this, how to carve out a path for myself in this world as myself, not as some chick trying to masquerade as “one of the boys.”

And I guess that’s why I’m not really Camp Arrington anymore. Today, I know there’s value in creating awareness around the issue; there’s value in discussing the obstacles and the solutions, and there’s value in actively supporting and connecting women in this space, in fighting to create those role models and then to create visibility around them. I know because now I need that and I can't find enough of it. I no longer see it as whining but as action toward an important goal. I see that there is power in that.  

This issue is a lot bigger than I am, so I reached out to both men and women in all facets of the Seattle tech world. I asked them why they thought there were so few women in tech and whose responsibility it was to change this. I asked them about their personal experiences with the gender divide in tech. 

“Women need to step forward, speak out, and look out after themselves and their careers - in many of the same ways men do,” says Monica Harrington, CMO at Intersect. “And men need to be more self-aware about when they're creating a culture that favors men unfairly.”

Harrington referenced her days at Microsoft, when her male colleagues played basketball early in the morning with the senior execs. “They’d start meetings with those same execs by recounting glory moments from those early morning sessions,” she says. “The overt bonding display put me and other women at a disadvantage. When I called out a very senior exec on that issue, he told me he thought I was making something out of nothing. He was a smart guy, but when it came to developing and supporting strong women, he was an idiot. ”

Sharon Bjeletich, a former Program Manager at Microsoft, brought up a similar issue.

“When I worked at Microsoft, people would say that women were too timid in meetings. I always wanted to do training for the upper management where a man came into a meeting room full of women, who were all talking about sewing and cooking, or something traditionally female. When the man talked, they would ignore him and then continue their conversation. They would very quickly and empirically understand why women tend to be quiet in meetings. You are always more timid when you are the minority and there is no effort made to include you.”

Peter Chee, founder of Thinkspace, says that “if a woman wants to be an entrepreneur, then go be one. I don’t go out seeking men who are entrepreneurs, I go out and seek other successful entrepreneurs regardless of gender.”

But are women at a natural disadvantage as entrepreneurs? Tac Anderson, VP of Digital Strategies at Waggener Edstrom, says that “generally speaking, men are naturally more aggressive risk-takers than women. If things aren't working out at a big company the way a guy wants it, men are more likely to leave and join another company or start his own thing. If things aren't working out the way a women wants it, she'll stick around and work to fix it … I don’t think men are the solution here. We have a very specific way of approaching startups, and it’s wrong to assume women should approach startups the same way.”

Dave Schappell, founder of TeachStreet, echoes a lot of the opinions I heard on the reason we don’t have more women as founders. “It’s a case of starter pools,” he says.

Marina Martin, a business consultant, agrees with Schappell. “If you really want to see more uteri in tech, grab your nearest 3-year-old girl and make damn sure she’s around computers all the time.”

Martin adds that “most women who consider themselves ‘in tech’ can’t Hello World themselves out of a paper bag. If they can’t motivate themselves to crack an O’Reilly book, how can anyone consider them role models?”

This response was interesting, I thought, when juxtaposed with the response I got from Nancy Xiao, a recent high-school grad and TeachStreet intern. “I’ve come to realize one of my bigger challenges is not having a technical background,” she says. “Just because a woman doesn’t speak Ruby doesn’t mean she’s incapable.”

Are we subtly discouraging women from working in tech because they don’t have technical backgrounds? Is Martin’s outspoken disavowal of the non-coder folks in tech industries evidence of a quieter and more pervasive discrimination?

Hillel Cooperman, co-founder of Jackson Fish Market, sent what was to me the most powerful of all the responses I read. (He sent it after first referring my question set to his female co-founder – I wrote back that I wanted to hear male opinions as well.)

“The single most important thing you can do to increase the number of women in leadership roles in tech is to put women in those positions,” he said. “Doing is all that matters. Women in leadership positions beget additional women in leadership positions. They serve as role models for women, and more importantly for the broader organization and its partners.”

We are excited to announce we are launching our new job board today!  While there are plenty of job boards out there, if you are looking for a local tech job, particularly at a startup, you have to weed through a lot of irrelevant posts.  Seattle 2.0’s job board focuses exclusively on jobs at startups and technology companies in the Seattle metro area.  There is an extra benefit for employers and recruiters as well.  People who read Seattle 2.0 love technology and have an entrepreneurial spirit, so employers can reach a higher percentage of qualified applicants.

