Tech startups are racing to build hobby, crafts and fashion businesses catering to women. Therein lies what might be called an "instinct gap": Nearly all of the people heading these companies are men.
When Ashish Arora became chief executive of crafting product maker Cricut more than two years ago, he didn't anticipate just how big that gap could be.
The former product manager at computer-accessories maker Logitech Inc. was tasked with remodeling the company's old-fashioned desktop craft cutter with high-tech software. Mr. Arora was mesmerized by how the machine's gears and circuit boards worked, so he tested a transparent prototype.
"The women hated it," he says. They wanted the technology to be hidden and the machine to look spare and clean. He also tried packaging that was printed with the technological specs and cloud-software capabilities. Again, rejection: They wanted to see the images of the crafts they could make.
At times, he would come home from work dejected, telling his wife, "I find my instincts consistently wrong."
So he spent several months loitering in the aisles of arts-and-crafts retailer Michaels Stores Inc. and Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts Stores, observing women as they browsed for items. He bought a sewing machine and started sewing lessons. And he hired women who were active crafters and scrapbookers as a sort of in-house focus group.
Eventually the insights influenced the make and build of the Cricut Explore, a $299 desktop craft cutter launched this past January by his South Jordan, Utah, company, incorporated as Provo Craft & Novelty Inc.
Some in the industry view this instinct gap as a problem, and one created by a male-dominated investment culture. "It's not that a male founder or a male CEO automatically is precluded from doing a good job of running a company for women," says Nicole Shariat Farb, the CEO and co-founder of craft e-commerce company Darby Smart Inc. "But they are precluded from understanding their customer on an instinctual level."
Sometimes, gender differences develop inadvertently, as a company evolves. When Ben Silbermann co-founded Pinterest Inc. in 2010, his idea was to build a digital grid of images to help people show off collections, like the insects he liked to amass as a child. Mr. Silbermann didn't anticipate that Pinterest would become a hub for women to share inspiration for crafts, home décor and recipes. Pinterest has more than 60 million monthly active users, according to comScore. And 80% of them are women, according to a recent study from RJMetrics, an analytics software firm.
The San Francisco company's founding team is male, as are its heads of operations, product and engineering. Last fall, it hired as head of partnerships Joanne Bradford, previously the president of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mr. Silbermann, who wasn't available to comment, often embraces the homespun culture of the social network he created when communicating with pinners. On his own Pinterest profile, he has posted 120 items to "Things for My Future Kitchen."
Like Pinterest, the male founders of Craftsy Inc.an online video platform that offers quilting, knitting and cake-decorating classes to its 4 million mostly female usersdidn't intend to target women. Craftsy was founded in 2010 as Sympoz and offered tutorials on diverse subjects such as golf and personal finance. But its crafting classes drew legions of paying customers so the company switched its focus.
John Levisay, the Denver company's CEO, says he and his male co-founders have paid close attention to the opinions of Craftsy's 7 million Facebook followers—as well as the women they have hired to oversee the finance, production and product development teams. "We put a lot of effort into rounding out our team with key people who, mercifully for them, look nothing like me," he says.
Chad Dickerson, the chief executive of Etsy Inc., an online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods, says he tries to tap into the shopping psyche of female customers and employees. One adviser is financial chief Kristina Salen. "We talk about shopping, and then we talk about tax issues," says Mr. Dickerson, who succeeded Robert Kalin as CEO of the New York company in 2008.
He changed Etsy's home-page design to show a scroll of disparate items, rather than just fortify the site's search function, after he learned from his female staff that they like to browse first rather than search for specific items.
Merely hiring women can't protect a company from backlash over gender disparity. Last summer, Bryan Goldberg announced he was founding Bustle, an online magazine for women brimming with female bylines. His entree into the women's market, Mr. Goldberg wrote in a blog post, was necessary because other magazines "talk to women as though they were children." Women lambasted Mr. Goldberg in social media for assuming he knew what they wanted to read.
"We had our critics early on, and took their feedback to heart, but Bustle's success speaks for itself," says Mr. Goldberg of his New York company. "We have hired dozens of incredibly talented women whose writing attracted over 10 million visitors to the site in June."
Mr. Arora of Cricut, meanwhile, continues to try to narrow the gap between himself and his female crafting customer. He has hired a team of crafty bloggers to present a more familiar public face for the company. On his business cards read the words, "CEO and blogger BFF."
