First Quarter 2012 VC Firm Funding Lags

A recent article in the LA Times said that Venture Capital Fundraising in the U.S. dropped 35% in the first quarter of 2012.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-venture-capital-20120409,0,5597095.story

However, the article goes on to say that despite that, the amount raised was the third highest since the "end of the recession." Additionally, they found that California leads the way in landing venture capital investment.

Despite the dip, growth is expected. Hopefully, that will mean more good companies being funded.

What does that mean for me and other women founders of start ups? I don't really know. Hopefully, funding to our companies will continue to grow despite significant lags behind male counterparts. Perhaps even, VCs and other investors may begin to see how we do business differently as a positive, not a negative. Maybe then (and only then?) will not only investments begin to see an upturn, but business and the economy in general might see an upswing.

Food for thought. Here's to getting more good companies funded, either way!

You can find me at www.facebook.com/pilarstella1 and twitter @pilarstella.

Our Time Has Come...Women Founders

I thought I'd share this article from a group called Women 2.0 (www.women2.org) that is helping more women to become founders of start ups.

http://www.women2.org/why-women-continue-to-lag-behind-men-in-the-startup-community-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/?utm_source=email

Being a woman founder of a technology start up is not a walk in the park. In fact, some days it is down right debilitating. But somehow I keep on because I am committed not only to the success of my own vision and start up (www.OneGiving.com), but also to the broader movement of women's success - in business and in transforming the planet through business.

One of the stats that served as a reminder of the uphill battle we face is that less than 5% of technology startups are founded by women. And even less than that are funded by Venture Capitalists.

So what does that mean? We have to bootstrap more, we have to struggle more...yes to some degree. But how I see it, is we have to innovate more. We are women after all, we know how to innovate, adapt and change. THAT is what we are good at. We have been under capitalized, under resourced and honestly under valued (by ourselves as much as others) throughout history.

Now is our time to turn that around. It really is our time. Why? VCs and many businesses that were run by men have a very linear, transactional approach. This will get them so far. Often women owned business get criticized for being too multidimensional and not focused enough. But this is how we shine as women - multi-tasking and thinking about the interrelationships and interconnectivity of everything. This is our gift. So why try to shift our gifts into a package that men understand. What if we just learned to follow our gifts and use our talents at multidimensional approaches for success.

Look at the case of Sheryl Sandberg and of many startups. Before Sheryl, Facebook was doing great...but it hadn't mastered its monetization. Sheryl has helped Facebook to identify new revenue streams that aren't the traditional linear advertising approaches. She looked at the interconnectivity between Facebook and other partners to leverage those relationships, resources and transactions to find new opportunities to monetize Facebook.

These are the gifts that we as women bring. While it isn't the good ol' boy way of doing business, I believe it is the future. When investors and VCs start to see the trends in how women do business differently and don't discard them because it is being done differently, but embrace them, we might actually begin to see business change and the economy grow...for the better!

Here's to women founders of start ups...technology or otherwise. Here's to BEing the change...our time has come!

You can find me at www.facebook.com/pilarstella1 and twitter @pilarstella.

Looking Back at 2011 to Look Forward to 2012

As I reflect back on the year of 2011 for me, I can appreciate all that I have learned and gotten out of this year. I have accomplished a lot and also failed a lot. I am grateful for both. I have taken risks, which have taught me lessons, I might never have learned had I never tried. Over and over, I have been reminded to truly appreciate the moments and lessons along the journey - no matter how wonderful or painful - for they each come with their own gifts!

So I share with you a look back at 2011. I am sharing 12 memories or lessons, that inspired, informed or shaped my life in some way. I have categorized them across physical, mental, spiritual and emotional realms as I believe that balance in our lives is like the four tires of a car across these realms. If one or more tires are out of balance, then my whole life can get a little rocky and imbalanced. As I strive to find more balance in my life, here are 12 lessons, from 2011, to inform more peace and harmony in my life for 2012! (I know this is a lot of information, but it is a recap, so check out what you want, discard the rest!)

