Astia CEO Reflects on 2017

More Than Numbers
Astia CEO Reflects on 2017
to Chart Beyond 2018

2017 really put a spotlight on women's rights... from the historical manifesto authored by a Google employee decrying diversity in the workplace to the unforgettable #MeToo movement and underlying accounts of discrimination, harassment and abuse.

The question for 2018: what will we do next? Will this create a backlash that sends us spiraling into the abyss or shine a light on a new path forward? I have more conviction than ever before of Astia's mission: ensuring that women get the same opportunities as men, starting and running successful businesses. The best part: we have an ecosystem of investors, partners/sponsors, advisors, and volunteers who have the same conviction. We are also celebrating many successes across every part of Astia. Here are some highlights from our year:

Our Entrepreneurs
In 2017, we welcomed 17 startups who raised $4.2M from Astia Angels, representing $57M in syndication! To date, this brings our portfolio to 51 companies, who have received more than $17.5M of capital from Astia Angels, and $185M in funding total! 100% of our startups have a female executive or were founded by a female. We've teamed up with people who came to us because of our relationship-driven approach. These leaders understand that it's not just about having a good pitch—it's about creating opportunities to connect and build something meaningful together.

Our Portfolio—the Thesis at Work!
We don't take a cookie-cutter approach to the companies we fund. If you look at the three companies who had successful exits with Astia this year, you'll see geographical diversity—one from Pittsburg, one from Silicon Valley, and one from London. You will note they were from very different sectors (medical devices, cloud service, fintech) and that they ranged in stages of growth (from early-stage to pre-IPO). Read more about each of these exits here! [more specifically, Boku IPO on the AIM Exchange, Cloudamize's merger with Blackstone-owned Cloudreach, and Ciel Medical being acquired by Vyaire Medical]

Our Investors—Putting their Money where their Mouth is!
Our community of 55 seasoned investors is comprised of men and women, individual contributors, couples, and family offices, with expertise in a wide spectrum of sectors. These Angels understand the need for diversity in their portfolio and chose Astia to demonstrate their values in dollars and deeds. In return, Astia proved our model and delivered huge returns on their investments. We will continue to leverage these relationships to drive systemic, positive change in the investment community.

Our Community—Making a Difference!
Our community boasts over 2000 Astia Advisors who actively review on average 120 applications a quarter. The three exits we celebrated in 2017 continue to validate the Astia Expert Sift™ model and the Astia investment thesis of investing in teams that include women. In 2018, we will create more meaningful touchpoints with the community to ensure each member realizes the value of their contribution, whether giving Astia access to their network, providing expertise during the early assessment stage, or offering counsel to entrepreneurs during the growth of their business.

We would not be able to do the work we do without our sponsors, some who have stood by us for over ten years: from global brands like Dentons, Silicon Valley Bank, and Salesforce.org to best in class entities such as Moss Adams, Lowenstein, and Prolog Ventures; and of course, our founding sponsor, Three Guineas Fund. Partners like Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Google for Entrepreneurs, who are themselves leaders in entrepreneurship and innovation, extend our reach and validate our mission.

Our Team—Eleven Strong and Mission-driven!
As we grow, we have not diluted or lost sight of who we are. We take a very personal, relationship-based approach to our mission. It is the lens by which we operate and how we attract those who want to change the world. This year, we added one part-time staff member, four Executives in Residence, one intern, and two volunteers—senior level individuals who still want to grow professionally and play a meaningful role in empowering women around the world.

Our voices—Leading the Change We Seek!
Our thought leadership platform, Astia Think, is one of the most challenging aspects of our work because we face two reactions: that there is no problem to solve or that it's too overwhelming to solve. Our objective for 2018 is to create increased dialog around our call to action: invest today. As we head into the new year, we must learn from the watershed moments of 2017 and capitalize on our investment momentum to establish a dominant voice and position in the investment community.