"The women hated it," he says. They wanted the technology to be hidden and the machine to look spare and clean. He also tried packaging that was printed with the technological specs and cloud-software capabilities. Again, rejection: They wanted to see the images of the crafts they could make.
At times, he would come home from work dejected, telling his wife, "I find my instincts consistently wrong."
this could quickly turn into a head-patting, show the women the cup holders when selling a car, i fear
I guess maybe a clear case wouldn't match my decor, but on thing that frustrates me about the Cricut is the lack of specs on the box. I had no idea what it really did for years, and still don't really know (die cuts? program cartridges?) because every time I see the box I see no information. I would have to make an effort to watch youtube or HSN to figure it out.
"The women hated it," he says. They wanted the technology to be hidden and the machine to look spare and clean. He also tried packaging that was printed with the technological specs and cloud-software capabilities. Again, rejection: They wanted to see the images of the crafts they could make.
At times, he would come home from work dejected, telling his wife, "I find my instincts consistently wrong."
this could quickly turn into a head-patting, show the women the cup holders when selling a car, i fear
Last time I went car shopping, by myself I might add, the Honda salesman showed me how to work the sun visor. Ohhh, so you pull it down? Uh huh, and then what happens if the sun is on my left? Oh it pivots! Thank you for showing me that.
"The women hated it," he says. They wanted the technology to be hidden and the machine to look spare and clean. He also tried packaging that was printed with the technological specs and cloud-software capabilities. Again, rejection: They wanted to see the images of the crafts they could make.
At times, he would come home from work dejected, telling his wife, "I find my instincts consistently wrong."
this could quickly turn into a head-patting, show the women the cup holders when selling a car, i fear
Last time I went car shopping, by myself I might add, the Honda salesman showed me how to work the sun visor. Ohhh, so you pull it down? Uh huh, and then what happens if the sun is on my left? Oh it pivots! Thank you for showing me that.
You can have fun with car salesmen, though. The first thing they always ask is, "what color do you prefer?" The look on their face when I respond with, "I don't care about color, I want to look under the hood" is priceless. I once argued with a salesman about the HP of a model I was test-driving. He insisted I was wrong; we got back to the dealership, looked it up, and it turned out I was right. I live for that sort of gotcha.
Meanwhile, I'm busy marveling that Pinterest is only four years old.
Right? That thing seems to have exploded like no other social media trend.
I also did not know that its original purpose was not to showcase whimsical arrangements of fruit on platters. I should have known however, given that the logo is not a pink flower but rather, a gender neutral color, which these days, is a man color. Marketers should take note: Women will get into things even if the header on the page is not pink.
Last time I went car shopping, by myself I might add, the Honda salesman showed me how to work the sun visor. Ohhh, so you pull it down? Uh huh, and then what happens if the sun is on my left? Oh it pivots! Thank you for showing me that.
You can have fun with car salesmen, though. The first thing they always ask is, "what color do you prefer?" The look on their face when I respond with, "I don't care about color, I want to look under the hood" is priceless. I once argued with a salesman about the HP of a model I was test-driving. He insisted I was wrong; we got back to the dealership, looked it up, and it turned out I was right. I live for that sort of gotcha.
This is me to a T. I fucking love car dealerships because they always, ALWAYS underestimate me.
And then next thing they know I get my car for under invoice. HA!
Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 24, 2014 13:04:40 GMT -5
I'm an insult to women everywhere because when DH's friend came to show me my new car that he's selling to us, DH stayed inside with the baby and I was left looking like a deer caught in headlights every time he asked me if I had any questions and/or wanted to see anything. I just liked the color and the cup holders.
Shut up, I've only been driving consistently for like 2 months and I still don't know what I'm doing!
Right? That thing seems to have exploded like no other social media trend.
I also did not know that its original purpose was not to showcase whimsical arrangements of fruit on platters. I should have known however, given that the logo is not a pink flower but rather, a gender neutral color, which these days, is a man color. Marketers should take note: Women will get into things even if the header on the page is not pink.
pinterest's logo inst a pink flower
?
Yes, that was my point. The fact that the logo is not a pink flower should have clued me in to the fact that the person who invented it did not intend for it to be a special place for the laydees to look at pictures of laydee things like healthy snacks for the li'l ones! If that was the original purpose, there's no way they would have chosen a basic red logo.
