Dear Kid,
Oh, I am mad. Spittin’ mad. And I’m not talking about the debate because I ate a late dinner and just couldn’t bring myself to watch—I’ll wait for the Cliff Notes on that. And I’m too busy being mad, mad, mad.
Nancy Aichholz, the executive director of Bad Girl Ventures, published an article in the Cincinnati Business Courier called 5 things women need most to be savvy entrepreneurs.
“Wow,” I thought, “This is great. BGV is a great group; I’m sure it will be a great article.” Um, no.
I’m sure Nancy is a great person and a wonderful leader of BGV. But she should have known better.
Here are Nancy’s 5 needs for women to be entrepreneurs:
- Time, patience, and a plan. I don’t have a PhD in mathematics, but I think that’s three. But I’m not hung up on that.
- Adventurous spirit. I know lots of entrepreneurs who are ready-go-set people, but I also know plenty who are much more cautious.
- Support system. Well, yeah. Entrepreneurs, like most non-entrepreneurs, need support systems.
- Great ideas, strong passion, or a problem to be solved. Yes, you need a reason to be in business.
- A pair of…guts and stamina.
There is nothing particularly bad about the list (although adequate funding should probably be somewhere on the list). The problem is that there is nothing about this list that is specific to people with two X chromosomes. If this is the right list (which I’m not so sure about), it’s just as relevant for men as for women.
In a world where women are still (arrgggh! still) struggling for equal pay, equal promotions, equal access to funding, there is no reason to give fluff advice that is just as relevant for men and label it “for women.”
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