I leave you with our final message. invest today. The call to action is clear and the time to engage and act is now. No more sitting on the sideline. Still today, less than 5% of venture capital is invested in women-led companies: this must change. These words are not just intended for Astia Angels, who demonstrate their commitment by investing in Astia-screened companies. We invite all VCs to review the Astia pipeline that includes companies from all sectors, stages, and geographies. To facilitate this access, we hold monthly Venture Showcases for the venture community. If you are a VC, we welcome you to join us! You can register for the Venture Showcases by contacting our Managing Director here. And if you are an angel investor looking for a group to invest with, we welcome a conversation.

As I have said time and again since coming to Astia in 2004...Astia is a community. Astia is You! Thank you for another year of support, engagement, and enthusiasm for the women we serve and the companies they lead.

Calling all High Growth, Women Led Ventures!

The September 14 application deadline to Astia's Global Entrepreneur Program in Silicon Valley is fast approaching

September 4, 2012

Astia is currently accepting applications for its 2012 Global Entrepreneur Program, and we want everyone to know! The Astia Global Entrepreneur Program is being held in Silicon Valley this fall, and we want as many women led ventures to apply as possible. The program is more than just your average bootcamp - it is a catalyst for the transformation from start-up entrepreneur to founder-leader.

But don't just take our word for it. Here are some things that recent Astia companies have said about our program:

“The scope and depth of the Astia network, programming and organizational reach is staggering. Astia has made an enormous impact on our business and we've felt so privileged to participate.”
AJ Strosahl, CEO, DonationPay, Astia Fall 2011 Cohort 

"The Astia bootcamp completely exceeded my expectations. It was advanced, detailed and introduced us to many of the key players in the fundraising community here. There was no time wasted and it was an extremely worthwhile investment for our business."
Sherry Lomardi, CEO, Hulafrog, Astia Summer 2012 Cohort

About the Program:
The Entrepreneur Program is an unparalleled resource for success - a transformative program designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs who want to become dominant players in their sectors. The format? A comprehensive 5-day workshop, 3-month program of personalized advising from premier experts and the opportunity to start benefiting from the global ecosystem of angels, VCs, corporations, and entrepreneurs that is Astia.

Startups Accepted into Astia’s Program Have:

• Raised more than $1 billion

• Averaged a greater than 60% funding success rate, and

• Achieved 23 exits, including 2 IPOs

Application Deadline: September 14, 2012

Who should apply:Exceptional women-led, high-growth start-ups who know that success is not just about raising money but about growing a business and thriving even in today's tough market.

To apply, please visit: https://gust.com/angel-group/astia/apply

For information regarding Astia, visit: www.astia.org

Kauffman Foundation announces $600,000 renewed investment in Astia

Kauffman Foundation Extends Grant to Astia to Accelerate the Growth of Women-led Firms

$600,000 grant to drive innovation to market through the scaling of women-led high-growth companies

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and KANSAS CITY, Mo.) June 12, 2012 – While the number of women-led firms continues to grow, the size of those firms does not. Yet those who are successful at accessing networks and capital perform on par with their male counterparts. In an ongoing commitment to women high-growth entrepreneurs, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation today announced a two-year extension of its previous grant to Astia, an organization dedicated to the success of women-led high-growth startups.

“Kauffman’s previous grant substantially impacted Astia’s programs and ability to continue its exceptional success rate for its companies, so we are doubling down on our commitment to the organization and its methodology,” said Lesa Mitchell, Kauffman’s vice president of advancing innovation. “Research shows that women are under-represented in networks that provide external equity financing and strategic business relationships. Our collaboration with Astia ensures that women gain access to the rich networks that deliver expertise, customers, capital and new markets.”

According to Kauffman data in A Rising Tide, a recently published book on financing of women-led companies, men raised about 80 percent more capital in their companies’ first year of operation than women did. Women rely more on internal financing to start their firms and subsequently lead smaller firms overall. The book reveals “that although women-owned firms have begun to make an impact in terms of numbers, they are still in the early stages of making an economic impact on a larger scale.” The authors conclude that for these firms to achieve their full potential, the women founders need access to networks.

Since the first Kauffman grant was awarded in 2010, Astia has provided access to high-growth expertise and networks to 198 companies, 168 of which used the network to increase their access to outside capital. The Astia community is comprised of more than 1,500 men and women, including more than 300 investors and more than 300 current and former CEOs, dedicated to propelling women-led businesses into high-growth.

