Jeanne Mariani Sullivan’s Post

Thank you Leslie Feinzaig, Divya Kakkad, and Jenna Winocur for a great investor event for Graham & Walker yesterday! A highlight from yesterday was listening to Pam Kostka's insights on the four major challenges female founders (and people of color) face when raising capital for their businesses. These are summarized in this great article by GeekWire. I'm focused on two of the challenges where I can make the greatest impact to improve the statistic that less than 2% of VC funding goes to women: capital and connections.   1️⃣ Capital - what the article doesn't mention is that funding women truly starts at the LP level, not the GP. If investors aren't willing to invest in GP's who are investing in women, then less money will go to supporting female-founded businesses. Parcion Private Wealth continues to partner with GP's who support female founders and I'm honored that our client families understand the opportunity of these investments (both for investment returns and impact to their communities). 💭 There are many firms in addition to Graham & Walker that support this ethos. A few others I have the pleasure of knowing are: Rogue Women's Fund, Rogue Venture Partners, Emmeline Ventures, RareBreed Ventures , VITALIZE Venture Capital, and Symphonic Capital, though there are a LOT more and this is a great list: https://lnkd.in/gkcGjqn9 2️⃣ Connections - we need to keep talking about this and building a community of support around women. This includes awareness of the amazing companies being founded by women! I have listed below the founders and their businesses that were highlighted yesterday. Please look at what they are building and see if they are solving a problem that you or your company is currently facing. ✨ Nicole Schmidt // Source Procurement (REITs, real estate developers/investors, hotels/restaurants, this is for you) ✨ Tiya Gordon // itselectric (if you have an EV or want an EV but don't have a solution for charging, I would see what itselectric is building) ✨ Arianna Trujillo-John // OpenField (if you believe in democracy, pay attention!) ✨ Kate Wallich // Dance Church (everyone can use more dance in their lives!) I'm excited to partner with my amazing colleagues to continue building Parcion Private Wealth to better support the needs of business owners and their families, especially the needs of women business owners. As a reminder, we work exclusively with business owners to unlock the true potential of their wealth, supporting them leading up to, through, and after life-changing liquidity events. Please reach out if I can be a resource.

💡 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧-𝐋𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 In today’s fast-paced startup world, female founders are making strides, but securing funding is still a major challenge.  ➤ 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬: Female founders are growing in number, but they still face significant challenges in securing venture capital, receiving just 2% of VC funding. This gap is even larger for minority women, emphasizing the need for focused strategies and actionable advice. ➤ 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 2023 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐝: According to the recently released DocSend Funding Divide Report, in 2023, female teams took 65-75% longer to fundraise, raised the least amounts of capital, and asked for less money.  At the same time, investors spent 66% MORE time scrutinizing the team section and 41% more time scrutinizing the business model sections of all-female, versus all-male, teams. Further, investors spent 14% LESS time on fundraising goals of all-female, versus all-male, teams. ➤ 𝐈𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, female founders also set more conservative revenue goals and value their ventures less than their male counterparts. ➤ 𝐖𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲. We’ve created the blog series “Investor Insights: What Female Founders Need to Know to Navigate Bias and Accelerate Fundraising” to provide women entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to overcome these challenges, navigate bias, and secure the capital needed to grow. 🚀 Stay tuned for the next post, where we’ll dive into 𝐄𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬—from building strong networks to pitching with confidence. 🗓 And don’t miss our upcoming 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬: 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 event, where we will talk about what we CAN control to become founders who successfully raise in today's landscape. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫: Use code 𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 for a free ticket! Otherwise, tickets start at $29. 🔗 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://lnkd.in/dxKb96ki 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒: First 50 signups get access 5 must-have fundraising resources: ✔️ Investor Readiness Checklist ✔️ 50 Most Frequently Asked Investor Questions ✔️ The Venture Capital Due Diligence Questionnaire ✔️ The Psychological Playbook for VCs and Startups ✔️ A Comprehensive Guide for Creating Financial Model Assumptions #FemaleFounders #Sustainability #Innovation #BreakingBarriers #Inspiration