Post by mominatrix on Jul 24, 2014 13:38:00 GMT -5
when I was in the market for my first good car (after driving a series of $750 beaters) the first dealership I went to I was talking with a sales guy and said I wanted to drive a car. A standard. And he wouldn't let me, because he didn't believe that I could drive one. Despite driving one TO the dealership.
I'm the car person in the family. My H is all, "ooh, pretty! Shiny! Cool stereo!!" and I'm asking about horsepower to weight ratios. One of the reasons I drive the minivan that I do is because I'm constantly fascinated by its continuously variable transmission.
Last time I went car shopping, by myself I might add, the Honda salesman showed me how to work the sun visor. Ohhh, so you pull it down? Uh huh, and then what happens if the sun is on my left? Oh it pivots! Thank you for showing me that.
You can have fun with car salesmen, though. The first thing they always ask is, "what color do you prefer?" The look on their face when I respond with, "I don't care about color, I want to look under the hood" is priceless. I once argued with a salesman about the HP of a model I was test-driving. He insisted I was wrong; we got back to the dealership, looked it up, and it turned out I was right. I live for that sort of gotcha.
I've certainly had this experience with car-buying, but I was surprised to get it a couple of weeks ago from a bike shop. I am looking at high-end mountain bikes and am very concerned about performance. I was talking to one of the shop guys about the different suspension systems between two of my candidates and he started in on, "well, most women who want to keep their bikes for more than a couple of years choose this brand because it comes in better colors." Hey, dummy, I was asking about the mechanics, not the color!
Post by meshaliuknits on Jul 24, 2014 13:50:37 GMT -5
I don't browse on etsy. I'm looking for something specific. I had no idea craftsy ever did anything besides knitting/crocheting/cake decorating/other domestic arts classes. Huh.
You can have fun with car salesmen, though. The first thing they always ask is, "what color do you prefer?" The look on their face when I respond with, "I don't care about color, I want to look under the hood" is priceless. I once argued with a salesman about the HP of a model I was test-driving. He insisted I was wrong; we got back to the dealership, looked it up, and it turned out I was right. I live for that sort of gotcha.
I've certainly had this experience with car-buying, but I was surprised to get it a couple of weeks ago from a bike shop. I am looking at high-end mountain bikes and am very concerned about performance. I was talking to one of the shop guys about the different suspension systems between two of my candidates and he started in on, "well, most women who want to keep their bikes for more than a couple of years choose this brand because it comes in better colors." Hey, dummy, I was asking about the mechanics, not the color!
Here's the thing - you have to be willing to just walk out and deny these people business. I will never buy from a place that treats me like a dumb broad. Sometimes that means I'm inconvenienced as a shopper but I'd rather deal with that than let some asshole on a commission earn anything from me.
Some in the industry view this instinct gap as a problem, and one created by a male-dominated investment culture. "It's not that a male founder or a male CEO automatically is precluded from doing a good job of running a company for women," says Nicole Shariat Farb, the CEO and co-founder of craft e-commerce company Darby Smart Inc. "But they are precluded from understanding their customer on an instinctual level."
This is our CEO. He's really more of a CTO, and honestly a little aspy. You need GOOD product people to overcome it.
A large part of the problem is Silicon Valley is terrible at even realizing they have this problem.
"It's not that a male founder or a male CEO automatically is precluded from doing a good job of running a company for women," says Nicole Shariat Farb, the CEO and co-founder of craft e-commerce company Darby Smart Inc. "But they are precluded from understanding their customer on an instinctual level."
I don't understand crafters on an instinctual level and I have a vagina. I'm guessing there is a man out there somewhere who does understand them on an instinctual level. I hate all this bullshit.
I don't browse on etsy. I'm looking for something specific. I had no idea craftsy ever did anything besides knitting/crocheting/cake decorating/other domestic arts classes. Huh.
This. I hate that homepage with all that random shit on it. I don't go there just to browse all that shit on there, I go there to find that one odd thing I need to find that only Etsy will have, like a Malcolm X dreamcatcher made with repurposed lint or something like that.
You know there is a group in DC called Uppity Negro that sells stuff like this, right? I saw them at Eastern Market one weekend!
I've certainly had this experience with car-buying, but I was surprised to get it a couple of weeks ago from a bike shop. I am looking at high-end mountain bikes and am very concerned about performance. I was talking to one of the shop guys about the different suspension systems between two of my candidates and he started in on, "well, most women who want to keep their bikes for more than a couple of years choose this brand because it comes in better colors." Hey, dummy, I was asking about the mechanics, not the color!
