Shaping the innovation economy into one run by founders, funders, and ecosystem players that are tru
Operating as usual
If you’re an entrepreneur looking to start or grow your company through investments, things are tough, and likely to get tougher but not impossible. Here's how to think about fundraising in a down economy.
https://switchthefuture.com/2023/02/02/raising-capital-in-a-down-economy/?utm_source=SWFacebook
One seasoned founder talks through how to think about fundraising in a world that definitely isn't favoring the startup CEO.
There is a persistent tension between financial valuation and moral values in the tech industry. Responsible innovation initiatives were established to massage these tensions, but recently, such efforts are being swept aside.
Our next 16-hr angel investing course for women starts May 9th!
Each of our 8 sessions is run by experienced VCs, giving you a deep dive into some of the key skills of angel investing, and exposing you to high-quality deals and a great peer network.
Click below to register.
https://switchthefuture.com/capital/the-angel-sessions/?utm_source=SWFaceboo k
In the angel investing space where women are traditionally underrepresented, we provide a forum to develop strategic relationships, build skills, and increase your deal flow.
Efforts to end workplace gender inequality are misdirected.
"Initiatives to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are ubiquitous. According to Gallup, most companies (85%) have anti-bias training, nearly three-quarters (73%) have focused DEI training for managers, and more than half (52%) have mentoring and sponsorship programs. Yet, despite the time, resources, and attention devoted to DEI, very few organizations have made meaningful progress toward increasing the proportion of women in their senior leadership ranks, much less building truly inclusive workplace cultures.
The problem is that most organizations’ efforts to end workplace gender inequality are misdirected. Indeed, there is a fundamental misconception at the heart of the great majority of DEI initiatives."
Read more-
The unequal career outcomes experienced by women and men are due to gendered norms, values, and expectations underlying these personnel practices.
Silicon Valley Bank was one of the few that would give venture-backed start-ups led by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people a line of credit. After the bank’s collapse, they are now being hit the hardest.
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Silicon Valley Bank was one of the few that would give venture-backed start-ups led by women, people of color and LGBTQ+ people a line of credit.
Kapor Capital founding partners Mitch Kaplan and Freada Kapor Klein want to set the record straight: Backing startups fronted by entrepreneurs of color, women, and others seeking to close systemic social gaps makes financial sense. Full stop.
Tech entrepreneur Mitch Kapor and social impact pioneer Freada Kapor Klein chat about diversity, rethinking startup compensation, and the role of corporations in supporting diverse entrepreneurs.
Our next 16-hour angel investing course for women starts on May 9th!
Each of our eight sessions is run by experienced VC professionals, giving you a deep dive into key skills of angel investors, and exposing you to high-quality deals and a great peer network.
Sign up below 👇
https://switchthefuture.com/capital/the-angel-sessions/?utm_source=SWFacebook
In the angel investing space where women are traditionally underrepresented, we provide a forum to develop strategic relationships, build skills, and increase your deal flow.
The gap persists even as women today are more likely than men to have graduated from college, suggesting other factors are at play.
The pay gap between men and women has barely closed in the past two decades, even as women today are more likely than men to have graduated from college, suggesting other factors are at play.
A culture marked by emotion and companionate love at work is directly related to worker satisfaction and teamwork.
Zina Sutch, who has been leading development and diversity programs for the Federal government for 20 years, shares Intentional steps leaders can take to create environments of care, affection, tenderness, forgiveness and kindness to transform their workplaces.
https://switchthefuture.com/2021/08/19/nurturing-compassionate-love-in-the-workplace/?utm_source=SWFacebook
Leaders who take these intentional steps to create environments of care, affection, tenderness, forgiveness and kindness can transform their workplaces.
Most Americans think equal rights regardless of s*x are already part of the U.S. Constitution. But 100 years later, the effort to codify gender equality as an amendment continues.
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Analysis | It’s part of the American struggle over who is able to fully participate in our democracy and society and how.
