Yesterday I interviewed an amazing female founder called Helen Cannon.
She founded ISON Travel in 2013 and has grown it to 130 staff and £68.2m.
Cannon has five children, three cats and three dogs. Last year her husband Matt sadly died.
I mention this because today BusinessCloud published a really important story about Samantha Niblett MP, Sifted journalist Freya Pratty and Seb Johnson, founder of Scaling Europe.
On one respect it has nothing to do with Helen Cannon but on the other hand it has everything to do with her – and here’s why.
The row started when Pratty wrote a story lamenting the return of the ‘tech bro culture’.
Johnson, who I admire for the way he’s grown Scaling Europe, hit out at the ‘hypocrisy’ of the article, pointing out the lack of female representation on Sifted’s own website.
At this point Samantha Niblett waded into the row and accused Johnson’s post of being ‘tasteless, bombastic, and boyish’.
The MP even added the hashtag #boyswillbeboys.
After a short lull in verbal hostilities, Niblett and Johnson had another skirmish this week.
This time it was sparked by a LinkedIn post from Johnson celebrating the fact that Britain is great.
Unfortunately, neither the post nor the attached video mentioned a single female.
Niblett’s response was swift. “Britain is indeed great,” she replied. “And it has women in it, not that you’d know that in your post. Where are the women in your version of Britain?”
Where are the women?
She added: “Seb, can you see yet why many women feel invisible in the tech world? You couldn’t even mention a single woman in your praise of how Britain has always been great.”
The good news is Johnson has reached out to the MP and suggested a coffee. “I’m sure we want the same thing for the ecosystem and the more people working together the better,” he wrote.
Fundamentally, Niblett and Johnson probably want the same thing and I’m certain they’ll like each other if they meet in person.
The problem is too many faceless ‘conversations’ take place on social media and it becomes a race to the bottom.
The indisputable fact is that the tech world is dominated by men but there are some amazing female founders out there.
Female founders make history in landmark trip to 11 Downing Street
I know this because two weeks ago a joined a delegation of 50 amazing North East female founders at 11 Downing Street and yesterday I interviewed Helen Cannon.
We all have a responsibility to be the change we wish to see in the world.