We’ve also teamed up with local startup InternMatch to include internships at tech startup companies.  So if you are interested in startups, whether it’s at the entry level or the executive level you can find it on the job board.

Job seekers and people keeping their options open can find the latest jobs at www.seattle20.com/jobs, on our brand new twitter feed @seattle20jobs, by subscribing to our jobs RSS feed, in our daily email or in our weekly jobs post here on Seattle20.com.

Employers and recruiters will be able to get their posting in front of tens of thousands of local tech savvy readers either through a standard or premium posting. Job posts for non-profits are free and a 30-day posting for a startup is just $55, while general tech companies pay $85.  We also offer a lead guarantee.  If you don’t get at least two leads from your post on Seattle 2.0 we will extend the post another 30 days for free.

But that’s not all, we also have a category for “Co-founders”, which is free. If you are looking for a co-founder match to get your startup off the ground, you can use the job board at no charge.  We believe this is a long term investment in the startup community.

Looking for a job or looking for your next hire?  Check out the new Seattle 2.0 Job Board.  We’re still in beta so we would appreciate your feedback to make this new board better!  Please email us at editors-at-seattle20-dot-com.

5. Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Assuming that you have hired a team of talented people, then let them shine. The more space and freedom that brilliant people have to be brilliant, the more great ideas and innovations they will come up with. The juicer the creative process is, the better. By creating an environment where there REALLY is no such thing as a bad idea, you will find yourself with many great ideas to pick and choose from, and that’s good. Reward creativity.

6. Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

This is obvious, right? We all work better when we’re working as part of a team that listens, understand, embraces and encourages each other. Sure, it sounds like the opposite of the radical self-reliance thing, but it isn’t. Because when you have a team of people who are each taking responsibility for their own actions, it builds the foundation for everyone else to have what they need to do the best job they can do. Assuming all your parts work together, that’s vital. Now, it’s time to work together, make sure your parts function with the other parts, and that you are all supporting each other. It only takes one jackass with a pickaxe to sink a wooden ship, but it takes a team to keep it sailing on course.

7. Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants.

Everything you do will impact somebody else. Be sure you take that into account when you make a decision. Whether it is hitting a deadline or changing a product design, be conscientious about the impact on others.

8. Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Although this one is an environmental thing in the Burning Man credo, it has other applications as well. Yes, please take the planet into consideration as you make business decisions. But also consider the other environments in which your actions will resonate. Are you sending a positive message to consumers? Are you creating an environment in which employees are encouraged and happy and healthy? What is the impact that you are leaving on the world around you? (Sometimes, I like to imagine what would be said at my funeral if I were to die, today….  You could do the same with your business, what would people say if you shuttered the shop today. If the answer is “thank god,” then you’re doing something wrong. )

9. Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation.

If there are people on your team who are not participating and contributing, ask yourself why. Are they redundant? Do they not have the tools they need? Are their responsibilities not clearly defined? It matters.  Figure it out. All hands on deck at all times. If you don't need the hands, then get them off the deck.

10. Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers.

Be in the moment. Your market is constantly changing. Your people are constantly changing. Opportunities come and go, sometimes before we can even notice them because we are so focused on what we think we should be doing. Especially in the software and technology game.  You have to pay attention to subtle changes in the market, and respond, immediately. It’s okay to change your plans, to pivot. It’s less okay to fail because you couldn’t change.

And lastly, though it’s not in the Burning Man manifesto, HAVE FUN. Seriously, if you wake up every day dreading what you know is ahead of you, then change it. Life is too short to spend any of it sucking. Sure, there will always be crunch times and obstacles, but, on a very deep level, if you don’t feel good about who you are and what you are doing, then change it. Nothing is etched in stone. It is entirely up to you to create the life and self that you want. No excuses.

We'd like to thank our sponsors who support the Seattle 2.0 and, like us, are passionate about tech startups and want to make Seattle an even better place for them.

Fenwick West LLP

Emerging technology companies partner with Fenwick & West for a broad range of services, through all stages of growth. We represent venture-backed private companies from formation and initial funding through IPOs and mergers. Through 30 years of partnering with leading technology start-up companies, we have obtained a deep understanding of how companies are formed, financed, grown and taken public or merged and earned the role of key trusted advisor. Fenwick is ranked by Dow Jones as the fourth most active U.S. law firm in helping IT clients raise venture capital and by MergerMarket and as one of the top five technology M&A practices in the U.S.

