As a girl founder and investor, I’ve thought so much about how greatest to extend the variety of ladies founders who elevate capital and scale companies.
Antler is uniquely positioned to affect the gender mixture of founders by advantage of our funding quantity and stage on the very prime of the funnel as a day zero investor.
Whereas VCs aspire to spend money on extra ladies founders, they are usually constrained by their top-of-funnel (the proportion of founding groups they see with a girl founder).
Positioned on the very prime of the founder funnel, Antler can affect the gender mixture of founders who start an entrepreneurial journey. We do that by headhunting and screening current and potential entrepreneurs into an Antler cohort, the place they will construct a co-founding group and validate their enterprise mannequin on the trail to securing funding.
By scouting, investing in and supporting extra ladies founders, we might help form a extra gender-diverse top-of-funnel for later-stage VCs and, collectively, shift the gender combine throughout the Australian startup ecosystem.
Antler by the numbers
Every year, Antler Australia selects greater than 200 founders to work with us, from ~ 2,000 candidates. We spend money on round 30 groups and 80% of those founding groups go on to lift exterior capital, usually inside 12 months of our preliminary funding.
Over time our cohorts have been 25% ladies founders and 37% of investees in Antler Fund I’ve at the very least one lady founder. These companies have accounted for 39% of Antler’s follow-on rounds however account for simply $24m of the $100m in exterior capital raised throughout the Fund I portfolio.
Why gender?
It’s now broadly accepted that variety amongst founders and decision-makers will not be solely fairer and extra equitable but in addition results in higher financial and funding outcomes.
The 2022 State of Australian Startup Funding exhibits ladies founders accounted for 23% of deal quantity however solely 10% of invested capital. The determine that sticks most in my thoughts is from the Global Gender Gap Report launched by the World Financial Discussion board; on the present tempo of change, it’s going to take 132 years to succeed in gender parity. This is just too gradual and clear proof that rather more must be performed.
Range, after all, goes far past gender and Antler’s Diversity & Inclusion Policy talks about a few of our rules and method to broader variety themes resembling ethnicity, nationality and LGBTQI+. The info exhibits that whereas a lot stays to be performed, we are likely to carry out higher on different measures of variety resembling nationality and ethnicity, whereas gender metrics lag. We count on that improved gender stability amongst leaders and decision-makers will positively affect variety, fairness and inclusion throughout a broad vary of measures.
Antler’s method
We recognise that expertise is in every single place however alternative will not be. And so, like our founders, we continuously take a look at, study and quickly iterate on our method to assist ladies founders to launch game-changing corporations.
Listed here are 10 rules which have helped inform our method.
1. Greatest Thought Wins
As a world investor, Antler advantages from collective thought and experimentation throughout our 25 areas. I lately spoke with some Nordic colleagues who, as in lots of areas of DE&I, are market-leading. In Australia, we leverage these insights and learnings in our Ladies of Antler initiative.
We additionally hope that by sharing our method and welcoming enter, the alternate of concepts and greatest observe throughout the ecosystem will assist us all transfer quicker in the direction of gender fairness.
2. Goal-Pushed
Particular, measurable targets present a signpost for evaluating competing priorities primarily based on affect.
For instance, we’ve thought-about whether or not the Ladies of Antler group ought to be for ladies solely or open to all. Ladies founders are after all heterogeneous and Antler has noticed ranging views between those that worth a secure house for many who determine as ladies and others who consider that when you don’t actively embrace males as a part of the method it defeats the aim of agitating for change.
In evaluating these paths, we’ve prioritised the target of reaching extra and quicker change and chosen to maintain periods open for all.
3. Position Fashions
The need to see what we could possibly be is highly effective. Whereas we’ve got a protracted technique to go, there was a substantial optimistic change over the previous decade within the illustration of ladies buyers, together with on the Companion stage (Elicia McDonald, Jackie Vullinghs, Sam Wong, Rachel Yang, Andrea Gardiner), outstanding angel buyers (Cheryl Mack) and profitable ladies founders from Canva (Melanie Perkins) to Mr Yum (Kim Teo), Airwallex (Lucy Liu), Modibodi (Kristy Chong), Pink Balloon (Naomi Simson), Adore Magnificence (Kate Morris) and plenty of others.
Antler Australia is proud to have invested in formidable ladies founders resembling Skye Theodorou (Upcover), Helena (Flow of Work), Joyce Ong (Tax Nuggets Academy) and Cat Lengthy and Joanna Auburn (Trace).
