BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Sexism and Success for Women Entrepreneurs

Following
This article is more than 9 years old.

Are these the Best of Times or the Worst of Times for women entrepreneurs?

“Savagely misogynistic” is how a recent cover story about Silicon Valley described the venture capital climate on the West Coast, complete with a cartoon image of a woman whose skirt was being lifted by a phallic cursor gone astray. But the same week, I joined hundreds of women entrepreneurs on the East Coast who were celebrating our milestones and networking our way to success at two important double x chromosome gatherings: the Women Entrepreneurs Festival and the Golden Seeds Summit for women-run companies.

If you have not heard of them, the Women Entrepreneurs Festival is in its fifth year and showcases women CEOs running thriving businesses, while providing networking opportunities for newer female founders. Golden Seeds is the largest women-focused angel and venture network in the U.S. and holds an annual summit for its members and companies. Golden Seeds has over 290 members in 20 states, just celebrated 10 years of funding and has invested in over 65 companies led by women (including my language teaching for kids company, Little Pim)."

As a woman who has been running an edutainment business for seven years and having to have the treasure chest to compete with Disney, Fisher Price and Scholastic, I have raised every kind of capital (Friends and Family, Kickstarter, Angel and Venture). I learned early on that you’d best have the right shoes for this dance. For networking with high-powered women who might invest in your company, it’s the 2.5” shiny patent heels or whatever makes you feel powerful, but for raising capital from the still 96% male VCs, it’s best to have the flats, the studs and the no-nonsense hair if you don't want to end up featured in the next article about sexism in the investment world. There are definitely more “good guy” investors than predators, but it’s still far from a world you’d want to send your sisters into, let alone your daughters.

Still, there is huge momentum right now around women entrepreneurs, and you could feel the buzz at the two events, which were both packed with CEOs who will be the next wave of high-earning women-run companies like Care.com or ChloeandIsabel.com. Angel investor and Women Entrepreneurs Festival co-founder Joanne Wilson pointed out that in the last five years we’ve seen an explosion of women founders, seeking funding and building successful businesses. Wilson says we are right at a tipping point for women entrepreneurs. She should know, as she has been investing for nine years as an angel investor and has funded over 40 women-run businesses (if you have never read her blog Gotham Gal, where she profiles women entrepreneurs, get ready for some binge blog reading).

Signs these are the Best of Times:

• Studies show women-run companies provide up to a 31% higher rate of return than those run by men

• Women are starting businesses at nearly twice the rate that men are

• “Women rule the Internet,” says Wilson, since they account for the majority of purchasers in ecommerce and are starting increasing numbers of e-commerce companies that lead to success

• More women investors are starting their own funds and looking to invest in women, including Cowboy Ventures, Investors Circle, Female Founders Fund, Golden Seeds and 37 Angels (complete list of women who invest in women here)

The Women Entrepreneurs Festival also provided a chance to hear from one of the most beloved entrepreneurial heroines: the grand dame of fashion Diane von Furstenberg. She offered wisdom, humor, and fierce elegance at the festival kickoff. One of my favorite quotes was in response to an audience member who asked if during her brilliant career she ever doubted herself: “Oh, I spent years not knowing what I was doing!” she replied with a self-assured chuckle. DVF has been a designer, a company owner, and self-identified “comeback kid,” and she now has her own cable show and one of the most enduring brands in fashion. She explained, “I am constantly at the turning point of my life.”

Okay, so what about the sexism we still face?

Yes, these are also the Worst of Times:

“The financing gap between male and female entrepreneurs is massive,” underlines Nina Burleigh in her article on sexism in Silicon Valley, and things seem to only be getting marginally better in that old boys' club. Sexism alone is not the problem. Yes, it is still too often the case that when women do learn the fundraising dance they have to dance it even better than the men if they want to access the big dollars. “It’s not all sexism but also a culture in which women don’t easily brag or bring the same swagger to fund-raising pitches that the boys do,” says Burleigh.

Teaching women the dance is more important than ever.

Only 4-7% of Venture Capital is invested in women-led businesses and those numbers are not increasing fast enough. Even though more women investors have started funds that prioritize women founders, these investors control relatively small sums relative to the billions being deployed by the traditional VCs. I have been doing my part to teach women “the dance” in my Double Digit Academy I created in 2013 to help women learn to raise angel and venture capital in a one day bootcamp. I have trained over 50 women to raise funds over the last two years as a kind of “pay it forward” project while I run my business, and I turned Double Digit Academy into an online course so women all over the country could access it from Cleveland to Kalamazoo.

Seeing the number of Angel and VC-funded women in the double digits is a change I am determined to see in my lifetime. I have history on my side. Just remember, even though women got the vote in 1920, until 1974 we couldn’t buy houses or have a credit card in our own name! In 20 years we hope sexism in Silicon Valley will be something we laugh about over drinks and tell our daughters about in the same conversation where we explain to them what records were.