Studies Show Women Create Businesses Out Of Necessity
Each day, an estimated 849 jobs are created by women in the United States alone.
According to recent studies, there is an estimated 114% more women entrepreneurs than just twenty years ago. Although this percentage is both impressive and encouraging, the reason why there are so many new women entrepreneurs is what is the real shocker.
Going by the same research studies, women feel that starting their own businesses is a much better alternative to working in the corporate world of today.
Each day, an estimated 849 jobs are created by women in the United States alone. At first glance, one would think that the world was becoming more open and accepting of women entrepreneurs. However, it is exactly to the contrary. In fact, the statistics bring to light a more upsetting trend.
Although for many women, creating and starting their own businesses is a viable alternative to the somewhat demanding and unreachable expectations of today's corporate world, in the end, the increase in women-owned businesses may very well be due to a completely unrealized until now reason.
More often than not, many businesses currently owned by women were started out of plain and simple necessity. With the household demands that are placed on women, the workplace discrimination, and time taken off for childbearing, many women are of the opinion that if they are going to succeed they need to make it happen themselves, by way of starting their own company.
Many of some of the most well-known companies today, unknown to most, were started by women who knew they wanted to succeed but also knew they had to take the plunge and up the game.
For example, Bark & Co. was the brainchild of Carly Strife—who started the company with Matt Meeker and Henrik Werdelin. The trio was brought together by their shared loved of everything dog related. Serving as the company’s COO, Strife brought what she learned as NYC’s operating officer of Uber, to what is now known nationwide as Barkbox. According to Forbes, Bark & Co is currently estimated as worth $150-$200 million.
Another example would be when Harvard Business School duo Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna formed the company Birchbox in 2010. With the idea of making their company both customer friendly along with a goal of improving the current beauty industry, the duo had their concept planned out early on.
Upon conception, the company was initially geared at women. However, the company branched out in 2012 with the addition of Birch Box Man. In 2014 it was estimated that the company was bringing in $96 million a year.
Finally, in 2002 Flickr came to be thanks to Caterina Fake. Having worked previously at Salon.com as an art director, Fake was actually working on a game, which in the end did not pan out. However, the photo sharing technology that operated alongside the game was an instant hit.
Fake went on to sell Flickr to Yahoo for an reported $35 million in both cash and stock options. Since that sale, she has formed another company, Hutch, and was appointed to the board of directors for the worldwide internet marketplace for handmade products called Etsy.
Women entrepreneurs, as it turns out, in more cases than not have developed their company’s out of need and necessity.
And even though the odds are against them from the beginning and the road has been long and arduous, those women have pressed on, to create the businesses they are known for and to eventually become the successes they worked so hard to achieve.