Mental (Intellectual/Biz)

1. A VC's wisdom. I have to say, I am not the biggest fan of all VC's (Venture Capitalists to some, Vulture Capitalists to others ;). However, that being said, one VC that stands out and writes remarkable, informative blog posts is Fred Wilson. He writes almost every day and shares wisdom from his daily experience as a VC that are insightful. His blog is www.avc.com and a recent blog post and video that stood out for me was about business and sustainability that is long, but worth watching, particularly the last few minutes if you have it in you: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/10/lineage.html.
2. Women as a Force for Good. Being that I am a woman in business, I am extremely passionate about our place in business, technology, startups, and investing to both transform business, but also have an impact on the planet. We are the voices for a new sustainable, responsible and conscious capitalism that can make business a force for good! Here are some of my blogs and other interesting articles reminding us of the power (and limitations) of women worth checking out can be found in my recent blog: The Next Steve Jobs...A Chick!
3. The loss of Steve Jobs. Whether you liked him or not, Steve Jobs's passing this year was a loss of a great mind. My favorites included his tribute to The Crazy Ones and his Stanford Graduation Address. But for the good, there was also the not as well known Dark Side of Jobs. And finally, my favorite a recent article about the next Steve Jobs being a CHICK...Amen to that!

Physical

4. Sugar is bad, mKay?! I know I probably won't win a popularity award condemning sugar around the holidays, but it is worth knowing ALL of the negative implications of sugar and some better alternatives, including: Xylitol and Stevia. More at my Sugar Blog.
5. Food Matters. What you put in your body - matters - you are what you eat! Evidence shows that every cell in our bodies is replaced somewhere between every year to within seven years. Given that, the implications of studies by Masaru Emoto on water, and the film Food Matters, our bodies are impacted by our thoughts, the food we eat and supplements, so remember to take better care of your body! More at my blogs: You are What You Eat and Supplements for Thought.
6. Surfing, a great metaphor for life. My passion for surfing has translated into so many lessons in my life. It reminds me to keep getting up, even when I'm knocked down, to have patience, to be present and to be persistent and perseverant. More at my Surfing Blog.

Spiritual

7. Giving Back. The earthquake in Japan early in the year set the tone for the year - one of giving, one of deep shifts in our planet's consciousness, and the recognition that we are all connected. Giving's visibility and impact grew throughout the year, which leaves us with reminders that in giving we receive! Some of my blogs on Japan and a three part series giving this year include: Giving for Thought-Japan; Look at Giving Part 1, Giving Part 2, Giving Part 3.
8. Occupy Wallstreet. While some might not put this in the spiritual category, I am putting it here because it is a call for more consciousness and responsibility in finance, business and government. The movement of OccupyWallSt can be tracked at their website: http://occupywallst.org/. Though some of the most powerful moments from the Occupy movement recently that occurred at UC Davis were captured both in Words and in Pictures. Of A good reminder that even in a "free country" and the "greatest democracy on earth," we still have to stay awake and make sure that our freedoms don't get widdled away. Democracy requires consciousness on each of our parts to stay awake and stand up, when necessary, for what we believe in to make this world a better place.
9. The Power of Meditation and the Aquarian Age. Whether you are a believer or not, increasing evidence is coming out about the benefits of meditation - not only to relieve stress, but actually to heal and to improve our efficiency in life and in business (Got Meditation Blog). Additionally, we have entered the Aquarian Age, which is about bringing more balance, feminine energy and healing to the planet (Aquarian Age Blog). Some of my blogs remind us to Breathe, Pay it Forward, and Leave Everything Better Than When You Found It!

Emotional

10. Joy and Laughter. Life just wouldn't be the same without giggles, laughter and joy. So don't forget to have a sense of humor! Here are two funny reminders that made me laugh this year: a Letter to Ryan Gosling that definitely got a giggle out of me and some of my friends ;) and a Video Compilation of parents playing tricks on their kids for Halloween, funny! Laughter - pass it on!
11. Overcoming Fear. I recently read a quote by Michael J. Fox: "The only thing that separates any one of us from excellence is fear and the opposite of fear is faith." It was a good reminder that in order to overcome our fears, we have to face our fears and go through them (or around them), but not let them stop us - as was my Super P Rappel Against Cancer. Sometimes we have to allow ourselves to feel the fear and even let it slow us down - Even Superheroes Have Bad Days! Just as long as we remember to get back up afterwards!
12. All you need is LOVE. This year hasn't been a big one for me for finding love outside of myself, but it was a good one for finding love within, accepting myself unconditionally and even falling in love with myself. In doing so, I also have realized how important love is...it really is all you need and meeting someone who loves you ain't so bad either...I guess that's something to look forward to in 2012! Perhaps I am learning the Keys to the Castle. And if not, I've always got the Beatles to remind me!