When our CEO Kate Brodock first took over the company, despite having the same limited resources that all startups have, one of her most immediate goals was to get to the point where she could hire an executive coach.
This isn’t a very common goal for most startup CEOs, but in Kate's opinion, this is a mistake.
From optimizing your performance, growing your leadership, to building your company and beyond, a founder coach can set you up for true personal and business success.
In the below article, Kate sits down with her my own coach – the amazing Robyn Ward at FounderForward, to articulate why Robyn feels it’s so important and why she’s focused her coaching business entirely on founders and founding teams at the beginning of their startup journey.
If you're interested in exploring founder coaching, reach out to schedule an exploratory call with our coaches (one of which is Kate herself!) here ➤ https://switchthefuture.com/coaching/
One of the first things I did as a startup founder was line up an executive coach. Here's why.
Molly Singer offers us an insightful review of Dahlia Lithwick's new book, which delves into the efforts of women lawyers during the Trump years. The book issues a call to all who might have the urgency to join the fight.
Read more 👇
https://switchthefuture.com/2023/03/09/women-the-law-and-the-battle-to-save-america/?utm_source=SWFacebook
A review of Dahlia Lithwick's new book, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America, delving into the efforts of women lawyers during the Trump years.
We can't achieve gender equality without male allyship. To best be allies to women colleagues, Gombert recommends that men do four things:
1. Be aware.
“Measure what matters,” Gombert advised. “To me, I’m a numbers guy, so having some metrics that help you understand how your behavior is impacting others and whether your behavior is in line with your intentions is critical.”
2. Implement a protocol for employee feedback.
“Create a systemic environment of continual feedback so that you can identify these kinds of issues happening before they get out of control.”
3. Reject passivity.
It’s the things that happen every day, like where people say things that are considered ‘jokes’ but still make people uncomfortable. And yet, by and large, we don’t see men or women standing up and saying, ‘That’s not right, you can’t say that’… It’s the little things that permit the big things to happen.”
4. Encourage a culture of sharing and transparency, for all genders.
“To the extent that anyone reading this is in a leadership position and can model their behavior and make it clear that (toxic masculinity) is not okay, that goes miles and miles.”
Read more- https://switchthefuture.com/2017/11/30/this-ceo-says-men-can-be-allies-to-their-female-coworkers-by-doing-4-things/
Our next 16-hour angel investing course for women will be starting in May. As we confirm final dates, if you're interested in being notified, please sign up below!
In the angel investing space where women are traditionally underrepresented, we provide a forum to develop strategic relationships, build skills, and increase your deal flow.
As issues like climate change and criminal justice become increasingly acute, innovation and capital flock to address them. But are we assessing them in the right way?
The key to making gender, racial and ethnic diversity a reality in the executive ranks lies not in women’s abilities, but rather in our perception of those abilities
Chamorro-Premuzic starts with the basics. Adult women make up around 50% of the population. As college students, women outperform men in aggregate. But even though academic success should, in theory, set students up for professional success, that’s not how it works for women. Most senior managers are male, and women are remarkably under-represented in top roles and leadership generally. Why?
“we are fooled into believing that men are better leaders than women. In other words, when it comes to leadership, the only advantage that men have over women … is the fact that the manifestations of hubris – often masked as charisma or charm – are commonly mistaken for leadership potential, and that these occur much more frequently in men than in women.”
By Kate Purmal
The key to making gender, racial and ethnic diversity a reality in the executive ranks lies not in women’s abilities, but rather in our perception of those abilities
At a time when gender inequality in the workplace persists, women need to be recognised as more than a number, more than a quota, writes Fhulu Badugela, chief executive of MultiChoice Africa Holdings.
"Today, women account for 47.7% of the global workforce. Yet only 27.1% of women are managers and leaders. This is despite the fact that research shows companies with more women leaders experience increased inclusivity, innovation and a stronger financial performance.
There’s no denying the impact and benefits that substantial representation brings to the organisation. But there’s still considerable work to be done to ensure greater inclusion, acceptance and participation in leadership positions. "
At a time when gender inequality in the workplace persists, women need to be recognised as more than a number, more than a quota, writes Fhulu Badugela (below), chief executive of MultiChoice Africa Holdings.
