what I’ll be talking about and I come to the meeting and a bunch of guys show
up and say, “Hey, so what’s this meeting about?” They haven’t done any of the
preparation or work.
Livingston: Do women bring any advantages to a startup?
Fake: I was talking to another entrepreneur, Judy MacDonald Johnston, and
she said that women are much more passionate about their businesses. They’re
doing it less for the money and more because they love it. There’s something
about that that really rings true to me. Women are able to put their hearts and
souls into it in a way that many men cannot—or rather, are not known for doing.
I’ve been very conscious of this too, and it’s important to give something
back, so I’ve been a big participant in a lot of women-in-technology organizations,
like the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. I think it’s really important for
us to continue supporting each other and make sure that women have an equal
shot. I do a group blog, www.misbehaving.net, with a bunch of other women in
technology, and we’ve been working on getting women more speaking engagements
at industry conferences. Being invited to conferences and elevating your
profile in the industry is an important part of growing businesses, making contacts,
and building partnerships, and we want to make sure that women get a
fair shake.