North America is becoming one of the best places to build a startup, but most of the early-stage women entrepreneurs we speak to aren't aware of the local tech resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the Founder Institute now open, we're excited to release the Female Founder Startup Ecosystem Resource Guide, which is currently in Draft v2 below! It was developed by the Founder Institute's Female Founder Initiative and it's co-creators, Rachel Sheppard, and Megan Todd.

This is just a draft, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Are you are a Female Founder looking to build a startup? Then apply to the Founder Institute today!

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

Startup Stages

---

There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

A. Inspire

• Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters)

1. Elegant Entrepreneur
2. Female Founder Initiative Newsletter
3. Female Founder Space
4. Female Founders Alliance Blog
5. Female Founders Fund Blog
6. Ladies Who Launch Newsletter
7. Startup Digest (Diversity & Inclusion)
8. Startup Digest (Women Entrepreneurship)
9. Tech.co - Diversity
10. TechCrunch Include
11. Women 2.0
12. Women Tech Founders Blog
13. Women Who Startup - Blog
14. Women Who Tech Newsletter
15. Y Combinator - Female Founders

• Inspirational Startup Events: Open, inclusive startup events that often focus on ideation. (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)

1. BlackByte
2. Cosmopolitan Lesbian Society
3. Creative Female Entrepreneurs
4. Entrepreneur in High Heels
5. Fearless Female Founders
6. Feminist Hack ATX
7. Future Founders Conference
8. Lesbians Who Brunch - LWT NYC
9. Project Entrepreneur
10. Startup & Startout HackOut
11. Startup Weekend Women
12. StartupChicks
13. Startups In High Heels
14. TC Sessions: Justice 2021
15. TechFam
16. Techqueria
17. WiSE24
18. Women in Product Conference
19. Women Techmakers
20. WomenTech Global Conference
21. Women's Entrepreneurship Day
22. Young Female Professionals & Entrepreneurs

B. Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing tech events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire).

1. Brown Girls in Tech
2. ChickTech
3. Detroit Black Tech
4. Female Founders
5. Founder Institute’s Female Founder Initiative
6. Founders
7. Ladies Who Launch
8. Mentorkind
9. PyLadies
10. Startup Grind
11. Tech Inclusion
12. The Business of Women Entrepreneurs
13. Women Entrepreneurs of Los Angeles
14. Women Founders Network
15. Women in Tech
16. Women Tech Founders
17. Women Tech Leaders
18. Women Who Startup
19. Women Who Tech
20. Women's Startup Lab

• Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development organization that are either 100% focused on women, or have specific programs geared towards increasing women in entrepreneurship. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)

1. 500 Female Forces
2. Ada Developers Academy
3. Advancing Women in Technology
4. App Camp for Girls
5. Black Female Founders
6. Black Girls Code
7. Bloc New Relic Bootcamp Diversity Scholarship
8. Code Fellows
9. Codebar
10. CodeChix
11. Coffee & Coded
12. Data Science Women
13. Dev Bootcamp
14. Django Girls
15. Female Founder School
16. Female Founder Space
17. Female Innovators Lab
18. Founder Institute (Female Founder Fellowship) 
19. Galvanize
20. General Assembly
21. Girl Develop It
22. Girls in Tech
23. Girls Who Code
24. Grace Hopper Fullstack Academy
25. Grand Circus
26. Hack Reactor/Optimizely: I/Own It 
27. Hackbright Academy
28. Hear Me Code
29. Immersion: Women Founders
30. Launch Academy
31. Lesbians Who Tech
32. Metis
33. MotherCoders
34. NYU Female Founders Fellowship
35. Pipeline Angels Bootcamp
36. Rails Girls
37. RailsBridge
38. She's Coding
39. Skillcrush
40. TechGirlz
41. The GUILD
42. We Can Code IT
43. Women in Big Data
44. Women in Product
45. Women in Tech Allies
46. Women Who Code
47. WomenLaunch
48. Women's Venture Summit Ad Astra Bootcamps
49. Women's Voices in Tech

C. Validate

• Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. tech networking events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)

1. Beacon
2. Black Business Women Rock
3. Black Career Women's Network
4. Black Female Founders
5. CRAVE
6. Ellevate
7. eWomenNetwork
8. Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide
9. Female Founders Network
10. Girls in Tech
11. Hive Founders
12. National Association of Women Business Owners
13. Network of Entrepreneurial Women
14. NYC Fintech Women
15. Seattle Latino/a Networking Professionals Meetup Group
16. Sophisticated Women with Alternative Goals
17. The Female Entrepreneurs Network
18. The GUILD
19. The Queens Business Networking Group
20. The Women's Entrepreneurial Network
21. TheLatinaPro: The Latina Professional Network in Miami
22. WiNGs
23. Women 2.0
24. Women Who Cowork
25. WomenTech Network
26. Women's Power Networking

• Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build (i.e. hackahons and other builder-focussed evens and resources).