When women do raise capital they raise much smaller rounds! Men averages are $12 million and women average rounds are $5 million. What are the main factors? 🚩 Access to Networks and Resources: Men often have broader access to networks and resources, including mentorship, industry connections, and support networks. This can enable them to navigate the fundraising process more effectively and secure larger rounds of funding. 🚩 Investor Bias: Investors may exhibit bias towards male entrepreneurs, perceiving them as more capable or trustworthy, which can lead to larger investment rounds. Conversely, women entrepreneurs may face skepticism or unconscious bias from investors, resulting in smaller investment amounts. 🚩 Pitching Dynamics: Research suggests that men tend to adopt more assertive and confident pitching styles, which can positively influence investor perceptions and lead to larger funding rounds. Women, on the other hand, may face challenges in asserting their value proposition or may be penalized for exhibiting assertiveness perceived as aggressive. 🚩 Women raise money to reach profitability. Men are raising for ultra growth at the expense of fundamental business metrics. Make it or break it mentality. 🚩 Industry Representation: Women entrepreneurs are underrepresented in certain sectors that typically attract larger investment rounds, such as technology and biotech. As a result, women-led startups may operate in industries with lower average funding amounts, contributing to the observed disparity in capital raised. 🚩 Risk Perception: Investors may perceive startups led by women as riskier investments due to gender biases or stereotypes about women's ability to succeed in entrepreneurship. This perception can influence investment decisions and lead to smaller funding rounds for women-led ventures. 🚩 Valuation Disparities: Women entrepreneurs may face challenges in negotiating favorable valuations for their startups, leading to lower investment amounts compared to male-led ventures with similar growth potential. This valuation gap can contribute to differences in the size of funding rounds. Any other factors Female VCs could identify here and perhaps add one advice on how to augment the odds of raising enough funds for success? Cowboy Ventures igniteXL Ventures Aspect Ventures Female Founders Fund Halogen Ventures BBG Ventures Backstage Capital Marylene Delbourg-Delphis Claudia Romo Edelman Alpha Network Julie Castro Abrams Jennifer Stojkovic Jennifer Schenker Alumni Ventures Julie Meyer Vivien Ho Carolyn Dawson Melanie Perkins Melanie Platt Sophie Schmidt Wednesday Women Deloitte Roxanne VARZA Carrie Kwan Prospera Women Sramana Mitra ForbesWomen Joanna Strober Heidi Roizen Frederique Dame

I moderated a panel discussion on investing in female founders after a screening of Show Her the Money in Austin. The event was captured perfectly by Silicon Hills News in this article. Give it a read and discover why investing in women is crucial for driving innovation and generating higher returns. Investing in women isn't just smart—it's profitable. According to a BCG study, startups with a female founder generated 78 cents from every dollar of funding, compared to just 31 cents for male-founded startups. #ShowHertheMoney #VentureCapital #WomenFounders #WomenInvestors #WomeninLeadership Catherine Gray, Azin Radsan van Alebeek, Kelly Ann Winget, Laurie Cercone, Central Texas Angel Network, Katelyn Bentley https://lnkd.in/gmadGRpZ

Twenty years ago angel investing looked very different. Women represented a mere 5% of all angel investors and 3% of funded companies. Fast forward to 2022 and those numbers are up to 40% and 31%, respectively. Despite this progress in angel investing, there is still a major disconnect between the innovation women are leading and the pace at which venture capital is realizing these opportunities. Co-CEOs Loretta McCarthy and Jo Ann Corkran reflect on the successes and challenges over the last two decades of leading the national angel network and share their observations on how the VC and investor community can drive more capital and other forms of support to worthy women-led startups. Read the full essay in Crunchbase: https://lnkd.in/eCehrd-5 #GoldenSeeds #AngelInvesting #WomenLed #Womenowned #Entrepreneurs

Yesterday The New York Times ran the article below about women entrepreneurs hitting a funding wall. They cited some of the companies and funds affected by the current state of venture and the funds that are challenging the status quo (Avestria Ventures, Good Growth Capital, Rethink Impact, LP, IFundWomen, 37 Angels, Fearless Fund, and Pivotal Ventures). NYT Article: https://lnkd.in/g6Hbpqs3 As women, we often feel alone in this fight. But women are not and should be in this alone. Love this quote from the NYT. “As a woman, don’t just approach women,” said Kaisa Snellman, a co-author of the INSEAD study in NYT. Venture capital firms led by men have a responsibility to support women founders and address bias, she said, adding, “It shouldn’t just be up to the women investors to even the playing field.” Women entrepreneurs have historically struggled to raise venture capital in a male-dominated industry. This has been amplified this year with DEI backlash and the recent court cases against the Fearless Fund and Hello Alice whose funding programs for women of color have been impacted. While more and more women are stepping up, launching venture funds and angel investing communities, to fund early-stage companies - there is still a dearth of funding at the growth stage for female-led, venture-backed start-ups. This is a topic we often discuss on the Venture:F podcast and it's something we are tackling through The FOUNDRY - a program we are launching to build a network and deal flow for SeriesA+ founders and fund managers raising larger funds. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/g6HH8MWv Why invest in women? Women drive our economy - as consumers making 85% of consumer spending and healthcare decisions and as entrepreneurs - 42% of US companies are founded by women. Women founders take less capital and generate a 35% higher return on investment than all-male teams. They are inclined to exit quicker and at a higher valuation. Women will control 66% of the wealth in this country in the next decade. Which means WOMEN will be making the majority of investing decisions. Will you be one of them? And will you be working alongside men to help empower their investing decisions and introduce them to opportunities to invest in women-owned businesses and funds? Let’s do this! Learn about investing from the many experts on our podcast. Discover investing communities and fund investment opportunities via our newsletter and The HUB at www.Venturef.com. #investinwomen #venturecapital #femalefounders Sarah A. Fotis, Aimee Helfand, Caroline Levy, Jesse Draper, Tracy Chadwell. Marcia Dawood, Julie Castro Abrams, Kate Nevin, MonaLisa Como, Gayle Proctor, Jenny Abramson, Karen Cahn, Erin Harkless Moore, CFA, Sylvia S. Kwan, CFA, CAIA, Flossie Hall, Jessie M. Gabriel, Jaclyn Johnson, Jill Faherty Lloyd, Jenny Just, Alexa Yurick, Shivani Siroya, Pia Sur, Chloe Sacks, Jade Chatham, Ellen Chen, Annie Belanger, Neha T. Kumar, Carol Cheng-Mayer, Jean Huang