Although written in 2021, this article by Amy Epstein Gluck unfortunately still holds true.
An especially pertinent discussion to have during the great breakup, women trying to ascend the corporate ladder often suffer “death by a thousand cuts," small indignities experienced day after day, which delays their advancement and contributes to their decisions to leave the workplace.
The less talked about - but no less significant - topic of the small, daily biases women must endure over the course of their career.
The platform economy offers women the opportunity to undertake paid work with the flexibility to manage their non-negotiable domestic responsibilities and would be way to adress India's low female labour force participation rate of 25.1%.
Legacy issues associated with women’s labour in India have continued to follow them into the platform economy.
Organizations need to be intentional about making virtual team meetings inclusive of women.
Raddle, the video platform making virtual meetings more equitable, interviewed men and women on their experiences in virtual meetings.
100% of the women interviewed shared that they had experienced being talked over in meetings, compared to only 8% of men.
Raddle is hosting talks all through Women's History Month on how organizations can make their remote team meetings inclusive.
Click below for a preview video.
Talk Attendee
Founders and CEOs have an important, and frequently untapped, resource in the form of their Board of Directors and Advisory Board Members.
Nicole Toomey Davis, Co-Founder & CEO of Enclavix, shares how you can invite your board to support you.
Founders and CEOS have an important, and frequently untapped, resource in the form of their Board of Directors and Advisory Board Members.
Women are an untapped source of funding for startups and can lead to a stronger and more equitable economy.
How Women Invest, Ventureneer and Core Woman recently released a report on how women invest and shared a roadmap to unlocking women’s wealth as a source of startup funding.
"Investing in startups as an asset class for high-net-worth individuals is in its nascent stage — only a minuscule percentage of people who can invest do. If investing in startups becomes more accessible to HNWI, particularly women, it has the potential to become a major source of capital for women and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) founders, and the venture funds that invest in them."
Read more👇
A newly released report shows that women are an untapped source of funding for startups and can lead to a stronger and more equitable economy.
Congress bumped up workplace protection for pregnant and nursing employees with 2 new laws.
As 2022 wound down, federal legislators passed two new workplace laws: the Pregnancy Fairness Workers Act (PFWA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) Act.
These new laws were born of this perspective of how childcare issues disproportionately (and catastrophically) affect working mothers.
Here's what you need to know👇
An examination and comparison of two new laws that offer increased protections for pregnant and nursing workers.
We’re in the midst of a massive wave of human ingenuity.
As issues like climate change and criminal justice become increasingly acute, innovation and capital flock to address them. Private markets are stepping up, challenging antiquated notions that impact and alpha are mutually exclusive. This is a beautiful thing, but like any other (relatively) new idea, it comes with challenges. This time, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
With 2022 behind us, and the impact investing market now sized at $1T, here are some of the major trends and challenges Catherine Griffin, CEO of ImpactableX, sees at the heart of impact investing and social innovation as they move mainstream.
As issues like climate change and criminal justice become increasingly acute, innovation and capital flock to address them. But are we assessing them in the right way?
It's Women's History Month!
Our friends at Raddle, who have been been focused on building space for inclusive & productive conversations at work, have organized a Women’s History Month Talk.
Remote meetings are common place these days and women tend to disproportionately get talked over in them. Raddle is hosting talks all months to help you make your remote meetings more inclusive.
Click below for a quick video preview about the talk and scheduling information.
Talk Attendee
Thrilled to share that our CEO Kate Brodock will be speaking on a UN panel alongside phenomenal women change-makers on technology and gender equality.
The panel will be streamed live.
Register here ➤ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWsRLynFoHDjPTaK9R2cZz0dmV6k9fegbBwsDCJKzXFU_PGw/viewform
Is the age of the empowered employee over?
With layoffs and return-to-office mandates, business leaders are wrenching back power. But it’s not as bad as you might think.
