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At the end of last year, 附近上门 News reported that VC funding for startups founded by women had dropped by 27 percent in 2020 compared with 2019.

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It鈥檚 a significant statistic, and it provoked a lot of concern among both female founders and those trying to encourage women in the entrepreneurial space, but that doesn鈥檛 mean women who are preparing to enter a funding round need to be alarmed.

The picture might not be that bleak

As the report itself notes, the percentage of funding that goes to female-founded companies fluctuates a lot and can be influenced heavily by a single large funding round.

If you step back to look at the bigger picture, you鈥檒l see that the overall trend is still upward. The number of sole female-led startups that received funding between 2016-2021 increased by 72 percent compared with the period of 2011-2015, with the amount raised increasing fourfold.

Personally, about 20 percent of the startups I work with are led by women, and 50 percent have women on the founding team, which isn鈥檛 a bad ratio. Yes, it needs work, but I feel we鈥檙e moving in the right direction.

Does gender matter anyway?

There are plenty of reasons why a startup may or may not receive funding.

The question should not be if the company is female-led or male-led, but rather if the idea/product is solid, there鈥檚 an addressable market, the team is well-rounded and works well together, etc.

If women founders worry too much about the gender issue, there鈥檚 a risk they鈥檒l overlook other more significant aspects of their pitch.

Don鈥檛 seek a behavior pattern that justifies your anxiety; instead, treat each funding meeting as though it鈥檚 the first one, which means focusing on selling your company as well as possible. If you had a bad meeting, try not to bring that into the next meeting鈥攃ome in with renewed confidence and a clean slate. The most important thing is to keep the momentum going.

I advise women to approach funding rounds 鈥渓ike men do,鈥� namely without thinking about your gender at all. Your title is 鈥渇ounder,鈥� and you need to apply the tactics of highly successful founders, including:

• Showing why you are the one/s. Don鈥檛 be shy to showcase both yours and your team鈥檚 abilities, skills and accomplishments. This builds credibility.
• Mastering 鈥渢he brag.鈥� Don鈥檛 wait until slide 17 to share strong figures. You鈥檝e worked hard for this, so don鈥檛 be afraid to 鈥渢oot your own horn鈥濃�攅specially if there鈥檚 truly something to toot.
• Know your numbers. It鈥檚 a frustrating double standard: You will be scrutinized more, so rise to the occasion; learn your numbers inside out, backward forward. Numbers are an investor鈥檚 鈥渓ove language.鈥�
• Going in big. Don鈥檛 downplay the uniqueness of your proposition. Paint a glowing picture of your bigger vision, even if it鈥檚 still some way in the future.

Women founders can succeed despite the gender barrier

It鈥檚 true that the VC world is male-dominated, with women underrepresented both as founders and as VC partners. It鈥檚 something that needs to change, but in the meantime, gender identity should not be allowed to dominate the funding experience. The goal should be to make gender a nonissue, not to keep pushing it into the spotlight.

And since traditionally, investors tend to back someone 鈥渓ike them,鈥� let鈥檚 turn the tables. Seek out strong, successful women in your networks: , alumni, workplaces or communities for women founders and investors like . If we want to flip the ratio, we can speed it up greatly by scaffolding each other, taking the time to mentor, connect, advise and invest.

And most important, perfect your storytelling, ace your pitch and deck, know your numbers and come fully prepared to VC meetings.

is a corporate storyteller and pitch alchemist who has helped over 1,000 startups, corporates and investors raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

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