Women Seeking Venture Capital For Big Business
Thursday, July 6th, 2006
Many women are seeking venture capital for big business ideas. The prolem is many just don’t say the things that venture capitalists want to hear. I a recent article from Fortune magazine Amy Millman, states that “We are discouraged from an early age from using the word ‘I’ too often. That’s a problem, because VCs are most interested in hearing the word ‘I,’ with dollar signs attached. Women will talk about the great team effort, which is a cue to investors that the women are not really the ones in charge or are not the ones who execute.”
That’s not to say that women never obtain venture capital funding. Case in point, Witness Anu Shukla, whose e-commerce software company, RubiconSoft, has earned over $8 million in venture funds since the company was founded last year.
The majority of venture capitalists are males, but a lot of the prejudices and against investing in women entrepreneurs seem to be falling. Many of the new generation of male venture capitalists have worked side by side with talented women in professional schools and in corporate America. Since 2000, Springboard Enterprises has matched up a couple hundred women business owners with venture capitalists who have anted up $3.4 billion. Says Springboard’s Millman: “Women are finally successfully raising significant amounts of capital.”
Women appear to be poised to start more of the technology-driven, capital-intensive businesses that venture capitalists see as great investment opportunities. Over the last decade, women graduating with degrees in computer science, engineering, and related fields has risen by almost 30%. As women get comfortable in these fields expect to see more women running and starting more technology based companies.
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