Happy Holidays and New Year! May 2012 be your best year yet!

You can find me at www.facebook.com/pilarstella1 and twitter @pilarstella.

The Next Steve Jobs...A Chick!

I recently read an article entitled, "The Next Steve Jobs Will Be A Chick!"

It really hit home for me! The article was based on a conversation with comedian Louis C.K. who has two daughters and his tribute to our feminine future. It was funny and touching at the same time. Given all the research out there on women in business and technology (Women in Biz, Tech, Startups and Investing Blog), his prediction is likely not far off either!

Being a woman in business, in technology and in a start up, seeking capital for my for-profit company, OneGiving, to create sustainability and social responsibility for corporations and sustainable revenues for nonprofits, I believe as women in business, we are poised to lead the next generation of business leaders. I am not the only one...

The Dalai Lama predicted that the Western Women will Save the World (Women as a Force for Good Blog). An Illuminate Ventures Report by Founder Cindy Padnos wrote, "Women entrepreneurs are poised to lead the next wave of growth in global business." And Jensine Larsen in an article in World Pulse Magazine posited, "Women manage money differently [than men], and had there been more women at the helm of investment decisions all along, the worst of the global financial meltdown might have been averted."

Given that, I thought I'd highlight a few of the articles from 2011 that I have read re: women in business, technology and beyond that may shed perspective on Louis C.K.'s prediction that the next Steve Jobs will be a Chick!

Let's start with Forbes Top 100 Women, which gives a list of some of the most powerful women in business and politics, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Melinda Gates, Indian President Sonia Gandhi, and First Lady Michelle Obama, demonstrating women's reach and leadership in top roles around the globe.

The article Why Women Make Excellent Entrepreneurs in the Digital Age, highlights some of the latest data on women in the workforce and entrepreneurs, including the fact that in 2010, women became the majority of the U.S. workforce for the first time in the country's history and highlighting that now 57% of college students are women. Further, women are advancing in entrepreneurship with an increase in the number of women-owned firms from 1997-2011 by 50% as compared with a 25% increase in male-owned firms, which has allowed businesses owned by females to reach 49% of U.S. firms.

An article on What Men Can Learn From Women About Leadership predicts that the most successful leaders of the future will make employees feel safe and valued, emphasize cohesiveness, openness, inclusiveness and respect, and foster true networked collaboration. Women are poised for this type of leadership (as highlighted in the New Yorker article about Sheryl Sandberg) with the ability to identify nonverbal cues, listen, make eye contact and build trust and collaboration.

With all of the pros and evidence that women's place in business and in leadership, there are still many factors limiting women's rise through the ranks. A recent Wall Street Journal Article asked, "Where the Ladies At?" in the VC world and wrote that despite the lack of representation of women in the Venture Capital space, there are three VC firms seeking to help female entrepreneurs, including: Illuminate Ventures, Women's Venture Capital Fund, and Valencia Ventures. Additionally, Golden Seeds is a network of angel investors funding early stage companies founded and/or led by women and Astia is community of experts committed to building women leaders and accelerating funding and growth to women-led startups.

Even with those examples, we still have a long way to go. Women's Startups still Lack Access to Capital as women are learning the good ol' boy's game and still are learning "to ask." Further, some of the Worst Stereotypes about Powerful Women don't help women who are perceived as powerful get ahead. And, women have been known to Stunt Their Own Careers, including by being overly modest, not asking, by blending in and by remaining silent.

Whatever the case may be, the question remains, do women need to become more like men or can they authentically be themselves AND get ahead at the same time? My money is betting on that the more WE women stick to our guns and show that we can BE ourselves, share our creativity, vision and leadership potential, and rock the business world, we will show that the next Steve Jobs won't just be a Chick, but a WOMAN!

You can find me at www.facebook.com/pilarstella1 and twitter @pilarstella.

Why NOT Invest in Women?

I have recently begun to dig deeper into statistics about women in business, technology, startups and investing (http://pilarstella.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-invest-in-women-in-biz-tech-and.html and www.illuminate.com/whitepaper/) and every time it leaves me with one response – JAW DROPPING!

I feel this way more and more every day given my own experiences seeking capital for my technology start up OneGiving® (www.onegiving.com) (however successful or unsuccessful). Whatever the case, several things have really struck me about the process and how the dynamics have to shift for women in business, and particularly in technology, startups and investing. I am not saying, invest in women just to invest in women – a.k.a. through a gender lens, per se, but just not allowing gender be a barrier to investment. I am saying something has to change because the status quo is just not working--for women, but also for investors and the global economy at large!

