With the rise of all-male-founded AI startups, there’s been a noticeable increase in pictures of hackathons flooding social media. Having been around for a while and reported on issues affecting female founders and the gender gap in tech, it was no surprise to see things become heated on LinkedIn last week around a debate about the relative absence of women from these events.
Camilla Bergman, CEO and founder of the climate tech site Impact Loop and formerly CEO of Swedish tech media outlet Breakit shared a post by Fredrik Hjelm, CEO and founder of the mobility startup Voi, in which he promoted a hackathon — alongside a photo of himself surrounded by a group of men.
In response, Bergman wrote: “What is it with all these tech founders that keep posting pictures of hackathons and meetups with literally zero to one women? And no reflection whatsoever about it?”
If it was reflection she wanted, she got it — some in support, some not. As Adam Jafer, cofounder of Voi, commented: “So woke and lame and tired of posts like this. Build something meaningful first and the rest will come.”
A bit less provocatively, Hjelm told me he believes that “virtue signalling and DEI shaming are overall bad, also on social media,” and that Bergman’s post was “counterproductive and alienates those on the inside with a position, network and power to change the situation.”
When I reached Bergman by phone yesterday, she said she’s been observing these issues throughout her 15-20 years in the industry, and that her intention was to highlight a systemic issue.
“This all reminds me of that classic ‘tech bro’ male-dominated vibe that still lingers in the AI industry,” she said. “When a sector or group becomes too uniform, it leads to less creativity and fewer business opportunities. Instead of forcing diversity through quotas in hackathons, we should address the underlying structures.”
“We need to ask: what defines an AI company? What is a hackathon, really? How can you package a company? If you get that right, you can attract any people you like.”
Missing out or opting out
When I asked a male tech founder in Stockholm why he thinks women are less likely to attend hackathons than men, he said: “There are just a lot of nerds. Women are too smart to waste their time on that — they have better things to do.”
Sara Landfors, cofounder of AI startup Normain, partly agrees with the latter part of that sentiment, saying she rarely prioritises hackathons unless she receives a personal invitation.
“It’s about feeling included. But right now, I’m completely focused on our product release, and I don’t have time to hang out with a gang of 16-year-olds at a hackathon,” she told me. But, she added, “attending these things puts you in touch with the right network.”
Charlotta Tönsgård, founder of healthtech startup Joy, has come to believe the issue may not be solvable by tweaking what already exists.
“The core problem is a lack of self-awareness across the whole ecosystem.” This started, she says, because “there weren’t that many women studying tech. People were like ‘Well, that is how it is’ and left it with that.”
“There’s long been this idea that the pinnacle of innovation is building something, that innovation lies in the act of coding or creating, not in understanding the problem. But that’s only partially true — you don’t have to be able to code to innovate,” said Tönsgård, who studied engineering at Lund University until 2008 and has worked in tech since.
“If we had had this conversation 10 years ago, I probably would have said there wasn’t a problem. I hadn’t personally struggled to belong. I was shaped by the same mould as the tech guys. As a techy female founder, I was even used as proof that there is no problem,” Tönsgård said.
“I was blind to a lot of it. But over time, my eyes have opened.”
Over the last decade, a number of female founder events have popped up, and Tönsgård, being a well-known figure in the Swedish tech scene, has been invited to many of them.
“I didn’t feel at home at those meetups. That’s exactly how the other women must feel when they walk into the typical tech events.
“But then we still send female founders into rooms where they’re clearly not the norm. The entire structure is built for a very specific, narrow group — and it only works for that cohort.”
So why put yourself in that situation over and over again?
“Women have seen through the system. They know: ‘I’ll just feel like the odd one out. And who’s in the room that will actually fund me? It’s not going to happen just because I show up.’ The problem now is: which technologies are given room to breathe?”
Bro culture
Bergman’s LinkedIn post and the original hackathon post have generated significant engagement. Landfors, however, finds them energy draining.
“I see the tech bro posts and I know there is a problem. But at the same time, I need to focus on building my company and I cannot have my energy drained by getting involved in these things,” Landfors told me.
Startups like Lovable, Databutton and Anysphere are often said to offer solutions that make coding no longer essential for building products and services. So perhaps hackathons represent the last gasp of an old view of innovation. Maybe the answer isn’t to fight for a place at the hackathon, but to create new kinds of gatherings — spaces where technical and non-technical people can come together to shape the future.
Swedish AI startup Lovable told me that they have “intentionally moved away from the term ‘hackathon’ to ‘build competition’ to foster a more welcoming environment and promote the idea that everyone — regardless of gender, age, background or experience — can become a builder with AI.”
I’m not sure if that is the answer, but I’m curious to find out what you think these events should look like? And what impact might they may have? Get in touch.
At the very least, I won’t feel sad about not being invited to another hackathon.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/dei-fatigue-or-denial-the-ai-boys-club-isnt-going-anywhere/
