Breaking Barriers: All-Female Startup Accelerator 'The Tech Bros’ Takes the Tech World by Storm

When you hear ’tech bro,’ what springs to mind? Perhaps it’s Mark Zuckerberg discussing workplace wrestling tactics on a podcast. Or Elon Musk, sunglasses on, chainsaw in hand. Maybe it’s Jeff Bezos, oddly fit and flaunting ripped abs. Whatever image arises, it is often met with a roll of the eyes or an uneasy shiver. Enter Milette Gillow and Sedinam Simpson. They chose to call their all-female accelerator ‘The Tech Bros,’ fully aware of the baggage that comes with it. This decision was a deliberate strategy. As Gillow, a UK-based ex-VC and maths lecturer, puts it, ‘we want to flip the narrative on its head.’ \ The Tech Bros was established in 2024, initially as a space for women to connect, collaborate, and innovate. The meetups and hackathons, covering topics such as robotics and cryptography, were tailored for women only. Workshops instructing founders on honing their pitches to the ‘minimum viable product’ stage were also held. One of the repeating sessions was the Bad Ideas Build, a safe space for women to flesh out and develop their ideas, however ridiculous they may be. \ The venture is set to scale up as Gillow and Simpson plan to host 20 aspiring ’technical founders’ from across the globe at a ‘hacker house’ in Norway’s serene mountains. This will not just be a gathering but an intensive training and collaboration retreat. Their ambition is clear: to make The Tech Bros match the status of renowned accelerators like San Francisco’s Y Combinator. Though a lofty goal, the co-founders’ belief in their mission is unwavering. Simpson, a machine learning graduate from Cambridge University, says they aim to support talent that is often ‘underfunded and undervalued.’ In this world of tech bros, their vision brings a fresh, inclusive perspective.