Gender Lens Investing

Chapter 5New Paths to Capital

“Even when the world turns against you and ridicules your ideas, ‘Press on, regardless.’ Try to make things happen, and treat everybody as an equal.”¹

—John C. (Jack) Bogle, Founder, The Vanguard Group

Try this test in a group—whether the group makeup is all men, all women, or a mix: Have everyone close their eyes and quickly picture three entrepreneurs, then ask for them to share whom they chose. Most often the names are men—Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg. Next ask them to picture a woman entrepreneur. Oprah Winfrey or Martha Stewart might come to mind but the group would likely have to think longer to come up with more.

The continuous images and accolades about men in business create our mental models of company founders and successful entrepreneurs. When was the last time you saw a cover story—in digital or print—of a woman entrepreneur who raised the money, built the business, and made the exit? There are examples—for instance, TechCrunch ran an online slideshow on 18 women who “killed it” in 2015, including Robin Chase, who cofounded and sold ZipCar to AvisBudget for $500 million and is back with Veniam, a wifi-on-wheels scheme to build an urban-scale network using cars and public buses as hotspots.² A rare example, however, is hardly enough to counter the confirmation bias that men kill it more than women because women don't have what it takes.

Of course, this isn't true. But the reality is that the faces of women ...