I have been told more than once during my process seeking capital that I am too nice, hence I am not likely to succeed. I have had people tell me “if you are going to swim with sharks, you have to be a shark,” (or at least you have to play their game). Perhaps this is true, but I am not convinced!

I have also been asked, more than once, “Don’t you think if you dressed more conservatively or had more conservative hair, you’d have more investors by now?” My response to that is, “I’m sure I would, but I don’t want those investors, even if it takes me twice as long.” That may be stubborn but that is my reality. Why is it, that when men like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg come dressed in jeans and disheveled hair or otherwise, it is business as usual and they are a maverick or pioneer, so it is ok. Yet when a women shows up dressed in a way that is “unprofessional,” it is inexcusable or an indicator that she is not proficient in business.

Then I read a quote by Amy Millman, co-founder and president of SpringBoard Enterprises that connects women entrepreneurs to investors, who said, "Investors, like bankers, pretty much invest in what they know, something that they understand or that is clear to them." (http://www.astia.org/content/view/2222/856/)

I started thinking...there is something inherently wrong with this picture and something has to change. That is, women are not men. We do things differently-in business and in relationship (as many of us have experienced personally ;). So if men are the largest share of investors, and they won't invest in what they don't understand or know, then they are not likely to invest in women. We are unfamiliar and "un-understandable" territory. It is no wonder that the statistics are what they are...less than 10% of women in CEO positions in technology startups - and that just scratches the surface. (http://www.fastcompany.com/1730909/why-arent-women-leading-high-tech-start-ups)

I am not trying to be skeptical, but the proposition is all wrong. They have their checklists of what to invest in—and women don't, and the way we do business often doesn't, fit into their checklist. We may learn to do the tap dance, or bend over backwards as we have for centuries to make things fit and work, but it is inauthentic and disingenuous in order to just to close a deal. Now I'm not saying that we both don't have to meet somewhere in the middle, but there is an inherent conflict in all of this.

It reminds me of my experience consulting for many years with large foundations. When I started working with many of them, they had (and continue to have) strict criteria and checklists of expectations that nonprofits submit to seek funding. When those funders reviewed the proposals, if the nonprofit didn’t "dot their i’s" or "cross their t’s," they often times wouldn’t get the grant. As I reviewed more and more proposals with funders, the pattern repeated. Nonprofits that had good grantwriters (and could afford one) would invariably get funding and the others wouldn’t.

Yet, many of the really good ideas were getting lost and dropped away because they didn’t put their explanation in the right place or capture the data in the way that the funder could fully grasp. This ultimately often damaged the caliber and quality of ideas and grantees that got funded and often the “less professionalized” and even "more marginalized" communities lost out because they didn’t “speak the same language.” My work with these funders was often in looking past the well-formatted applicants, to see beyond the "well-pitched exterior" to find the good idea in a haystack and then to provide the proper supports to help that organization make that needed gap being addressed succeed.

This is not much different than the investment world and companies that are pitching to investors. If they "pitch well," they get funded. If they don’t fit into the boxes that investors have, then they don’t get funded. If they don’t speak the same language – one that is understood by investors – then they don’t get funded. If they don’t look the same as, or in a way that is familiar or comfortable to, investors, then they don’t get funded. And an inherent flaw keeps getting regenerated and perpetuated—because we don’t look or act or are "un-understandable" to investors, then we don’t get funded.

Now the even bigger disservice is what this is doing for the economy. We are in a recession on par with the Great Depression (though few will say that publicly). Yet we continue do the same thing over and over again and expect different results – Insanity (as Einstein and others might say)!

As Jensine Larsen posited in her post in World Pulse, “Women manage money differently, and had there been more women at the helm of investment decisions all along, the worst of the global financial meltdown might have been averted.” (http://www.worldpulse.com/magazine/columns/founders-pulse/the-new-silk-road)

It leads me to ponder a similar scenario, if the current investment marketplace isn’t working and the economy is spattering and sputtering trying to make a "recovery," then why not try something different? Why not, change your criteria a little, not accept less than, just accept different?

