Taioseach Enda Kenny with Elon Musk at the 2013 Web Summit. Brian Lawless / PA Archive Brian Lawless / PA Archive / PA Archive

WITH THE WEB Summit starting next week, eager would-be tech millionaires have been busy jostling for attention.

Having scraped together a minimum of nearly €2,000 to be on show at what will controversially be the last Dublin edition of the event, startup founders are understandably keen to catch the eye of those controlling the purse strings.

Today software entrepreneur and investor Eamon Leonard, who has put money into everything from homebrew startup Brewbot to next-big-thing Intercom, shared this questionable email approach which came with the subject line ‘Help me lose my virginity?’:

The unnamed hopeful followed it up with: “Well a girl’s gotta choose a subject line to stand out right?”

The author went on to explain about losing their “Web Summit virginity” and to ask for a 10-minute meeting – or a visit to their exhibitor stand.

While the stunt won few fans, it did trigger a conversation about sexism and the gender imbalance within the tech industry.

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