As the executive editor and producer of “The Luxe List,” Merilee Kern is an internationally regarded brand analyst, strategist and futurist. As a prolific branding and marketplace trends pundit, Kern spotlights noteworthy industry innovators, change makers, movers and shakers. Experts, brands, products, services, destinations and events across all categories are spotlighted in her exclusive cross-media platform through print and online publications, TV and radio. Connect with her at TheLuxeList.com, on Instagram at LuxeListReviews, on Twitter at LuxeListEditor, on Facebook at TheLuxeList and on LinkedIn at Merilee Kern.

Relative to global entrepreneurship, the proverbial glass ceiling has seemingly been shattered. This amid reports revealing statistics that nearly half of entrepreneurs worldwide — 252 million — are women. As impressive as that metric is, it’s curious that Census Bureau Annual Business Survey reporting cites that a mere 20.9% (1.2 million) of U.S. businesses are women-owned. On a worldwide scale, just 4.7% of American business owners are women. Whether considering statistics at the global or U.S. national level, the disparity begs the most fundamental question: “Why?”

Perhaps one glaring reason is lack of capital, since women reportedly receive less than 3% of available venture capital funding. Other findings show that, in 2019, only 2.8% of venture capital in the United States went to women-led startups; it dropped to 2.3% in 2020.

These numbers reveal that, despite the hustle, heart and high revenues, women are suffering from less-than-adequate and equitable access to capital. What’s more, the ripple effects of the unprecedented global pandemic on companies with a female founder may actually exacerbate the funding gap.

But, all is not lost. There are ways the startup funding process can be democratized to help better position women to navigate the shifting capital landscape. Here are three.

1. Fix Your Expectations of Fairness

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “read the room,” then you’ve also heard the phrase “know your audience.” In fundraising — at any round — there are a few universal truths to recognize. Many investors use pattern recognition. In other words, they believe that by investing in the products or people that are most similar to their past successes, then they will have a greater probability of future success. This pattern is based on an unconscious bias and reinforced by influences that cannot be controlled, such as ones experiences, childhood upbringing and environment.

Thea Myhrvold, CEO and founder of Getbee — a female entrepreneur who recently raised $1.8 million from top venture capitalists — recounts her own experience with bias. “From my own fundraising experience, without fail there were questions hurled at me that I don’t believe would have been asked of a male founder, such as ‘how will you make sure not to lose key clients?’ or ‘how will you prevent bankruptcy?’ It’s not that I was asked these important and fundamental questions, but rather that they dominated the conversation.”

Based on Myhrvold’s track record and professional pedigree — having received LinkedIn Power Profile and Cartier Women’s Initiative awards; amassed a world-class client list and logged more than a decade of front-line tech experience — she had expected a different line of questioning. “I anticipated having to respond to questions about the market, my balance sheet, my projections and strategy,” Myhrvold says. “The skepticism about my expertise and experience in this space shook me. I walked away disillusioned.”

This was until Myhrvold discovered Dr. Dana Kanze’s TEDxPeachtree presentation, “The Real Reason Female Entrepreneurs Get Less Funding,” from which she says she learned three simple truths: unconscious bias exists, deal with it and get on with it.

Because we are bombarded with millions of messages our brain is working to organize and translate, your brain will take shortcuts. Sometimes those shortcuts short-circuit opportunities for meaningful interactions. So, before you step foot into a pitch meeting again, or for the first time, spend some time reflecting on the details of your presentation so you can discover your own fundraising-success correlations. That way you can effectively circumnavigate the punch of a potential investor’s unconscious bias.

2. Tweak Your Fundraising Mindset

Simply having a great business idea is not enough to get a venture capitalist to invest millions in your company. Back in the day, venture capitalists were in a race to discover the next Facebook, eBay or even Spanx, but now they’ve cooled their heels and are becoming increasingly selective. Studies show the average deal size has shrunk, as well as the number of seed-stage deals.

If you’ve ever watched the TV series “Shark Tank,” you’ve watched the Sharks circle the water and go in for the kill with anyone who dared to step into the proverbial tank without a strong sense of sales, marketing and other key financials and data. It makes for good reality TV and it is a lesson for us in real life. Where do you start, or level up?

Fans of the British-American author and speaker Simon Sinek know any great endeavor starts with knowing your why. For every point you make in your pitch deck, you must be able to respond to any form of the “why” question a prospective investor might throw at you. You might be asked: Why do you perceive this or that to be a problem in the market? Why do you believe you — or your team — are bringing a viable, sustainable solution to the market? Why now? You should spend time crafting responses that not only reinforce what drives and scales your business, but also why your investors should go beyond the usual level of care and concern about your success.

Indeed, a key aspect of your fundraising mindset is also about knowing your own value. Your business’s value proposition is like an uncut diamond. Your task is to slice and dice the numbers so all the facets of your idea shine brilliantly.

Alicia Hanf, founder and managing partner of Dear Mama Ventures, adds, “My fundraising mindset evolved from who is giving me money into who do I want to make money for … and why are we mutually a good fit for each other? Your startup offers everyone who invests in it a chance to multiply their investment significantly, and you are giving them as much of an opportunity as they are giving you. This awakening challenged me personally as well, to know my ‘why.’ To not only understand the significant value my business brings to the market, but also the impact my business has on the communities I serve.”

3. Find Your Voice & Turn up the Volume

Simply put, speak to everyone … speak up for yourself and those women coming behind you. “Some of my best funds have come through warm introductions and others have come through by striking up what felt like random conversations while waiting in line to order a cup of coffee,” Myhrvold says. “One time, I was attending a conference and slipped away on a break to find a cup of coffee. As I was waiting in line, I noticed the guy next to me and I were wearing matching red trousers. I thought about breaking the ice by making a simple joke about great minds thinking alike. I learned he was a senior executive at a tech company. We [exchanged] business cards and promised to stay in touch. One day, he suggested we collaborate. Jackpot!”

On any given day, you never know who you might meet. You never know who is listening to you and organizing the information their brain is receiving to form a judgment about whether or not to help you. Be genuinely curious about the people around you and invest in your relationships. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to actively look for ways to be both a giver and a gracious receiver. Be sure to be clear in your ask from your network and offer to support them in return.

We all operate at some level based on unconscious biases. Your mission is to examine them. And, while the odds might seem like they are stacked against female and minority founders, I encourage you to speak up, share your stories and pay it forward. It is up to all of us to change this narrative.

My hope is that the modern investor community will advocate for inclusive growth and capitalize more equitably. Deploying dollars for the benefit of female founders is a clear-cut way to boost the global economy, certainly, as we recover from adverse pandemic impacts.

It still will not be easy. Business fundraising even in the best of circumstances is challenging. When you find yourself “swimming upstream,” these mindsets and maneuvers can help position you to win while also better aligning the venture capital landscape at large. C&IT