On Being A Woman In Tech: Be Bold, Be Courageous!
On Being a Woman in Tech
As we refine the Wize Writer tool (including integrating with some really cool generative AI) and being part of the Wizeprep team, we have that rare opportunity to work in a tech startup that was co-founded by two best friends who then acquired a startup founded by a woman who then became part of the Wizeprep leadership team.
So we thought we’d take a little bit of time off this International Women's Day to quiz our COO Dr. Lindy Ledohowski on the dynamics of being a tech leader and entrepreneur. What are some of the insider tips about running a tech startup in the education world.
Wizeprep (WP): As a female entrepreneur, what has been your biggest challenge up until now?
Dr. Lindy: That there are certain ways of interacting and networking that can be very gendered.
For instance, I’m in Canada at the moment, so pick up hockey games are a big thing for guys, be they investors, clients, coworkers, colleagues or whatnot.
Now there are some amazing female hockey players out there, but I’m of the generation that didn’t grow up as a girl playing hockey, and so I can never participate in those sorts of activities. I think it’s the same for golfing or other non-business specific moments that are nonetheless important to one’s business.
WP: Flip that on its head for a bit - as a female entrepreneur are there any advantages?
Dr. Lindy: Absolutely. There are a number of funds and initiatives for female-led endeavours and for me as a newbie to the entrepreneurial space, these focused types of help have been invaluable to me as I’ve worked hard to find my feet.
WP: How have these initiatives and endeavours helped you in your journey?
Dr. Lindy: In some ways, yes, because there are more and more women-in-business and women-in-tech accelerators and groups out there. I am now a mentor in a number of these programs, and I certainly found them helpful in the early days.
I am also an active member of the 7,700-strong Facebook group, Women Who Tech. There are other groups, both in person and online, that I am a part of that focus on women supporting women in various workplace contexts.
Each of these groups - networking in the case of the awards, mentorship and training in the case of the accelerators, and support in the case of groups and associations - offer different helpful things from practical advice and guidance to friendship. For me, the most important thing that each of these female-focused entities have offered me is the feeling of belonging.
I am not alone.
WP: Do you think the EdTech space is more welcoming to women? What about SaaS?
Dr. Lindy: EdTech is most definitely very welcoming to women. Education more broadly still tends to be very female-dominated (especially in literacy fields) than other spaces, and so I find that often I’m dealing with female teachers, department heads, district representatives, university professors, etc. whereas when I’m in SaaS-focused meetings, there isn’t that same gender balance. Very often in tech meetings around SaaS or financing, I can be the only woman in the room, which can be both bad and good, depending on the circumstance.
WP: Have you had to adapt your leadership style to run a startup in the SaaS industry which tends to be more male-dominated? Or since joining Wizeprep with its two male cofounders?
Dr. Lindy: For me, I had to not really adjust my leadership style, but more adjust my expectations. Because I came from academia and have worked in equity and human rights spaces for the last two decades, I was very used to being taken seriously as an expert, where my gender didn’t matter. Finding myself faced with various “micro-aggressions” or discovering that some men in this industry find me “prickly” was a bit of a surprise.
So I had to change some of the ways that I interact with some men in tech and finance so that I come across a little less harshly. I’m not sure that I’ve mastered it, as people still tell me: “you don’t suffer fools!”
But as any quick perusal of my LinkedIn profile will show, I’m very lucky and grateful to work with the great cofounders at Wizeprep.
WP: Have there been any moments where you've wished you were a guy in the startup world?
Dr. Lindy: 100%! Yes! And yes again! I never thought I would say this, but I’ve seen guys get up in front of a room of people and pitch their business or idea and see a million and one holes in what they’re doing from the product to the foundational work to the financials to the vision, but they get genuine questions and engagement. I’m often baffled.
WP: Your team consists mostly of women. How does that impact team dynamics?
Dr. Lindy: I’ve definitely made clear the importance of aiming for gender balanced teams on Wizeprep. Mentorship has always been very important to me.
I’ve always worked to mentor girls and women whenever I’m in a position of power (or perceived power), because I believe that I’ve been a beneficiary of help from women who have gone before me (and a few of them are early Wizeprep investors and advisors), and so in whatever way that I can support, develop, and mentor women and girls in their professional lives I’ll do it.
And that means that our team, as you note, has a pretty impressive gender balance - and that includes our partners, legal team, bookkeeping, accounting etc. I’m not sure exactly how this affects the team dynamics, because I’ve never headed another company with other team dynamics, but I know that our team works!
WP: One last question - what advice do you have for fellow women who want to be entrepreneurs or contribute to the field of education in the 21st century?
Dr. Lindy: While there are challenges to doing anything - from academia to entrepreneurship - from a minoritized position and being a woman is just that, we also live in a world now where there are more opportunities than ever before, especially in the world of tech. While traditional finance is still very male dominated, tech fields with the ways that they can disrupt traditional business models - be it through remote work or non standard approaches - can offer fantastic opportunities for women and girls.
So my advice?
My advice is to just get out there and do it! I gave a presentation at a university last week on my transition from being a professor to being a tech CEO and then working through a tech acquisition to become a COO at a new tech company, and afterwards a professor came up to thank me for my talk and said, “I wish I had your courage, because really that’s what your story is, a story of courage,” and so my advice to women and girls wanting to be entrepreneurs or contribute to educational goals and outcomes would be to BE BOLD, BE COURAGEOUS!
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