We use all sorts of excuses to explain why we are investing in a homogenous group of founders.

Myth:

“We invest on merit.”

Truth:

We invest in people who look and sound like us.

Data:

VCs rate investment pitches made by men as more persuasive, logical, and fact-based than the identical pitch made by women.*

Myth:

“Men make better founders than women.”

Truth:

Founder teams made up of males only, are the lowest performing and most funded.

Data:

Startups with at least one female founder outperform all-male founder teams by 63 percent. Women entrepreneurs are more capital efficient, return more revenue on investment and exit faster.

Myth:

“We would invest in women, we just can’t find any.”

Truth:

VCs claim they are experts at finding the best startups in the world, whilst also claiming they can’t find startups run by half the world’s population.

It’s not a pipeline problem. In the globally renowned Techstars Sydney 2024 cohort, 90 percent of the 12 startups have women in the founder team.

Myth:

“Women lack confidence.”

Truth:

Teenage boys are more likely than girls to pretend to understand mathematical concepts that don’t exist. If we take overconfident men founders at their word, we are more likely to invest in them, even if they aren’t as competent as women founders.

A study by Harvard Business Review found that confidence is not just gendered - it’s weaponised against women. When women fail to achieve career goals, leaders are prone to attribute it to a lack of self-confidence. And when women demonstrate high levels of confidence through behaviors, such as being extroverted or assertive, they risk overdoing it and, ironically, being perceived as lacking confidence.

If you would like any more information regarding the myths and data, contact jenny@disputebuddy.co