Here's the thing - you have to be willing to just walk out and deny these people business. I will never buy from a place that treats me like a dumb broad. Sometimes that means I'm inconvenienced as a shopper but I'd rather deal with that than let some asshole on a commission earn anything from me.
And in this case, I am not planning on buying from this shop. However, my ethics could have been in a bit of a quandary because of the dozens of bike shops in my metro area (which has an extremely active cycling culture) this is one of only two shops that carry bikes to test in small women's sizes. So, I would want to support them for that. Fortunately the other shop managed to carry a bike I want in my size and not treat me like an idiot, so they'll get my business.
Some in the industry view this instinct gap as a problem, and one created by a male-dominated investment culture. "It's not that a male founder or a male CEO automatically is precluded from doing a good job of running a company for women," says Nicole Shariat Farb, the CEO and co-founder of craft e-commerce company Darby Smart Inc. "But they are precluded from understanding their customer on an instinctual level."
This is our CEO. He's really more of a CTO, and honestly a little aspy. You need GOOD product people to overcome it.
A large part of the problem is Silicon Valley is terrible at even realizing they have this problem.
as a fellow resident of the SV (fringes of SV but close enough for me to be part of focus groups re SV), its the biggest problem in SV. they want to reach out to women but they don't have the first clue on how to do it absent GASP !!! hiring women. lord knows there are enough women in SV chomping at the bit to do work like that.
First rule all designers should follow: YOU are not the customer/user. Take yourself OUT of the equation and design for your customer.
This is not a gender issue, this is a product design issue.
I have to remember this as a designer.all.the.time. Although I do use the product I design for...so sometimes I am designing for me.
This is what I was thinking while reading.
I'm all for more women in more roles, but there are plenty of men catering to "feminine qualities" in products who do just fine. I think there are a few TLC shows with them as hosts.
I can't believe he thought a transparent shell would not be fugly and that it was weird to him that they'd like something sleek and shiny. Does he not know any women IRL? Or people in general?
Some in the industry view this instinct gap as a problem, and one created by a male-dominated investment culture. "It's not that a male founder or a male CEO automatically is precluded from doing a good job of running a company for women," says Nicole Shariat Farb, the CEO and co-founder of craft e-commerce company Darby Smart Inc. "But they are precluded from understanding their customer on an instinctual level."
This is our CEO. He's really more of a CTO, and honestly a little aspy. You need GOOD product people to overcome it.
A large part of the problem is Silicon Valley is terrible at even realizing they have this problem.
as a fellow resident of the SV (fringes of SV but close enough for me to be part of focus groups re SV), its the biggest problem in SV. they want to reach out to women but they don't have the first clue on how to do it absent GASP !!! hiring women. lord knows there are enough women in SV chomping at the bit to do work like that.
But isn't it still one of the most notorious "boys club" type area around? And my impression is that they like it that way, though hopefully I'm wrong.
as a fellow resident of the SV (fringes of SV but close enough for me to be part of focus groups re SV), its the biggest problem in SV. they want to reach out to women but they don't have the first clue on how to do it absent GASP !!! hiring women. lord knows there are enough women in SV chomping at the bit to do work like that.
But isn't it still one of the most notorious "boys club" type area around? And my impression is that they like it that way, though hopefully I'm wrong.
Totally.
The problem is larger than women though, IMO. Women are just one of the types of people not like them that they can't fathom existing. The 99.9% of the population who is not the Tech Elite are another, larger type.
Last time I went car shopping, by myself I might add, the Honda salesman showed me how to work the sun visor. Ohhh, so you pull it down? Uh huh, and then what happens if the sun is on my left? Oh it pivots! Thank you for showing me that.
You can have fun with car salesmen, though. The first thing they always ask is, "what color do you prefer?" The look on their face when I respond with, "I don't care about color, I want to look under the hood" is priceless. I once argued with a salesman about the HP of a model I was test-driving. He insisted I was wrong; we got back to the dealership, looked it up, and it turned out I was right. I live for that sort of gotcha.
That's me at best buy and formerly circuit city. Sometimes I can have fun with it.
What's especially galling (beyond me knowing more than the guy on the floor) is I'll ask a technical question and they give the answer to h. Of course I usually know the answer to my question already because I do my research