“Research shows that successful high-growth companies hit an inflection point that results in hyper growth. The Astia community is a unique and invaluable resource that ensures that the Astia companies successfully navigate to this hyper growth,” said Sharon Vosmek, CEO, Astia. “Astia is profoundly appreciative of this renewed endorsement and strategic commitment from Kauffman to help extend the impact of the community that is the rocket fuel behind the growth of these tech and life science companies. True to Ewing Marion Kauffman’s original vision for the Foundation, the funding will drive innovation to market.”

The Astia program offers peer-to-peer, industry and investor connections. Funding from the extended grant will be used to implement the following enhanced offerings. Annual growth metrics will measure the impact to the companies.

Astia Access – For startups that aspire to high growth and whose founders seek expert-level feedback. Access members receive timely, targeted and unfiltered feedback as well as access to online tools and the Astia community.

Astia Global Entrepreneur Program – For entrepreneurs leading emerging companies who are poised to take advantage of Astia's global community. Chosen by the community via in-person screening, companies participate in the Astia Global Entrepreneur Program that includes a week-long boot camp followed by three months with a team of Astia Advisors. Advisor teams drive to mission-critical business milestones and are comprised of an investor, a c-level entrepreneur and two additional industry leaders.

Astia Portfolio – Launching the second half of this year, this program is for breakout companies on the fast track to success. By invitation-only, these companies from around the world will present to and be selected by industry leaders.

About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. In addition, the Foundation focuses on initiatives in the Kansas City region to advance students’ math and science skills, and improve the educational achievement of urban students, including the Ewing Marion Kauffman School, a college preparatory charter school for middle and high school students. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.

About Astia
Astia is a global not-for-profit organization with a distinct focus and mission – to propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth. Guided by a proven philosophy that gender diversity is an essential element of innovation, Astia works with startups around the world as they access capital, grow their businesses, and hone the leadership skills of their founding teams.

The Astia model of engaging a community of experts to the benefit of the select startups it serves has resulted in an exceptional success rate: since 2003, over 60 percent of companies that have participated in the Astia Investor Forums have secured funding or achieved an exit within one year of presenting, totalling more than $1 billion raised and 25 exits, including two IPOs. Headquartered in San Francisco, Astia delivers programs for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, New York, London and India.

Astia is generously supported by the following sponsors: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, The Three Guineas Fund, Fenwick & West, SNR Denton, Silicon Valley Bank, Moss Adams, Microsoft, SAP, Lowenstein Sandler, Cisco, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, AOL, Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, The Althea Foundation, Gust, SalesForce, Citrin Cooperman, ideaSpace, Prolog Ventures, Golden Seeds, Illuminate Ventures, Alloy Ventures, Opus Capital, AOL Ventures, SAP Ventures, Asset Management, StarVest Partners as well as the generous support of individual donors. For more information, visit www.astia.org and follow the organization on LinkedIn and Facebook and follow us on twitter: @astiaglobal

# # #
Media Contacts:
Rose Levy, rose@goldinsolutions.com, Goldin Solutions
Barbara Pruitt, Kauffman Foundation, 816-932-1288, bpruitt@kauffman.org
Sharon Vosmek, Astia, 415-421-5500 x6, sharon@astia.org

Dive right in! The water is fine!

If last year’s We Own It Summit in New York was a dip of the toe in to the water to see if it was warm enough, then this year’s Summit in London was a dive in to the deep-end followed by a forceful free-style firmly charging to the finish line in 2020.

The Decade of the Woman Entrepreneur is upon us and the collaboration has firmly embraced the opportunity and the challenge this presents. The Summit participants have validated that the moment is now to propel women in to the high-growth, innovation economy – as entrepreneurs, investors, and ultimately beneficiaries of the wealth and influence created.

