As a woman involved in the tech community in varying degrees for the last four years, I’ve never heard women described as "founder hounders." But an article in New York Magazine written by an anonymous male insists they exist, although the argument reads as poetically as a college bro’s angry rant on Facebook. The general gist is "Chicks man, what a bunch of skanks."
This isn’t to say I haven’t witnessed females being friendly and maybe even flirtatious when mixing and mingling to make connections, in hopes of landing jobs in the future. In the extremely competitive and often nebulous climate of tech and the working world in general, it’s literally the worst kept secret that it almost always comes down to who you know. A friendly person will always win over an aloof one. So why is this standard different for women?
Navigating professional networking is awkward enough in it of itself. Combined with the fact that some of the men behind these sites are socially awkward or already believe they’re the next Mark Zuckerberg, but with less money and clout, leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation.
But these are smart men, right? Surely it can’t be that hard to grasp the concept that women are social beings who also happen to have a desire to establish or advance their career.
There’s a not-so-subtle difference between a pretty lady expressing interest in the fact you’re a Google engineer and one sexting you a vagina picture. If you can’t tell which woman wants to make a work connection and which one just wants to bang you, quite frankly, I am terrified at the thought of you having any power at your job.
I guess it was only a matter of time before the women in tech were going to fall prey to the label of groupies. Pro tip though, if you’re trying to write a scathing, expose about them, the fastest way to getting yourself not taken seriously at all, mention Taylor Swift and “Asian bitches” in the same sentence. Hella bush league, dude.