242 CLEARING THE HURDLES: WOMEN BUILDING HIGH-GROWTH BUSINESSES
human capital deficiencies rather than to social capital and network
access. Because women do lag men in technical training, this observa-
tion might be a function of the fact that their venture firms specialize in
technology. The data from the Springboard Forums does not appear
consistent with these observations of inadequate human capital.
22
The observation that the industry is gender blind and that investment
choices are made based on objective standards seems to be a contradic-
tion of sorts. Anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that investment
decisions are often more subjective, based on gut feeling rather than
being truly objective. This raises the question of whether women in ...