Our next steps have been identified in the goals below. It is now the responsibility of we, the collaborating organizations, to maintain the momentum and deliver on these shared commitments:

In 2011-12, we will:

Create and implement collaboration processes for research and training.
• The annual research agenda will work to address 1-3 questions annually. This work is critical as the current dearth of data pertaining to women high-growth entrepreneurs is pronounced and does not allow us to measure our progress.
• The training objectives ensure that women gain exposure to the opportunity of high-growth entrepreneurship, investment, and board participation. The goal this year is to create a shared curriculum - via the many that already exists within the collaboration - that provides access to networks and access to maps to success.

Communicate to the market the stories of successful women entrepreneurs and investors as well as clearly articulate the problem, issues and opportunities. This year, we will complete and publish:
• 12 profiles each of female investors & entrepreneurs.
• A statement of why women’s participation matters for key constituents (LPs, VCs, government, etc.)

Take action that we believe will create real and measurable change in the market.
• A group, led by successful VCs, angels and LPs, has been created to raise an Astia Innovation Fund to invest in women-founded, women-led, high-growth start-ups.
• Borrowing from the model used by the Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley a decade ago, we will work to get women to invest in women (as well as the men who love women entrepreneurs), thereby owning the solution for ourselves.
• Where we have influence as industry leaders, LPs, Fund of Funds, family offices, VC firms, government funding agencies, etc. we will work to get women in to decision-making bodies.

The nearly 200 thought-leaders who participated in this year’s Summit have identified the above goals for the coming year as the deliverables that will lead us to the success in 2020.

And for those new to this race, the finish line has been mapped. Through this Summit and this collaboration – and any other means available to us - we will:

• Increase number of women investors.
• Increase number of women high growth entrepreneurs.
• Increase likelihood of success of these businesses.
• Get more women on public and private boards.

Come on – dive right in. The water is lovely!

Cheers,
Sharon Vosmek, CEO

Get it or Bust

Special Report from Inmaculada Martinez, Managing Director, Investments Advisor, STRADBROKE and Astia Community Member.

At the end of December, most papers in the UK run articles accounting everything that went on during the twelve months prior. Lazily scanning my Sunday paper, here came this snippet of an article entitled “The Double X Factor.” The first sentence caught my attention: “In terms of machismo, running a hedge fund is the closest the financial world gets to flying a fighter jet”, observed Christopher Swann on REUTERS Breakingviews.com. I almost gagged. Good Lord not another article on “Barbarians at Gates” or any of that 1980s Gordon Gekko palaver. If there is one thing that as a woman makes me want to smack someone in the face with my handbag is comparisons that create perspectives of the world from a male viewpoint, as if this single tunnel vision would encompass all humanity. Most women have no interest in piloting fighter jets or any other kind of speed artifacts. Excitement associated to risky actions, like speed, is not an enjoyable situation for all peoples. In fact, one could almost draw a direct correlation between adrenaline rushes caused by risky activities and testosterone levels. Against this backdrop, Bloomberg L.P. conducted a study showing that female hedge-fund managers outperformed their male counterparts between 2000 and 2009 – delivering 9% annually, against 5.8% for men. “Double X” funds did particularly well during the crisis, shedding only 9%, compared with the 19% lost by male-run funds in 2008. Bloomberg’s conclusion was that women tend to pursue “less extreme” strategies, and that they save on fees by trading less. In fact, female resilience looks particularly attractive given the industry’s high blow-out rate. Unfortunately for investors, Double X funds are hard to find: it is reckoned that women run just 3% of some 9,000 hedge funds.

Many women hesitate to launch their businesses because the word “entrepreneurship” is tainted by the media with “risk” connotations. These days, when getting fired from a job because of financial crises is more often than not on the regular menu, and being promoted as fast as your male counterparts or paid as much as they make is still not achieved, the thought of taking ownership of one’s professional life does not sound so risky anymore. Most women entrepreneurs that I meet launch their businesses because they feel capable of delivering their visions, want to be their own bosses and have a sense of higher accomplishment when they create product offerings that beat what is available in the market. They do it because they believe they can do it better than the SC Johnsons, the Nokias, or the Googles of this world. What they lack is how to raise funding.

