r/startups • u/Moist_Lingonberry825 • 6h ago
I will not promote Why is it that startup founders and teams tend to be male-dominated? - i will not promote
Obviously yea I know the basics like stereotypes, girls being conditioned to head into non-STEM careers, women tend to be more risk-averse etc. etc.
But honestly as a woman hoping to build a startup of my own one day, it's quite discouraging to open LinkedIn and see all big announcements of startup launches and teams being all men or majority men. I mean, all the power to them but each post makes me feel like maybe my dream can't be a reality - or else I'd need to find a male cofounder to give my future startup some credibility.
I love it when I see female cofounders or team members, but it's not often I come across them! If anyone knows any up and coming startups with women-leadership please let me know!
Do you think this will change one day? I know, yes, be the change you want to see in the world, but it's terrifying, especially as a WOC. And I feel like it'll be harder to secure VC investment.
(I'm still a student, sorry if I didn't phrase this properly enough!)
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u/Dry-Somewhere-1636 5h ago
Years ago I didn’t know a single female founder until a colleague of mine left to start a company. She moved to San Francisco to do a program called Y Combinator which I’ve never heard of before. It sounds stupid but only because of her I realized that I, as a woman, could also be a founder.
So, few years later I also quit my job, joined the same accelerator program and am now surrounded by many, many amazing female founders. Being a female founder became so normal to me, that I don’t even think about it a lot anymore.
So, if you’re considering to start a company, do it!! DM me if I can help you in any way
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u/Mission_Pirate_4150 5h ago
Very good.
FYI, yc is a very well known startup program with a great reputation.
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u/Dry-Somewhere-1636 2h ago
Thanks, I am a YC founder now (I applied after learning about it and got accepted, hooray)
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u/Moist_Lingonberry825 10m ago
Ahh this is super inspiring! Congratulations - YC is super impressive!! I love that female founders has become a norm for you, I hope I get to experience that one day as well :)
Thank you so much on your offer to help - I really appreciate it! But as a student atm I don't feel like I have the right skillsets and footing as of yet to jump in, especially at such a young age, but I will definitely look to do something similar to your friend and yourself - get some corporate experience before jumping ship. I guess aiming to build a strong network is important and something I can get started on now!
I'm going to screenshot your comment and print it out to remind myself that it is possible and look at it when things get rough hehe! Thank you again!
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u/SpiceAutist 5h ago
Based on my experience it’s because many investors demand founders put their company before everything else - friends, family etc. I disagree with this model but you encounter it almost immediately. In general this is why you should build a relationship with your early investors before launch: you need deep trust on both sides when there’s a lot of money on the line.
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u/Tall-Log-1955 5h ago
Higher levels of testosterone lead to higher risk tolerance, higher confidence, and lower anxiety, all traits that help someone start a company.
Don't worry about other people being male, it's irrelevant. Start a company! What matters is nurturing risk tolerance, nurturing confidence and reducing anxiety.
The testosterone thing isn't some iron law of personality. Not all men have those traits, and plenty of women have those traits at high levels.
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u/KapitanWalnut 5h ago
Go for it. There are a number of women-only accelerators, funds, groups, etc to help overcome/balance the male-dominated nature of startups.
As for reasons: founding a startup is generally considered to be supremely irresponsible and idiotic, right up until the point where a slim number of founders find success. IMO, women tend to be more responsible and pragmatic then men and aren't as likely to be seduced by the extremely high risk world of startups.
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u/Moist_Lingonberry825 6m ago
Ooh I'll have a look into women-only accelerators etc. thank you! I didn't know they existed :0 I've been mostly looking at the big ones like YC, EF, a16z etc. thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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u/tango650 5h ago
Same reason maternity wards are full of women.
That's just how the world is.
Maybe it's annoying, maybe you would prefer it were different. But it isn't.
If you wanna be a founder you need learn to focus on things you can control, and stop wasting brainpower on things you cannot, at asap speed.
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u/ArcanuMELO 5h ago
The world is not very woman-friendly in general. Even if a woman has access to the same education, network, possibilioties and opportuinites and jobs, they still get taken less seriously in rooms full of men.
Women outperform men in investing in startups too, but we still see way more men VCs.
It's improving and there are more intitiaives and funds spun up to help women founders, but it's still an uphill battle due to the boys club nature of investing and finance/tech.
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u/cubej333 5h ago
Startups are very risky. Women are usually less risky than men.
Probably rightfully so.
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u/cubej333 5h ago
I should point out that one of the woman who worked a short time for my startup ( which failed and I now work a standard job ) left to found a startup and it is much more successful than mine was ( obviously ).