In fact, it’s not sufficient although to showcase ladies founders in women-focused periods, we have to be aware of an appropriately various illustration throughout our organisations typically. For Antler, this implies contemplating applicable illustration throughout all touchpoints resembling founder interviews, masterclasses, teaching, concepts validation periods, funding committees, fireplace chats (Felicity McVay, former International Head of Leisure at Tik Tok) and in our public and social media presence.
4. Instruments & Actionable Insights
Sensible ideas and examples assist present founders and group members with a “how-to” information for navigating and overcoming obstacles. These embrace:
- Recognising and responding to prevention questions: ladies founders are sometimes requested prevention questions by a ratio of two to at least one, in comparison with their male counterparts. Antler runs periods on strategies to recognise, reframe, reposition and overcome these questions.
- Overcoming bias in fundraising – a workshop for underrepresented founders to beat bias facilitated by AWS startups
- Pitching to purchasers and buyers. In some instances, ladies are usually much less forthright in pitching themselves and their merchandise and companies which could be perceived as a insecurity or ambition. Pitching and training periods encourage ladies founders to strike applicable notes of ambition and potential when pitching and consciousness of tone, phrase alternative and physique language.
5. Recognising the Position of Males
Ladies can’t and shouldn’t need to be solely liable for making needed modifications to realize gender fairness.
As a Board Member at not-for-profit Heads Over Heels (now Apropela), which empowers ladies founders by way of game-changing connections, we all the time strived for at the very least 40% male occasion attendance. This united attendees in a typical, sensible trigger, broadened the probabilities for high-impact introductions and gave weight to the significance of the initiative for everybody.
6. Language and Unintended Penalties
Sarcastically, typically the push for inclusiveness can inadvertently exclude. The absence of mal intent is inadequate as a result of even when unintended, language has the facility to hurt. Some fundamentals embrace mindfulness when utilizing phrases resembling gender vs intercourse, feminine vs ladies and male vs males and use of most well-liked pronouns. We will all critically consider our personal lexicon and whether or not it might do with a refresh and respectfully nudge these round us to do the identical when needed.
One instance is referring to feminine founders (slightly than the popular ladies founders), which can infer a organic view of gender slightly than one linked to id. In an identical vein, we’ve questioned whether or not Ladies of Antler ought to be Womxn of Antler or certainly People of Antler.
The tone can also be vital. I lately attended an occasion with a gaggle of extremely credentialed buyers and wealth managers. I discovered myself bristling when incisive, authoritative panellist feedback had been described as “lovely” or “pretty” by the moderator (a girl) and when a senior member of a serious household workplace was referred to as “sweetie” when asking a probing, forthright query of the panel. It felt minimising. Though the intent was past reproach, the affect was nonetheless felt.
7. The On a regular basis issues
Excessive-minded coverage and intent don’t imply a lot if, in on a regular basis interactions, persons are made to really feel remoted and “othered”.
At a latest occasion, after a number of break instances spent as the one lady in a gaggle, I occurred to sit down with a desk of ladies over lunch. We noticed one after the other males consciously avoiding our desk as they veered off carrying their plates to different, typically empty, tables, both with an averted gaze or a “no manner am I sitting there!” gag. Finally, a few males did be a part of us however the hit charge was woefully low and we had been all slightly appalled. As one lady famous, “I’m continuously the one lady at a desk of males, I might by no means behave that manner!”
In an Antler cohort context, we search to teach, inform and equip and group and our founders to think about and navigate on a regular basis interactions. For instance, by way of obligatory unconscious bias coaching inside the Antler group and considerate setup and guidelines of engagement for cohort design sprints which may typically be dominated by extra vocal and assertive contributors on the expense of others.
8. Accumulate and Share Information
Antler Australia will develop and measure our progress in opposition to key metrics resembling the share of ladies founders in any respect phases in our software and funding funnel and the efficiency of ladies founders post-investment. By capturing self-assigned founder knowledge on gender and different variety measures on the very starting of our interplay (software stage) we could be more and more granular and correct in our methodology and reporting.
9. Equip founding groups
At Antler, a concentrate on ESG, variety, fairness and inclusion is a basic a part of our DNA and we try to authentically embed these rules in all that we do, passing on this basis to the groups we spend money on. Even earlier than funding, we encourage groups to think about ESG dangers, alternatives and approaches for his or her companies together with equitable hiring and inclusive tradition.
10. Senior Purchase In
Range and fairness initiatives gained’t be efficient in the event that they’re not owned and championed by essentially the most senior members of an organisation.
At Antler, our Range & Inclusion Council consists of the CEO and a gender various group of leaders throughout operate and geography. Ladies of Antler periods are prioritised and attended by each senior women and men throughout the group together with the Companions.
- Cath Rogers is a accomplice at Antler Australia.
