The real reason for the Silicon Valley gender bias cycle, and how to break it

In 2017, I attended a VC event (GlobalCapitalSummit )on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. As a Berlin-based entrepreneur, I remember being so excited to get my chance to pitch real Bay Area VCs. Approaching the registration table at Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel, I was told that “[my] kind of services are not welcome here”.

As it turns out, a Russian-immigrant, female entrepreneur at a VC event was such a far-fetched idea that the hotel employee assumed I was a sex worker targeting wealthy VCs — not a founder looking for funding.

As a 2x founder and the CEO of BUNCH — a venture-backed startup building an AI leadership coach — my experience has taught me the different ways in which the game is rigged against marginalized people (including women).

What’s really going on: the subtle workings of implicit gender bias

While it’s exciting to see Whitney Wolfe Herd take Bumble public this month, ringing the opening bell (virtually) for the NASDAQ with her son on her hip, the reality is that only 20% of startups have a female founder or co-founder.