Women, tech and entrepreneurship

Silvija SeresOBR StartupDayOslo, 12 Sept 2016

Silvija #2

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Women and investment

Women founder CEOs get less than 3% of Venture Capital. Startupbootcamp.org, March 2016

What women face is that it is difficult to get past the average VC who is male, white and under 35.Many women entrepreneurs are in their 40s and 50s so face an additional age barrier.FORBES, March 2016

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A few personal anecdotes I laughed at#4

Ah, so you’re the required pair of breasts?“

Sorry, we just really wanted to golf.“This may be a bit

technical for you.“I guess you’ll want to go back to the hotel now.“

Can you tell me what she can do?“

And one that fires me up #5

They still don’t take us seriously, two young women trying to do tech.

“

Myth 1: Women don’t do tech

A recent Modis survey of U.S. adults who work in the tech industry found that 55% think the biggest challenge to diversity in tech is age. This is followed by

gender (21%), ethnicity (18%), and religion (6%).

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Yet, when you look at the history og IT and computing, when you look at shipping in Norway, when you look at entrepreneurship in developing world, and engineering in Eastern Europe…

FORBES, March 2016There are preconceived notions that women and “older people”, i.e. 50+, don’t know much about tech. FORBES, March 2016

Here are a few girls that did IT #7Ada Lovelace, the first programmer

Race Hopper, inventor of the first compiler

Radia Perlman, spanning-tree protocol

Hady Lamarr, spread spectrum technology

Programming was a pink-collar profession for about the first decade. There were some men, but it was actually hugely women.

And a few more… #8

Shafi Goldwasser, 2012, complexity theory and cryptography

Fran Allen,2006, optimizing compilers

Barbara Liskov, 2008, distributed computing

ACM Turing Awards

Myth 2: Women focus on pink problems

In most countries women are the traditional entrepreneurs.

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Myth 3: Female uassuming humility#10

It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. That

might be one of the initial ‘super powers,’ which quite frankly, women who don’t ask for a raise have. Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back

because somebody’s going to know that’s the kind of person that I want to trust.

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook: “We need to start giving women the credit they deserve. One way of changing this, is documenting the role women played in the dawn of technology.”

So: Keep calm and code on?

?WTF

ITs diversity problem

Boy’s toys narrative: By the 1980s, computer programming seemed to be an exciting job opportunity for women. It had surpassed both law and

physical sciences as women’s choice for studies. At its 1984 peak, 37% of computer programmers were women. By 2011, it was only 12%.

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When women stopped coding

Silicon Valley’s diversity advantage#121. Sergey Brin, Russia, $31 billion2. George Soros, Hungary, $24 billion3. Len Blavatnik, Ukraine, $21.5 billion4. Rupert Murdoch, Australia, $14.2 billion5. Patrick Soon-Shiong, South Africa, $12 billion6. Elon Musk, South Africa, $10.3 billion7. Thomas Peterffy, Hungary, $9.1 billion8. Pierre Omidyar, France, $8.2 billion9. Jan Koum, Ukraine, $7.6 billion10. Do Won and Jin Sook Chang, Korea, $5.2 billion

Where Silicon Valley gets its brains from:

10% of Forbes 400

Over 50 percent of tech startups in Silicon Valley are founded by immigrants.

Silicon Valley’s diversity problem#13

Silicon Valleys other diveristy problem: 71 percent are men, 60 percent identify as white, 23 percent Asian, 8 percent Latino, and 7 percent black.

Leadership’s diveristy problem #14

“Lean in” is not good gender equality, and not an attractive option for a generation that views life as a whole package, not a race. We need fewer impossible superwomen, and more plain smart women who want both a life and to get something big done.

We need less of this #15

Closed circlesNon-transparent skillsSilent moneyPredictably traditional investments

And more of this #16I haven’t done this before, so I am sure I’ll be very good at it.

The 4. industrial revolution

This time is different: Exponential, polar and combinatorial.

Societies will change – fast!We need all the talent and all the money in the right

places.

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XO and women #18

Good news: • Critical skills for the 21st century favor women• Hot sectors attract women (edtech, medtech, biotech, 3D, VR, AI)• The new labor-market works for the flexible and the fast

Women and sectorsWomen are most commonly in B2C sectors such as E-Commerce, Fashion, Media (large female consumership).Women are also increasingly well represented in sectors such as Healthcare, Wearables, Education, Biotech.Digital Health, IoT, AI, VR and Foodtech are hot sectors.Social Entrepreneurship is in.

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General advice #20

MORE VISIBILITY!SHARPER PROFILES!

BOTH VISION AND DELIVERY!BETTER FRIENDS!

Norway’s global FEI position

From the GEDI 2015: identifying and analyzing the conditions that foster high potential female entrepreneurship development

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Female Entrepreneurship Index (FEI) 2015

Practical advice for female entrepreneurs

Make a kick-ass product or serviceBuild a loyal superstar teamThink bigger than bigSell, sell, sell and sell some moreCreate visibility (get on the dance floor)Weave own network (professional & personal affinity)Cherish mentorsFind investor affinity with your sector/spaceConsider online funding and crowdfundingJust ignore the ones who don’t believe women can do it.

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Practical advice for lady-investors

Risk-alleviating incentives such as kapitalfunn, they make active investment more attractive than passive ownership. Investor education, informal networks, advisory activities for incubators.

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You can’t be what you don’t see.

“Some women take themselves out,” Sandell replied, pointing to two women who were just shy of the general partner investing level who left the firm for personal reasons. Sandell said that the majority of the general partners at the firm are promoted from within and rise from the ranks of an associate to the general partner.

To get on or stay on in a VC team: beat the unconscious bias

Scott Sandell, managing partner and head of technology at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

Including more women in VC:

Including more women in angel activities:

Practical advice for all investors

Look for high-potential female entrepreneurs, you

may find amazing talent and market opportunity for a

fraction of the price.

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Practical advice for regulatorsEnvironmental factors og greatest consequence: • equal legal rights, access to education,

networks, technology, capital, social norms, values, and expectations• ALTERNATIVE RISK and a variety og

attractive investment and entrepreneurial paths• family-related institutions such as greater

provision of childcare services and family leave

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Women tend to start ventures at a later age (ages 35-40) than men, and must manage work-family conflicts

Thank you!

Questions?silvijaseres.com and silvija.seres@technorocks.com

@silvijaseres

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