The Great Resignation has given way to layoffs, return-to-office mandates, and the end of employee perks and benefits. But it's not as bad as you might think.
What does gender have to do with negotiation?
When you think about the impression you want to make, certain postures, comments, and gestures will come to mind. Some of these ideas about how to behave will come to you based on your gender.
By Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Director MS Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
When you think about the impression you want to make, certain postures, comments, and gestures will come to mind. Some of these ideas about how to behave will come to you based on your gender.
Let’s take a few minutes to tackle stigmatized (but real!) topics that desperately need to be addressed in the world of LGBTQ+ health.
Despite the huge pool of people openly in need of LGBTQ+ health products and services, they’re not getting served. The centuries-long stigma attached to s*xual and gender identity ties directly to a lack of innovation in and access to inclusive healthcare. Many LGBTQ+ individuals don’t just fear discrimination in the healthcare system, they live it.
By Carli Sapir, Founding Partner of Amboy Street Ventures
This investor highlights stigmatized (but real!) topics that desperately need to be addressed in the world of healthcare.
Emotional boundaries and Circles of Influence are critical to you being successful, expanding influence, bringing people closer, and improving resilience.
As diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives face political backlash, we wanted to share a piece by TEDx Speaker and inclusive leadership trainer Julie Kratz on the neuroscience behind DEI.
"Emotions can be deeply connected to the subject of diversity. Sometimes, even mentioning diversity and inclusion can trigger people. It takes them to an emotional place in their brain where they’re not able to rationally speak clearly. The words racism, s*xism, and homophobia often have even more polarizing effects on folks."
Emotions can be deeply connected to the subject of diversity, and it's helpful to have language and processes to address those emotions.
Why working moms in America are so miserable: "As we near the three-year anniversary of the pandemic, it feels like the spotlight has dimmed on the crisis that working mothers have been dealing with for generations." via Fast Company
Jessica Grose talks about her book Screaming on the Inside.
We're almost done with February which means Black History Month will soon be wrapping up. How do you ensure that your Black History Month efforts go beyond marketing?
Black History Month isn't simply about amplifying Black voices and sharing historical facts, it's also about taking intentional steps toward empowering Black people within your organizations.
Creating an organizational culture of empathy and allyship where teammates understand the lived experiences of Black and intersectional employees and can be strong allies is important.
Get in touch with us to learn about Rewire, our empathy-based workplace training program that helps you build a foundation for empathy, inclusion, and allyship in your workplace.
REWIRE equips teams and groups with foundational concepts around inclusion, positioning your organization for longer-term success in meeting DEI goals.
The ethnicity pay gap refers to the difference in the average pay between an employee from an ethnic minority background, compared to a ‘white’ employee.
Like Gender, ethnicity pay gaps are driven by a lack of ethnic representation at senior grades. The intersection between gender and ethnicity means that black women have the most significant pay gaps compared to white men.
Closing the ethnicity pay gap is not just one person’s job – we all have a role to play. It takes intention and focus from everybody involved, and it can’t be achieved unless we all work together.
by Hannah Awonuga, Global Director, Head of Colleague Engagement within the Group DEI function at Barclays Bank.
Closing the ethnicity pay gap isn't just one person's job - we all have a role to play. It takes intention and focus from everybody involved, and it can't be achieved unless we all work together.
US regulatory agency takes big steps to increase the number of participants from under-represented groups in drug testing👏👏👏
US regulatory agency makes ‘big change’ to increase the number of participants from under-represented groups in drug testing.
The history, market opportunity and investment outlook for the traditionally taboo space of menopause.
Achieving DEI goals cannot come at the cost of eliminating friction. Here 5 lessons on how diversity generates constructive friction and how to harness that friction.
"Tech and entrepreneurship is still a painfully unequal world, rife with discrimination.
But solving the problem is difficult given the various forms of discrimination faced by women — especially those of colour."
A new report examines the various forms of discrimination that female founders — especially those of colour — face
Research shows that effective executive coaching can deliver far-reaching benefits that trickle down to employees, customers, and stakeholders.
