Female founders bring much more than diversity to startups

The gender biases of the startup community are long-standing topics of debate but this piece is focussing on really why women make the startup community more relevant and how they matter to growth.

Diversity in founders is imperative for the ecosystem. Women founders bring elements different from male ones and often those inputs can go a mile more in determining the longevity of the enterprise. Investors are missing out by not investing in startups led by women. This is a really big problem, folks, and it’s one that we have the ability to change.

>Higher return on investment: Women-led tech companies in the US achieve 35 percent higher return on investment, and, when venture-backed, bring in 12 percent more revenue than male-owned tech companies as per a survey by Kauffman Foundation. In India the number of women startup owners have increased over the year 2015 in a big way. “Now, women are more into technology than in the previous years. Digital media has also empowered them a lot more to come into entrepreneurship,” shared Swati Bhargava, co-founder of coupons website CashKaro.com at the Digital Women Awards.

>Women tend to empathize more. They listen and understand. Women have a brilliant way of understanding the consumer pysche and reflect with an intuitive sense.

>Women chase growth, profitability. Many women entrepreneurs we spoke with at the Digital Women Awards said that they prefer to raise funds after their had had their own proof of concept ready. Most felt the need to turn the business around before pitching to investors. Valuations are important to them but that's not the only thing.

>Break the demographics: Any idea, concept or product if developed with only one kind of demography can narrow down its scope. Women bring to the table elements and questions that can prove valuable to growth.

>They are also you consumers: Many companies of the world are engaged in making products and services that impact women or where women are influencers for the consumption of their brand.

Investing in women is financially smart. As Intel's Debjani Ghosh said in an interview with SheThePeople, hiring women is a "business imperative." Sukhwinder Singh Cassidy in an piece on Medium shared her early experiences in The Valley. "Having arrived here with a successful track record in media and investment banking, I was surprised to be told by my first tech boss that I “scared the secretaries” on my second day at work." She even thought she would quit and leave until she joined a startup that leverage her talent and capability. Billionaire investor, Warren Buffet, is also a supporter of female leadership. He calls renowned journalist/editor, Carol Loomis and former Washington post publisher, Katharine Graham are his role models.