This PPT shows the results of 4 papers written in 2015 on "female founders of technology ventures". It was presented at a PDW on Women Entrepreneurs at the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, Chile. December 2015.

1. Female Entrepreneurs in
Technology
Ibero American Academy of Management
December 3, 3015.
Santiago de Chile
Katherina Kuschel, Ph.D.
@Kathy_Kuschel

2. This presentation
• Relevance of female founders in tech
• Definitions
– Start-up
– Business stages
• Contributions of 4 studies:
1. Lit review gender & start-ups
2. Funding opportunities for female founders
3. Copreneurial couples in tech
4. Motherhood in tech industry

3. Relevance
Female Entrepreneurs in Technology
• Opportunity-driven entrepreneurship
• High potential
– Fast growth, internationalization, adequate public policies
• Dana (2014)
• Male dominated industry
• 5-6% of high technology entrepreneurs are women
• Robb & Coleman (2009)
• STEM  > participation

4. Definitions

5. What is a start-up?
Project  profitable, repeatable, scalable,
global.
It uses technology to scale.
At its beginning is an informal business, small team.
It creates or leverages on technology.

6. Business Stages at a start-up
3
There are…

7. Product Development 1/3
Idea, prototype design, product development, validation,
business model pivoting until market fit, searching for seed
funding.

8. Growth-stage 2/3
Raising venture capital (VC), scaling at a 10x growth rate.

9. Heavyweights 3/3
All types of exit strategies.
Acquiring other startups.
IPO.

10. Contributions of this research

11. Start-ups Gender ≠
Women Startups in Technology:
Literature Review and Research Agenda
to Improve Participation
1 Kuschel & Lepeley, 2016

12. 1. Participation in new high-technology ventures
2. Patenting and academic entrepreneurship
3. Human capital and motivation
4. Organizational structure and management
5. Funding opportunities
6. Performance and survival
7. Incubation experience
8. Network
8 research streams

13. • Confirmation of lack of studies on tech start-ups
& gender differences.
• Future Research
– Latin America and new innovation hubs
• Mainly, studies from the US.
– How effectively compare start-ups?
– Missing voice from women entrepreneurs in
technology
Highlights

14. Entrepreneurial Funding Challenges
for Latin American Women Start-up Founders
• Low participation of women in accelerators
• Low participation of women raising venture
capital
– Investors prefer male-founders when they pitch
(Brooks et.al., 2014).
• Only 4% are female investors (Diana Project,
2014).
• Gap in funding stages in LATAM
– Private & public funds in LATAM & Chile
– Seed  ?  Serie A
2 Kuschel, Lepeley, Espinosa, &
Gutiérrez.

15. Objective
• Explore the factors determining capital raise in
LATAM for women entrepreneurs in technology.
– When, why?
– How easy/difficult?
– How is the process for LATAM female-founders?

16. 1. Chile
2. Argentina
3. Venezuela
4. Uruguay
5. México
6. Ecuador
7. Brasil
8. Colombia
9. Costa Rica
Sample

17. Country Age Education Background
Business Stage after acceleration at
Start-Up Chile
Industry
Cofounders
+employees
Capital Raised
Chile 27 Management Control Engineer and AccountantModel validation Fashion Market Place/Decor1+4 -
Mexico 32 MBA Concept Financial technology 2+0 -
Mexico 33 Communication studies Model validation Entertainment 3+0 -
Colombia 26 Languages Model validation Education 2+0 -
Venezuela 26 Social Work/ Industrial Design Functional Product with Users Health Technology 5+0 -
Argentina 33 Business Administration Model validation E-commerce 1+1 Acceleration
Chile 31 Philosophy Model validation Fashion 3+17 Seed
Chile 26 Industrial Design Functional product with users Fashion 2+10 Seed
Chile 33 Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Working Prototype in Development/ Prot. Valid.Bio-tech 3+3 Seed
Argentina 31 Communication Model validation Hiring & Recruitment 2+9 Seed
Chile 38 Science in Aerospace Engineering Functional product with users Agronomy technology 2+3 Seed
Chile 31 Engineering Functional Product with Users Nano-tech 2+0 Seed
Chile 26 Biotechnology engineering Working Prototype in Development/ Prot. Valid.Bio-tech 2+0 Seed
Chile 26 Business Administration Functional product with users Hiring & Recruitment 3+0 Seed, Acceleration
Uruguay 28 Fashion Design Functional product with users Fashion 3+0 VC Latin America
Chile 31 Engineering Scaling sales E-commerce 3+43 VC Latin America
Argentina 32 Business Administration Scaling sales Market Place 4+6 VC Latin America
Uruguay 28 Telematics Engineer Working Prototype in Development/ Prot. Valid.Beauty & Cosmetics 2+8 VC USA
Argentina 32 Master on Technology Business ManagementFunctional product with users Software 4+6 VC USA
Chile 26 Business Administration Model validation Fashion/Fashion 4+0 VC USA
Sample Characteristics

