The little I know about balancing equations leads me to one solution — if we want more women on the receiving side of investor dollars, then add more women to the check-writing side [increase in women check-writers = increase in funding in women]. Having more women investors roots out these gender biases that hinder ventures at the earliest stages.

The Gender Myth

I know I’m not sharing anything new so far but I think it’s worth reiterating, especially since I still get “I just don’t understand why more women aren’t interested in VC” comments when broaching this subject. Or as a recent partner interviewing me said, “It just doesn’t seem like women want this enough.”

So why does this myth still exist that women don’t want to be in VC? In my casual investigations about this worn out trope, I can point to the following phenomena:

The Gatekeeper Bias — some boys clubs want to stay boys clubs. It’s the same cultural effect we’ve seen in other high-pressure/high-reward male-dominated industries. Qualified women successfully enter the industry, climb the corporate ladder (all while facing unique workplace pressures that their male counterparts do not) but then eventually exit early. Retention is as important as recruiting.
The Resume Snobs — as an MBA candidate in a top US program, I don’t say this lightly: stop screening out candidates based on pedigree. An Ivy League resume is incredibly impressive and a good indication of smarts, leadership, and drive, but it’s only just that — an indication.
The False Narrative — this one is for my fellow women who are interested in VC (and there are many). We’ve been told many times that this industry is for risk takers, for former bankers, for those in STEM, for those with large networks, for those with years of experience, for those who meet every job description requirement. It’s easy to hear that and be dissuaded (I’m guilty of this). I urge anyone with an interest in the VC world to tune out the noise and move forward with your pursuit. The VC industry will catch up to you.

A New Approach

Useful and diverse skills can be found in surprising backgrounds — and often not in backgrounds that look like yours. But, creating the diverse teams you seek takes work, and not just the “changing hearts and minds” kind of work. Real change requires structural and organizational change.

So, if you (the VC) are having discussions about diversifying your talent, and in particular hiring more women, then here are some simple checks to ensure you are on the right track:

Uniformity is the death of new ideas. Be comfortable with the different, the unique, and the new in other people. That short term uncomfortable feeling you have is surmountable, and in return you will dismantle the existing male-dominated networking effect.
Invest in a structured hiring process that cuts out those sneaky opportunities for unconscious biases like pattern matching, and conflating “liking someone” with liking the qualities in someone that remind you of yourself (trust me, I do this too).
Start measuring your DE&I hiring, developing, and promoting — and then share that data with the community. Transparency, transparency, transparency!

Leading the Pack

The good news is, incredible leaders and innovators in the VC industry are already doing the work successfully. Here are just a few notable VCs, angel firms, consortiums, incubators, and funds doing it right.

So if you haven’t joined already, hop onboard! Take the next 11 months to implement the changes you want to see in the workplace, and we’ll join in celebrating your successes during Women’s History Month next year.

Sources:

https://wappp.hks.harvard.edu/venture-capital-and-entrepreneurship
https://www.crunchbase.com
https://hbr.org/2020/01/how-the-vc-pitch-process-is-failing-female-entrepreneurs
https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2019/07/01/the-venture-capital-gender-gap-what-qualifies-as-female-content/

VC Has a Hiring Problem

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