Women Entrepreneurs Are Trapped Within Glass Walls

Published on: May 17, 2011

By Lesa Mitchell, Vice President, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

This much is known: The next round of economic recovery and growth in the U.S. will be led by new companies. The statistical evidence on that point is clear. While big, established firms employ the most people, it's the high-growth startups -- the new firms on their way to becoming big -- that create the lion's share of new jobs, and become the anchors for new industries. So it has been through every wave of growth in the country's history, from the days of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to the IT boom of the late twentieth century.

Now here is the lesser known fact: If we want a real recovery, the next cohort of high-growth entrepreneurs cannot just be people with names like Thomas and Henry, or Bill and Steve. We need the women to get involved. The American growth engine can no longer afford to run on half of its cylinders.

Yes, women are starting plenty of new businesses. However if you look closely at the picture, as we have done at the Kauffman Foundation, where I work, you find a vast amount of potential left on the table. In our demographic data, the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity among women is less than 2/3 the rate for men.

And, as other sources along with Kauffman have found, womens' startups under-perform on key measures of growth. Comparatively, few of them even grow to $1 million per year in revenues. Very few build or hire on the kind of scale that can boost a region's economy, let alone show up on the national radar screen.

Part of the disparity stems from the types of companies many women start, such as local retail shops or professional service firms and consultancies. Serious growth and value creation tend to come from innovative startups in science- and technology-based industries. But this is where the gender gap becomes blindingly apparent.

Can you name one woman founder or co-founder who has taken a tech-based company from inception to true global scale? Several already-big firms, such as Oracle and Xerox, have women as CEOs. Meg Whitman joined eBay when it was growing and led it the rest of the way to the top, which is the closest example I can think of.

For the full post, check out “Women Entrepreneurs Are Trapped Within Glass Walls” on Huffington Post.

About the guest blogger: Lesa Mitchell is a vice president with the Kauffman Foundation. She has been responsible for the Foundation’s frontier work in understanding the policy levers that influence the advancement of innovation from universities into the commercial market and the new relationships between disease philanthropy and for profit companies. Prior to joining Kauffman, Mitchell spent twenty years in global executive roles at Aventis, Quintiles, and Marion Laboratories. Follow her on Twitter at @lesamitchell.

Astia as Philosophy - Addressing the Entrepreneur's Paradox

This month, I have been thinking about what I have termed, the entrepreneur's paradox. Most simply stated, it is the importance of discomfort, juxtaposed with the need for comfort zones - both of which I believe, are fundamental to the success of the entrepreneur.

Get uncomfortable - it will make you grow.

I do my best thinking, listening, and learning when I am outside of my comfort zone. It seems true for most of us, that in strange places with new people we are better able to listen to the conversation before we put forward what we know - or what we think we know.

Get a community - the individual cannot do it alone.

And yet, I thrive when surrounded by an engaged community that lends thoughtful support, constructive input, validating energy, and positive reinforcement. A group of people provide an important source of strength and comfort for the isolated start-up.

I believe to succeed as entrepreneurs - we need both. And I believe that Astia - for the entrepreneur - can be both.

We need ample opportunity to feel challenged and stretched beyond what we thought we were capable of. I am reminded of the numerous Astia founders who had exceptional technical expertise, and who found Astia most challenging for them when they were confronted with owning the business elements like the financials, the go to market strategy, or the fundraising conversations. This stretch ensured they grew as leaders and as founders.

We also need ample moments when we are bolstered by those who align with us. I say it often, "The individual does not scale. High-growth entrepreneurship cannot be done alone." To be successful, the entrepreneur must be able to attract others to their vision. They must be able to inspire others to follow them to the "great unknown" of the entrepreneur's vision, idea, and purpose. And they need this cohort in order to succeed.

Astia is the space where the 'entrepreneur's paradox' can be resolved.

Astia is at the same time the platform for critical thinking - and - the community at the ready. I believe this is one of our greatest differentiators. We are a community that can both challenge and bolster the entrepreneur.

For the savvy entrepreneur, Astia maintains the space for both critical thinking leading to growth - and - supportive community aligned with your success. Food for thought for those of you wondering if Astia is right for you. We welcome the conversation - and accept applications year-round. Give us a call. Together, we may just change your world - as you always envisioned you would!

Wondering if Astia is right for you or an entrepreneur you know. give us a call or drop us an email to info@astia.org.

Shortfall in Funding for Women: changetheratio

Guest post by Pemo Theodore

Sharon Vosmek Interviews with www.EcoSalon.com

Sharon Vosmek is being interviewed for an www.ecosalon.com piece. Here are the questions she has addressed, we thought you might be interested in hearing what she had to say.

Are VCs focused enough on supporting women and minority entrepreneurs?

I don't see this as the work of VCs. Their job is to make investments that return the best IRR to their LPs. And what we know about this is that companies that have women in executive leadership, outperform those that do not. Therefore, what we expect to see is a greater number and percentage of investments going in to companies with women in those roles. Not because they need support, but because they outperform the market.

