I am doing a lot of research on women, entrepreneurship and investment and found this quote from Cindy Padnos of Illuminate Ventures (as posted by Nick Leiber in Business Week) very interesting:
Of course, it’s not just about adding women partners—the firm’s culture needs to change, too. Padnos told the audience this anecdote: “When I go out with these women-led companies and introduce them to women [venture capital] investors, I frequently hear a comment that shocked me—and when I thought about it, I realized they were right. They say, ‘I’m a new partner here. I’ve already done one woman-led deal. I can’t do another.’ Now substitute another male-led deal, Indian-led deal, Asian-led deal; anything else and you would think that person was absolutely out of their mind. But in reality when they’re in a partnership where they’re the only woman partner…and they are a junior partner in the firm and they’ve made one bet already on a woman, they’ve got to see it through successfully before they feel comfortable taking on another.”
If you are interested in learning more about research on women and the VC world, check out Padnos’ whitepaper, “High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High Tech.”