You’ve Got An Excuse For Not Funding Women Startups? I Call BS.
By: Justyn Hintze
Tags: Women In Tech, Technology, Startup

Hit the button at the bottom of the page that says “Write your response”, and tell us what you’ve heard/experienced, re: women surviving in the tech sector.

Why don’t we have more women in tech? Why does a mere 7% of investor money go to women-led startups? Why are women programmers afraid they’ll be looked over in the job sector?

I've heard the rebuttals and the devil’s advocates, but trust me, I've got counters:

There just aren't as many women-led startups as there are startups led by men! I call BS.

Women are founding startups every single day. There was a 68% increase in women launching businesses in the US between 1997 and 2014. That is TWO TIMES the growth rate of businesses owned by men in that same time frame.

Women-led startups just aren't viable. They’re just not as good at what they do. BS, again.

Women-led tech startups have a 35% higher ROI when venture backed and generate 12% higher revenue than male-run startups. Women entrepreneurs bring in 20% more revenue than entrepreneurs who are men, with 50% less money invested.

Women don’t effectively pitch their startups. Nope — people just pay more attention to startups founded by men. It’s proven. MIT conducted a field study where they concluded that:

Across a field setting (three entrepreneurial pitch competitions in the United States) and two controlled experiments, we find that investors prefer entrepreneurial pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches presented by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same.

Need more proof? MIT isn’t enough? No problem, Yale conducted a similar study proving that the gender-bias in science is real.

Research from Yale that had scientists presented with application materials from a student applying for a lab manager position and who intended to go on to graduate school. Half the scientists were given the application with a male name attached, and half were given the exact same application with a female name attached. Results found that the “female” applicants were rated significantly lower than the “males” in competence, hireability, and whether the scientist would be willing to mentor the student.

Oh, wait. Still not convinced? How about the study published by the Innovative Higher Education Journal?

Assistant instructors in an online class each operated under two different gender identities. Students rated the male identity significantly higher than the female identity, regardless of the instructor’s actual gender, demonstrating gender bias. Given the vital role that student ratings play in academic career trajectories, this finding warrants considerable attention.

The gender bias is real. And we need to step up and acknowledge that. This means making a concerted effort to fund. women-led. startups. Period. These terrible stats keep perpetuating, and they aren’t going to change unless we do something. And it has to be intentional.

Women Who Tech just launched the first-ever Women Startup Challenge to fund women-led startups. They’re giving $50,000 cash to women-led startups, no strings attached. Seriously. Apply here. Or, if you don’t have a startup, share it with a friend who’s been working to get her startup off the ground.

You can also learn how to rock your pitch, how to navigate the BS brogrammer culture, and more during the Women Who Tech TeleSummit happening on April 29. Register for the TeleSummit to secure your spot.

Let’s turn these gender biases upside down. Are you in?

#womenwhotech