Should they be focused on groups, as such? Why delineate between the bearers of good ideas?

I think the first answer addresses this.

Is there biased against efforts spearheaded by women and/or minorities? Why?

No 1. In our society, men and women are still by-and-large in separate business networks. And no. 2, 95% of VCs and 85% of Angels are men. How this plays out is as follows. VC and Angel investment relies heavily on trusted business relationships - often for early stage investors, the only risk that can be mitigated is that of the individuals involved and if they are known to the investor. Trusted business relationships are always going to win in this scenario. Therefore if you take points 1 and 2, you can see how within the high-growth space, groups who are not naturally in each others' networks, will suffer as a result. Entrepreneurs will suffer because they will lack access to capital. Investors will suffer because they will lack access to the full compliment of deals. This is a societal issue, not one of VC or Angel per se.

Are women and minorities even stepping to plate to play as entrepreneurs anyway? If not, why not?

Yes they are.

What are the benefits of targeting investments in these groups? To society? To theeconomy? To investors?

The benefits are three fold as the question presumes. For investors - higher returns where women are in leadership with men. For society - half the population's talents can be fully realized (women are half of MBAs, half of PhDs, more than half of all college graduates - there is an abundant pool of talent at the ready). For the economy - it means jobs. If women had the same access to capital as their male counterparts we would see 6 million jobs added to the economy in 5 years, 2million in year one alone*. This is the economic recovery we all seek. Seems a simple solution.

*source: Babson College

NYC vs Boston

What follows is a guest post by Astia NYC Vice President, Rob Delman. Welcome to the team, Rob!

Have you been following the story about whether NYC or Boston has more VC seeds deals? It is like debating who is better, the Yankees or the Red Sox (although we all know the answer to that question!)

According to a study by CB insights, when it comes to seed investments by venture capitalists, data suggests NY’s seed venture capital investments are gaining momentum at a faster rate than Massachusetts. Q1 and Q2 2010 saw an increase in seed venture capital investments in both Massachusetts and New York but the growth rate and the absolute number of deals was greater in NY in both quarters as detailed below.


Venture accelerators like Astia are enthusiastic about the data as we love to see an increase of quality deal flow regardless of the geography. This is more validation that small business and entrepreneurship continue to be the catalyst for growth in our country. The recent announcement by the White House and creation of Startup America reinforces our belief that entrepreneurship and small business are the main drivers of job growth and wealth creation.

Astia and Golden Seeds (www.goldenseeds.com) recently shared a booth at the Funding Post NYC Venture Capital and Angel Showcase in NYC where over 30 VC firms and several hundred entrepreneurs met to see if there was a match of interests. The entire scene was spectacular – clean tech, life science, consumer goods, technology and media sectors were all represented. Some of the ideas sounded futuristic but regardless, the energy was overwhelming. One could not help but feel that the economic recovery was going to happen at that very moment in that very room.

So does it really matter if NYC or Boston has more deals or invested capital? Of course not – what really matters is Astia and other great organizations participate in the entrepreneurial revolution that is again sweeping our nation.

Astia Interview on BloombergTV Street Smarts

Sitting in this chair, I had to laugh - maybe it was the makeup they were caking onto my face or the audience of people watching me get done up, or maybe it was just my uncontainable joy at how far Astia has come. A year ago I wasn't envisioning Astia being on Bloomberg TV, but you know - if someone had told me this is where I would be today, I would have believed it because that's what our community is capable of.

What brought Astia to Bloomberg TV today? Was it the stellar entrepreneurs that are building our reputation? The all star team of advisors that supports our community? The sponsors who empower us to do what we do and to do more of it? I'm sure you know the answer, it's all of the above.

So how do I manage to balance myself on the stilt-like seat I'm given and serve as representative for all the aforementioned and do it justice in 7 minutes flat? Well, that's just not possible but I did my best to express the Street Smart hosts Carol Massar and Matt Miller just what we're made of and why the viewers should stay tuned for more from the Astia community.

I was joined by Astia client Alexa von Tobel of LearnVest who has been remarkably successful and continues to stay engaged with the Astia community. Alexa spoke on the fact that "in general it's hard to start a business, and I started during a recession." And Astia was there to help, that's what a community does. Sometimes you switch hats - sometime you are the one offering the help and sometimes you are receiving, and that's what keeps Astia alive.

It was easy to gush with enthusiasm when I explained that Astia clients are exceptional. Carol Massar asked me why something like Astia is needed, and simply said men and women are in separate business networks and 98% of venture capital is held by men. How do we address that? Build a support community of men and women.

That's where the pain point lies. It's not that women entrepreneurs, like Alexa couldn't have done it on their own, it's that she's in a high growth market that requires fast capital, fast growth, and real commitment to milestones, which is very unique business process and there are 'been there done that folks' who can aid in finding shortcuts to pathways to success.

