5 ms·
> 15% of the companies have a woman founder and 9% of the founders are women The trend continues. I still want to see an objective analysis for why so few fem
by mdorazio 4y ago
> 15% of the companies have a woman founder and 9% of the founders are women
The trend continues. I still want to see an objective analysis for why so few female founders make it through the funnel. I haven't found any good stats to see if the overall % of startup founders (regardless of YC participation) is abysmal, if it's the software focus that acts as a filter, if it's the VC focus, or something else entirely.
- sokoloff 4y agoWhat’s the makeup of the applicant pool? If the top of the YC funnel is 6% female, we would be asking a different question than if it’s 18% female.
- dzink 4y agoI second this question as well.
- mdorazio 4y agoI don't think they post that stat every year. In 2015 it was about 12%: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/yc-demographics https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/yc-demographics But that doesn't really help answer my bigger question, which is why is that number so low? I did find one stat showing about 20% of US businesses with employees are female-owned, which is itself troubling and leads to more "why?".
- siphor 4y agoLooks like about 20% of comp sci grads in the US are women. Seems like the very simple "why". As for that why... idk probably need to change how kids grow up en-masse. My guess, which probably isn't worth much, is it'll happen slowly, but will probably take a generation or two. There's probably also some genetically encoded differences on risk-averseness (another guess). FAANG is a great gig and is much more predictable and stable.
- dsr_ 4y agoCultural factors consistently swamp genetic explanations for things which aren't obvious morphology and biology.
- YetAnotherNick 4y agoConsistently is a big word without any proof. After all scientists have found many of gender norm in nearest animals and completely isolated human tribes.
- ceeplusplus 4y agoTestosterone is a known causative factor for aggression and risk taking. Men have more testosterone than women.
- nfw2 4y agoAnother potential difference could be prioritization of work-life balance, which would generally be better at a FAANG company than a startup.
- rafale 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- epolanski 4y agoThere's less female entrepeneurs and business owners in general. Cultural and biological factors are important there.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]