1. AthenaHacks 2021
2. Black Girls CODE Hackathon
3. Brown Girls in Tech Hackathons
4. Double Union
5. FemmeHacks
6. Hack The Paygap
7. Hackermoms
8. Hacking for Diversity & Inclusion in Tech
9. Inclusive Tech Hub
10. Pearl Hacks
11. Prototype PGH
12. Tech Lady Hackathon
13. Technica All Women Hackathon
14. The Women's Center for Creative Work
15. UA Women's+ Hackathon
16. WiCHacks
17. WiCS Hacks 2021
18. WiDS 2021 Datathon
19. Women Techmakers Hackathons
20. Women Who Code Hackathon Atlanta

2. Launch Stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

A. Start

• Establish: Law firms & banks for startups with programs specifically targeting minorities in startups

1. Adrienne B. Haynes ESQ
2. Baker Donelson
3. Chung, Malhas & Mantel, PLLC
4. Cooley
5. Davis Wright Tremaine
6. DLA Piper
7. Dorsey and Whitney
8. Hanson Bridgett LLP
9. Herwitz Law
10. Hinshaw and Culbertson
11. Hogan Lovells
12. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
13. Kabbage
14. KMR Law Group
15. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
16. Lewis Rice
17. LiftFund
18. Littler Mendelson P.C.
19. Meyer Law
20. Paladin
21. PNC
22. Quarles & Brady LLP
23. Reed Smith LLP
24. Richards, Layton & Finger
25. Schiff Hardin LLP
26. Sidley Austin LLP
27. Silicon Valley Bank
28. Smith Shapourian Mignano PC
29. SRD Legal Group
30. SunTrust Bank
31. Union Bank
32. TD Bank
33. The Law Offices of Kelly D. Shapiro
34. WE Legal
35. White & Case LLP
36. WilmerHale
37. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

• Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces with programs specifically targeting minorities in startups

1. Charley Co.
2. Collective615
3. coworkHERS
4. Double Union
5. EvolveHer
6. Hera Hub
7. Impact Hub
8. JoyCo
9. Modernwell
10. New Women Space
11. Paper Dolls
12. RISE
13. Sesh Coworking
14. She Works Collective
15. SheSpace
16. Sky Oro
17. The Assembly
18. The Coven
19. The Emerald
20. The Hivery
21. The Nook
22. The Perlene
23. The Riveter
24. The Wing
25. The Women's Center for Creative Work
26. Thrive
27. WeWork
28. Women in Tandem

B. Develop

• Formalize: Accounting, development and HR tools for early-stage startups, with programs sspecifically targeting minorities in startups  

1. AccountHer
2. Amy Northard, CPA
3. And One Marketing
4. Andiamo Creative
5. Bechtel CPA
6. Blue Daring
7. Brainchild Studios
8. Carminati Consulting
9. Creative Juice
10. Crossfire Consulting
11. Denny Mountain Media
12. Employers Advantage
13. Enthuse Marketing
14. FlexProfessionals
15. JLM HR Consulting
16. Kruze Consulting
17. Marcum
18. Metalogix
19. Moxy Accounting
20. Navitance
21. Pacific Crest Group
22. Redhead Web Design
23. Singlebrook
24. Spinelli CPA
25. Tech Ladies
26. The Sax Agency
27. Weller Consulting
28. Witty Kitty

• Prepare for Seed: Incubatorss and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS)

1. AccelerateHER
2. ARA
3. Beam
4. Bridge for Billions
5. Change Catalyst
6. Connect All
7. digitalundivided
8. Female Founders First
9. FemGems Club
10. Halo Incubator
11. HerCorner
12. Kota Alliance
13. Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
14. The Refinery
15. WESST
16. Women's Business Incubator
17. Youngstown Business Incubator Women in Entrepreneurship Program

C. Launch

• Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. 1871 Women Influence Chicago Accelerator
2. Aviatra Accelerators
3. DivInc
4. EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women
5. Female Founders Alliance Accelerator
6. Female Founders Fund
7. Get Sh!t Done Accelerator
8. Google for Startups: Women Founders Accelerator
9. Hello Alice
10. MergeLane
11. NewME
12. Prosper
13. Springboard
14. Stella Labs Business Accelerator
15. Techstars
16. The Capital Network Fellowship for Female Founders
17. TUMML
18. Women's Startup Lab Accelerator
19. XXCELERATE Fund
20. Y Combinator

• Pitch & Demo Events: Tech events that showcase startups for investment.

