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07/05/12 | Uncategorized

Why Female Entrepreneurs Don't Receive The Recognition Men Do

The reason we haven’t interviewed more female entrepreneurs is because they’re too focused bringing their ideas to life.

By Mario Schulzke (Founder & CEO, IdeaMensch)

Through interviews and events, IdeaMensch has featured over 800 entrepreneurs like Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Craig Newmark, Tony Hsieh, Nancy Brinker and Jessica Jackley.

That being said, we don’t just interview traditional entrepreneurs but anyone who has an idea and brings it to life: bloggers, nonprofit CEOs, social entrepreneurs, authors, artists and even a gentleman who runs a rickshaw business in Mumbai.

If I had to make a guess, we have probably featured 650 men and 200 women. And people ask me all the time why we don’t interview more women?

There actually is a reason. One reason I’ve never really shared before.

The reason we haven’t interviewed more female entrepreneurs is because they’re too focused bringing their ideas to life. And unlike their male counterparts (not all, but a fair share of us), women entrepreneurs really don’t care so much about public recognition. Women don’t brag like we do.

For every ten male entrepreneurs we ask to be featured, eight will say yes.

For every ten female entrepreneurs we to be, five will say yes. The other five will be very complimentary and tell me that they’re simply too busy right now focusing on a, b or c.

They usually eventually get to it, but normally my experience has very much been that female entrepreneurs are less inclined to shine the light on themselves.

Speaking of shining the light, here are three awesome female entrepreneurs we’ve been fortunate to interview –

Jenny Blake helps others “wake up, live big! and love the journey.” Jenny started her blog, , in 2005 and translated it into a popular book, Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want, which serves as a portable life coach for 20-somethings.

Alexis Peterka is the founder of Stayhound. A recent graduate of the Portland Incubator Experiment, Stayhound connects pet lovers online to make it easier for your friends and “friends-in-law” to help you care for your pets in the real world.

Kendra Stitt Robins is the founder and executive director of Project Night Night, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing care packages for homeless and transient children living in shelters across the country. Founded in 2005, Project Night Night donates more than 25,000 Night Night Packages each year free of charge to homeless children who need our childhood essentials to feel secure, cozy, ready to learn and significant.

Are you a female entrepreneur ready for some recognition, we’d love to interview you. Email us.

Editor’s note: Got a question for our guest blogger? Leave a message in the comments below.

About the guest blogger: Mario Schulzke is the Founder and CEO of IdeaMensch, a community he started to help people bring their ideas to life. Before, Mario spent 10 years managing digital strategy teams at ad agencies up and down the West Coast. Mario is a first generation immigrant who came to America at the age of 16, much to the dismay of his family in Germany. He sports BluBlockers, did exactly one Ironman and is a proud cat guy. Mario lives between Los Angeles and Plettenberg, Germany.

Anne-Gail Moreland

Anne-Gail Moreland

Anne-Gail Moreland, an intern with Women 2.0, was on the StartupBus. She studies neuroscience at Mount Holyoke College, where she is trying to merge a passion for tech and the brain into a new wave of cognition-based technology

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