A VC - Latest Comments in The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Aruni S. Gunasegaram — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:30:32 -0000

Sorry this is so late. I've been dealing with a lot of personal and other things. I've been reading your posts but haven't had a chance to reply. You now have one more female to add to your results.

I went to the Hunch site and the 2 questions it said it could predict my answers, it got wrong...go figure. That logic must be designed for a man. :-)

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:19:04 -0000

Good suggestion

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

LizScott — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:47:52 -0000

Well, I helped your female count, anyway.

My professional "required" reading list includes a blog section, and the women on that list are mostly "mommy bloggers." I suppose people are just writing what they know, but I know a lot of bright successful women, and I'm just not finding where they blog...

For the most part, I just want something interesting and thought-provoking to read; whether it comes from a man or a woman doesn't matter to me very much. But I do find it interesting - and slightly annoying - that there is an idea that "Women don't like this stuff." Maybe it's more that they don't see the value reading blogs? Or that they read but don't care to comment? I'm not sure, but I'm bummed there is still an us/them dynamic.

Fred, I don't think I'd be interested in an entry geared specifically towards women (not that you are suggesting doing that, but if you are trying up the chick demographic, I could see something like that happening). The women who are interested in this field will find you.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:16:57 -0000

I meant can't in the last line

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:16:43 -0000

I don't care what claims or projections entrepreneurs make. They are almost always hype

We invest in web services that have been launched and have demonstrated user traction and accelerating adoption

You can bullshit your way past that fortunately

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Jules Pieri — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:30:00 -0000

Female CEOS often agree that is is just plain hard for men to recognize good deals brought in by women. I know most male VC's think they are giving women a fair shake, but there are tidal waves of subconscious data and history preventing that. (I read a compelling study recently that argued that racism is not genetic, but sexism pretty much is. Yikes.)

In the VC board room pitch, we are not the archetype pocket-protector-tech-founder (even if we are sometimes smarter/better) or the archetype hail-good-fellow-well-met (even if we are steely-eyed killers when it comes to biz dev). So it is hard to put us up against the patterns of the successful entrepreneurs an experienced VC has enjoyed funding.

We present our thoughts differently. We tend to be more realistic about our forecasts and claims--I am sometimes stunned by the bullshit I see men put in front of VC's, with a straight face. And women tend to focus on markets we know (which men don't always understand, because women control 85% of the US consumer spend).

I think VC's probably have to try harder to shake bias to get past this cycle of ever-repeating history. Hire more female VC's. Listen more open mindedly to female founders. Override bias more actively and work to assign more intellectual, experiential, and analytical credibility to a female founder as she speaks. Also allow for the fact that women found companies at a wider age spectrum than men...they tend to build rich professional experiences to prepare themselves for being founders, and are not always as young as the typical male first time founder.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:09:27 -0000

i am trying to fund the best businesses i can find. i need more women to
bring me interesting deals.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Jules Pieri — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:04:21 -0000

Ben, I'm taking a flier here but since I know just about every VC funded female CEO in Boston, I have a pretty good clue about whom you reference. And since you say the person already has her funding, she is probably supressing the memories of how painful it was to raise. (If you can supress the pain of childbirth, you can supress the pain of anything.) And it was incredibly painful, at least in the cases I know of--for female founders. It's the old Ginger Rogers thing...having to do everything Fred did, but backwards.

That's not a whine. We are all too busy growing our businesses to dwell on injustice. Just fact.

Fred if you want more women to read your column, you need to fund more female founded businesses. Nothing will make you more relevant or interesting to female entrepreneurs than putting your money where your keystrokes are. We have the same drive, passion, ambition, and goals as men. But we can't build our businesses on words.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

ShanaC — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:07:04 -0000

It means- I've been wearing the same perfume when I go out for over three years now...It's considered an older person's/classic perfume, but I'm 23, maybe I should get something different. The post reminded me of that in a vague sort of way

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:56:59 -0000

Ditto

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:56:46 -0000

I'm tryin'

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

fredwilson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:55:55 -0000

I'm a big fan of vaccines and all forms of prophylactic medicine. I've taken every vaccine out there and want my kids to do the same. I recognize that vaccines have some risk but I believe the risk/reward tradeoffs are almost always strongly in favor of vaccines

My kids took the swine flu vaccine as soon as it was available. I'm getting mine soon

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

tomasvdb — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:10:09 -0000

perhaps the 8 of us who live in Africa could meet up sometime for dinner :)

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

adelaidelancaster — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:50:56 -0000

ShanaC & Karen_e - glad you're representing!

Im weighing back in because women entrepreneurs are what my company is all about. I work with 250 women business owners daily and spend my professional life embedded in networks that contain 1000s of women who work for themselves and are building ventures of all sizes. My professional world is so overwhelmingly skewed this way that it is funny to hear people comment about a lack of us. This problem is certainly not for a lack of women entrepreneurs (remember, the latest estimates put us at 8M strong).

First, let’s get past all this talk of clothing and accessories.(Although I realize that Hunch prompted the make-up talk...I was in the minority on that one, and by being of "average" comfort with technology...in case you couldn't guess from my accidental double post). But, back to accessories...my point is that we certainly wouldn’t talk about sports or cars if we were wondering why some men don’t read Fred’s great blog or seeking VC funding, so let's move onto the meat.

