Russell Lynch: How to get venture capital showing off its feminine side

It’s not much fun trying to raise money for a business when you’re a woman. A friend of mine told me a few stories once and it was so shocking I got her to write an anonymous piece about it.

This is broadly the process: first, identify potential investors and draft an email and one-page summary; second, try not to be pissed off when only 30% get a reply (compared with the 60% response rate a man would get for virtually the same email); third, set up introductory calls and be the only woman on 90% of them where you’ll be thoroughly grilled on the numbers or the market — unlike men who’ll be treated more gently; fourth, expect to get looked up and down and quizzed on irrelevancies when you do finally get into the same room.

I was reminded of my friend’s experience while reading RBS chief Alison Rose’s review on female entrepreneurship.

She’s bang on the money about the unconscious bias in venture finance. But is it that surprising when only 13% of senior people in UK venture capital teams are women, and nearly half of all teams have no women at all?

Rose’s report cites research showing 67% of questions asked of men are “promotion” questions, designed to identify the potential benefits of investment, but 66% of questions asked of women are “prevention” questions aimed at highlighting risks.

No wonder then that women are seen as a fifth as likely to build a £1 million business.