I
[Nick Leiber] moderated a panel yesterday at the inaugural We
Own It Summit in downtown Manhattan. The daylong event, hatched
through many meetings of the minds at 24 organizations including Astia, the Kauffman
Foundation, and Springboard Enterprises,
was meant to drum up practical ideas on boosting women’s participation
in high-growth entrepreneurship.
My panel was about venture capital. To set the scene, I cited data from the Center for Women’s Business Research that show that while about 41 percent of private companies in the U.S. are owned by women, only 3 percent to 5 percent of them get venture capital. Then the panelists, experienced entrepreneurs and equity investors Heidi Messer (World Evolved), Diane Mulcahy (Babson College), Divya Gugnani (Behind the Burner), and Anu Shukla (KM), candidly described their experiences on both sides of the funding table to an audience of about 45 women and a handful of men. One of the big (if obvious) takeaways: venture money is available but there are still plenty of gender-related obstacles. After that, the discussion began, with panelists and folks in the audience kicking around prescriptions for improving the odds.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Why Venture Capital Firms Need More Women Partners - BusinessWeek
Author: Nick Leiber
