s women entrepreneurs that ventured into the startup and technology arenas after having developed successful careers in architecture, we faced various challenges since initiating Splacer and its beta version in Tel Aviv.
We find we are expected to think and act according to what others perceive as our femininity. We are expected to be fiercely connected to our emotions, and constantly act upon them. We tried to turn that challenge on its head, and show how this assumed weakness – of being female outsiders who are trained in different fields – is in fact an advantage, and it is the source of our strength.
As co-founders of a successful startup, we are expected to demonstrate our leadership by sustaining a hierarchical structure. Again, however, we ask to defy these expectations. Our challenge is to implement other organizational methods that reflect the way we see the world. We also recognize these methods are now at the forefront of new and exciting initiatives worldwide. At Splacer, we insist on operating in a de-centralized, bee-hived network of collaborations and partnerships, in which everyone work together to achieve our goals.
In the Israeli tech arena, bonds are inevitably formed during the army service in specialized units and these camaraderies define future engagement in the business world. This social structure might be similar, in some ways, to fraternities in colleges. Being novices in the technology scene, we knew we had to make an extra effort to get noticed and be taken seriously. It indeed took us some time to infiltrate these circles, but we were able to craft our own unique niche in this hegemonic mix.
And like so many other women, we feel that our greatest challenge of all is the time management and balance between our children, personal lives and careers.
