Fintech Feminists

CHAPTER NINEPROGRESS IS POSSIBLE

As I approached the completion of writing this book, I was packing my bags to head to Amsterdam to moderate a panel discussion on success metrics for founders outside of profits. The room was filled with entrepreneurs, investors, and executives eager to network and gain new insights. As the discussion began with simple introductions, one of my panelists – a founder of a female-run VC firm – shared her belief that women have a confidence problem and need to adjust to the system, not the other way around. She claimed that discrimination is unintentional (tell that to the 2% of female founders who receive funding despite showcasing greater ROI). Honestly, it left me shocked on stage. I rebutted, sharing that from my experience and countless others I’ve interviewed, it’s not women who have an issue but the structure that has an issue. A structure that chooses, time and time again – from funding, wealth, and pay gaps to the investing gap – to discriminate against women. This moment reminds me how easy it is to enter a cynical mindset. With female VCs like that, what hope is there? But, as Shaina Taub writes in her Tony-winning Broadway musical, Suffs, “progress is possible, not guaranteed.” How do we know progress is possible? By looking to the trailblazing women who came before us and successfully pushed for systemic change. You just met more than 30 of them in this book.

THE NEXT ERA

Encounters like what I experienced on stage are a stark reminder ...