Yesterday I attended the Heath Lecture at my alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology. David Rose, angel investor extraordinaire, gave a presentation and it was standing room only. Of COURSE I was late (my life is still working on a 15 minute delay), but I really came to see my friend Mark LaRosa. Mark is one of my idols. He has successfully launched and sold a business and has now created a new venture, Quota Crush, that is already generating revenue.
From my vantage point standing near the entrance, I had the opportunity to scan the audience - and it was disheartening. I still can't stop myself from counting the number of women in attendance, the number of non-white faces in the group, and the number of non-white women. The numbers ran from about 5 to 2 to 0. I try not to make these reviews, but as I get older I find myself doing it more. David Rose is a successful entrepreneur who has much information to impart - and this was a great opportunity to interact with him. I did find it entertaining how many people tried to impress David - only to sound inane. I, on the other hand, did my usual - and stayed far away. If Mark had introduced me to him, then I would have hoped that I would not have made my usual "duh" moves, but that was never the case (hey, Mark - how come?). Regardless, I don't know if I feel confident enough to sell myself yet to him. I mean, really, entrepreneurs are prostitutes sometimes. We dress ourselves / products up in the most provocative ways in the hope to turn the eye of someone who will give us money. Now, sometimes I do feel that I have an advantage over the other ones on the corner since I am usually very different from the other hookers, but I have yet figured out how to properly strut my stuff.
Hmm, I wonder if I investors liken themselves to pimps behind closed doors. I am sure that somewhere there is a hat with a feather that is used as a trophy.
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Joelle,
So sorry I did not introduce you. It was not intentional - just a crazy nite!
And thanks for the kind words, but idol.. oh boy that's a lot to live up to :)
That said, I have to tell you that having been in the entrepreneurial world for quite a while - and very intensely being in the community of entrepreneurs, angel investors and VC's in the past few years, its not as bleak for women and minorities as you witnessed in the room the other nite.
While I would agree that it would be great to see the numbers of women and minorities rise, it is not non-existent, and there are a lot of great investment groups and entrepreneurs doing amazing things with women and minorities.
I think there was a report, but I couldn't find the link - so its possible that this information is just anecdotal, but there was a theory that said that women on a whole tend to build smaller profitable businesses that stay small (less risky ventures), and that men, in general take the bigger risks and try to hit the ball out of the park. That it is the male nature to want to go for the bigger risk/reward, and the female nature to go the slow and steady (nurture their business). For that reason, it APPEARS that less women are starting businesses - when in fact its just because they aren't looking for funding in the same numbers as men because they build their businesses differently.
I don't know if that's true or not - and certainly there are amazing women doing amazing things. Golden Seeds, Stephanie Hanbury Brown's angel group now spans three states and funds women led businesses. Her group funds many businesses each year - and hundreds more apply to her group - which lets you know that these women entrepreneurs are out there. There are also several funds out there dedicated to minority business owners including MAIN in Philadelphia which also funds several businesses each year. (and likewise, sees and rejects lots of minority run businesses that don't quite make the cut - but many are still businesses that will thrive nonetheless)
Hopefully, the past few months have proven that with hard work, the right message, the proper networking, and determination, that ANYONE can achieve anything. I think the ripple effect of that will start to appear in the coming years.
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