Matt Miller wanted to know, why are we doing this? What's the big picture?

Jobs, Innovation and Economic Growth

We're looking for innovation and we're looking for a recovery, and we know that if women had the same access to capital as their male counterparts, we would see 6 million jobs added to the economy in the next 5 years, 2 million jobs in the next year alone (thank you Babson for the numbers). That's our economic recovery right there. Just ensuring that women were able to gain access to capital.

The interview closed with a simple question for Alexa, so is LearnVest hiring? Yes, yes they are.

Astia Invited to Join White House Startup America Initiative

Last week it was made clear that supporting high-growth entrepreneurs is a proven pathway to job creation and economic growth.



Astia client, Jenny Zeszut, Founder & CEO of Scout Labs and I had the good fortune to be invited to the launch of the Startup America Initiative at the White House on Monday, January 31st. The Startup America Partnership is the private sector counterpart to the Obama administration’s effort to spark high-growth firms in the U.S.



The room was filled with contagious energy as host Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology within the Office of Science & Technology Policy made opening remarks. His comments were followed by Zoe Damacela, entrepreneur since the young age of 14! Opening comments were followed by a panel of both public and private sector luminaries; Gary Locke, Secretary of the Department of Commerce; Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of the Department of Energy; Karen Mills, Administrator of the Small Business Administration; Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council; Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Steve Case, Founder AOL and Chairman of the Case Foundation, Carl Schramm, President of the Kauffman Foundation, and Brad Feld of the Foundry Group and Tech Stars.

What was particularly inspiring was the collaboration and commitment on multiple levels from those involved. The Startup America partnership marshals and highlights commitments from private sector institutions that want to spur entrepreneurship in the U.S. From Kauffman and Case Foundations to Intel and IBM to Tech Stars and Astia.

It is critical to note that Astia's participation was made possible through the generous support of AOL, AOL Ventures, The Althea Foundation, Fenwick & West, Moss Adams LLC, and Silicon Valley Bank - who together signed up to match funding received from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

These sponsors enabled Astia to commit to serving twice the number of entrepreneurs in North America. (If you are interested in seeing our numbers continue to increase, there is still time to join the sponsor roll and create real and measurable impact for high-growth start-ups.)

In the audience, I was surrounded by entrepreneurs filled with inspiring stories of hardship and success. It was inspiring to be in a room full of the ideas that will lead to future Fortune 500 companies. Entrepreneurs ranged from 19 year old Zoe Damacela, a fashion entrepreneur since age 14, to Astia’s own Jennifer Zeszut, Founder and CEO of software company Scout Labs (sold to Lithium in 2010), which uses technology to determine brand perceptions across the web. Jennifer was one of a small collection of entrepreneurs who were invited to share their stories. Many of you will recall that we honored Jenny at the 6th Annual Astia Awards in December with the Technology Innovator Award. She continues to inspire us with the words she shared this week at the White House:

"Entrepreneurs are a different kind of breed… so, What makes us go?... Think of us as sled dogs… we are born to run and chase new ideas. We don’t wait for people to create jobs for us, we are job creators… And more importantly than just the number of jobs that we create, it is the kind of jobs we create, the kind of work that we do…[it is] passionate work. We love what we do…the work we do is also really productive work. If you want to increase the productivity of America, you should come and walk the halls of any one of our companies… So we are entrepreneurs. Fund us. Support us. Connect us. And let us run, we will help pull America forward."

Our task now is to do just that.

Astia stands committed and ready. We see this initiative to support high-growth entrepreneurs as validation that what Astia has been doing for 13 years is not just important work, it is the proven pathway to jobs, innovation and the economic recovery we all seek.

Stay tuned for more.

And for those of you who don’t know Jenny’s story, keep reading...

My Astia story:

I was a first-time CEO when someone recommended I join Astia. I wasn’t even sure why I would need Astia at the time. I was just about to complete the Scout Labs application and things were going excellently - I was well-funded, had a strong team, etc. When I was selected to be part of Astia and went through the equivalent of CEO Bootcamp – I received business coaches, mentors, speaking coaches, pitch help, VC access and so much more. It was an amazing growth experience. But I didn’t realize just how valuable the Astia network was until Scout Labs, like so many startups do, hit tough times. Our committed funding fell through at the last minute (credit-crunch days of summer 2009) and I was not able to pay my own team. (Miraculously, they all kept working). Externally, Scout Labs continued to grow by leaps and bounds, but it was an incredibly stressful time. Just when I needed it most, the Astia support network, like shoulders, rose up from beneath me to lift me back up. I received encouragement, emotional support, constant phone calls and TONS of VC introductions right when we needed it most. We did secure funding (in the nick of time!) and Scout Labs was acquired – a good exit for all – six months later, in May of 2010. My Astia coaches were by my side through good times and bad will be life-long mentors and friends."