Garvey Schubert Barer

Garvey Schubert Barer represents emerging companies at every stage of development and across industry sectors, including software, hardware and peripherals, computer gaming, medical devices and clean technology. Our emerging company clients find that Garvey Schubert Barer differentiates itself from larger competitors by providing a steadfast, accountable and experienced corporate counsel to serve as a single point of contact for virtually all their legal needs. We offer a unique value proposition while maintaining a full-service platform which provides access to lawyers practicing in specialized legal areas such as labor and employment, executive compensation, real estate, intellectual property, technology licensing, and tax.

TechStars Seattle

TechStars is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment program. We run a three month long program in Boston (MA), Boulder (CO), and Seattle (WA) once each year. We’re very selective – hundreds of companies apply and we only take about ten companies per city. These companies get up to $18,000 in seed funding, three months of intensive top-notch mentorship, and the chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists at the end of the program.

Freelock Computing

Freelock Computing believes changes are the status quo. Nothing stays the same for very long. Every day your site sits on a development server is another day it's not bringing in new business. Our motto: Launch early, change frequently. If you're looking for a long-term development partner for your web porject we can help.

Want to become a sponsor of Seattle 2.0? Learn more

Business advice is like cell phone service:you can get it virtually anywhere and at anytime — except at the exact time and place where you truly need it.  That, and it’s getting cheaper every day.

By the time you finish reading this, odds are a half-dozen tips-n-tricks, how-to’s, or top-five lists will have been published to your favorite blog or online business  journal, each telling you exactly what you need to do—and in what order—to ensure that your company comes out on top.

This is not one of those articles.

Instead, this is a simple list of three things you can do today to save yourself the agony, heartache, lost sleep, and stupid arguments with your significant other that will inevitably come about as a result of you spending every waking moment trying to make a go of your fledgling start-up.  Do these three things and you can kill your company quickly, freeing you to move on to other more productive, 9-to-5-ish, less insane endeavors.

Step 1: Don’t Worry About How You’ll Make Money

Come on, face it.  All of the really cool companies out there didn’t know how they were going to make money when they first started.  You’re young.  You’re hip.  You wear Out Of Print tees to your co-working office space.  Why should you worry about making money either?  The real value is in the eyeballs, man.

Forget for a moment the simple fact that statistically speaking you have a greater chance of contracting—and dying from—the bubonic plague than you do of founding the next Facebook, Twitter, or other hot Web 2.0 start-up.   Revenue is for sissies.  It’s for those strange little companies who’s name no one can remember and who never, ever make the homepage of TechCrunch.

If you want your company to die quickly, don’t ask yourself on day one of your start-up: what can we sell, will people buy it, and how much can we charge for it?  Leave that to someone else.

Step 2: Chase Your Competition Relentlessly

There is no drama quite like melodrama.  And nothing creates melodrama more quickly than picking a competitor and publicly, if not aggressively, pursuing them in every endeavor.

When your competition goes left, you go left.  But more left.  And with more bravado. 

When your primary competitor announces a new feature, you announce two new  features of your own.  And ensure that the marketing material you put out mentions in bold type that these features are made possible by the heavy use of AJAX, or tableless databases, or some other technology that is so new that only you, your lead developer, and the technology’s inventor even know about it.

Don’t worry about being different.  Being different is for losers (remember high-school).  Be better.  Be faster.  And by all means, be cheaper.

With this laser-like focus on your competition you won’t have to worry about what the market actually wants from your company.  You’ll have a big target  that you can throw all of your development and marketing resources at.  You’ll create a sense of excitement in the marketplace; the kind that hasn’t been seen since the Browser-Wars of the late ‘90’s.  You and your competition will burn through piles of cash in a death-race to the bottom.   With any luck at all your company will be dead before they start writing about you in the papers.

Step 3: Never Talk to Customers.

Customers are idiots. 

All of them.

They don’t know what they want.  They don’t know how to describe it.  And when you build it for them, they complain constantly that you didn’t do it right.  As if that weren’t enough, when you finally do build something that they seem to like, they nag you constantly to add more features to the product to make it easier to use, or to integrate it with some other useless system. 

You know this business better than any customer ever could.  You’ve spent years in the industry.  Or maybe a few months.  Or perhaps you just talked about it with a friend over beers and thought, after the third round, that it would be a great idea to start a business around this idea—because every other company that’s in the space is completely missing the point.

If you follow only one piece of advice, follow this one:  ignore your customers and your business will die quicker than you could possibly fathom.