Look for things that might be out of the box. Be ok if you don’t fully understand it. And recognize that if a woman is standing in front of you and she looks different, speaks different, and highlights and does things a little differently than you would, don’t give her a demerit and check out, sit up and really listen. There might just be something in what she’s saying that could not only make you MORE money, but she might value the money you give her more, leverage it more wisely, and she might even make a difference on the planet at the same time. You might have to provide supports in some more “traditional” or "male" ways, but the perspective she brings, might transform it from an investment to a game changer. There is plenty of evidence and data that makes the case for it. (http://pilarstella.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-invest-in-women-in-biz-tech-and.html)

So the question isn’t “Why Invest in Women?”…it is “Why NOT Invest in Women?”

You can find me at www.facebook.com/pilarstella and www.facebook.com/pilarstella1 and twitter @pilarstella.

Women and Business: A Force for Good to be Reckoned With!

At the 2009 Vancouver Peace Summit, The Dalai Lama said … "The world will be saved by the western woman.”

Every day I am finding more and more evidence of the wisdom of his statement. At a time in history when financial systems have been crashing and companies are collapsing from lack of integrity, transparency and accountability. A different way of doing business – and everything – is emerging and women, as well as minorities, are stepping up for the challenge.

In recent history, investments and business have struggled. Net private domestic investment in the US plunged 94% (to only $54B) from 2006 to 2009. While private investment spending has begun to recover, gross domestic investment in 2010 began to recover, but remained 21% below its peak in Q1 2006 and net private domestic investment remained about 64% below its previous peak. And in 2009, only 3.5% of all private investment spending went toward building up the capital stock. (Data, taken or derived from the most recently revised National Economic Accounts prepared by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, June 2010)

During this time, women entrepreneurs and fund managers are demonstrating a new type of business leadership and savvy that truly is setting the stage for a new type of business. The numbers and data are staggering and make the case for looking to women to not only change the face of business, but perhaps even as The Dalai Lama stated, play a leadership role in changing the world.

An Illuminate Ventures report (http://www.illuminate.com/whitepaper/) found:
• Companies most inclusive of women in top management achieve 35% higher return on equity (ROE) and 34% better total return to shareholders versus their peers.
• The average venture-backed company run by a woman had achieved comparable early-year revenues, using an average of 1/3 less committed capital.
• Even these capital-constraints, women-owned businesses are more likely to survive the transition from raw start-up to established company than traditional companies.
• Despite this, in 2008 woman co-founded tech businesses gained less than 10% of venture investment while representing 30% of the workforce.

At the same time, during the period in which traditional investments were dropping, the average return on funds from 2000 to 2009 was 9% for women-managed funds compared to 6% index average. And in 2008, when the average fund’s value dropped 19%, women-managed funds dropped less than 10%. (National Council for Research on Women, 2010)

Data further shows that while women (and minority) fund managers manage less than 2% of retirement assets, they account for >40% of the top quartile of performing funds.

An article in World Pulse magazine (http://www.worldpulse.com/magazine/columns/founders-pulse/the-new-silk-road) aptly wrote:
Women manage money differently, and had there been more women at the helm of investment decisions all along, the worst of the global financial meltdown might have been averted.

The report finds that women—in charge of just 3% of hedge funds and 10% of mutual funds—are more patient and consistent with their investments. They are less apt to take overconfident risks and more likely to integrate detailed and conflicting data into their decisions. Moreover, women-owned funds are more stable and consistently outperform general funds with higher returns.

Microfinance pioneer Mohammed Yunus further demonstrated with Grameen microloans that when given the opportunity, women are more conscientious money managers, maximize/leverage resources and value money. Over 95% of the Grameen loans went to women with 95% good debts, a much higher rate of return than with male borrowers.

The case is growing. Yet despite the trend, there is still much work to be done to support and champion women business owners, leaders and fund managers as discrimination still exists (http://www.bnet.com/blog/business-research/why-women-can-8217t-raise-capital-for-their-businesses/617).

Investing in women, and girls, (http://doc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/6574.pdf?utm_source=031704pm&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=usatodayinsert) could be the best thing you can do, or anyone can do for turning around the economy and getting an equal or better return on investment and in a company that not only creates an economic return, but also a social, environmental and planetary impact!

Maybe there really is something to The Dalai Lama’s wisdom. Whether, western women, or just women, in general, globally uniting to solve some of the planet’s most pressing financial, social and environmental problems – more effectively, more efficiently and more compassionately! Only time will tell, but my bet is that he is on to something!

You can find me on Twitter @pilarstella and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pilarstella1 .