%0 Journal Article %J Open Source Business Resource %D 2011 %T Which Gender Differences Matter for High-Tech Entrepreneurship? %A J. McGrath Cohoon %X With data from successful founders of high-tech companies, we identify traits common to large majorities of them and any gender differences in those traits. There are few. Further, we identify criteria that might lead to gender imbalance among successful founders by comparing similarities and differences in the gender distribution of these traits among the general population and among successful founders. We find that signature traits of successful founders include: motivation by the desire to build wealth, and not by the inability to find traditional employment, nor because they developed a technology in a lab environment and wanted to see it make an impact; belief that startup success was due to prior industry or work experience, lessons learned from previous successes and failures, the company's management team, and good fortune, not because of state or regional assistance or alumni networks; access to mentors, and little financial pressure for a steady income. None of these dominant traits appeared to be required unequally of men and women, although some traits were unequally distributed in the general population. %B Open Source Business Resource %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %8 07/2011 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/454 %N July 2011 %9 Articles %1 National Center for Women & IT Joanne McGrath Cohoon holds positions as Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at the University of Virginia and as Senior Research Scientist at the National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT). Results from her research are reported in scholarly journals and an award-winning book from MIT Press, co-edited with William Aspray: Women and Information Technology: Research on Underrepresentation. At NCWIT, Cohoon researches and creates resources on high-tech startups, entrepreneurship, gender and education, technology, organizations, and inequality. She also serves on the board of the Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W), conducts interventions with high school teachers, trains and supervises professional consultants, and collaborates on increasing women's participation in volunteer computing.