Massachusetts has More Female Founders than the National Average

While equality is the cornerstone of business in America, so many articles detail young males launching new ventures that it definitely appears as if the startup arena is dominated by men. According to a recent survey by CB Insights, statistically, that is true; however, Massachusetts, at 27%, has a far larger percentage of female founders than the national average of just 8%.

The survey went on to reveal that California and New York actually had a lower percentage of female founders than the national average, at 6% and 7%, respectively. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/d5abgn)

“It doesn’t feel that way,” said Jules Pieri, founder and CEO of Lexington e-commerce startup the Daily Grommet, in regards to the 27% figure. “The environment has a lot to do with it. There has been a huge increase in visibility and connections between female founders…I think having role models is the most central explanation.” Pieri went on to say that academics around Boston may be more “egalitarian” than in other regions, prompting more women who plan to start companies to stay in the area.

Brettina Hein, founder of the Cambridge video startup Pixability, agreed that Massachusetts’ education system might have something to do with the survey’s findings. “Massachusetts has a high educational cluster. Across the last 30 years, women have been catching up with education,” Hein said. “In a center with a cluster of highly educated women…once there’s a certain number of women in critical mass, other women see it as socially acceptable to be doing this activity,” Hein reasoned.

In addition to her work at Pixability, Hein runs the weekly meetings of “She-E-Os,” a group for female CEOs in the Boston area. Presently, the group has 80 members, with membership growing. The She-E-Os is a way of “creating an ‘old girls club,’ facilitating connections, and learning from each other,” according to Hein. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/d5abgn)

CB Insights warns that the sample size for its recent survey was just 165 Internet startups nationally that received “early-stage venture capital during the first half of 2010.” Essentially, while the results are surprising, they still need to be verified before they are given too much weight. Moreover, CB Insights survey only presented the statistical findings of its survey, without offering any of its own explanations of the results.

Even though the results of CB Insight’s demographics survey may be only preliminary, it is still interesting that Massachusetts showed such a high level of female founders as compared to benchmark states and the national average. We will have to see if further studies continue to support these results going forward.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/buRjhP, http://bit.ly/d5abgn]