Venture Capital and Gender Bias: How Questions Shape Funding Allocation

In today’s episode, Kate and Sam discuss a thought-provoking article that was published in The Harvard Business Review. The article explores how male and female entrepreneurs get asked different questions by venture capitalists, leading to funding disparities. Despite female business ownership being high, women receive only 3% of venture funding. The questions asked to men focus on the vision and potential, while women face defensive queries about risk and break-even. Flipping prevention questions to promotion ones can change the trajectory. It’s quite incredible how the way a question is asked can have such profound consequences on mindset and perception. They discuss how disrupting bias in questioning is crucial for funding equality and for women to succeed in business generally. 

Here's the link to the  Harvard Business Review article:
https://hbr.org/2017/06/male-and-female-entrepreneurs-get-asked-different-questions-by-vcs-and-it-affects-how-much-funding-they-get

Tune in now and learn more about the importance of being mindful of the questions asked - even how you frame questions to your friends and family! Today’s discussion encourages entrepreneurs to be proactive in shaping the narrative during pitches and marketing of their message. 

Episode Highlights:

• Gender bias in venture capital funding
• Unequal funding for female entrepreneurs
• Defensive position for female entrepreneurs
• Influence of female venture capitalists
• The Funding Gap: Entrepreneurs who field prevention questions raise significantly less funding compared to those asked promotion-focused questions.
• Seeking External Funding: Many women turn to their partners for initial funding, facing similar questions that hinder their funding opportunities.
• The Power of Passion and Purpose: The importance of passion and purpose in business to stay motivated and resilient through challenging times.
• Flipping the Bias: The hosts propose flipping prevention questions into promotion answers during funding discussions to disrupt the cycle of bias.
• The need to position themselves differently and offer a competitive advantage in their business approach.
• Understanding finances and presenting ideas effectively
• Parenting Styles and Questions: Kate and Sam explore how their differing parenting styles impact their children's responses and emotions.

And so much more!

Connect with the Women Doing Business Hosts:

Kate De Jong, PhD | Inspired Business

Website: https://katedejong.com/

Instagram: katedejong.inspiredbusiness

Email: kate@katedejong.com

Sam Morris | The Business Implementor

Website: https://thebusinessimplementor.com/

Instagram: sammorris.businesscoach

Email: sam@thebusinessimplementor.com