VC firms need to find their feminine sides
- Apr 26, 2013
- Guest Author
An industry colleague forwarded me a recent article from Upstart Business Journal titled, “VC firms need to find their feminine sides“, by Lindsay Riddell a reporter for the San Francisco Business Times. It was an interesting perspective and something that NopSec’s female CEO can relate to. See my post from earlier this week, “Security Careers: Breaking Barriers”.
The UpStart article states, “A report presented by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy shows that venture capital firms that invest in businesses with female executives on the management team see improvements in fund performance.” Lisa Xu took the helm 18 months ago and has helped lead NopSec to significant revenue and customer growth.
The article talks about, “women-led businesses receive less outside funding than those led by men.” Fortunately for NopSec, that has not been the case. Lisa has done a terrific job of raising adequate capital for NopSec to thrive. Earlier this year, NopSec was selected as a finalist in the Dell Tech Innovators Day, InnoSpring Accelerator Program, and FinTech Innovation Lab.
Lisa’s response to the challenge of working with venture capitalists for IT security, a male-dominated field?
“You need to take the time to make yourself recognized, but you also really have to put forth the extra effort to prove and show that you are technically sound and have the management background.”