Farewell from SheStarts

Dear friends,
We are writing today with an important update about SheStarts. After much thoughtful consideration, we have decided to cease operations. We are incredibly proud of the work we have done and are grateful for the opportunities we have had to get to know all of you and to make some small impact on the Boston startup scene.
SheStarts grew out of numerous conversations Nancy Cremins and Liz O’Donnell had with women founders who were sharing many of the same struggles in the Boston startup ecosystem to find support, to feel included, and to get access to the resources they needed to grow successful businesses. In February 2014, we convened a dynamic group of women to connect, share expertise, and help address the challenges they were facing both as individual entrepreneurs as well as collectively. SheStarts was born from the energy and enthusiasm we experienced that night.
Eventually, Lynne Zagami joined the SheStarts team and together we regularly brought together women founders and hosted many educational and networking events, including SheDemos, a showcase and pitch competition for women-run companies, that we co-hosted with the Babson WIN Lab.
Today, the startup ecosystem in Boston is different than it was at the inception of SheStarts. There are now numerous organizations and investment groups supporting women founders in Boston and beyond. We applaud the work of these organizations and are proud to call you friends — the WIN Lab, Women Entrepreneurs Boston, TCN, She Geeks Out, At the Table, Golden Seeds and X Factor Ventures, to name just a few. They continue to do the important work of supporting female founders and making the startup community more inclusive. If you are not already familiar with their work, we encourage you to get to know them. We are also grateful that the WIN Lab team will continue hosting SheDemos, as well as occasional networking breakfasts to maintain an informal space for women founders to build connections and grow their community. We are proud to have been part of that movement, and look forward to taking part in future events as individual contributors.
As startup founders know, sometimes things need to end to make room for other projects and priorities. We are all hard at work — both at our day jobs and in our lives outside of work — but we will continue to to support women in the Boston startup community and beyond in all the ways we know how. We look forward to keeping in touch with you and encourage you to reach out to us:
Nancy Cremins, Globalization Partners — ncremins@globalization-partners.com
Liz O’Donnell — liz@workingdaughter.com
Lynne Zagami, Shoobx — lzagami@shoobx.com
You can even join Lynne at the second annual Shoobx Drive Conference for Startups on November 8th at District Hall (use code SheStarts for 50% off your ticket)!
Thank you again for allowing SheStarts to play a part of this wonderful community. We have enjoyed every moment we got to work with you, and we hope to see you again soon!
In sisterhood,
Nancy, Liz & Lynne
