locally. It might boil down to education, role models, and critical mass, she says.
“Massachusetts has a high educational cluster. Across the last 30 years, women have been catching up with education. 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 says of entrepreneurship. “This is something where, ‘if she can do it, I can do it too.’”
Hein organizes a monthly meeting of women CEOs in the Boston area, called the “She-E-Os.” The member list has been growing and is now approaching 80 female founders or CEOs, she says. In a way, it’s about “creating an ‘old girls club,’ facilitating connections, and learning from each other,” she says.
I pressed Hein a bit on whether the Boston area really has a critical mass of female tech entrepreneurs yet. “I think we’re getting close to that,” she says. It will certainly be interesting to see if the numbers from the CB Insights survey hold up for the rest of this year, and beyond.
Looking at the results so far compared to other states, Hein remains cautious but hopeful. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Massachusetts is slightly ahead,” she says.
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Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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