The most modern industry in the world?

Not just yet — but there are easy ways to make change start today

A while ago, a VC friend came to me with a small and insignificant favor but somehow it’s stuck in my mind. It was really nothing; he had another friend that would interview for a VC fund, and he asked for some advice because his friend was given questions to prepare within my area of expertise.

I’m glad he asked for advice, but it made me think about how difficult the VC industry can be to navigate if you don’t have the right friend in the right place. When I was recruited to Creandum I was first pinged by our ex-colleage, Sabina Wizander, who I knew from previously working with her. With the gender balance being as it is today, it means that men — on average — will have much better opportunities to get their foot in the door of the VC industry to ask around, and come prepared and meet people who identify in them. As much as we’d like to say it’s a meritocracy, Venture Capital is a relationship business. It affects hiring as well as investment.

At Creandum, 10% of our investment advisory team is female (that would be me). Before working here I had worked in the Swedish Navy and within management consulting, and I figured VC couldn’t be much different to that (It is). It’s kind of ironic isn’t it? We work with the world’s most modern companies that are creating groundbreaking technologies and solutions. And the modus operandi is like something from the 50’s. It’s an industry dominated by white males from the top with LPs, to VCs, to founders. Looking into the Creandum funds’ portfolio, men held roughly 80% of management positions. There were large differences between companies, and not surprisingly the companies who had a better balance in the management team also had more diversity among employees. But WTF? We can do better than this.

Access and Power

One by one the above examples may sound like small things but if you combine all the small things you realize that structures matter and do not change easily. Access and power are the keys, and right now there are disproportionately few women who have them in their possession.

One could argue with increasing number of women in higher education or with them joining the workforce this would eventually change. But it’s not really moving. We cannot wait and just hope that things will automatically change. Why would they? Has any problem ever been solved by doing the same thing over and over? When the entrepreneurs we work with face challenges they solve these by deliberate efforts, not by hoping that it’s something time will take care of.

Winning by changing the status quo. Or simply doing the right thing

Why do we bother? Well, even if we disregard all the research about how diverse teams perform better — it is still the right thing to do. Think about the opposite: “no, I seriously think we shouldn’t change just because half the population is excluded from power, money, basic human rights, [you fill in the blanks]” It doesn’t make sense.

And if we do it successfully it likely means we will get a larger and better deal flow. A win-win situation ✌️

As one step towards changing the status quo Creandum partnered up with Slush to bring the All Raise Female Founders Office Hours (FFOH) to the Nordics for the first time. FFOH brings together female entrepreneurs and VC with the purpose of accelerating the success of female founders.

It’s not the whole solution but part of the solution. And IT WORKS. Since the launch only about a year ago, 30 investments have been made from FFOH deal flow. That’s pretty impressive.

However, given that access is an issue why gather only female VCs and founders? Well as mentioned it’s one part of the solution. Not the silver bullet. So what can you do as man, without the need for certain events, infrastructure or help from others? A lot actually:

1. First of all, take the issue seriously and commit to it. Support without commitment leads nowhere.
2. Take your responsibility at home; equality applies to all parts of life and plays a huge role for enabling diversity.
3. Spread the word about All Raise and other initiatives to female founders and investor you know
4. If you don’t know any female founders of make it your top priority to get to know more
5. Make a habit of introducing female founders or investors you meet to other people to expand their network
6. Make diversity a top priority and measure it across deal flow, portfolio and the team. Take action based on that as you would with any other KPI
7. Walk the extra mile in hiring and investing, don’t rely on what has always worked. To phrase Rebecca Kaden, one of the founders of All Raise: “The idea of a ‘pipeline problem’ is a mess — All you have to do is work harder, there is a lot of talent there.”
8. Call out bullshit behaviour
9. Before saying yes to speaking at events; ask what the line-up look like. Only accept if it’s diverse. My colleague Carl explains why this matters here
10. Suggest women that would be good speakers, if you think they don’t exist think again please. Or get help from e.g. Click list or Femtechspeakers or a bunch of other options

So, start today — no need to wait for others to change.