Did you know only 2% of venture funding goes to all-female-founded teams according to Sifted? It's surprising that this number remains so low despite numerous efforts to change it. I recently read an article by Amy Lewin about this issue, and it got me thinking about what needs to change. Here are some key points: 📊 Data Collection: VCs need to track how many female founders they meet, receive pitches from, and fund. This can highlight the gaps. 👩💼 Diversity in Decision-Making: 24% of signatories still have all-male investment committees. We need more women in these roles 💸 Focus on Funding: Many women-led startups don't just need mentoring—they need financial support. As one attendee pointed out, “Women are not the problem. The system is the problem.” To truly make a difference, we need more women in VC decision-making roles, on startup boards, and in C-suites. What are some ways to better support female founders in the VC world? Share your thoughts below! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dgAvaDcB #FemaleFounders #Startups #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #Diversity

How do we move the dial on access to funding for women-led ventures? Get more women in VC. Thanks to Melissa Houston and Forbes for highlighting the work by Michelle Scarborough and BDC Thrive Venture Fund. Increased visibility, increased networking, increased investment opportunities, more inclusive workspaces, and inspiration for future generations are all key points. I would also add that the market will definitely benefit from great collaboration across investors and VCs with more women in VC leadership. They will have greater opportunities to co-invest in scaling businesses led or co-led by women. In addition, as women often are leading impactful ventures in sectors such as health, women's health, and sustainable CPG, there is an opportunity to scale the impact of VC dollars with more women VCs at the helm. In Canada, I'm inspired by the work of Michelle and Sevrine at BDC, Shelley Kuipers and Judy Fairburn at The51, Brenda Irwin at Relentless Venture Fund, Olivia Hornby (Shamash) at Spring Impact Capital, Rhiannon Davies (she/her) and the team at Sandpiper Ventures, Lise Birikundavyi, CFA and BKR Capital, Althea Wishloff and Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, Kathryn Wortsman and Amplify Capital, Hilary Kilgour + Raissa Espiritu and TheVenture.Fund fund and the other women in VC in Canada. The movement has momentum, and now is the time to build on that at scale. #investinginwomen #genderlensinvesting #venturecapital #canada https://lnkd.in/g2K5ME2P

💫 These women are trailblazers. They're rewriting the rulebook on what it means to be an investor and they're set to deliver outsize returns. Serena Williams who is featured in the Business Insider list, via her Venture Capital firm, Serena Ventures has invested in more than 85 businesses - 14 of whom hold unicorn status (a startup business with a value of over $1bn).  🌎 What's equally exciting and important is that Serena Ventures invest in innovations which 'level the playing field for women and people of colour' - meaning their impact isn't just economic but societal too. And if you look behind the headline, you'll see this is true for many of the investors in this list. 📈 Diverse investors at the Venture Capital stage of the investment lifecycle, means diverse founders and their innovations have a more equal opportunity as their peers, to grow and scale. ❓ But what do these lists mean for investors who are considering taking their first steps as an angel investor? Whose first deployment of capital (aka investment) might not reach into the number of 0's that the women featured in this list are deploying? 👀 If we look beyond the headlines, these lists provide a WEALTH of lessons. And for Obu, this is why these lists are so important. Yes, 100% for the acknowledgement these trailblazing women are so deserving of. But more for the lessons, inspiration and wisdom they are able to provide to the next 'first-time' angel investor who realises the power her capital holds in enabling a startup business to thrive. 💭 Whether you're an experienced or aspiring angel investor - what do you look for / plan to look for when you invest in an early stage entrepreneur? And what do you hope to contribute beyond capital? #overbeingunderfunded #angelinvestor #angelinvesting

What do these lists mean for people who are considering taking their first steps as an angel investor? We've dug behind the headlines to share these investors lessons with you - uncovering what they look for in the founders they invest in AND what they hope to contribute beyond capital. #overbeingunderfunded #beanangel #angelinvesting