Corporate Responsibility to Have more Women in VC

Companies that have more women in leadership, on the board and investing in a company, well they are more successful. However, to reach the next level of a sustainable society that is progressive for all, we may not just need more women in positions of leadership, but more women to work in venture capital. 

— 7 percent of investing partners at the top 100 venture and micro-venture firms are women.

Why Women in VC is a CSR Issue?

In the last few years, companies that display a commitment to do good in society (CSR, stands for corporate social ) and support worthwhile causes, boost their branding in a legit way. They sync with mainstream values, the inevitable weight of public opinion. 

The question then remains, does creating more inclusive corporate cultures and opportunities for women in VC and leadership, fall under the social, moral and ethical responsibility of all corporate companies, especially of Silicon Valley and Venture Capital as collective institutions? 

Yes I think it does (and feel free to disagree with me!), companies have become very sensitive to the values of their customers and this of all things should include higher standards of equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion.  

Companies now don't just do things to be politically correct, the foster pro-active corporate social responsibility campaigns as intrinsic to their brand and as expressions of their corporate culture.

Some of the most viral videos actually are about companies supporting worthwhile causes and this has largely to do with the values of Millennials. We are global citizens who believe in universal causes. 

The Women in Tech Movement 

While female startup founders may be on the rise, and the recognition that there exists a lack of data on women in tech even among the major tech companies of Silicon Valley, there's been a lot of debate and the founding of organizations committed to progress, society is still slow to change. 

As for venture capital, it's not depictive of a world sensitive to inclusion, with only 7% of investing partners being female. You can read more here. However, some VC firms showed slightly better rates, here are the top 10 best: 

Innovation Skewed to the Male Point of View 

After all, how could we expect female led startups to get the same treatment if their investors were primarily men? In a world where technological corporations are at the forefront of leading change and disrupting the world we live in maybe it's time and ideal if women had an equal share in the building of this new world. 

While millions of Millennial women will be denied positions of leadership, especially in technology, having less than 1 in 10 venture capital partners that are women shows how the elitist society we are creating with increasing wealth-gaps, is in essence, a man-made creation where so long as pay inequality exists and gender-leadership bias exists, men profit and women suffer. 

According to Crunch Base: 

Do It Yourself 

To build a better world, sometimes just means DIY. As institutions get accustomed to their norms, a more rapid way for women to become partners is the growth of female-founded venture firms which accounts for about 16% of newly launched venture and micro-venture firms. 

Women Excel In New Ecosystem for Startups 

In a culture of social entrepreneurship, crowd-sourcing and purposeful ethical innovation, it may be that women are BETTER suited to lead such companies. In many ways, the on-demand economy is not just about connecting the individual to services, but connecting people. 

Venture Capital and Top CEOs 

We don't live in an age where we lack role models for women in VC, and while thousands of family businesses and etsy-esque SMBs are female-led, there is a sense that the highest echelons of business and in technology, VC and CEOs of top companies, are pretty much not open to women.

When women enter those positions, they face more scrutiny, there are glass ceilings for the capable women who would have been CEOs in a better world, and morbid attention placed on our top women continues to detract from those positions. 

Innovation is a Man's World 

When only 10% of VC wealth goes to startup companies with female founders , it makes you wonder at the kind of gender bias that the "winning" companies embody both in terms of their solutions, products and the impact they have on people and society at large?

The irony of all of this is too, that those companies that are considered female founded, just have maybe one female co-founder! It’s worth noting that Brooklyn (NY), considered on its own, is the national frontrunner with 28% of startups, 33 in total, reporting at least one woman founder. Silicon Valley cities of Palo Alto and San Jose, actually lag behind the national average! 

We Think Things will Improve Without Intervention 

It may be that major VC firms and tech companies need to recognize that it's their duty to society and our future descendants, our shared collective corporate social responsibility to ensure that major decisions on the future of technology and business are done from the perspective of both genders equally. 

GenZ vs. Millennials

While Millennial women represent the most educated workers ever of women, and by far the most ambitious professionally, what we may be witnessing is the world of business and corporate culture just isn't ready for them.

• Many Millennial women who deserve positions of leadership, won't get it. 
• Many Millennial women who would have made great CEOs and brought great startup solutions to the world, won't have the opportunity! 

It will likely only be GenZ women who graduate to find corporate cultures truly equitable and rewarding of their talents where women can become CEOs, startup founders and lead in venture capital as well, as easily, as their men peers. 

#IAmAFeminist

Do you believe the gender gap in Venture capital has consequences for female led startups and the ease of women becoming entrepreneurs?