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Out of The Loop in Silicon Valley

Summary: SAN FRANCISCO CANDACE FLEMING S RE SUME lists a double major in industrial engineering and English from Stanford an M B A from Harvard a management position at Hewlett Packard and experience as president of a small software company But when she was raising money for Crimson Hexagon a start up company she co founded in 2007 she recalls one venture capitalist telling her that it didn t matter that she didn t have business cards because all they would say was Mom Another potential backer invited her for a weekend yachting excursion by showing her a picture of himself on the boat without clothes When a third financier discovered that her husband was also a biking enthusiast she says he spent more time asking if riding affected her husband s reproductive capabilities than he did focusing on her business plan Ultimately none of the 30 venture firms she pitched financed her company She finally raised $1 8 million in March 2008 from angel investors including Golden Seeds a fund that emphasizes investing in start ups led by women I didn t know things like this still happened says Ms Fleming 37 But I know that especially in risky times like the last couple years some investors kind of retreat to investing via a template A company owned by a woman she adds is just not the standard template Though many people say that outright sexism is rare in the technology world these days the barriers that Ms Fleming encountered aren t unusual Tech communities in Silicon Valley and in other hubs like New York Austin Texas and Boston where Ms Fleming lives pride themselves on operating as raw meritocracies ready to embrace anyone with a good idea regardless of education age or station in life THE NEW YORK TIMES JIM WILSON THE NEW YORK TIMES Female Tech Entrepreneurs Face a Variety of Obstacles Technology advances faster than women in the industry For women though that narrative often unfolds differently Women own 40 percent of the private businesses in the United States according to the Center for Women s Business Research But they create only 8 percent of the venture backed tech start ups according to Astia a nonprofit group that advises female entrepreneurs That disparity reaches beyond entrepreneurs Women account for just 6 percent of the chief executives of the top 100 tech companies and 22 percent of the software engineers at tech companies over all according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology And among venture capitalists the population of financiers who control the purse strings for a majority of tech start ups just 14 percent are women the National Venture Capital Association says That reality is even more complex when race is factored into the mix Small percentages of workers in information technology are African American Asian or Hispanic and that number is even smaller for women It s not like people are making an effort to exclude people but I see very little diversity in the candidate pool says Aileen Lee a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers the big venture capital firm Research indicates that investing in women as tech entrepreneurs is good for the bottom line Venturebacked start ups run by women use on average 40 percent less capital than start ups run by men and are increasingly involved in successful initial public offerings of stock according to a recent white paper by Cindy Padnos a venture capitalist When you have gender diversity in an organization you have better innovation and I don t know where innovation is more important than in the high tech world says Ms Padnos who recently founded Illuminate Ventures which invests in start ups led by women Firms like hers along with nonprofit organizations like the National Center for Women and Information Technology Astia and Springboard Enterprises are trying to fix the problem by raising awareness mentoring women and introducing them to investors The good news is that Silicon Valley will see this change says Monica Morse a trustee at Astia They will chase the person they think will make the money regardless of whether they wear a skirt Poornima Vijayashanker 27 an Indian immigrant said she was starting her company BizeeBee making software for small business out of her apartment in Palo Alto California partly because she wants to have a family in a few years and says the tech start up lifestyle isn t hospitable to child rearing That s why she says many young women prefer working at big companies to starting their own Girls have certain family goals they want to accomplish she says Working 60 hours a week is difficult because it requires a life sacrifice At the age of 27 Karen Watts became chief financial officer at a sports start up called Rivals com In that job she realized the value in automating routine paperwork and dreamed up Corefino which makes business accounting software She didn t start it though until she had worked at four more companies I have to know everything I have to have it all figured out she recalls thinking Many analysts and entrepreneurs say that attitude rooted in a lack of confidence is the main reason that when women do pursue startups they often do it later in life than men Ms Watts was also aware that the hurdles for financing were higher for women Before she pitched venture capital firms she made sure they had a woman as a partner and had backed companies led by women If they re not used to women in a senior position she says you re going to be fighting a bunch of battles and being an entrepreneur is hard enough By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER JIM WILSON THE NEW YORK TIMES Karen Watts left said that before approaching a venture capital firm she made sure it had financed companies led by women Copyright 미주한국일보 koreatimes