如何推动女性撑起科技行业半边天

    雅虎（Yahoo）周一宣布聘任玛丽莎•梅耶尔为新一任掌门人，这对硅谷而言是一个强烈的信号。1999年，玛丽莎于加入谷歌（Google），成为谷歌的第20名员工，当时谷歌还只是一个初创公司，未来充满了不确定性。从历史来看，很少有女性能够加入或创办企业并获得经验，从而像玛丽莎•梅耶尔以及Facebook 的谢莉尔•桑德伯格那样肩负起责任重大的职位。但现在我们看到了一些积极信号。

    在美国，越来越多的科技初创公司由女性参与创办或经营。包括西海岸的Silver Tail、One King's Lane、CloudFlare、Get Satisfaction和AllVoices。在东海岸也出现众多女性领导的初创企业：Birchbox、Kollabora、iRobot、Chomp、Blip、Hunch等。

    女性企业家数量确实在上升，但基数却是很小：尽管在科技领域女性占有三分之一的岗位，但是女性参与创办的风险资本支持的企业数量却不到10%。

    当前环境对初次创业最有利。对初次创业的人员而言，资金密集度较低的行业是很好的选择，如依托于云计算的数字媒体、商务应用和在线商务解决方案。云计算可节省基础设施和开发工具的前期支出，为广大新兴企业家（包括女性）创造机遇，使他们有表达观点、展现活力的平台。

    为了促进女性在科技行业的发展，我们在此提出几项具体的建议：

    风险投资公司聘用更多女性：女性企业家会寻找她们能够获得成功的投资环境。研究显示拥有女性合伙人（甚至只有一位）的风险投资公司决定投资于女性创办公司的可能性增加70%，因为企业家们认为这些公司正是她们想要开展业务的地方。同样的，有众多女性投资者的初期天使投资集团接洽的女性领导的公司数量也高出30%。

    美国科技行业中三分之二活跃的风险投资公司中连一位女性合伙人都没有，但是聘用了一位女性合伙人的风险投资公司很可能发现更广泛的交易。聘用成功企业家作为合伙人是风险投资公司长期以来的传统。鉴于越来越多的女性企业家取得了成功，现在风险投资公司和天使投资集团也应该聘用这些女性领导人加入他们的行列。现在女性在高科技风险投资公司合伙人中只占7%，在天使投资者中占15%，所以还有很大的增长空间。

    聚焦由女性参与创立或运营的高增长企业：榜样的力量不可小觑。如果女性不认为女企业家极具吸引力，她们就不会希望自己想成为那样的人。让女性们看到这样的机遇，更多的女性就会决定成为企业家。在纽约、硅谷和其他地区有越来越多的女性创业者，商业记者们不妨多写写她们的故事。

    吸引具有广泛背景的女性：技术公司招聘人才时可以扩大搜索范围，而不仅仅局限于具有传统科技背景的人才。虽然学技术专业的女性人数不断增长，科技公司也可以在MBA学生、营销项目和其他领域中找到优秀人才，这些领域对如今的科技世界而言同样非常重要。

    创业孵化器通过吸引女性企业家获得优势：初创企业非常具有吸引力。尤其是有家庭的女性需要一个环境并从中获得支持，在成为企业家的过程中面对无法预测的挑战。孵化器可以发展一种模式，鼓励各种类型的人成为企业家，从而形成差异化的特色。

    打破神话：长久以来存在一些错误观念：要成为科技行业企业家，必须在科学、技术、工程或数学专业（STEM）取得学位；投资于女性领导的公司风险更大；女性无法在照顾家庭的同时成为一名能带来高增长的企业家；女性只适合领导消费类公司。我们有数据显示，所有这些观点都是错误的，让我们广而告之吧。

    The announcement Monday that Yahoo (YHOO) selected Marissa Mayer as its new chief is a great signal for Silicon Valley. Marissa joined Google (GOOG) as its 20th employee back in 1999 when it was a fledgling company and had an uncertain future. Historically, few women joined or founded startups and gained the kind of experience that enabled Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook (FB) to rise to their positions of responsibility. Yet, we are now seeing some positive signs.

    Across the US, we are seeing more and more tech startups co-founded or run by women. These include: Silver Tail, One King's Lane, CloudFlare, Get Satisfaction and AllVoices on the West Coast. On the East Coast there has also been an explosion of women-led startups: Birchbox, Kollabora, iRobot, Chomp, Blip, and Hunch just to name a few.

    While it is good to see this rise in the number of women entrepreneurs, it is off a small base: though women hold over one-third of the jobs in the tech space, less than 10% of venture-backed companies have women co-founders.

    The environment for first-time entrepreneurs has never been more favorable. Less capital-intensive sectors such as cloud computing-based digital media, business applications and online commerce solutions are natural points of entry for first-time entrepreneurs. Access to the cloud eliminates up-front expenditures for infrastructure and development tools, creating opportunity for a wide of range of new entrepreneurs, including women, to bring their ideas and dynamism to the table.

    Here are specific recommendations that we can implement to accelerate the pace of women in high-tech:

    Recruit more women into venture capital firms: Women entrepreneurs seek investment environments where they can succeed. Research shows that venture capital firms with even one female partner are 70% more likely to invest in a woman co-founded business, in part because the entrepreneurs recognize them as places where they want to take their business. Similarly, early stage angel investment groups with a significant number of women investors are shown to have 30% more women-led companies approaching them.

    Two thirds of active US venture firms in the tech sector do not have a single female partner, yet VCs who recruit one are likely to see a wider range of deals. Recruiting successful entrepreneurs as partners is a long tradition in venture capital. With the growing number of women entrepreneurs having successful outcomes, venture firms and angel groups now have the opportunity to recruit some of these leaders into their ranks. With women representing less than 7% of high tech VC partners and 15% of angel investors, we have plenty of opportunity for improvement.

    Spotlight high growth businesses co-founded or run by women: The impact of role models cannot be overestimated. If women don't "see it" as an attractive role, they won't want to "be it". Expose women to the opportunity, and more will make the decision to become entrepreneurs. The thriving communities of women founders in NY, Silicon Valley and other regions can serve as a source of stories for tech and business journalists.

    Attract women with a wide range of backgrounds: Tech companies can recruit great talent by widening their search beyond individuals with traditional tech backgrounds. While the number of women studying for technical degrees is on the rise, tech companies can also find great talent among MBA students, marketing programs and other fields which are so critical in today's tech world.

    Startup incubators can gain advantage by attracting women entrepreneurs: Startups are all-engrossing. Women with families, in particular, need an environment where they can find support as they meet the unpredictable challenges of entrepreneurship. Incubators can differentiate by developing formats that encourage all types of people to be entrepreneurs.

    Dispel the myths: There are long-held beliefs that simply aren't true: that you must have a STEM degree to be a tech entrepreneur; that investing in women-led companies is higher risk; that you can't have a family and be a high-growth entrepreneur at the same time; that women are only suited to consumer-oriented companies. We have the data that proves each of these wrong – let's share it widely.