CEO + 2x Founder | Hype Women Movement Creator + Podcast Host | Fast Company World’s Most Innovative | Top 100 LI Influencer | Mom | Intersectional Feminist | Zoom Breaker | Forever Athlete | Abortion Beneficiary
Ladies, they are not coming to save us. They're also *not* coming to fund us. Shame on Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen for supporting Trump — a convicted felon, rapist, insurrectionist, misogynist and racist. What. Is. Happening??? The system doesn't want women to challenge it, change it or profit from it. So, per usual, let's go take care of this ourselves. Do you know what our answer to less than 2.8% of VC funding going to women (and 0% to Black women)? Crowd 👏 funding 👏 I will not waste another second counseling female founders on how to make a room full of straight white men interested in their products, services or solutions. I'm tired. Tired of watching women ... ... dance for cap table that looks nothing like us ... explain, repeatedly and relentlessly, why we matter ... share all the statistics that support investing in women, to no action ... see so very little of our 85% of consumer buying power spent on us ... self-fund their dreams I will never *seek* VC funding. Because … 1. I won’t get it (like, there’s no chance) 2. I won’t hand over control of my company 3. I won’t let someone else determine my worth I hope all women stop trying to fit into a space that has never — and will never — want us. V👏C👏 funding 👏 doesn’t 👏 want 👏 us 👏 Good. We don’t want them either. Let’s do this ourselves, together. If you need help setting up your own evergreen seed fund via GoFundMe, DM me. We’re taking our power back. And then, GoFundHer … … and her … and her … and her #VC #funding #women #wealth #a12z #investment #femalefounders
"Sorry Mom"..."'I wish we didn’t have to pick a side...We literally [believe] the future of our #business, the future of #technology, and the future of America is at stake.' Ben Horowitz The pair listed several reasons they believe the Biden administration is stifling #startups through overregulation and potentially needless #taxation, while Trump would help #innovation flourish." Excerpt by Marina Temkin, CFA in TechCrunch source: https://lnkd.in/eGA8-ywS Link to full 90 minute talk on YouTube here in the Andreessen Horowitz post: https://lnkd.in/ekRY6_hU "It is our people who must always matter the most in everything we do... Our country has been injured by the weak decisions of bad leaders." Senator Rubio https://lnkd.in/eCscy9Ug "They stand for #DEI which really stands for division, exclusion and indoctrination...they can't even define what a woman is." Gov Desantis https://lnkd.in/e7BHmMwM +All Americans including "Women deserve a leader who cares about the issues they face and is committed to protecting their safety, their #health, their economic #power, their reproductive rights, and their ability to freely and fully participate in a functioning #democracy." Melinda French Gates repost: https://lnkd.in/e-tr7eaz +"Studies show that just over 1/2 (52%) of employees have experienced or witnessed inappropriate, unethical or illegal behaviors at #work....We all have a #responsibility to help make our world safe. This is a corporate and #business issue.” Jacki Zehner repost https://lnkd.in/eRgBM2fW +“America is supposed to be a nation where one has the freedom to achieve, the freedom to earn, and the freedom to prosper.” Arian Simone Fearless Fund repost https://lnkd.in/ePvFm8De "I Woke Up BY JAMESON FITZPATRICK and it was political." full poem: https://lnkd.in/ehcH4ng5 #Talent remains an overlooked & undervalued asset class. #leadership #narrative #investing #laws #philanthropy #entrepreneurship #venturecapital #diversity #equity #inclusion #jobs #money #cultureofmoney
This whole election will come down to white women as it did in 2016. That is who you all need to mobilize and convince. Guys like this are only concerned for themselves and always have been. It is up to white women to save the country. I am not American but see it so clearly. May be time to ignore this stuff and build the momentum for takeover.
So let me get this right... less taxation and rolling back regulations on the tech sector is a greater threat to America's prosperity than rolling back civil rights, consumer and worker protections, fair pay, healthcare for all, investing in education, and fixing the broken border and immigration policies? Because we need more technology to beat Russia and advance our military might. This is exhausting.
I couldn’t agree more with this post. The data doesn’t lie. Women, receive less funding as it is, with Black women founders receiving less than even .50% of all VC funding. Seeing these companies support an administration that wants to dismantle the progress we’ve made for women and BIPOC, is disheartening to say the least. But it definitely aligns with some of the experiences I’ve had in this industry. I’m not going to lie, when I saw the news trickling out of all of the Tech Bros wanting to fund these ideologies it was definitely depressing. But we can’t let them decide our fates. This is a call to action for us to do what we need to do to ensure we still have a seat at the table, even if it’s not theirs. We need to work on building our own so we don’t have to ask permission to have a seat.
Hopefully this is the moment where we stop wasting time, energy and our precious life force on pathways that are ultimately futile. Crowdfunding is a great tactic...and there are many, many others. We need everyone deeply in love with our most positive human future possible to understand.the.assignment. More here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emilyannegendron_the-manel-and-the-futility-of-doing-things-activity-7219411427491500033-8AbV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Society has ALWAYS been very specific about who is allowed to HAVE, KEEP, USE, and GROW MONEY. Always. Throughout our history, it has been the marginalized communities who responded to exclusion by creating their own opportunities. They will never voluntarily give us a seat at their table. We have to build our own. #DisruptingMoneyCulture
GETTING ON MY SOAPBOX. This is why I’m building a crowdfunding platform for female founders that is laser focused on the mass incentivization of the most powerful growth market on earth to participate on the platform- women. There is an absolute urgency for alternative funding routes that streamline the fundraising process for female founders outside of the confines of tradition funding institutions built for and by men. Routes that facilitate a profound shift in capital allocation by engaging powerful consumers- NOT men like these. This is THE most effective way of making strides to close the gender funding gap in our lifetime. Begging men like these to do better is entirely futile. I will die on the hill of crowdfunding and alternative (non-predatory) funding routes.
Oh thank you so much for posting this! I have my dream health app, and I know the baseline tech exists. But my goodness, the thought of dealing with these <insert expletive of choice> slowed my momentum. I created a side-hustle, outside of my main business, so I could eventually bootstrap my passion project 😒 Which is exactly what the patriarchy wants: it wants us to be exhausted. Well I'm with you! Let's create a new system!
We need a new and better way to do business that benefits and provides dignity for all life. Social enterprises and social impact organizations are one avenue. Highly recommend LIFT Economy as a group to learn more about and support. Also recommend supporting and promoting PE/VC firm Backstage Capital, founded by Arlan Hamilton. Backstage Capital is shifting the old paradigm as they invest in founders who identify as Women, People of Color, and LGBTQ+.
Vice President of Business Development @ Territory. Founder of Health Equity Partners. An equitable and inclusive world is our north star, don't give up.
1moThe patriarchy does not like to lose. We have to continue to fight and fight and fight. Thanks for sharing this.