com 무단전재 및 재배포 금지 SAN FRANCISCO CANDACE FLEMING S RE SUME lists a double major in industrial engineering and English from Stanford an M B A from Harvard a management position at Hewlett Packard and experience as president of a small software company But when she was raising money for Crimson Hexagon a start up company she co founded in 2007 she recalls one venture capitalist telling her that it didn t matter that she didn t have business cards because all they would say was Mom Another potential backer invited her for a weekend yachting excursion by showing her a picture of himself on the boat without clothes When a third financier discovered that her husband was also a biking enthusiast she says he spent more time asking if riding affected her husband s reproductive capabilities than he did focusing on her business plan Ultimately none of the 30 venture firms she pitched financed her company She finally raised $1 8 million in March 2008 from angel investors including Golden Seeds a fund that emphasizes investing in start ups led by women I didn t know things like this still happened says Ms Fleming 37 But I know that especially in risky times like the last couple years some investors kind of retreat to investing via a template A company owned by a woman she adds is just not the standard template Though many people say that outright sexism is rare in the technology world these days the barriers that Ms Fleming encountered aren t unusual Tech communities in Silicon Valley and in other hubs like New York Austin Texas and Boston where Ms Fleming lives pride themselves on operating as raw meritocracies ready to embrace anyone with a good idea regardless of education age or station in life THE NEW YORK TIMES JIM WILSON THE NEW YORK TIMES Female Tech Entrepreneurs Face a Variety of Obstacles Technology advances faster than women in the industry For women though that narrative often unfolds differently Women own 40 percent of the private businesses in the United States according to the Center for Women s Business Research But they create only 8 percent of the venture backed tech start ups according to Astia a nonprofit group that advises female entrepreneurs That disparity reaches beyond entrepreneurs Women account for just 6 percent of the chief executives of the top 100 tech companies and 22 percent of the software engineers at tech companies over all according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology And among venture capitalists the population of financiers who control the purse strings for a majority of tech start ups just 14 percent are women the National Venture Capital Association says That reality is even more complex when race is factored into the mix Small percentages of workers in information technology are African American Asian or Hispanic and that number is even smaller for women It s not like people are making an effort to exclude people but I see very little diversity in the candidate pool says Aileen Lee a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers the big venture capital firm Research indicates that investing in women as tech entrepreneurs is good for the bottom line Venturebacked start ups run by women use on average 40 percent less capital than start ups run by men and are increasingly involved in successful initial public offerings of stock according to a recent white paper by Cindy Padnos a venture capitalist When you have gender diversity in an organization you have better innovation and I don t know where innovation is more important than in the high tech world says Ms Padnos who recently founded Illuminate Ventures which invests in start ups led by women Firms like hers along with nonprofit organizations like the National Center for Women and Information Technology Astia and Springboard Enterprises are trying to fix the problem by raising awareness mentoring women and introducing them to investors The good news is that Silicon Valley will see this change says Monica Morse a trustee at Astia They will chase the person they think will make the money regardless of whether they wear a skirt Poornima Vijayashanker 27 an Indian immigrant said she was starting her company BizeeBee making software for small business out of her apartment in Palo Alto California partly because she wants to have a family in a few years and says the tech start up lifestyle isn t hospitable to child rearing That s why she says many young women prefer working at big companies to starting their own Girls have certain family goals they want to accomplish she says Working 60 hours a week is difficult because it requires a life sacrifice At the age of 27 Karen Watts became chief financial officer at a sports start up called Rivals com In that job she realized the value in automating routine paperwork and dreamed up Corefino which makes business accounting software She didn t start it though until she had worked at four more companies I have to know everything I have to have it all figured out she recalls thinking Many analysts and entrepreneurs say that attitude rooted in a lack of confidence is the main reason that when women do pursue startups they often do it later in life than men Ms Watts was also aware that the hurdles for financing were higher for women Before she pitched venture capital firms she made sure they had a woman as a partner and had backed companies led by women If they re not used to women in a senior position she says you re going to be fighting a bunch of battles and being an entrepreneur is hard enough By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER JIM WILSON THE NEW YORK TIMES Karen Watts left said that before approaching a venture capital firm she made sure it had financed companies led by women Copyright 미주한국일보 koreatimes com 무단전재 및 재배포 금지

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