In my 2010 objectives I have taken upon myself at Stradbroke to make it the year that I help some women finally get it together and go for it with their entrepreneurial plans to create big global companies, not just small to medium sized businesses that they can run on the side of bringing up babies. I am talking about the Single Ladies (With or Without The Ring On It) that will go for it for real, to build global successes and not just vehicles that they can run from home to earn the extra cash for the household.

When the barriers went down in media broadcasting, the Oprahs (Winfrey), the Ellens (Degeneres) and the Tinas (Fey ) took the top. Daytime television is what brings the dollar bacon to the networks because this is the primetime spot for the viewers who hold the purchasing power of most households. The night airwaves are too competitive and hence more fragmented. The music industry is also crowning the new revenue earning queen bees – Madonna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, whilst the little fairies like Taylor Swift are sweeping all the awards back to the hive. The barriers in these industries were monolithic for decades. Nowadays, they’re finally down.

Oprah, Ellen and Tina took the helm of their projects and became producers, creating their own production companies and hence controlling their own product - Oprah now has an “end-to-end solution” because she finally owns her own network. Silicon Valley needs to back more female entrepreneurs because it needs to create an ecosystem of synergies, rather than a myriad of businesses driven by the same dynamics. If women in television and music can create multimillion dollar successes, there must be women capable of delivering the same value in other entrepreneurial ventures that have to do with technology, the sciences or commerce.

The reason why there are no more women-driven technology businesses shares the same answer as to why there are no more women film directors. In both industries, for a project to be put together as an attractive venture to be funded can take years. Moreover, for a funded project to yield financial success can take years as well. In television and in the music industries the acid test is performed on smaller vehicles: a pilot or a single song. Audience focus groups, gigs in small venues, a million cushioned tests to assess if something is going to be a flop or a hit or is worth the money to fund an entire series or an album and world tour. The assets created by startups or the film industry are enormous labours of love that can bring boxoffice results of hundreds of millions or come in below investment and lose money for everybody.

There are not that many women in technology and not that many others directing films because the money people do not trust them and do not buy into their ideas. Funding is still a people’s business of handshakes, lunches, hunches, and connecting with the other person. It is a business of obsessive follow-ups and throwing rejections over one’s shoulder and keeping on going. If this shocks you, please go to the Internet and try to find for me which woman film director has been nominated for an Oscar since the beginning of the awards or who got Best Picture. The answer is two times has the Oscar gone to female nominees in these categories: Best Picture to Jane Campion “The Piano” (1990) and Best Director to Sophia Coppola for “Lost In Translation” (2004). The rest are all men. This is the oddest, most bizarre situation ever to be analysed. Weird as it may be, it is a reality that hits you in the face. This past May, during the Cannes Film Festival, Jane Campion dared to speak openly about what we all keep behind doors: that “the studio system is kind of an old boys’ system and it’s difficult for them to trust women to be capable.” Why is this so?

Taking creative and unproven projects to fruition requires one to be almost “obsessed” with them. It is not about being “driven” but actually being absorbed by it. Genetically, women cannot become absorbed in some self-delusions because we are programmed by our DNA to take care of other people under our care and not be too self-focused. We also take rejections personally. In Campion’s words, “I think women don’t grow up with the harsh world of criticism that men grow up with, we are more sensitively treated, and when you first experience the world of film-making you have to develop a very tough skin.”

If you want investors to trust you, show them that determination, that vision of “get it or bust.” It is okay to be obsessed with achieving success for your project. It is okay to chase people on and on and on until they agree to meet you. I have seen films being funded because of this never-ending chasing. I raised money in the middle of the 2000 dot-bomb after all VCs in Europe rejected us (except for 3i who backed me also in other ventures afterwards) . The Skype founders had almost 50 investor meetings in London and only Index Ventures believed in them and their business. The film “Slumdog Millionaire” almost went straight to video if it weren’t for its producers who fought with tooth and nails to get rid of the original investors (Warner Independent) and found new ones. More female businesses will be backed if the women behind them “go against nature” and take their fund-raising like a crusade.

If you are reading this and wonder how you are going to get these skills and find within yourself this passion and self-belief, join Astia. This is precisely the kind of know-how that we are all here to share with you and instill in your business.