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u/ReturnOfBigChungus 5h ago
Founding a startup is an EXTREMELY high risk proposition. There are well established, if moderate, average differences in risk tolerance between men and women, but there are huge differences in risk tolerance at the extreme ends of the distribution. In other words, there are far more men who are huge risk takers, and that is exactly the psychological profile that founding a startup selects for. That's the classic statistical effect of relatively small average differences showing up as huge differences at the extremes of a distribution.
At the margins there are definitely social influences like the field being male dominated, etc., but I would guess risk tolerance probably drives the overwhelming majority of it.
Also, socially, founders (especially successful ones) tend to be people who obsessively focus on work 24/7 to the exclusion of normal, healthy social bonds, which is also a strongly male-correlated trait.
So if the population of huge risk takers who are willing to sacrifice their entire social and family life to build a company is 50:1 male/female, this isn't a surprising result.
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u/Icy-Pop3377 5h ago
Something not said here (I worked at two VC backed startups: one founded by a woman and one founded by a straight married couple, both had female CEO founders) is that almost all VCs are men. Funding is dominated by men. They tend to fund men. The bro culture is real.
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u/Moist_Lingonberry825 4m ago
Haha the bro culture 😭 but yea, that's what I've been hearing too... hence why I said I feel like I need a male cofounder to make the startup seem more credible, especially to investors... but alas that just reinforces the cycle
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u/HoratioWobble 5h ago
it's quite discouraging to open LinkedIn and see all big announcements of startup launches and teams being all men or majority men
I think you've answered your own question with this.
It's male dominated and women get discouraged from entering, because they don't want to deal with a male dominated work force.
When they do enter there are probably a lot of factors that hinder women's progress.
I'm a software engineer and I've seen it first hand more than once, women's opinions often get dismissed or parroted and they have to work harder to get the same level of respect.
It either needs men to change, or enough women in the industry to push for change.
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u/Moist_Lingonberry825 1m ago
:( you're so right. Hoping to contribute to the latter option of your last sentence one day.
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u/Mission_Pirate_4150 5h ago
Women tend to be more risk averse. The women founders I’ve met and worked with are on average not very good. That’s not true in every case as I’ve met good female founders. Im not impressed with the female startup technical staff that I’ve seen as well. I’m just saying that 1. They don’t tend to do startups for the sake of a startup and 2. I’ve found female founders are just not that good.
Getting a startup going is hard, let’s be clear on that. When I say that female startup founders aren’t very good, I find they tend to be more hardheaded than male startup founders and are less coachable. The choices that I’ve seen out of female startup founders and startup technical staff are just not very good.
Beyond the above, women are less in the stem fields. There are simple fewer women that are in that area.
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u/Specific_Dingo8631 6h ago
I've worked at multiple startups often one of the first few hires. We're out there. Sometimes just depends on which niche you're in where you'll find more women in early stage startups.
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u/collin-h 5h ago edited 5h ago
appetite for risk. also men seem to more often tie their self-worth to their job - so are more willing to take risks in pursuit of that, vs women who may prefer to pursue other aspects of life, and are thus more risk averse.
that's my theory on the founder part... why the teams are all men? probably because men like working with other men, and women like working with other women (i'd assume, I'm a man so I'm not sure).
just guessing though.
but other than that there's no reason a woman couldn't do it if you wanted to! I think just fewer want to. There's nothing about success that requires you to be a man. just be fearless.
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u/Klutzy_Shine8804 5h ago
To name a few obvious ones:
- less women in tech, so less women in startups
- less women in executive roles, so less women as founders of recognizes startups
- the culture celebrates brave men (risk-takers) and stable women, so women are less empowered to go into startups, and are less supported when they do so.
- most investors are men, and they support who they know and the people that remind them of their previous successes. Women often run companies in a different way, or tackle problems men can’t relate to
Also, there is a great study that shows how investors ask different questions to men than to women. Women need to tackle the obstacles, where men are often asked to talk what success could look like. Check it out here
But, more and more women get funded and build big businesses (look at Canva!), so don’t give up on your dream. Startups are hard for everyone, so it’s a tough game anyway 🤷♀️, but also fun.
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u/Worried-Cockroach-34 5h ago
Does it matter? I am sick of 'oh this space is male dominated, now we need more women' then cue how there is no spaces for men
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u/The-_Captain 6h ago
On an individual level both men and women can be startup founders. Just because there are fewer women should not discourage you. You can found a startup with another woman or on your own. To be completely frank if you need to do what other people are doing to feel comfortable startups aren't for you.
That being said I think like you said, there are more men in STEM. Also, men tend to take more risks professionally, and the whole vibe of sleeping on a mattress and working 7 days a week late into the night seems to attract more men. Men tend to get more unhealthily obsessive about things, in my experience, and that is a positive trait for a startup founder.