New Documentary Spotlights Silicon Valley Female Entrepreneurs

By Jessie Fetterling

The fact that the startup world is still predominantly male — according to estimates from Crunchbase, less than 20% of startups have a female founder — is at this point common knowledge that many have resigned themselves to. But tech journalists Nora Poggi and Insiyah Saeed are trying to change the playing field by relying on a deceptively simple tactic: inspire the next generation through film.

Their new documentary, She Started It, follows five female Silicon Valley entrepreneurs — Stacey Ferreira, Thuy Truong, Brienne Ghafourifar, Agathe Molinar, and Sheena Allen — on a 2.5-year journey of ups and downs in their attempts to build new businesses. The film aims to make its audience members find parallels between their own lives and those of the characters, hopefully motivating new women to enter what can be an intimidatingly gender-skewed field.

I spoke with Nora and Insiyah about the film, its mission of inspiring a new generation of women, and their own struggles as female filmmakers in a predominantly…