By toeing the lines between professional and personal development, executive coaching can help you build self-efficacy, strengthen decision-making skills, develop strategies to improve performance, evaluate entrepreneurship opportunities, improve crisis management and increase business and organizational impact.
Our executive coaches have supported thousands of founders maximize their businesses in impactful, sustainable, and thoughtful ways.
Whether you’re fundraising, building your team, or launching a product…. our coaches provide actionable development paths to maximize your personal and professional potential.
Get in touch and see if coaching is what you need to take your business to the next level👇
- https://switchthefuture.com/coaching/?utm_source=SWFacebook
Our founders work with seasoned professionals in and around the tech community for 10 weeks, closing the program with opportunities to connect directly to investors and other sources of capital.
Exited founder and startup advisor, Holly Liu has seen many good and bad advices given to female founders. From growing at all costs to treating their materinity leave as a time to disengae with their companies, here are some of most destructuive ones 👇
https://switchthefuture.com/2021/08/19/the-most-destructive-advice-for-female-founders/?utm_source=SWFacebook
As an exited founder and startup mentor, Holly Liu has seen plenty of good and bad advice given to woman founders. Here's some of the most destructive.
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Our biases reflect an absence of data. An absence of the hundreds of thousands of data points forming the basis of experiences that define each person’s personal story. Individuals and organizations serious about reducing the impact of bias focus on closing data gaps that lead to unconscious bias about people, employees, and communities. As co-founder and CEO of Pluto, Martin Fogelman works with companies to understand the stories data reveal about its employees to make sure those stories are heard and included. Corey and Martin will dive into the power of data for storytelling and how we use analytics to drive accountability.
Kelly Hoey on Facebook Live with Women 2.0!
Tech founder, Talia Mashiach discusses innovation and making the world a better place. Trep Life http://ow.ly/kGzg305MJrF
Multi-Million Dollar Tech Co. Founder, Talia Mashiach, Wears Many Hats http://ow.ly/eXMM305MI7o
What's your special purpose? Watch the whole episode on @TrepLife http://ow.ly/FEIH305DJkJ
Watch clip from Talia Mashiach, Founder of Eved, Mother of Five and Unstoppable Tech Entrepreneur. Then see the full Trep Life episode on Women 2.0: http://women2.com/stories/2016/10/24/mother-of-five-builds-tech-empire
Everett Harper spoke about choosing the right co-founder at our HowTo Conference Sept 30-Oct 1.
Tracy Sun was on a panel at our HowTo Conference Sept 30-Oct 1.
Andrea Soto, Chief of Staff to President of Global Operations & Technology, on How-To Close a Sale
Danielle Morrill, CEO & Co-founder at Mattermark, on How-To get rejected at scale.
Sarah Haider was on a panel at our HowTo Conference Sept 30 - Oct 1.
Jocelyn Goldfein will was a keynote speaker at our HowTo conference Sept 30th - Oct 1st.
Laura Klein spoke on a panel at our HowTo Conference conference on September 30, 2014
Alison Johnston Rue spoke at our HowTo conference on September 30 2014.
