Regular readers of Rude.vc hear me lament about the paucity of women working in senior roles in venture capital funds. It’s bad in the U.S. and even worse in Europe and Japan. Last year the dam thankfully began bursting on misbehaving male peers in the sector, but this situation has bothered me long before that.
Perhaps after all these years of prioritizing my own performance, I feel compelled to make a lasting improvement to our industry. Undoubtedly, my gratitude for the precious early career advice I received from a rare minority woman in venture capital also plays a role (will never forget that, Karen!).
Increasing the proportion of women in venture capital is important in my opinion because it has a direct impact on the success of women entrepreneurs. A greater proportion of successful women-led businesses produce benefits to society at large, I submit. Furthermore, I would suggest that diversity of thought inside a VC fund produces better fund performance.
So I try to do my own small part in contributing to the solution. I blog about it. I compile potentially embarrassing but entirely objective data and create infographics like this one. I transformed the popular year-end Rude.vc predictions post into a forum for women VCs (by the way, feel free to contact me if you’d like to join this).
I’m not looking for a medal here, and I recognize that these efforts are fairly superficial. Moreover, I welcome suggestions on what more I can do.
One initiative far more impactful than my limited efforts and which I was proud to indirectly support took place here in Tokyo on Friday night: Women Funding Women.
Women Funding Women leverages the expertise of investors, innovators and influencers. We shine a spotlight on the investments made in women-led companies while encouraging more women to invest. The series travels to seven cities – – Brooklyn, Toronto, Amsterdam, Paris, Austin, Sydney, and Tokyo – to foster a global community that supports and invests in women by promoting investment opportunities and encouraging collaboration.
Props to the organizers of this fantastic initiative.
