When Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg spoke at our event at the Harvard Club recently, the audience of 500 startup community members was electrified. At that moment it became clear to me that Sandberg’s “Lean In” mantra is something that women and men in Boston’s tech community care about. After the event, I heard from a number of people who were either making their own Lean In pledges to themselves or their companies, or grappling with what they could do to create companies that would attract and retain the best people.

It’s no secret that women are a minority in the VC and tech communities. Sandberg’s speech shined a spotlight on a known, and much discussed topic. Here at NEVCA, we’re taking it on. We’re going to highlight where women are leading, and where they are not as involved as they should be.

There are some important and tough questions we need to ask. How many (or how few) women are working in Boston’s startup community? What is it like navigating the ins and outs of Boston’s startup landscape if you’re a woman? How many of our community’s venture backed companies are run by women?

Today, we’re launching the Women’s Startup Survey, which is designed to garner real numbers around exactly how many women have founded startups in Boston and how inclusive they think the community really is. We’re hoping the survey will yield a comprehensive list of women-led startups in Massachusetts, which will serve as an important resource for the community.

We are asking that both men and women take the time to answer these nine questions, which include: “Was one of your company’s co-founders a woman?” and “If you’re a female entrepreneur, do you think that being a woman has had a positive or negative impact on your ability to fundraise successfully?”

It’s true that some of these questions might make people uncomfortable. But the questions and the discussions that they spark are necessary if we want to create a startup community that’s more inclusive, supportive and positive to all entrepreneurs in the future.

This is a tech community that deeply cares — anyone in the room with Sandberg could feel it. And so now we have an opportunity to assess where we are and work to move the needle. We’re taking the first step by documenting the state of women’s involvement in tech and venture. And we’ll keep shining a light on it by benchmarking change over time.

April 19, 2013

To All the Friends of TCI,

This year we are celebrating The Commonwealth Institute’s 15th Anniversary! Over the years we have helped more than 2,500 women with their businesses and their careers. You were part of that effort. If you support our mission or personally benefited from your association with TCI, then please help us now.

The recent recession has been hard on everyone, but never more so than on the hundreds of small to mid-size non-profit organizations that struggle every day to provide some of the most basic community services. Most non-profits have seen their non-essential expenses cut; especially the training and development of their Executive Directors, most of whom are women.

TCI’s goal in this anniversary year is to start three new forums for Executive Directors of non-profit organizations in MA. This is where you come in. We need your help. Through the generous support of our members, we have launched one non-profit forum, but still have a long waiting list for additional ones. The skills that women CEOs have learned in our forums are readily transferrable to those running non-profit organizations. We have no doubt that through these forums Executive Directors will get the expertise and support they need to sustain and grow their organizations. Our goal is to raise $100,000 this year. Every organization will pay some portion of the fee to insure organizational buy-in.

Will you “pay it forward?” Please help us take the skills we’ve all learned in our businesses and pass them on to one of the most challenged groups in our economy today.

Contributions may be made online at www.commonwealthinstitute.org and are fully tax deductible. Thank you for making a difference and “paying it forward!”

Aileen Gorman | Executive Director

Click here to contribute to the non-profit scholarship fund.

The Bentley Microfinance Group is a student-run, certified 501(c) 3 non-profit based out of Bentley University. The organization looks to make small loans, ranging from $500-$10,000 dollars, to small business owners within the Greater Boston area that do not have access to the traditional means of capital (banks, credit unions, etc.). Through giving these loans, BMG hopes to strengthen the local community and provide opportunities for growth to their loan clients.

Use of their $125,000 loan fund has proved beneficial to numerous members of the local community. One example of this comes from a woman who wanted to improve her published magazine. Although a great businesswoman, she could not access capital due to her financial background. Unfortunately, she had some serious medical issues a few years before, and without medical insurance, she was forced to pay for expenses incurred out of pocket. This eventually resulted in her declaring bankruptcy. The Bentley Microfinance Group was able to look past these financial records and work with the client to help fund her business.

If you would like to learn more about The Bentley Microfinance Group and the services they provide, feel free to access their website at www.bentleylends.org. You can also reach them through e-mail, at GA_Microfinance@bentley.edu, or through telephone, at (781) 891-2044.

We are happy to announce that we will run our Strategies for Sucess program for a sixth time this Fall 2013 on the following dates in Waltham, all from 7:30am-2pm. Participants attend all 4 sessions. For more information about the program, please click here.

• October 2, 2013
• October 22, 2013
• November 13, 2013
• December 16, 2013

Celebrating 15 years ~ January 15, 2013

To see additional pictures from the event, please click here.

Thank you to all who joined us as we celebrated the accomplishments of the TCI community and honored the friends and supporters who  inspired and encouraged us along the way. Thank you for making TCI the go-to organization for helping women leaders become and stay successful.

TCI member Paige Arnof-Fenn publishes her latest article on Forbes.com entitled “Sharpen Your Marketing By Measuring What Matters Most”. Read the full article here.

An article appeared in today’s Boston Globe about TCI Board Member Sandra L. Fenwick. Sandra L. Fenwick currently serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.

From the article:

“Trustees of Boston Children’s Hospital have reached inside the organization to name Sandra L. Fenwick, an operations whiz who has been the driving force behind reining in costs at Children’s, as the next chief executive of the nation’s largest pediatric research institution. Fenwick, 62, who is now president and chief operating officer, will take over the top job at Harvard-affiliated Children’s next Oct. 1 from Dr. James Mandell, the hospital is set to tell its 8,500 employees Thursday morning. Mandell, a 67-year-old urologist, will retire after leading the 397-bed hospital for the past 12 years, the longest tenure of any Boston hospital chief executive.”

TCI Forum members in our Boston-area and New Hampshire forum shared what our CEO Forums mean to them!

On the morning of November 14^th, we had the pleasure of having breakfast with Carla Harris and over 120 women and men from the Boston business community. Through sponsorship fromMorgan Stanley Smith Barney and John Hancock, TCI members shared a delightful morning hearing pearls of wisdom from one of the toughest women on Wall Street. After Ms. Harris’ 25 years on Wall Street, she learned valuable lessons for surviving (and thriving!) in the fast-paced, cut-throat environment. She realized that there was more to advancing her career than just being smart and working hard. She shared four of her pearls of wisdom with us. The rest can be read in her book “Expect to Win”. Purchase the book here.

1)      Perception is the co-pilot to reality: You must understand the adjectives that are associated with success for the seat you are sitting in. Find out what those are.  You can also train people to think about you in the way you want them to, but you must have consistent behavior.

2)      You cannot do it alone- you need relationships: You must have an advisor, a mentor, and a sponsor

3)      Take risks: Show you are comfortable taking risks. Have clear vision and keep your head up. Fear has no place in your success equation. Show courage.

4)      Nobody can be you the way you can be you: Don’t try to be someone you are not. Your authenticity is your distinct competitive advantage.

And in the words of Carla Harris.. “If you expect to win…you will!”