Hello, boys: why investing in women makes sense

Edie G. Lush

Edie G. Lush says women have a strong track record as entrepreneurs and managers, yet struggle to find support from Britain’s male-dominated venture capital community

Kibble and her team were persistent, sending news-letters to VCs who had said no, and last year raised £2 million to enter into clinical trials of their product. Stargate’s Trapezia Fund is one of the investors who said yes.

Alicia Navarro, chief executive of Skimbit, has a somewhat less extreme example of what happens when she presents her website business to venture capitalists. Skimbit is a tool to help people make decisions – if you are looking for bridesmaids’ shoes or villas in France you wander around the web, ‘skimming’ the relevant parts of the websites you’re browsing and compiling them with the help of Skimbit. Then you send the website location to your friends for them to add their comments to help you make a group decision. The problem is that this is primarily how women – rather than men – like to make decisions. ‘Women generally ‘get’ my company right away. But almost every single VC I’ve presented to has been male. As a result, part of my presentation incorporates an explicit description on how men make decisions – look at a few sites and choose a product – versus women, who look at many sites, canvas opinion, look at more sites, then make a decision.’ Navarro hasn’t yet raised money from the VC community.

Susie Willis is chief executive of Plum Baby, which makes organic baby food from ‘superfood’ ingredients. She spent most of last year trying to secure the business and admits she found the process grim. ‘I spent an incredible amount of time ensuring my presentation – and particularly the valuation of the business – was absolutely bulletproof so that when I presented to investors I had a completely sound story. So when I was grilled about the numbers I defended them vigorously. After one meeting someone called me emotional and suggested I shouldn’t be in these meetings. I was completely appalled. If I’d had balls I would have been called determined, bold and bullish. But because I’m a woman I get called emotional.’