18. Highlights
• Equity-free programs are highly valued.
• 3 categories of determinants:
– Capital need
– Network
– Individual characteristics
• Acceleration/Seed  45% of the sample
• Venture Capital USA  15% of the sample
• Venture Capital LATAM  15% of the sample
• 25% that did not raise VC attribute their “failure”
because of gender.
• Founders who raised VC attribute their “success” on
being persistent.
– Overemphasis on indiv. characteristics  success.
– Attribution error (Fione & Lussier, 2015) for public policy

19. Copreneurial Women in startups:
Growth-oriented or lifestyle?
An aid for technology industry investors
• Myth: Copreneurs are “Lifestyle entrepreneurs”
– Family business lit.
• Copreneurs are risk averse
• Family comes first.
3 Kuschel &
Lepeley

20. Copreneurial Women in startups
Sample Characteristics
Ficicious
Name
Country Industry
Work
Role
Cofounders +
Employees
Accelerated Business Stage
Andrea Argentina eCommerce CEO 2+8 Accelerated Growth stage - Internationalization
Beatriz Chile Software CEO 2+4 - Growth stage - New ventures
Carmen Chile Agricultural technology CEO 2+3 Accelerated Growth stage - Massive Production
Daniela Chile Software CEO 2+0 - Growth stage - New Clients
Elena Venzuela Health technology CEO 5+0 Accelerated Product development
Ficicious
Name Copreneurial status Age Educational Background her/him
Marital
Status + No.
Children
Years
in
couple
Years
divorced
or
separated
Age of
business
Andrea Copreneurs 32 Business/Business Married (0) 5 0 1,5
Beatriz Copreneurs 31 Information Technology Ingineering/Information Technology IngineeringMarried (0) 8 0 7
Carmen Copreneurs 39 Aerospace Engineering/Aerospace Engineering Married (0) 15 0 1,5
Daniela Divorced Copreneurs 44 Computer Ingineering/Computer Ingineering Divorced (3) 10 2 12
Elena Divorced Copreneurs 26 Industrial Design/Industrial Design Single (0) 3 3 1

21. • Couple have similar high levels of education and skill
development.
• After enough time working together (av. 3 years), each
partner is well aware of mutual skills and each other’s
strengths, allowing them to identify their roles.
• Both divide work and family, and have developed a
level of mutual trust that is essential to moving forward.
• They commonly show a workaholic tendency with a high
rational underpinning.
• All of these factors strengthen collaboration, and in many
instances this business liaison can remain intact despite
a breakdown in a sentimental relationship.
• Additional findings show that their growth-orientation take
multiple structures.
Highlights

22. Katherina Kuschel, Ph.D.
Presented at IESE International Conference of Work and Family.
Barcelona, July 2015
4
Female founders in the technology industry:
The startup-relatedness of the decision to become a
mother

23. Objective
• Identify in what conditions are women deciding to
have children.
– Is there an optimal context?
– Are women postponing maternity in the tech industry?

24. Sample
17
Participants
9
Countries
41%
Mothers
59%
Growth-stage
26-40
Age

25. • Two types of mothers in technology ventures; entrepreneurs,
and executives.
• Entrepreneurs decide to get pregnant when business is “stable”,
the team is growing.
• Entrepreneurs’ work-role salience explains the postponed
motherhood.
• Evidence of startup-relatedness to family decisions, contrary to
the literature.
• Executives’ family-role salience explains quitting the company to
create a startup.
Highlights

26. Overall Conclusions
Dispel common myths around women-led start-ups:
• They exist (< 10%)
• Their educational background is not STEM (20%). >50%
social sciences (i.e., business, communication,
psychology)
• In average, they do not come from the corporate world.
They are starting their business while young and childless.
• Small teams  Trust-based teams  sometimes,
copreneurial teams
• Copreneurial teams work well, after 3 years working
together, when the couple achieve specialization.
• Female-founders are becoming mothers, after postponing
maternity (av. 34 years old), when business is “stable”,
team is growing, and they can “delegate”.

27. Thank you!
kkuschel@udd.cl
@Kathy_Kuschel