These are companies providing Real Estate to startups (from the Seattle 2.0 Service Providers Directory):

Find other services for your startup or add your business if you provide services to startups.

But then my wife reminded me of something I shouldn’t have needed reminding of: I love writing.  And I love telling people about what we’re doing at Loudlever.  And I’m pretty passionate about creating an environment that is favorable to business in this state.  In that instant what I had previously feared morphed into the perfect trifecta.  I really had no other choice.

Hello Seattle 2.0!

By way of introduction I should probably explain how I ended up here in Seattle, running a start-up that caters to writers and the writing community.

I started my first company when I was 10:  Rich’s Wrigglers.  My younger brother and I would soak the front yard with a sprinkler on summer evenings, collect the night-crawlers wriggled to the surface, then rise early the following morning to sell them by the dozen to the handful of men who regularly fished the Provo River.   We’d earn a dollar a day and spend all of our hard-earned revenue on penny-candy.  It was the perfect business.

Two years later my first short-story was published in a collection of short fiction and poetry by young writers.  Admittedly, it was a sappy little piece about an octogenarian sitting on a park bench, but at the time I felt it to be so much more.  Not quite The Old Man and the Sea but very, very close.  The euphoria of seeing my own work in print was spellbinding. Even later, when I learned that any student in class whose parents had paid for a copy of the collection had been included in it, my enthusiasm for writing didn’t waver.  I was hooked on the thrill of the byline.

Then, in the early ‘80’s, an economic recession hit.  My family was (and still is) in real-estate development — and when the recession came, housing starts took a nose-dive.  While my friends watched MTV each day after school, I watched my step-father struggle desperately to keep his construction company afloat, selling equipment, liquidating investments, and belt tightening until it felt like there was no more belt to tighten.

Bankruptcy would ultimately claim his business, along with my father’s and hundreds of others in Central Utah.  At times it seemed like the only people we knew who still had work were those who labored at the local steel mill, or for WordPerfect or Novell.  Uncertainty pervaded our community like second-hand hope in a soup-line.  Despite this being a “teaching moment” if there ever was one, the meaning I took from the situation was crystal clear:  If you want three meals a day, never start your own company.

The Road Less Traveled

Dropping out of college in the late ‘80’s, I joined the military and spent the next eight years bouncing around the world trying to figure out what I wanted to do and for whom I wanted to do it.   While in the military I got the bright idea that I could finish my degree by taking a handful of English Lit. courses at neighboring colleges.  Through a fluke of scheduling I ended up in a creative writing class taught by Richard Peabody (still one of my favorite modern poets) at a University of Maryland satellite campus.  That course rekindled my love of the written word.  And it planted the seed for what would later become Pif Magazine, an online literary journal I launched on borrowed server space in the fall of 1995.   In 1997 I was transferred out of the military and ended up at Ft. Lewis, near Olympia.    Falling in love with the feel of the place, I’ve remained in the Puget Sound area ever since.

Figuring out how to build a business around writers and the publishers who court them took another 10 years.  I won’t bore you with all of the details, but suffice it to say I spent a lot of time working for a lot of other people in a lot of industries completely unrelated to what I wanted to do.  The lessons learned were invaluable.  What I could have done if I had that time again, immeasurable.  Then I had the whole “fear of not eating” thing from my youth to get over.  That took another couple of years, I won’t lie to you.   Eventually the itch to do my own thing overpowered my wish to do the safe thing.  Coincidentally, this shift within occurred at roughly the same time that Adeo Ressi came to town to talk about The Founder Institute.  His timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  He spoke about finding your passion (which I blogged about last fall).  Suddenly the road I had been on made perfect sense.  Forget that we were neck-deep in another recession and I had an obligation to put food on the table for my wife and three boys.  I had a company to start!

What Do I Have to Share?

I’ll be honest with you, there are hundreds of entrepreneurs in this town with gobs more experience than I.  And I’m not one, to paraphrase St. Paul, who suffers fools gladly.  My children and co-workers will tell you that I’ve little stomach for excuses — a trait due, most likely, to my time in the military.

But I’m figuring it out, learning what works and what doesn’t.  Running a business can seem, at times, like a never-ending battle between what you hope to do and what you need to do.  For me it also needs to be about what I love to do — because when a server is crashing at two in the morning Red Bull and willpower just isn’t enough.

I have a hell of a lot to learn, I admit.  But I look forward to sharing the journey with you.