Bea Arthur, founder & CEO of Pretty Padded Room, on How-To handle rejection from Investors
Dana Rosenberg, Women 2.0 PITCH Coordinator, on How-To Write the Perfect Application for PITCH
Sheila Lirio Marcelo, founder and CEO of Care.com, talks about Women 2.0 and female entrepreneurship. She admits it is a challenging and lonely road - and how fantastic it was to be at a place like a Women 2.0 event to cultivate one's support network. Sheila advises entrepreneurs not let challenges in one's head overcome them - for example, you don't have to have clean dishes at home. She believes having the wrong vision in one's head - one of perfection - will prevent you from moving forward and taking risks. "Women should take more risks - and get rid of the image of what you have to do, that image of perfection," said Sheila. She also advises early-stage entrepreneurs to "surround yourself with people who can help you - I collect people in my life." She cited Women 2.0 as providing role models for women to see that women can achieve things. "As role models, it is our responsibility to say it is a hard road and there are challenges, but we're here for each other. Sheryl Sandberg is a role model to me. She is proving to men and women across all industries that a woman in technology without an engineering background can make it. There's hope." http://www.women2.org/conference2012/
Leah Busque, TaskRabbit founder and now Chief Product Officer, talks about the power of networks like Women 2.0. She encourages early-stage entrepreneurs to reach out and acquire great mentors and advisors right away. A former software engineer, Leah was not on the business side but her advisors and mentors helped her grow her company. Today, TaskRabbit employs over 40 and has expanded service to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle with more cities to come this year. TaskRabbit has raised around $25M in venture funding to date. http://www.women2.org/conference2012
2012 PITCH startup competition judge Sukhinder Singh Cassidy talks about her own experience and lessons learned in raising venture funding. She co-founded Yodlee in 1999 and raised $200M+ in venture capital for her venture, then worked as VP at Google and CEO at Polyvore. Today, she runs JOYUS. This is her advice for early-stage entrepreneurs: "When you want a company, the best thing to do is just to start. There is nothing that makes something less daunting than doing it a few times, and there's nothing that's better for an entrepreneur than diving right in - to have your first pitch in this environment is awesome." "For a first-time entrepreneur, what people really look at and measure is your ability to make progress. This is why getting going and even releasing an alpha product is so critical. It's one of the key metrics that first investors will judge you by - 'what is her ability to go out and get stuff done?' ...inevitably to hit your first milestones will take longer than you think, so I'm always a fan of taking more money in the bank if it's available to you." "You kind of got to get started. One of the principal laws of physics is 'an object at rest stays at rest. An object in motion stays in motion.' You got to get going." http://www.women2.org/conference2012/
Betsy Aoki, former Xbox product manager now runs startup outreach for Microsoft Bing. In this video interview shot on location at the 2012 Women 2.0 PITCH Conference, Betsy talks about previously working at a startup in Seattle and appreciating the networking opportunities at Women 2.0 events. http://www.women2.org/conference2012/
Makovsky sponsored the program, “Do Women Dominate the Web?” for Women 2.0, whose mission is to inform, inspire and educate a new generation of females that are entrepreneurial, innovative and successful. The panel was led by noted CNBC reporter Seema Mody. About 60 Women 2.0 members and guests attended. “My generation of women knew they could be lawyers and doctors,” one panelist said, “but they did not even think about the possibility of starting a business.” But things have been changing. One of the panelists pointed to a recent survey by Illuminate Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco, which studied high-tech female entrepreneurs over the past decade, and concluded that women are on the cusp of becoming a leading entrepreneurial force in technology. Among the findings: • Organizations which are the most inclusive of women in top management achieve 35% higher ROE and 34% better total return to shareholders versus their peers. • High-tech companies built by women are more capital efficient than the norm, with the average company achieving early year revenues using one-third less capital. • Women-owned businesses are more likely than the average to survive the transition from raw start up to established company. • Women-owned or -led tech firms are the fastest growing sector of new venture creation in the U.S. • In the past 10 years more than 125 companies with over 200 women co-founders or officers have achieved IPOs of >$50 million M+A exits in the U.S. high-tech sector. “We need more and more role models that are written up and talked about,” one of the panelists said. “We need to learn from each other and be mentors to others. My daughter feels she can be anything and do anything – even start a company! What a change!”
Find out about Founder Fridays by following @FounderFriday on Twitter. This video was shot on location in San Francisco, California by Emily Martiny of Tiny Falcon Media (http://www.tinyfalcon.com). Founder Friday is a Women 2.0 monthly networking event organized in partnership with like-minded organizations and individuals. Who should come? Aspiring founders, innovators, current founders, hackers, investors, anyone curious about or running a startup — both men and women. Come one, come all to Founder Friday if you are passionate about starting startups!
Hanns Wolters International Inc.
West 48th StreetThe FSG Reading Series at Russian Samovar
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