Women Helping Women in Silicon Valley
I've been thinking about women's backing of other women lately. Back on April 16th, the New York Times Business section published an article by Claire Cain Miller entitled "Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley." She began the article with a description of the troubles that 37-year-old Candace Fleming faced while raising capital to start up the software company Crimson Hexagon in 2007. Candace recalled that one venture capitalist told her it was okay she was out of business cards because hers would just say "Mom." She was a double major in English and Industrial Engineering from Stanford with an MBA from Harvard and extensive Silicon Valley industrial experience.
Meeting with a second potential backer, she was startled that he invited her to go for a weekend trip by showing her a photo of himself in the nude on his yacht. When she mentioned biking with her husband, the venture capitalist tried to find out if the bike seats had affected her husband's reproductive potency. He showed no interest in the business plan.
Candace pitched to 30 venture capital firms without one coming through. Finally, she raised 1.8 million dollars from "angel investors" including Golden Seeds, a venture capital support fund that emphasizes women's endeavors.
Does Candace's experience ring true for any of you - either the good or the bad? Have there been moments in your career when you've appreciated a hand up by another woman or a women-oriented group?
A No, I've had mainly male mentors
B Yes, I've had important help from women
C Mostly I've helped myself; no one has gone out of her or his way to help my career
D Creepy men like that are more common in VC and industry than academia
Dear "listening?"
Interesting comment about the article in The Scientist. I'm going to check it out and maybe post on it next week. Women definitely say things and do not get heard. One of my colleagues did that to me two days ago. We were in a meeting and I made a point. Three minutes later, he attributed that point to one of my male colleagues, congratulating him on his insight.
cheers,
Laura
A. Probably because there are so many more men than women as university professors, I have had men as mentors. I've asked around and tried to get ones who are somewhat sympathetic, and have had women graduate students/ postdocs before who have done well. Some of the women who survive in these places aren't very nice to other women. The most important thing is to ask their students and postdocs about them when they aren't around. They tell all.
Hi laura,
I think part of the problem is men don't really take women seriously, no matter what their qualifications look like on paper. If they could deal only through the internet, maybe it would be better.
Did you see that article in The Scientist about the people in science who have changed genders? The man who became a woman said that fir the first time, two male colleagues talked right over him without hearing what he said. The man who had been a woman said his invitations to speak and publish review articles shot up after the change.
Like you said earlier, we need to get more respect.
I don't think women have a patent on being good mentors, and I had a bad woman mentor who kept her grad students and postdocs an incredibly long time to get as much work out of them as possible.
I had a great male mentor in my first postdoc who really helped us develop the skills we needed to present, write grants, and negotiate for positions. I just don't see that women are necessarily better.
I guess B. My grad school mentors were all very famous men scientists in their field (3) and none of them helped me with any job prospects, feeedback, or constructive criticism. When I finally realized this, I chose my postdoc carefully, and I became intent on finding someone who valued mentoring and the two-way street benefit of the "helping hand". This postdoc mentor happened to be a woman. So I don't know if gender had anything to do with it, but I am a lot better off now, with more papers, more success, and a real relief that I am out of the all-male mentoring void.
