You may have read our article on our number one rule for tech events, or heard the talk of our founder in the startup-panel of BNR Nieuwsradio. As a tech publication, we can’t escape the global discussion on diversity in tech. Now, we are doing something new to put female founders even more in the limelight than we’ve already been doing for the 3,5 years we have existed. Here’s why.
When we posted our story on our number one rule for tech events, we anticipated that it would cause a stir. We also anticipated that it would perhaps cause a backlash, but we didn’t think it through entirely. Yes, we received criticism as well about the diversity of our posts and writers. And, rightly so.
The most important comment (to us) came from Pól O’Conaill, the founder of Uprise Festival and Zero-In Conference. How many articles have been written by female writers in the last 3 months?
Female freelancers
In fact, not that many. We had a male intern, and we didn’t commission any articles to our female freelancers. But, is that what matters? It surely does. So we decided to hire our talented female editor more often in 2018.
In fact, I’d gladly like to make proper use of her talents as a writer. We came up with the bold move to follow 20 female entrepreneurs closely in 2018. For the simple fact that we hardly ever receive pitches from companies led by female founders. In the same way as we have to pro-actively invite women to our events if we want to have a good representation of female founders present. Thus, we need to take our responsibility and go look for them ourselves.
Extensive list of female founders
But why do it on our own? We’d like to hear from you, both men and women (and genderfluid persons too) to create an extensive list of female founders in #NLtech to watch in 2018. Let us hear your nominations in the form below.
We’ll announce our jury shortly (hint: besides me, it’s only women. In this case, fuck diversity). The women we are looking for need to be badass founders, having (or C-level) in a Dutch tech startup with proper achievements to boast. Of course, the women can be foreigners, as long as the companies are Dutch.
Nominations
I hope you like our initiative. If not, let us know in the comments. The deadline for nominations is the 16th of January. Nominate a badass female founder now.
Business woman image by Shutterstock. This is the only image series on Shutterstock when you search for female tech founder by the way.