Stephanie Shirley
Founder of Freelance Programmers
A software house staffed by women working from home, in 1962
Rating
88Impact score
Domains
Software businessDistributed workEmployee ownership
Scouting report
Founded Freelance Programmers with six pounds, staffing it almost entirely with women programming from home around their children, decades before remote work had a name. Signed her business letters Steve because Stephanie was not getting replies. The company wrote the Concorde black box flight recorder software and she later gave much of her wealth away.
Curator’s note
Built the case for remote work in 1962 and shipped Concorde’s black box.
Sources
- 01Steve Shirley en.wikipedia.org
- 02Her own account steveshirley.com