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Women are free to start a VC fund. Nobody is stopping them. As I said, there are plenty of women with money. Furthermore, VC funds are hardly the only source o

Women are free to start a VC fund. Nobody is stopping them. As I said, there are plenty of women with money. Furthermore, VC funds are hardly the only source of funding. Friends and family are traditional sources of startup capital, and loaning money to businesses is a traditional business for banks.

SwellJoe 10y ago
> Friends and family are traditional sources of startup capital, and loaning money to businesses is a traditional business for banks. Have you ever founded a tech startup funded exclusively by friends and family? Have you ever tried to get a loan from a bank for a tech startup?
- skookumchuck 10y ago
  > friends and family? Yes. Started my tech company with a 4 figure loan from a family member. Am now independently wealthy. I was told I would fail every step of the way from just about everyone. > bank No. Never needed to. Never needed any other outside capital. My aunt got a loan from a bank to start her own successful business. (She was told that women couldn't get loans to start businesses. She was quite a firecracker.)
  - SwellJoe 10y ago
    > Yes. Started my tech company with a 4 figure loan from a family member. Am now independently wealthy. I was told I would fail every step of the way from just about everyone. Congratulations for being born into a family that could support you economically. > No. Never needed to. Never needed any other outside capital. That was lucky. Banks don't loan to tech startups. Unless you have assets to put up as collateral (say, your house that you have significant equity in), you will not be able to obtain a loan from a bank to start a tech company. The SBA does enable a limited number of loans for businesses, but they are almost exclusively of the brick and mortar kinda. I have never met a software company founder who could get a loan from a bank to start their company. If you don't already have money, your ability to get money from a bank will be extremely limited.
    - skookumchuck 10y ago
      4 figures will buy a 5 year old car. Your idea that women cannot start companies because they cannot come up with such funds is quite a stretch. The roads are full of women driving far more expensive cars. The barriers you are talking about are in your mind. People who want to get things done are not dissuaded by such things. People with your attitude always assume other peoples' success was a cakewalk, full of people showering them with praise and money at every turn. It's just not so. To start a business, you have to get out and hustle. If you're so easily discouraged because you can't raise $5000 or some professor dumped on you, you aren't cut out for business and have nobody to blame but yourself. (Wasn't it Steve Jobs who sold his car to fund his startup? his company was successful before any investors would give him a nickel. I can't imagine Jobs quitting for any of the reasons you give.)
      - SwellJoe 10y ago
        So, why do you believe most tech founders are men?
        skookumchuck 10y ago
        I'll make a general comment not specific to any group. When I hear a person produce a long list of excuses, blaming others or circumstance, never once taking responsibility for any decisions, adamantly denying that they had any hand in their fate, I know where the problem lies. Just remember the story of Douglas Bader, who had both legs amputated, and was told he was going to die of his wounds, then told he'd never walk again, etc. He went on to become a fighter pilot for the RAF, even though the RAF discriminated against legless men, shot down many Luftwaffe fighters, was shot down himself, escaped from German POW camps 3 times, married the woman of his dreams, etc. There's never been a time of greater opportunity in tech in the US.
        SwellJoe 10y ago
        > I'll make a general comment not specific to any group. When I hear a person produce a long list of excuses, blaming others or circumstance, never once taking responsibility for any decisions, adamantly denying that they had any hand in their fate, I know where the problem lies. So, you believe that assertion applies to women in tech, since that is who we're talking about?

SwellJoe 10y ago

> Friends and family are traditional sources of startup capital, and loaning money to businesses is a traditional business for banks. Have you ever founded a tech startup funded exclusively by friends and family? Have you ever tried to get a loan from a bank for a tech startup?

skookumchuck 10y ago
> friends and family? Yes. Started my tech company with a 4 figure loan from a family member. Am now independently wealthy. I was told I would fail every step of the way from just about everyone. > bank No. Never needed to. Never needed any other outside capital. My aunt got a loan from a bank to start her own successful business. (She was told that women couldn't get loans to start businesses. She was quite a firecracker.)
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  > Yes. Started my tech company with a 4 figure loan from a family member. Am now independently wealthy. I was told I would fail every step of the way from just about everyone. Congratulations for being born into a family that could support you economically. > No. Never needed to. Never needed any other outside capital. That was lucky. Banks don't loan to tech startups. Unless you have assets to put up as collateral (say, your house that you have significant equity in), you will not be able to obtain a loan from a bank to start a tech company. The SBA does enable a limited number of loans for businesses, but they are almost exclusively of the brick and mortar kinda. I have never met a software company founder who could get a loan from a bank to start their company. If you don't already have money, your ability to get money from a bank will be extremely limited.
  - skookumchuck 10y ago
    4 figures will buy a 5 year old car. Your idea that women cannot start companies because they cannot come up with such funds is quite a stretch. The roads are full of women driving far more expensive cars. The barriers you are talking about are in your mind. People who want to get things done are not dissuaded by such things. People with your attitude always assume other peoples' success was a cakewalk, full of people showering them with praise and money at every turn. It's just not so. To start a business, you have to get out and hustle. If you're so easily discouraged because you can't raise $5000 or some professor dumped on you, you aren't cut out for business and have nobody to blame but yourself. (Wasn't it Steve Jobs who sold his car to fund his startup? his company was successful before any investors would give him a nickel. I can't imagine Jobs quitting for any of the reasons you give.)
    - SwellJoe 10y ago
      So, why do you believe most tech founders are men?
      - skookumchuck 10y ago
        I'll make a general comment not specific to any group. When I hear a person produce a long list of excuses, blaming others or circumstance, never once taking responsibility for any decisions, adamantly denying that they had any hand in their fate, I know where the problem lies. Just remember the story of Douglas Bader, who had both legs amputated, and was told he was going to die of his wounds, then told he'd never walk again, etc. He went on to become a fighter pilot for the RAF, even though the RAF discriminated against legless men, shot down many Luftwaffe fighters, was shot down himself, escaped from German POW camps 3 times, married the woman of his dreams, etc. There's never been a time of greater opportunity in tech in the US.
        SwellJoe 10y ago
        > I'll make a general comment not specific to any group. When I hear a person produce a long list of excuses, blaming others or circumstance, never once taking responsibility for any decisions, adamantly denying that they had any hand in their fate, I know where the problem lies. So, you believe that assertion applies to women in tech, since that is who we're talking about?