Pink in Tech - Women Taking Over The Tech World
The whole event was an adventure which started by trying to figure out my way around a huge construction site, in order to get to the actual location of the event. Turns out I wasn’t the only one having a hard time finding it. On my spree of asking everyone around for directions, I teamed up with two other women, one of whom turned out to be one of the speakers, Rikke Biehl, Founder & CEO of Delogue.com. After a few twists and turns, we managed to find the lovely building. The room of the event was a small, cozy, wood decorated and highly welcoming space.
As we were told in the beginning, tech meetings do not always have to feel masculine, with beers and pizza – and Pink in Tech proved so: we were welcomed with white wine and treated with delicious sushi during the break.
Pink in Tech targets women who plan to or already have a startup, but don’t be fooled by the name: there was no pink involved. Rather, I was part of a meeting with successful, down to earth women. The whole thing did have a girly vibe: that feeling of being in a room with a couple of girlfriends (30 of them in this case), talking about serious stuff all in a cozy atmosphere. I believe I just experienced the tech girls version of hygge.
Only 26 % of Workers in IT are Women
Statistics show that while 51% of the workforce is represented by women, only 26% work in IT, 3% of tech companies are founded by women and 6, 5% of tech companies have CEOs as women.
However, you should not be discouraged, because as Heidi Lindegaard, leader of the startup program at IBM said “Society can benefit from female entrepreneurs”. As proof serve the 3 inspirational women who have their own companies: Rikke Biehl, founder and CEO of Delogue.com, Dorte Damgaard Sejthen, founder and CEO of Filihood and Sussi Bianco, who has her own consulting company. Each of the businesswomen brought their own interesting contribution to the event.
Priorities are Imporant as a Startup
Rikke summarized the most important elements to consider when having a startup company, namely have a minimum viable product, create value, both while making money. What that implies is that you should establish your priorities: make sure you have a viable product, but put great emphasis on users, since they are the ones you aim at reaching. If you have an online platform, user testing is essential: the better you understand the needs your customers have, the better you can serve those needs.
There will come a time where you will have to ask yourself: what are more important, sales or investors? It is difficult to satisfy everyone, and sometimes your investors will have ideas or expectations which you know your customers might not be very attracted towards. Nonetheless, investors are important and you should aim at keeping them close, but at the same time do not be too dependent on them. This is why the emphasis on users: they are your customers and they can help you increase your profit, thus not having to rely only on investors.
Businesses must fulfill needs
Dorte taught us a very important lesson: businesses appear as a prerequisite for fulfilling certain needs. She wanted a single platform where she could keep track of all the important moments in her children’s lives, and when she couldn’t find such a platform, she decided to make one, her Filihood App.
Dorte also mentioned the importance of users, but puts a bigger emphasis on the team you’re working with. Having the right people around, who understand your vision and know how to implement it properly will save you a lot of time and money.
Numbers are Important in the business world
Finally, Sussi brought a whole new perspective on numbers and their importance in the business world. Have you noticed how most people, when asked about their jobs respond by stating how great it is and how much they love it? Well, that is not the way to do it.
Sussi found out both through her personal experience and several other vicarious experiences, that people will pay more interest to numbers, concrete facts. Instead of saying that she works with women who help each other by sending emails and giving advice on business issues, Sussi discovered it was far more effective to say she works in an organization with over 1000 female entrepreneurs who consult each other.
All in all, many things were learnt and it was inspiring to see so many women with entrepreneurial spirit not afraid to go out in the world and present their ideas.
This article was written based on the event: Pink in Tech