1. 1776NY’s Women’s Demo Day
2. Equalize 2021
3. Golden Seeds Office Hours 
4. KiwiTech Female Founders Demo Day
5. Pipeline Angels Pitch Summit
6. The Capital Network Female Founders Demo Day
7. WiSE24
8. Women 2.0 Female Founder Pitch Competition
9. Women Founders 2021
10. Women Founders Network Fast Pitch Competition
11. Women Founders Represent
12. Women's Venture Summit Pitch Competition

3. Growth Stage

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

A. Recognition

• Investor Networking:  Events and groups that connect professional investors with founders.

1. 37 Angels
2. Allraise
3. ASTIA
4. Beam Angel Network
5. Broadway Angels
6. Elpha
7. Female Angel Investor
8. Female Funders
9. Girl Capital
10. Golden Seeds
11. Impact America Fund
12. JumpFund
13. Northern New England Women's Investor Network
14. Pipeline Angels
15. Portfolia
16. SoGal
17. Startup Runway
18. The Marathon Foundation
19. Topstone Angels
20. Women Investors & Founders Summit
21. Women's Capital Connection
22. Women's Venture Summit

• Major Media: Mainstream local business press that often showcase local startups.

1. Advocate
2. Bizwomen
3. Black Enterprise Magazine
4. Bustle
5. Diversity Inc.
6. Diversity Woman
7. Enterprising Women
8. ForbesWomen
9. Girlboss
10. Latin Business News
11. Lean In
12. Lioness Magazine
13. Minority Business Entrepreneur Magazine
14. Professional Woman's Magazine
15. Refinery29
16. Sass Magazine
17. The Everygirl
18. Women Entrepreneur
19. Women Leadership Magazine
20. Women's Business Daily
21. YFS Magazine

B. Funding

• Women Angel Investors: Seed-stage investors and micro-vcs. 

1. Aileen Lee
2. Alicia Syrett
3. Allison Thoreson Bhusri
4. Alyse Killeen
5. Amy Banse
6. Amy Lameyer
7. Amy Nam McCullough
8. Ana Díaz-Hernández
9. Anarghya Vardhana
10. Andrea Barrica
11. Andrea Zurek
12. Angela Lee
13. Ann Lamont
14. Ann Miura-Ko
15. Anu Duggal
16. Arian Simone
17. Arlan Hamilton
18. Beth Seidenberg
19. Bonnie Beeman
20. Brianne Kimmel
21. Caterina Fake
22. Christine Hahn
23. Christine Lu
24. Christine Tsai
25. Deborah Jackson
26. Edith Dorsen
27. Elizabeth Galbut
28. Hope Cochran
29. Jenny Lee
30. Jess Lee
31. Julianne Brands
32. Kirsten Green
33. Lauren Flanagan
34. Martina Welkhoff
35. Mary Meeker
36. Masha Drokova
37. Megan Quinn
38. Pocket Sun
39. Rebecca Lynn
40. Sandra Stone
41. Sarah Kunst
42. Shradha Agarwal
43. Stephanie Palmeri
44. Talia Goldberg
45. Theresia Gouw
46. Tina Eskridge
47. Tina Sharkey
48. Trish Costello
49. Vivy Chao
50. Xandra Laskowski 

• General/ Other Diversity Angels 

1. Aydin Senkut
2. Benjamin Ling
3. Chamath Palihapitiya
4. David Lee
5. Dharmesh Shah
6. Harj Taggar
7. Jerry Yang
8. Max Levchin
9. Naval Ravikant
10. Ram Shriram
11. Steve Chen

• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond (Women Organizations)

1. 11.2 Capital
2. AmplifyHer Ventures
3. Aspect Ventures
4. Aviatra Accelerators
5. Backstage Capital
6. BBG Ventures
7. Belle Capital
8. Bumble Fund
9. Chloe Capital
10. Cleo Capital
11. Cowboy Ventures
12. Day One Ventures
13. DYVVYD
14. FEARLESS FUND
15. Female Founders Fund
16. Fika Ventures
17. Forerunner Ventures
18. Glasswing Ventures
19. Halogen Ventures
20. Illuminate Ventures
21. Intel Capital
22. January Ventures
23. JumpStart Focus Fund
24. Merian Ventures
25. New Voices Fund
26. Plum Alley Investments
27. Rethink Impact
28. Rev1 Ventures
29. SoGal Ventures
30. StarVest Partners
31. The WXR Venture Fund
32. Urban Innovation Fund
33. Valor Ventures
34. Women’s VC Fund II
35. Worklife Ventures 

• General/ Other Diversity Organizations

1. Blue Run Ventures
2. Catalyst Fund
3. Felicis Ventures
4. Floodgate
5. Kapor Capital
6. Lowercase Capital
7. Ribbit Capital
8. Sequoia
9. Social Capital
10. Uncork Capital

C. Growth

• Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance, with programs specifically targeting minorities in startups.

