If Nothing Else, Silicon Valley Reality Show Proves the Existence of Female Tech Entrepreneurs

Even though 2010’s The Social Network renewed mainstream interest in the tech industry for the first time since the dot-com boom (and crash) of the early aughts, the narrative in the media about Silicon Valley has remained the same, a rather dated one about boy wonders—like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram’s Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger—getting rich, changing the world and attracting the girls who used to ignore them when they were geeks. But Bravo’s new reality series about Silicon Valley might change that widely held impression of the tech world by casting female entrepreneurs.

Zuckerberg’s sister Randi is an executive producer of Silicon Valley which is meant to show the reality of the business in contrast to the Hollywood treatment it received in The Social Network. The series is currently filming and will premiere sometime this winter. According to The New York Times, industry insiders are not happy that the goings-on of their insular world will become entertainment for the likes of Real Housewives fans. They are “rankled” and “terrified” that they will become a “laughing stock.”

While it’s perhaps best to have a healthy fear of being at the mercy of a reality television producer’s edits—like the obvious story lines of a group of guys using their investor money to host pool parties in their crash pad—there seems to be something of a silver lining in featuring young women tech entrepreneurs. It’s the first time we’ll get to see their stories told, like one girl who’s startup is “based on personalized content in the luxury market for women,” and another who is working on developing a fitness app with her brother.

Naturally, the drama will be amped up to make the show palatable. Bravo’s president Frances Berwick admitted as much when she said, “In the editing process, we try to get rid of everything that is going to be a snooze.”