So disparities in women v men’s non-professional interests aside…what I do know from the scores of entrepreneurs that I work with is that for women, flexibility and autonomy are among the top 4 motivating reasons to start their businesses. My theory is that, in part, women don’t seek VC funding because the traditional entrepreneurship track associated with a business of that size and scale usually precludes the kind of flexibility that women anticipate wanting over let’s say the next decade of their lives. All things being equal, would many VC funders be excited about a female founder planning to give 150% for 2 years, then intentionally scaling back to 75% for years 3 and 4 before ramping up again?

We do know that women are starting businesses at almost twice the rate of men, and that women are continuing to opt-out of traditional corporate roles. Why? Largely because the traditional corporate roles don’t offer the kind of flexibility that they desire and my guess is that the assumption is that a VC-backed start up wouldn’t either. (Is that true, gentlemen? ladies? Idon't want to assume as I’m not VC-backed..yet!)

That being said I know a lot of women entrepreneurs who care a lot about access to VCs and a lot of women entrepreneurs who couldn’t care less and who probably think you’re wasting your time worrying about them.
What we also know though is that too many Women Business Owners go out of business and that 15% of all WBOs make 80% of the total revenues generated by WBOs.

I believe that entrepreneurship is a critical employment and economic vehicle for women.

The truth is that we need to expand 2 things: expand access to VC funding for women who want it AND expand our collective definition of the word entrepreneur to include many of those 8M women who aren’t feeling left out but instead say no thank you to funding. We are working these efforts everyday and I would love to talk to anyone who wants to help! This is a serious call for interest.

The two worlds can learn a lot from each other. Aside from the obvious business lessons, there is more and more data supporting women’s influence over general work force trends and issues of work life fit... check www.worklifefit.com

Interested folks can read more convo with Jason Cohen (of a smart bear) and his wife Darla here: http://ingoodcompanyworkpla...

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Mark Essel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:30:01 -0000

hehehe, I do so enjoy reading Shana's comments, but sometimes they can be a challenge for me to decipher (no offense Shana :).

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Mark Essel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:11:40 -0000

So that covers "girly" stuff my fiance suggested. Now more Oprah.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

Mark Essel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:09:37 -0000

These stats are great areas to understand your current readership but more importantly to focus on "marketing" your ideas to an entire world audience. I still am a firm believe your blog audience could grow a ton. I enjoyed reading here before I considered the potential of a startup.

How about globally catching women entrepreneur's attention?

I have not the slightest clue on how you'd go about doing such a thing. Let me ask my fiance about topics that may appeal to women entrepreneurs globally...

"I don't understand the question" her first response.
then
"Magazines, shoes, makeup, and Oprah. Everyone loves Oprah"

In conclusion Fred, be like Oprah to expand your audience.
:D

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

ShanaC — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:15:08 -0000

We peak out after say 28-32. Are we having a pull out the business world after that point, which is when the guys are all getting going?

(that's fertility wise)

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

ShanaC — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:14:10 -0000

Then why mom-blogs?

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

andreaitis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:10:06 -0000

aww, gotta register a dissenting opinion. i think it's too much of a generalization to say women 'don't like this stuff.' i know lots of women interested in digital media and tech, but it usually comes down to time, priorities and what you're juggling in day-to-day life. if it's a choice between researching whether to give your children the swine flu vaccine and reading avc.com, a lot of working moms will tackle the swine first. that's the necessity, which makes avc the luxury. didja ever think you'd be a luxury item, fred?

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

CoryS — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:01:51 -0000

Surprised that hunch.com doesn't have a simple location question or tag the IP address and ask if it is correct or not (to stay in the yes / no / skip format).

Between this and Twitter, Fred, there's a ton of food for marketers' thought. :)

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

karen_e — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:41:14 -0000

That is certainly one strategy, JLM. As others have mentioned, the venture/entrepreneur lifestyle is very demanding. Lately, as a career woman who came around to getting pregnant later rather than sooner, I have marveled at the fertility charts in doctors' offices. Fertility peaks between 19-24, period. During those years our modern woman is in school, college, and grad school, preparing for a career?! It's very hard to discuss this conundrum with even a ten-foot pole, I realize. I probably would jump down the throat of any man who would suggest we're wasting 'their' spots at Harvard Business School - and I have jumped down these throats! Yet the only thing that keeps women having *some* earning power in the US is that the workforce is very flexible - a woman can come in and out of it more easily than in many countries. At the same time we all know that largely does not apply to the most demanding professions or to the highest tier.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

karen_e — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:26:15 -0000

My husband technically speaking wears a little makeup. He was raised in utterly non-American circles and has a natural inclination to reach for all my creams - occasionally even peering at my concealer (undereye stuff to hide dark circles) and muttering that he needs to pick up some in his skin tone. Once in a while he comes home with a cream or serum with the same excitement that ladies do - "check out this great stuff I got at Kiehl's!" He also wears cologne every day of the week and has for his entire adult life. If he had taken this survey, he would have answered 'wears makeup' without much thought. Fun survey, and fun to hear about the readers. By the way, we were in NYC this weekend, eating at the Spotted Pig. We said to each other, how did we hear about this place? I dunno, we shrugged. Probably on Fred's blog over the years.

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

leapy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:20:34 -0000

The weekend issue is key - it's now Monday am in London and I have just found the posts about the Hunch survey. Chalk up another European reader - albeit still male!

Re: The AVC Reader Census: A Day Later

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