1. 42Floors
2. Allstate
3. Astron Solutions
4. Athena Alliance 
5. Atlanta Life
6. Breather
7. Cigna Health Insurance
8. Esurance
9. General Liability Insurance
10. Globalization Partners
11. Instant Offices
12. JER HR Group
13. LoopNet
14. MetLife
15. Nationwide Insurance
16. New York Life Insurance Company
17. OfficeFinder
18. Out2Enroll
19. Phillip Rush Center
20. Regus
21. Sava Insurance Group
22. SF LGBT Center
23. Shaw HR Consulting
24. State Farm
25. TechSpace
26. The Hartford
27. Turnkey Office Space

• Expansion: Growth accelerators and consultants, with programs sspecifically targeting minoritiess in startups (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Accenture
2. AWL Strategies
3. Bain & Company
4. Booz Allen Hamilton
5. Boston Consulting Group
6. Deloitte
7. Dynamic Pro
8. Ernst & Young
9. Gartner
10. Her Corner
11. ILLUME Advising
12. Kearney
13. KPMG
14. L.E.K. Consulting
15. Luminous
16. McKinsey & Company
17. Proko Consulting
18. PwC
19. Rebel & Reason
20. Royal Consulting Firm

4. Female Founder Success Stories

Notable technology companies that were founded by women, or currently have a female CEO. 

1. Accompany
2. Affectiva
3. AppDynamics
4. Apple Pie Capital 
5. Bebo
6. Before Brands
7. Birchbox
8. Buddy Media (acquired by Salesforce)
9. Bumble
10. Care.com
11. CEEK
12. Cisco
13. ClassPass
14. Ellevest
15. Eventbrite
16. ezCater
17. Fashwire
18. Femasys
19. Fetch Robotics
20. Flickr
21. Front
22. General Dynamics
23. Glossier
24. Grokker
25. IBM
26. inDinero
27. Instacart
28. LearnVest
29. Linkshare (acquired by Rakuten)
30. Lively
31. Lockheed Martin
32. Lola
33. Maven
34. Meebo
35. Nasty Gal
36. Rent the Runway
37. Revel Systems
38. Shippo
39. SlideShare
40. Spanx
41. SSENSE
42. Stitch Fix
43. Tala
44. TaskRabbit
45. The Muse
46. The Real Real
47. TheSkimm
48. Thrive Global
49. Tinder
50. Uncharted Power
51. Vida Health
52. VMware
53. Wildfire Interactive
54. Zola

Supporters

---

To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Evangelists

A list of potential advisors. Successful female founders who lead the ecosystem and frequently mentor newbies. (i.e. Female leaders who have taken a leadersship position, speak at alot of startup events, mentor all the programs, etc.)

1. Amanda Bradford
2. Angela Duckworth
3. Anjali Sud
4. Anne Wojcicki
5. Anu Hariharan
6. Arianna Huffington
7. Ashley Merrill
8. Emily Weiss
9. Erika James
10. Erin Flynn
11. Ginni Rometty
12. Iman Abuzeid
13. Jasmine Crowe
14. Jennifer Hyman
15. Jess Mah
16. Jessica Alba
17. Jessica Livingston
18. Katia Beauchamp
19. Katrina Lake
20. Kimberly Bryant
21. Lisa Barnett
22. Lisa Lewin
23. Marissa Mayer
24. Megan Todd
25. Meg Whitman
26. Melinda Gates
27. Natalia Oberti Noguera
28. Oprah Winfrey
29. Payal Kadakia Pujji
30. Rachel Sheppard
31. Reshma Saujani
32. Sallie Krawcheck
33. Sara Blakely
34. Shar Dubey
35. Sheryl Sandberg
36. Susan Wojcicki
37. Whitney Wolfe Herd

2. Government Startup Resources

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development (Women organizations)

1. ALLinSTEM
2. Grants For Women
3. InnovateHER: Innovating for Women Business Challenge
4. National Women’s Business Council
5. SBA Office of Women's Business Ownership
6. SBA Women's Business Center
7. U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce
8. United State of Women
9. Women Impacting Public Policy
10. Women and Minority Entrepreneurship
11. Women Presidents' Organization
12. Women's Business Enterprise National Council

*  *  *

Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the female founder Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a draft, and more input is needed!)

Are you a female founder looking to build a startup? Then apply to the Founder Institute today