Last year, my company (WePay, a sponsor of USFG) and I were part of a technology start-up program called Y-combinator. I'll save you the boring details, but in short about thirty very small companies of two to four people each go through this program which runs twice a year - it's designed to kick-start your small company by providing feedback, resources, introductions to some great connections, and a small amount of money. (If you want to learn more - http://ycombinator.com/about.html)

I was part of the Summer 2009 program, and out of about 100 founders, zero of them were female. Zero. In the five years or so that the program has been running, I've heard there have been about three female founders total, compared to several hundred men (most of whom are just out of college). I hear that this is typical among other similar startup programs, such as TechStars.

So, ladies - why is this? Does the high-risk, high-tech startup world not appeal to you? Is it not something you're aware of? Does the sheer number of guys scare you off?

I realize that most of you are probably still in high school and may not have thought that far ahead yet, but I'm still interested to see what you think.